>The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to procure a data-mining tool that will help consolidate data regarding adverse reactions to drugs and vaccines, NextGov reported Tuesday. These tools will also allow researchers to analyze large-scale sets of data, as well as monitor computer systems to prevent fraud and cyber-attacks. Article
>The American Hospital Association has urged CMS to submit a firm deadline for ICD-10 implementation, InformationWeek Healthcare reported yesterday. While the tentative deadline for implementation is October 2014, the AHA is concerned hospitals may not be adequately prepared, and hopes that CMS will cement the deadline so hospitals can conclude their external testing in time. Article
>Primary-care physicians at the New Jersey Health Information Technology Extension Center fear that the cost of implementing digital records may halt further EHR acquisitions at private practices, NJ Biz reported Tuesday. While private practice physicians concede that digital records so far have helped improve care-tracking and efficiencies, many docs have had to pay thousands of dollars for EHR implementations out of their own earnings, which may deter other solo practices from following suit. Article
And finally … File this under "How did we manage to get anything done before Al Gore invented the Internet?" Article