People

Indiana HIE names chief medical officer

Dr. Gregory Larkin, a former family practitioner, will help the health information exchange with clinical strategy and set priorities.

Digital Government

Congress fine-tunes military health IT funding

The latest appropriations bills would fund tracking systems for wounded troops and for Army reserve and guard units.

Digital Government

Mandate e-prescribing, committee advises HHS secretary

AHIC recommends that HHS seek authority from Congress to make e-prescribing a Medicare requirement.

Digital Government

'Wired' bill fails to win quick Senate passage

Changes are expected in this year's major health IT bill as sponsors seek to win approval without floor debate.

People

Idaho health department taps ACS for benefits management

Affiliated Computer Services will provide pharmacy claims processing, automated prior authorizations, help-desk support, prospective and retrospective drug use reviews, and federal and supplemental drug rebate administration and reporting.

Digital Government

FCC OKs $417 million in grants for rural health networks

Sixty-nine projects to link rural health centers with one another and with urban areas will receive sums between $194,000 and $24.7 million.

Digital Government

Leavitt calls on Medicare, Medicaid to require e-prescribing

The HHS secretary uses his personal blog to urge large health care providers, including the government, to make electronic prescription services mandatory.

People

VA, DOD push single medical exam, e-benefits site

The goal is to help injured service members transition to veteran status as they return from duty.

People

President names new VA secretary

Former Surgeon General James Peake's nomination goes to the Senate for approval.

Digital Government

Committee readies recommendations to extend broad health privacy protections

HHS advisory panel issues draft report calling for new laws and rules to cover nearly everyone who handles medical records.

Digital Government

Committee OKs bill to give NIST role in federal health IT

Rep. Gordon amends his bill to clarify that it will not compete with health IT programs under way at HHS.

People

White House order puts HHS in charge of biosurveillance efforts

President Bush's order on public health preparedness for a medical emergency says biosurveillance should rely on e-medical records where possible.

People

Panel details fixes for care of wounded warriors

The recommendations include creating a scorecard for documenting the progress of information sharing between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments.

Digital Government

Ex-CMS chief: Resolve health IT privacy, security issues

Mark McClellan says the federal government should lead efforts to build trustworthiness into health IT systems and policies.

People

CMS taps Citizant for business modeling

Under the $1 million contract, the company will produce and document business process models to help the CIO make investment decisions.

People

Letter: VistA outage not so bad

If nine hours without power leads to months of data entry, woe are we for all the paper systems in use almost everywhere else.

Digital Government

VistA outage disrupts Calif. VA hospitals

One official called it "the most significant technological threat to patient safety VA has ever had."

Acquisition

HHS awards $22.5M in contracts to health info exchanges

The exchanges will participate in trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

Digital Government

CMS awards more Medicaid Transformation Grants

Sixteen states and Puerto Rico get funds to modernize the delivery and administration of Medicaid health services.

Digital Government

Letter: Stop exacerbating health care problems

The government has socialized the U.S. health care system enough already, a reader writes.