The U.S. market for ambulatory electronic health records will double from $1.3 billion in 2009 to an estimated $2.6 billion in 2012, according to a study published this month by Frost & Sullivan.
The report said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs encourage healthcare providers to [...]

Technology is becoming one of the fastest-growing career fields, with computer-related jobs topping the list and engineering evolving into a promising field for government contractors, according to the Department of Labor.

“In the information technology sector, we have seen a significant growth in information security,” Edward Wilde, director of talent and learning for Stinger [...]

Most business technology professionals believe the United States has lost its position as a global IT innovation leader, citing offshore job movement, failure in education, and national policy making as top three reasons, according to a new report.
The “Research: Innovation Mandate” report surveyed nearly 625 business technology professionals on whether the nation is [...]

Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a new White House report detailing how last year’s economic stimulus package is pushing advancement in health IT by funneling billions of dollars to help hospitals, healthcare providers, states and other parties adopt health IT programs.
Overall, health IT is getting $20 billion from the American Recovery [...]

A Health and Human Services Department panel has approved a plan to build a federal database of business rules that could help states determine the eligibility of consumers for Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs, Government Health IT reports.
Having all state health-program enrollment data in a one database would also keep [...]

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced yesterday more than $32 million in FY 2010 funds to make healthcare more accessible for Americans living in rural areas.
“These funds reflect the priorities spelled out by President Obama in providing the best healthcare possible to rural Americans,” she said. “The ultimate goal is to build healthier rural populations and [...]

The Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to implement an electronic health record system to increase the efficiency of its healthcare services for undocumented immigrants and fugitive aliens detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Government Health IT reports.
The department said it is overhauling its information systems, and the EHR system could be [...]

In an effort to help chief information officers and executives across the United States implement electronic health records, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives has released a guide that provides a plan on how IT executives can establish a robust foundation for their organization’s IT systems to meet the meaningful use requirements issued by [...]

To help the nation’s healthcare industry transition into the digital age in an effective and meaningful fashion, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has published approved procedures for testing IT systems that work with electronic health records.
Released in draft form earlier this year, the approved and finalized testing procedures are now available for use.
Under [...]

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday announced grant awards of $46 million to 45 states and the District of Columbia that will help improve the oversight of proposed health-insurance premium hikes, take action against insurers seeking unreasonable rate increases, and ensure consumers receive value for their premium dollars.
Insurance [...]