Morning Headlines 4/30/15

The Evidence Shows IOM Was Right on Health IT and Patient Safety

ONC publishes its first of four planned reports on health IT and patient safety, titled Recent Evidence That Health IT Improves Patient Safety, the report cites a group of studies to support the argument that health IT has reduced medication error rates, enhanced capability for disease surveillance programs, and increased adherence to evidence-based medicine.

Your medical data: You don’t own it, but you can have it

A Brookings Institute report calls into question the need to charge patients for copies of their medical records now that EHRs have essentially eliminated the overhead cost of producing them incurred by hospitals and practices.

Teladoc plans to file for IPO, sues to stop Texas Medical Board rule

Dallas-based telemedicine vendor Teladoc files confidential IPO forms with the SEC in preparation for a public stock offering. The company also filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Texas Medical Board, claiming that the board is trying to unfairly limit competition by mandating that consultations happen in an in-person setting.

KLAS names Epic, athenahealth, Medfusion most effective in driving patient portal adoption

KLAS releases a report on patient portal vendors, finding that Epic, athenahealth, and Medfusion are leading patient engagement efforts. Customers of these three vendors report that at least 20 percent of their patients have accessed their portal.