> Blue Shield of California is giving $20 million to 18 California hospitals, health systems, clinics, and physician groups to help them create accountable care organizations (ACOs). Some of the grants will be used to implement information systems, including health data exchanges, electronic health records and predictive modeling tools. FierceHealthIT
> Arguing that slow electronic health record use can be a matter of life or death, Dr. Jason Ruben, director of the CEP America Scribe Program advocates for the use of pre-med students as scribes to smoothen the transition to EHRs in an interview with Becker's Hospital Review. "They are a bridge between the new technology and physicians," he says. Article
> The California Department of Health Care Services announced earlier this month that providers now can apply to receive Medicaid electronic health record incentives, reports iHealthBeat. Hospital registration opened Oct. 3, while physician groups will be able to apply beginning Nov. 15. Individual physicians will be able to apply for incentives starting Dec. 15. Article
> The ever-evolving, contentious effort to merge the electronic health records of the Department of Defense and the Veterans Affairs Department just took another step forward. Mark Goodge, chief technology officer of the Military Health System, announced that the integrated electronic health record (iEHR) will use common services applications rather than a single proprietary system. FierceHealthIT
And Finally... Lightning apparently can strike in the same spot twice. Article