Hospitals, practices argue over who should create HIE; Protected health info of 35K at Howard University Hospital stolen;

> Hospitals and a physician group in Tampa, Fla., are bickering over who should spearhead an effort for creating a local health information exchange, the Tampa Tribune reports. The hospitals believe because they have the most money invested in electronic health record technology, they should be the ones to lead the charge. The doctors, meanwhile, feel they're more patient-centered, and thus, should take the lead. Article

> More than $2 billion in Medicare electronic health record incentives were made between May 2011 and this past February, National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said in a post on the Health IT Buzz blog this week. Among other figures announced by the pair: more than 59,000 eligible professionals, and 2,000 eligible hospitals, have received money from the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Blog post

> A laptop containing the protected health information of close to 35,000 patients at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., was stolen from a contractor's car in January, Healthcare Informatics reports. Data contained on the laptop included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, medical record numbers and diagnosis-related information, among other things. Article

And Finally... And I thought I paid a lot for shoes. Article