Welcome to the CMS eHealth Website!
What is eHealth?
Discover how eHealth simplifies the adoption of electronic standards and health information technology.
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eHealth Vendor
CMS has created educational tools and resources to support the needs of vendors as they work to create health IT systems that meet eHealth program requirements, as well as health care providers’ needs.
Coming Soon...
eHealth Programs
Learn more about the eHealth programs that help providers deliver higher quality care and reduce costs
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eHealth Resources
View resources about eHealth, including a visual overview of the unification of the CMS programs.
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eHealth News & Updates
September 20, 2013 - Friday
Health IT and Quality: Eliminating Health Disparities
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
Through the implementation and oversight of eHealth programs, CMS is working to make the benefits of health IT available to all patients. One important benefit—eliminating health care disparities—is a goal that CMS and industry stakeholders are working to achieve. Read More.
September 19, 2013 - Thursday
Medicaid EHR Incentive Program: Making Meaningful Use Work for Pediatricians
By Julie Boughn, Deputy Director, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at CMS
This July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that more than 300,000 providers have received payment for successfully participating in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. We also recently released new data demonstrating how doctors and other health care providers have been able to use EHRs to increase efficiency in their practices while safeguarding privacy and improving care for millions of patients nationwide. Read More.
September 18, 2013 - Wednesday
Health IT Week: Maine Hospitals Achieve Milestone for HIE Connectivity
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
Great news from Maine—it’s one of the first states to achieve full connectivity between hospitals utilizing technology to support interoperable health information exchange. HealthInfoNet, an HHS grantee running the state’s regional extension center and state health information exchange (HIE), announced that all of the acute care hospitals in the state are under contract to connect to a network that will enable standards-based and secure information sharing. Read More.
September 17, 2013 - Tuesday
Everyone is Responsible for the Privacy and Security of Health Information
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
In August, CMS hosted an eHealth Summit with key industry stakeholders to discuss issues surrounding the future of health information technology (health IT) in our country. A major area of focus among the discussion panels was the privacy and security of patient health information. Read More.
September 16, 2013 - Monday
Stage 2: Engaging Patients in Their Health Care
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
Over the past few years, there has been a new trend in the discussion about eHealth and improving our health care system – a trend to focus on patient engagement. Getting patients more engaged in their health care is a proven method to improve outcomes and care coordination, and for that reason it is one of the six National Quality Strategy priorities, and a primary goal for CMS. Read More.
September 13, 2013 - Friday
eHealth Spotlight: Understanding Administrative Simplification: Part 2
By Christine Stahlecker, Director, Administrative Simplification Group
Part one of the Understanding Administrative Simplification series discussed the components and goals of administrative simplification. Part two will explain how these initiatives work together to create efficiencies and improve the health care industry. Read more.
September 11, 2013 - Wednesday
eHealth Spotlight: Understanding Administrative Simplification: Part 1
By Christine Stahlecker, Director, Administrative Simplification Group
Not long ago, a study in Health Affairs found that the average physician spends a cumulative total of 3 weeks a year on billing and insurance related tasks. This means that American doctors are spending 3 weeks a year on the phone with insurance companies or poring over accounts instead of providing health care to patients. If we want to move health care in this country toward better care, better population health, and lower costs, decreasing the administrative cost of a physician of doing business will be an essential element. Read more.
August 21, 2013 - Wednesday
Accountable Care Organizations: The Future of Coordinated Care
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is a group of primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together with a common goal of delivering high-quality coordinated care to their Medicare patients. Read more.
August 8, 2013 - Thursday
CMS and ONC Response to Public Comments with Interoperability Principles and Strategy
Read more about CMS and ONC's strategy for advancing Health Information Exchange.
July 17, 2013 - Wednesday
The Real World Impact of Meaningful Use
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
In a new CMS press release, we provided an update on the EHR Incentive Programs. Specifically, the release discussed the real impact of meaningful use requirements on the nation’s health care system. Read more.
