Or how to avoid a “dirty” master patient index with a substantial volume of duplicate or overlaid records and its negative impact on care cost, safety and quality.

In Oregon Health Networks continuing series, Scott Zacks looks at the shift toward patient-centered care, understanding that IT alone will not get us there, and shares some next steps.

Officials from AHIP, AAFP, AMA and several others call on President Obama, presenting a number of issues of import to their constituencies.

David S. Finn, Symantec's health IT officer, looks at the reasons some leaders keep HIT employees longer than others.

Defining big data, why the four Congressmen who want to suspend MU payments are crazy, the emerging business case for HIE, and the most important Q&A I've come across in a while.

Beacon on rugged Big Island connects patients with care coordinators and brings clinicians and community groups together to collaborate.

Beyond just sharing patient records, health information exchanges are a "more aggressive way" of connecting the referral pattern from physicians to hospitals," replete with cost-savings and revenue generation.

As the healthcare industry transforms itself through multiple stages of healthcare reform, it is painfully apparent that an organization's ability to succeed depends upon critical health IT connections. The interoperability of data between clinical systems is the bridge that connects million-dollar electronic medical record expenditures with the effective exchange of health information, according to a new Modern Healthcare Insights white paper, co-developed by ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care.

Based on CMS projections combined with an estimated risk rate, the numbers total a sum equal to the loan portfolio write-down by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This top line reimbursement risk could redistribute healthcare wealth enough to trigger bankruptcies, consolidations, mergers, and radical shifts in health IT companies and products.