Some Recent News in the Electronic Health Record Space:

CCHIT Certifications!
Who has passed their 2008 CCHIT Certification for Ambulatory EHR Software? -(Constantly updated) 
Is this really important, or just a lot of hype?  Well, with the new stimulus plan, it appears that having a "Certified EHR" will be a part of qualifying for reimbursement under the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).  Although the details of what qualifies as a "Certified EHR" have not been spelled out, it stands to reason that CCHIT will play an important role in determining this standard.  Why?  Consider the following:

                a) CCHIT has been Federally recognized since 2006,
                b) they have so far met all contractual goals on time, and on budget, and
                c) A large number of EHR products are already certified and "adoption ready"

A Clearer Path Forward for Health IT Certification – Article from ‘EHR Decisions’ – Aug 17, 2009 This article discusses the latest developments on the EHR Software certification process called for as part of the ARRA HITECH stimulus legislation.  It appears they are now discussing "HHS Certification," which may be less detailed than the typical CCHIT Certification process.  Here is a very interesting powerpoint on the subject from the healthit.hhs.gov website.
NOTE:  After this article came out, it seems the additional certification will be referred to as an ARRA Certified product rather than HHS Certified.  The meaning is the same, it seems they just wanted to stay out of legal tangles with using "HHS" in the name.

 Wal-Mart to Sell Electronic Health Record Systems (taken from Technology Review Editors – March 11, 2009)  Okay, I never saw this coming... 
WAL-MART in the PM/EHR software game?  Keep in mind what's being discussed here... a software product that's been around for a while, and experienced notable success - eClinicalWorks.  WAL-MART will not be the company providing hardware, software, or support... they are simply a purchasing channel to enable discount prices to smaller practices.  I am interested to see how this plays out...

 Health IT stimulus includes Medicare EMR incentives – Feb 23, 2009
Why is it time to purchase an EHR System? -- Here are some reasons you may want to consider: According to information presently available --  If you can demonstrate "meaningful use" of a "certified"  EHR software prior to January 1, 2011, you will qualify for maximum incentives (the benefits will scale down each year thereafter until 2015).  If no system is in use by 2015, Medicare reimbursements may be cut for those physicians by up to 3%.  Also, check out Physicians to receive incentives for EHR use – (Healthcare Finance News – Feb 20, 2009).

 How to Make Electronic Medical Records a Reality – NY Times – Feb 28, 2009
Medical experts agree that EHR can help curb costs and improve care -- so why is it that only about 17% of our physicians use EHR systems?  Could this be tied to the fact that three-fourths of the nation's physicians practice in offices with 10 or fewer doctors?  Take a look at this article for some interesting insights.

Two Competitors Merge – Misys & Allscripts – Oct 15, 2008