Plans should make sure EHRs run smoothly; Technical terminology translated;

> While health plans do not directly use electronic health records, they should do everything they can to make the provider transitions to EHRs run smoothly--since it ultimately could save money in the long run, Patrick Johnston, president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, said at a forum on health plans' involvement in the EHR movement. Article

> To make it easier for patients to understand the information in their electronic health records, Dossia--an employer consortium that includes companies such as AT&T, Intel, Wal-Mart, BP America, and Cardinal Health--has signed a deal to use terminology translation technology from Health Language Inc. to help convert medical lingo into layman terms. Article

> The Partnership to Advance Clinical electronic Research (PACeR) is piloting a plan in New York State to accelerate the pace and lower the cost of clinical trials by both using electronic health data and identifying potential candidates more efficiently. FierceBiotech

> Due to a demand for electronic health record applications, the U.S. healthcare IT software market is expected grow in revenue from $6.8 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion in 2011, according to a report by RNCOS, a global research firm based in India. Announcement

And Finally... Is your surgeon is getting very sleepy? Article