The Department of Health and Human Services will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in May to modify the HIPAA privacy and security rules as necessary to enforce provisions of the HITECH Act, according to a semi-annual regulatory agenda in the April 26 Federal Register.

The tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Amicas common stock by Project Ready, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merge Healthcare, expired on April 23, according to health IT company Merge.

CD/DVD technologies developer Rimage has reported net income of $695,000 in the first quarter of 2010, down from the $1.19 million posted in the same quarter in 2009.

Despite new regulations in the HITECH Act, data breaches and medical identity theft remains at critical levels throughout hospitals in the U.S., where 83.6 percent of providers have data breaches every year, according to a report from identity theft prevention contractor Identity Force.

Without the confidence of a full enterprise-wide perspective and objective, accurate clinical and pricing data, a hospitals quality of care and bottom line could be at risk, according to a new paper from nonprofit health organization ECRI Institute, which advises hospital administrators on capital purchases.

Describing the current state of healthcare performance measurements and the transition to EHRs as a cacophony of well-meaning but uncoordinated signals, Helen Burstin, MD, senior vice president for performance measures of the National Quality Forum, explained during a HIMSS quality measurement webinar on April 21 that by setting national priorities, the strategies and efforts of multiple groups in the U.S. can be aligned towards improvement.

With the current rate at 85 percent--a 10 percent increase over 2008 data--the healthcare industry is making progress on the adoption of electronic claims, according to a report on electronic transaction-adoption status in the U.S. by from revenue cycle management company Emdeon.

The proliferation of portable, hand-carried and now even pocket-sized microportable ultrasound devices has opened the door to a new mindset for physicians. Instead of moving a patient to the radiology department or rolling imaging equipment to the bedside, a physician can grab a laptop-size scanning system or reach into his lab coat, turn on a smartphone-sized ultrasound scanner and begin scanning anywhere care is administered. Portable ultrasound systems are becoming a part, too, of the overall physical exam a visual stethoscope of sorts to immediately peer into a patient to screen or search for underlying issues.