Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology, addressed an overflowing crowd of HIMSS attendees during the keynote address at HIMSS. Less than 24 hours after Dr. Blumenthal led an ONC Townhall meeting at the conference, to discuss the ONC’s release of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding certifying bodies.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (IT) and train workers for the health care jobs of the future. The awards will help make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in health care and information technology. This Recovery Act investment will help grow the emerging health IT industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has established Health Information Technology (HIT) Regional Extension Centers to support adoption of HIT. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, ONC awarded grants for the establishment and operation of Regional Extension Centers to provide HIT technical assistance to health care [...]

The HITECH Act authorizes a Health Information Technology Extension Program. The extension program consists of Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers (RECs) and a national Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC). The RECs will offer technical assistance, guidance, and information to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The HITRC will be responsible for gathering relevant information on effective practices and help the RECs collaborate with one another and with relevant stakeholders to identify and share best practices in EHR adoption, effective use, and provider support. HITECHActHelp has compiled a list of grant recipients.

Over the next four years, the amount of personal medical information online will increase exponentially, opening up new avenues for hackers to expose personal data that, unlike financial information, can result in a permanent violation of privacy.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set a deadline of 2015 for healthcare facilities to being using electronic health records (EHRs), thereby ushering in the digitalization of all patient information. As patient data is aggregated on health networks, it becomes a bigger target for those who want to steal it and exploit it on the Internet, experts say.

The recently passed health care legislation could create major uptrend in tech spending. A variety of components will lead to increased regulation and Federal dollars for health IT solutions.

Late in the night Sunday, the House of Representatives helped President Obama deliver what no other President has been able to do — a significant reform of the nation’s health care system. The process is complicated by the fact that the House first had to pass the Senate’s version of health care reform, and then pass a package of fixes that the Senate will have to take up separately through a “reconciliation” procedure requiring only a simple majority vote. To help figure out what health care reform will look like if the reconciliation bill is adopted, a number of news organizations are offering their own summaries or guides to the changes, including: The New York Times, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. Also, you can read online what the Congressional Budget Office had to say about the bill it estimates will cost $940 billion over the next decade.