Security IT company CynergisTek has released three new offerings designed for healthcare organizations with fewer than 100 beds to provide small healthcare organizations with IT and security services, which include IT support services, email technology and a HIPAA/HITECH security compliance review.

During an HIT Clinical Quality Workgroup update this week, Janet Corrigan, chair of the HIT Standards Committee, and Floyd Eisenberg, workgroup member, provided updates on three initiatives: re-tooling of 2011 meaningful use measures, results of an environmental scan of leading healthcare systems and an NQF Fast Track project.

In welcoming individuals to the 2014 environment, setting a framework for standards that will abbreviate the enrollment process will facilitate development of a simpler process for applicants, according to an update by the HIT Policy & Standards Committees Enrollment Workgroup on June 30.

After spending an estimated $127 million over nine years on its outpatient scheduling system project, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has not implemented any of the planned systems capabilities and is essentially starting over, according to a June 28 report published online by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Heart Surgeon Jack Copeland, MD, will join the faculty of the new $227 million Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) filed a proposed rule last week addressing changes to the Medicare Part B physician payment fee schedule for calendar year 2011, including the integration of Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) and the EMR incentive program.

Mazor Surgical Technologies, a developer of medical robotics, imaging devices and implants, has released C-InSight, its new 3D imaging tool, for use in clinics and hospital operating rooms across the U.S.

Michael Mendelsohn, MD, has been named Mercks senior vice president of Merck Research Laboratories and franchise head of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular research.