Health Information Technology News

Electronic Health Records: The Time Is Now (Medical News Today)
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), representing more than 20,000 individual members — of which 73% work in provider settings — and 350 corporate members, today announced its support for the health information technology (IT) provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan of 2009 proposed by Congress.

ACS Extends Relationship with The Queen s Health System Through Renewed $26 Million IT Outsourcing Contract (Centre Daily Times)
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS) is extending its relationship with The Queen s Health System with a renewed information technology (IT) outsourcing contract valued at $26 million over three years.

Congressional Leaders Can Look to Indiana for Innovative Approach to Health IT in Economic Stimulus Package (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)
Leaders in Indiana are encouraging Congress to consider its innovative, community-based health information technology program as a model for the rest of the nation as it infuses between $2-5 billion in health IT infrastructure as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Two House Panels Approve Medicaid, COBRA, Health IT Funding In Economic Stimulus Package (Medical News Today)
The House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved Thursday a two-year, $825 billion economic stimulus package that includes additional funds for Medicaid, $20 billion for health care information technology and federal subsidies for health insurance premiums under COBRA, among other provisions, CQ Today reports.

Achieving Interconnected Healthcare through HITSP Real-Life Scenarios (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) rely on interoperability specifications from the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) to exchange patient data

US Senate Stimulus Proposes More For Health IT Than House (Nasdaq)
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Proposed spending in the U.S. Senate’s stimulus package includes $3 billion more for health information technology than that proposed by the U.S. House, a summary released Friday by the Senate Appropriations Committee shows.

$20 billion is the number on health IT stimulus (ZDNet)
The U.S. House has put a number on the amount of health IT in the President’s stimulus package. $20 billion.

Stimulus Bill Holds Billions for NIH, CDC (GenomeWeb News)
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Federal economic stimulus package that awaits both Congress and newly-inaugurated President Barack Obama includes billions of dollars in new funding for the National Institutes of Health and other research agencies, as well as a major funding plan for a health information technology program.

Shakir adds defendant in lawsuit (Mt. Vernon Register-News)
BENTON Rend Lake College vice president of information technology Salah Shakir has added attorney John Huffman as a defendant in a federal discrimination lawsuit, and has also asked the judge assigned to hear the case to reconsider a ruling not to recuse himself from hearing the case.

PFCD Experts Cite Health Information Technology as Key Investment for Economic Stimulus (PR Newswire via Yahoo! News)
PFCD Executive Director Ken Thorpe and Alan Aviles, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, spoke to reporters today about the potential inclusion of health information technology (HIT) in the economic stimulus package. President-elect Barack Obama has indicated his desire to make the immediate investments necessary to ensure America’s …