Morning Headlines 3/12/14

Federal panel approves MU Stage 3 recommendations

The Health IT Policy Committee approves the Stage 3 Meaningful Use requirements that were recommended by its health policy workgroup, but only after cutting 30 percent of the functionality that was originally proposed.

2014 CEHRT Hardship Exception Guidance

CMS publishes its revised hardship exemption criteria for EHs and EPs. The new criteria essentially rubber stamps the exemption application for anyone that asks for one so long as they report "2014 Vendor Issues" in their request.

Carolinas HealthCare seeks to cut costs through prevention, technology

Carolinas HealthCare System is turning to predictive analytics to help identify ED patients that would likely be readmitted so that preventative measures can be taken. The hospital recorded a $5 million loss this year, its first loss in 30 years, and executives hope that analyzing the data from its EHR system will help it recover that loss.

Integrating Electronic Health Records into Clinical Workflow

A report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology finds that ambulatory EHR vendors are not doing a good enough job building key clinical workflows into EHR software.