LAS VEGASThe role of the CMIO has grown from a group of self-proclaimed computer geeks of a dozen or so a decade ago to hundreds of health IT leaders motivated by the need for greater data understanding and communication who today lead IT implementation and optimization projects, according to William F. Bria, MD, CMIO of Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa, Fla., who led a discussion at the Physician IT Symposium on Feb. 21.

LAS VEGASThe change in payment from the government and private payors has already forced thousands of providers to convert to a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model, and providers need to forsake the concept of owning the entire care continuum, said Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, president of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, and director of healthcare transformation at IBM, during a Feb. 20 presentation at the 2012 CIO Forum.

LAS VEGASSpeaking on "The Evolution from Transaction-Oriented to Intelligence-Oriented EHRs," John P. Glaser, PhD, CEO of Siemens Health Services business unit, said we are entering an era of profound change,  during his opening keynote at the Physician IT Symposium on Feb. 20, at the 2012 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference.

About a third of referring physicians who responded to a survey about implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) provided answers that were out of step with national guidelines in terms of patient selection criteria, according to a study published online Feb. 6 in Heart Rhythm. General cardiologists were more likely than other physicians to answer compatibly with guidelines, but even a portion of the cardiologists responded counter to the expert panels patient selection criteria.

Physicians, researchers and a malpractice attorney provide varied perspectives on the current state of defensive medicine and reform efforts.

Cardiovascular practices that strive to remain independent need to creatively manage budgets and clinical practice to avoid capsizing.

In June 2011, Southcoast Hospitals Group, a three-hospital healthcare system in southeast Massachusetts, formed care centers and service lines.

There are risks and rewards with the use of healthcare IT, several studies and reports suggest. That doesnt mean we should avoid using the technology, but rather we should apply it knowing that few systemsand their human operatorsare infallible.