ARRA/HITECH

Twenty-eight Meaningful Use-savvy clinicians and healthcare professionals from 18 states will be helping other providers find IT success as part of a new initiative at the the Office of the National Coordinator. The inaugural class of ONC’s Health IT Fellows will “provide grassroots insight and…act as champions to their provider and practice community colleagues on a local and national scale,” a purpose statement for the program said.

The Healthcare Informatics Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) has weighed in on a potential Stage 2 meaningful use delay, recommending that the government start on schedule but offer an extension to eligible providers and hospitals.

The American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP) is the latest organization to make a public plea to the government to modify the meaningful use Stage 2 timeline, with the group calling the current arrangement “aggressive.”

Recently, a number of healthcare informatics stakeholders, from the provider, vendor, and association side, shared their concerns over the requirements in Stage 2 in front of a Senate Finance Committee meeting in Washington D.C. In May, CHIME called for a one-year extension of Stage 2 under meaningful use. Others have called for similar changes to the Stage 2 timeline. We're wondering what our readers think.

I often found myself impressed with the way Dr. Farzad Mostashari could bring the focus of conversations about e-health regulations or standards development back to the larger picture of improving care and patient engagement, and he did so in a way that seemed inspirational to those doing the heavy lifting in this field.