The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will make the Veterans Health Administration EHR (VistA Office) system available at no cost to physicians in August 2005. While its utility in practice settings is unknown, the expectation is, at the very least, that the availability of a free system will encourage commercial vendors to reevaluate the functionality and prices of their systems.

The Physicians’ Foundations (which were created and funded by the RICO settlements) have established a consulting team to help identify and evaluate public-domain, open-source, and commercial systems aimed at small practices. The reports are expected this fall.

The eHealth Initiative, a national nonprofit organization, is developing a variety of tools to help physicians with technology. One of them helps physicians solicit and compare quotes for EHR systems.

CMS has created the Doctors’ Office Quality Information Technology program (DOQ-IT), through which doctors can get information to create and improve electronic workflow.

Regional health information organizations—entities that support the development of electronic communities for the exchange of secure health data—are being formed in California and throughout the U.S. These organizations will serve as testing grounds for the interconnection of local clinicians.

Last month, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Frist introduced a bill that would, according to the Associated Press, ”set a new national standard by which some 6,000 hospitals and more than 9,000 health care providers can better communicate with one another.”

NEXT

• Electronic Health Records: Prepare Now, Buy Later
• What Can You Do to Prepare for the Transition to EHRs?
• Need Help Evaluating EHR Technology?
• Highlights from CMA’s Health IT Summit
• Is that a Cutting-Edge Clinical Reference Library in Your Pocket?
• Free Secure Digital Certificates for CMA Member

Contact: Nileen Verbeten, 916/444-5532 or nverbeten@cmanet.org.