Welcome to the Health IT Buzz Blog
Learn more about HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
Electronic Health & Medical Records Health IT Holds the Promise to Help Improve Health
Thomas A. Mason | April 30, 2015
Electronic Clinical Measures Point to EHRs Potential to Monitor Blood Pressure Control
About 1 of 3 U.S. adults—67 million people—have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. High blood pressure increases the risk for a variety of diseases, including stroke, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart and kidney failure, and atrial fibrillation. High blood pressure is also called the “silent killer” because it often has no warning signs or symptoms, and many people do not know they have it.
From the ONC Desk Meet Dr. Andrew Gettinger, ONC’s New CMIO
Andrew Gettinger | April 28, 2015
So what is an anesthesiology critical care specialist with over 30 years of clinical practice at a highly regarded academic medical center doing as the ONC’s chief medical information officer? The answer includes direction from Dr. Jack Wennberg, pioneer researcher in medical systems and founder of the health services research group that is now best known for the Dartmouth atlas, followed twenty years later by the same but much clearer advice and direction from former Surgeon General,
Read Full Post.
Health IT Safety The Evidence Shows IOM Was Right on Health IT and Patient Safety
Andrew Gettinger | April 27, 2015
The potential for health IT to reduce errors has been a pillar of health policy on patient safety since the Institute of Medicine’s To Err is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001). In 2012, in Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care the IOM found the evidence on the impact of health IT on patient safety was “mixed.”
Read Full Post.
From the ONC Desk Health Information Technology: Where We Stand And Where We Need To Go
Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo | April 24, 2015
Karen DeSalvo, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, discusses her view of the health information technology landscape. She outlines an agenda for her office that includes incentivizing interoperability, “standardizing standards,” and establishing shared expectations and actions around data security and privacy. This post, which also appears on Health Affairs Blog, is based on Dr. DeSalvo’s presentation at the Health Information and Management Systems Society 2015 annual conference last week.
Read Full Post.
From the ONC Desk Becoming the ONC’s CHIO: My Introduction to the Federal Government
Michael McCoy | April 21, 2015
I have now been a Federal Employee for a couple of months, the first time since I mustered out of the Army in 1983. Having spent all of my professional life in areas other than the federal government, I had previously viewed government’s work with suspicion and skepticism.
Read Full Post.