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HHS is continuing its drive to encourage technology adoption in the healthcare industry, according to an update by research group CCH Health Care. The group quotes from this month's GAO review of HHS progress on healthcare IT over the past year, noting that the department has awarded $42 million in contracts intended to develop new standards and test the practicality of large scale health information networks. Key accomplishments include the establishment of the American Health …

An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association authored by a group of prominent physicians suggests new guidelines that would restrict drug and device company gift-giving and impose tighter limits on continued medical education programs. The group also wants better disclosure of consulting deals and says "no strings attached" arrangements should be done away with. The authors concede that many hospitals are "likely to ignore their suggestions," but hope that …

In a unanimous vote, the Senate passed the Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S.1418), legislation that would increase federal funding for healthcare IT. The legislation, which has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, grants official recognition to Dr. David Brailer's Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and authorizes spending on health IT projects. Some critics have charged the bill doesn't go far enough, reasoning that government spending must be increased …

New laws and regulations should not be allowed to strangle the development of the nation's health information technology infrastructure, according to HHS officials. Dr. David Brailer told an audience at the National Medicare Prescription Drug Congress on Friday that new rules governing e-prescribing are an example of the kind of compromise that can be struck.

"The regulatory process can't keep up with technical innovation and expansion in IT," Brailer said. "The regulations that …

The Department of Health and Human Services bolstered its case for spending on health IT projects with a pair of reports which argue that a national health information network and a system of electronic health records could save taxpayers between $51 million and $181 million by preventing fraud. The first report, commissioned by the office of Health IT coordinator Dr. David Brailer, notes that automated coding software could help fight fraud significantly. The second argues that HIT …

National Health IT coordinator Dr. David Brailer told an audience of about 200 physicians, software engineers and executives from Kaiser Permanente at a health IT conference that the company's new electronic health records system should "serve as a national model." Kaiser's HealthConnect initiative will see the company spend $3.3 billion on modernization technology throughout its health care network over the course of the next decade. "The way Kaiser has gone about doing this is a great …