Morning Headlines 5/14/13

Report: Global health IT market to hit $56.7 billion by 2017

A recent analysis of the global health IT market forecasts an annual growth rate of seven percent driving the $40.4 billion industry as high as $56.7 billion by 2017.

Winners Announced for New York Patient Portal

The New York eHealth Collaborative’s Patient Portals for New Yorkers contest has concluded with Mana Health taking first place honors. Mana Health’s portal includes secure e-mail communication with providers, an audit trail of patient chart accesses, and a clean and intuitive layout.

Medical Association Backs Bills to Cut Red Tape

Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that will allow providers to start swiping patients driver’s licenses to collect identification information for claims processing. The change is supported by the Texas Medical Association, which has suggested in statements that automating the recording of demographic information will free up a significant amount of time for clinic staff.

Dangers found in lack of safety oversight for Medicare drug benefit

ProPublica releases an online tool that displays individual physician prescribing behaviors in easily understood graphics intended to highlight how far from "typical" a physician’s prescribing practices fall for their specialty. The underlying data comes from four years of Medicare Part D 2007-2010.