AMIA and JAMIA in the News

It's no secret that small physician practices are less likely than larger practices and hospitals to adopt and use electronic health record systems.The federal government's meaningful use incentive program aims to drive widespread EHR adoption. But, small practices are lagging behind and face a much steeper climb to get to meaningful use.According to the Center for Health Care Strategies, nearly 60% of physicians work in practices with four or fewer doctors, and about 65% of U.S. physician visits occur at these small practices.

AMIA co-convenes meeting that succeeds in forging common US.-EU approach to HIT. The final meeting in a series held by the ARGOS eHealth Consortium, a project funded by the European Commission (EC) to develop and promote common methods for responding to global eHealth challenges, recently concluded in Budapest amidst greater mutual understanding and stronger agreement among a broad set of leaders in Europe and the U.S., all of whom are responsible for expanding the use of health information technology (HIT).

Members of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) traveled to Capitol Hill last week to make the case for expanding the roles of health IT and informatics in healthcare delivery, and to press for accelerated IT adoption efforts in the healthcare sector.

A new study, conducted by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the schools of medicine at Indiana University and Moi University, is one of the first to explore and demonstrate the impact of electronic record systems on quality of medical care in a developing country.