Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HealthInformation Technology Promotion Act of 2006 (H.R. 4157), a bill thatsets out to improve care, reduce medical errors, and ease the exchangeof essential health information via health IT adoption, and theimplementation of standards, and other means. Health Imaging News spoke with Steve Pacicco, CEO of eHealthSolutions, to get a vendor perspective on how the new legislation couldimpact the industry once it becomes law.

The Medical Records Institute (MRI) unveiled the results of its 8thAnnual Survey of EHR Trends and Usage 2006. The MRI’s main motivationin doing the yearly survey is to a gain a sense of where the market isand what is going on, as well as perceived barriers, said C. PeterWaegemann, CEO, this week at the 7th Annual Health IT Trends &Marketing 2006 Conference in Cambridge, MA.

An update regarding the latest activities of the Office of the NationalCoordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), or programs itis associated with, was given to attendees of the 7th Annual Health ITTrends & Marketing 2006 Conference this week in Cambridge, MA.

A storage technology lurks in the background at many healthcare facilities that simplifies and speeds up the work of unknowing users.

It seems the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT could belooking at a reduced budget in 2007. The Senate AppropriationsCommittee's Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and RelatedAgencies Subcommittee last week gave the OK to a fiscal budget for nextyear granting the ONCHIT $63.5 million, $52.6 million under what theWhite House had hoped for.