Meaningful Use / MIPS was the topic on everyone’s mind this week and it’s what we’re covering in our weekly news roundup. Highlights include survey results on EHR use, coverage of the Health IT Summit, and comments from Karen DeSalvo.

Panelists at the Health IT Summit discuss the future of technology and health.

The Health IT Summit was held this week in San Diego. During the gathering, a panel discussed the Healthcare IT and their concerns about the challenges the industry faces. The panelists included CIOs and CEOs from health systems and IT service providers. A Healthcare Informatics article features several excerpts from the discussion. Throughout the discussion, there was a consistent theme — healthcare needs to operate like other industries. It needs to provide value, and begin adopting the technologies that the younger generations have grown to expect.

More EHR benefits realized.

A recent article in Healthcare IT News drives home the benefits of technology in healthcare that were discussed at the Health IT Summit. Pediatricians at Pediatric Network, a seven-clinic health network in Washington began employing a mobile application to connect with their EHR and are reaping the benefits. CIO, Brock Morris states, “physicians making their rounds at the hospital can now access information and take notes at the bedside, rather than rushing around the hospital trying to find an open computer station, then asking for log-in information. In the case of newborns, they can get an EHR started on the spot, rather than later.” This translates into better care and care providers who are more in tune to the technology that their patients demand.

National Coordinator for HIT comments on the results of a survey that explores the status of EHR use in the move to Meaningful Use / MIPS. 

Karen DeSalvo, the National Coordinator for health information technology published a post this week discussing the results of the latest survey exploring the status of the Meaningful Use / MIPS program. According to the survey:

• Nearly 80% of office-based physicians used some type of electronic health record system in 2013.
• Half of office-based physicians surveyed said they use a system that qualifies as a “basic system,” up from just 11% in 2006.
• Almost 70% of office-based physicians noted their intent to participate in the EHR incentive program.

DeSalvo states that the results of the survey are encouraging, but there is still work to be done.