July 11, 2013 - Thursday
Looking ahead to 2014: eHealth Program Milestones
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
2014 will be a big year for CMS eHealth programs— there are key deadlines for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs; an expansion of eReporting will be coming up; the implementation of quality reporting program alignment begins; and the ICD-10 transition takes place on October 1st. Read more.
June 28, 2013 - Friday
CMS Applauds Goals of 2013 WEDI Report
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
In 1993, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) created the original WEDI Report, which provided a vision for the industry to successfully transition to electronic data interchange standards as a way to create cost-efficiencies to reduce the burden of administrative processes. Read more.
June 26, 2013 - Wednesday
An Important Step Forward: ONC Voluntary Guidelines for HIE Governance
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
Our partners at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released an important document last month, the “Governance Framework for Trusted Electronic Health Information Exchange.” Read more.
June 21, 2013 - Friday
May 3rd - Coding and Billing Session: What We Learned
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
On May 3rd, CMS and ONC held a public listening session with a wide variety of stakeholders that represent physicians and other providers, hospitals, coding and billing specialists, and developers in the healthcare IT industry. Read more.
June 17, 2013 - Friday
Deeper Look - 2014 CQM EPs Update
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
CMS recently released the updated 2014 clinical quality measures (CQMs) for eligible professionals (EPs), as well as corresponding specifications for electronic reporting. I’d like to talk a little bit about CQMs and why this update is important for providers. Read more.
May 31, 2013 - Friday
EHR Webinar: Moving to Stage 2 of Meaningful Use
Join CMS and Physicians’ Practice Tuesday, June 4 from 12 to 1pm EST for a webinar on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs!
This webinar will explore key differences between Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU) requirements while also allowing time for limited questions and answers. Participants will learn specific MU measures and identify what changes need to be made to continue to receive Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Payments in 2013 and beyond.
You can register for the webinar through the Physicians’ Practice website: http://www.physicianspractice.com/ehr/moving-stage-2-meaningful-use
And additional information about the EHR Incentive Programs can be found at: www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms
May 14, 2013 - Tuesday
ICD-10: A Health Care Priority
By Robert Tagalicod, Director, Office of E-Health Standards and Services
May 7, 2013 - Tuesday
Learn More about Timing of Quality Measure Alignment at CMS
By Kate Goodrich, Acting Director, Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group
May 3, 2013 - Friday
CMS and ONC's Meeting about EHRs, Coding, and Billing
April 26, 2013 - Friday
Aligning Quality Reporting Programs at CMS
By Kate Goodrich, Acting Director, Quality Measurement and Health Assessment Group
eHealth List Servs
March 7, 2013 - Thursday
eHealth: Aligning Quality Measurement at CMS
By Patrick Conway, MD, MSC
March 6, 2013 - Wednesday
How ICD-10 and Administrative Simplification can support eHealth
By Christine Stahlecker
March 5, 2013 - Tuesday
Building the Future through CMS eHealth
By Robert Tagalicod
Privacy and Security's Role in the eHealth Transformation
By Maribel Franey
March 4, 2013 - Monday
EHR Incentive Programs: Moving into the Next Stage
By Elizabeth Holland
Welcome to the CMS eHealth Blog
By Robert Tagalicod
eHealth Website
Visit the eHealth website to find helpful information on electronic standards and health information technology implementation, guidance, and milestones.
Follow CMS on Twitter
CMS is tweeting about eHealth and its programs. Join the conversation by using #CMSeHealth and the CMS handle, @CMSGov.
Join CMS at HIMSS
If you are attending the annual HIMSS conference, we encourage you to learn more about eHealth by attending the CMS sessions, and visit the CMS booth #2868.
We look forward to a successful conference and to the launch of the eHealth initiative!
eHealth Resources
eHealth Roadmap
The CMS eHealth Roadmap shows how improved quality of care, better health outcomes, and reduced costs can be achieved through eHealth.
