2011s Best Performing EHR Vendors for Medical Practices including Neurology, Radiology, Pathology, Psychiatry, Allergy, Cardiology and Oncology on February 11.

2011s Best Performing EHR Vendors for Surgical Practices including Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Gastroenterology, OB/GYN and Plastic Surgery on February 21.

Black Book Survey reports Leading software suppliers in General Practice, Family Practice, Pediatrics and Geriatrics.
See story

About ninety percent of all early adopters of EHR will not qualify for the government stimulus program.
See story

A survey by Black Book Rankings, a division of the market research firm Brown-Wilson Group, ranks the top EMR vendors for 2011 based on key performance indicators including meaningful use.The rankings include the top 20 vendors in 10 categories including acute care/hospital, emergency and physician groups, which are broken down by size. See story

Over 4500 users of electronic medical records, EHR, practice management, and hospital information systems participated in the annual satisfaction survey, identifying best software firms on 18 key performance indicators including ARRA stimulus support, implementation, cost and meaningful use. Full results and competitive report ordering available at www.blackbookrankings.com on November 1, 2010.

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology announced today that it has tested and certified 33 Electronic Health Record (EHR) products under the Commission's ONC-ATCB program, which certifies that the EHRs are capable of meeting the 2011/2012 criteria supporting Stage 1 meaningful use as approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Certification is required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The certifications include 19 Complete EHRs, which meet all of the 2011/2012 criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology, and 14 EHR Modules, which meet one or more – but not all – of the criteria.

The Department of Health and Services estimates that 90% of previously Certified providers will be certified and compliant with the requirements of the stimulus, which means healthcare providers using the other approximately 230 products will not qualify for the stimulus.

The Canadian Medical Association released a five-year $423 million plan that would see electronic medical records available to all family doctors and local clinics, improved use of records and more efficient exchange of information between doctors treating a patient. Currently, only 37 per cent of Canadian doctors use electronic medical records, compared to 99 per cent in the Netherlands, 96 per cent in the United Kingdom and 95 per cent in Australia. US physicians are nearly 70% completion.

They include prescribing drugs electronically, automatically checking for drug interactions and tracking whether patients have been screened for certain diseases. Hospitals must use a set of 14 core functions, and doctors must use a set of 15 in their systems. They also must show they are using five out of 10 optional functions. Hospitals and doctors have to show that they used core functions for 90 days before Oct. 1, 2011, to qualify for the first payments. The requirements will get tougher progressively between now and 2015.