A smoking cessation program called txt2stop, a text messaging service that sends participants motivational messages, delivered positive, short-term results for smoking cessation rates at six months, according to the txt2stop study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and published online June 30 in The Lancet.

Organizations on the leading edge of health IT are reaping impressive results from their efforts in clincial decision support through the installation of electronic records, computerized physician order entry and other systems. Better use of data is resulting in measurable improvements in outcomes, utilization and more.

Health IT leaders discuss what could and should appear in the new and future meaningful use regulations. Despite the delay of implementation of stage 2, various thought leaders suggest that the choice is pain now or pain later.

Busy emergency departments are finding the use of medical scribes helpful in alleviating the pains of the ever-changing relationship between the physician and the computer. More robust notes and physician satisfaction are driving the use of scribes into more areas of healthcare.

KLAS published its 2011 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Professional Services report, an annual report ranking the best-performing healthcare IT vendors in more than 100 market segments based on ratings from over 18,000 interviews with healthcare providers.

The U.S. House of Representative passed the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act (H.R. 3630) Dec. 13. Among other things, H.R. 3630 prevents an across the board 27 percent cut to Medicare physician reimbursement statutorily required by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The bill provides physicians with a 1 percent increase in Medicare payments for 2012 and 2013.

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are increasingly burdened by multiple imaging appointments prior to surgery, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who presented the findings Dec. 9 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The U.K. Department of Healths Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) program to study the effects of telemedicine has yielded positive results so far, according to a December report.