Pullman (Wash.) Regional Hospital will invest $10 million in a new Epic EHR system, Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports.

Worcester-based University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Group awarded four of its physicians $200,000 for their telemedicine initiative aimed at increasing evaluations of individuals suspected of opioid overdose, Worcester Business Journal reports.

Twelve health information technology notes:

There will be an emergence of a "blockchain ecosystem with healthcare-focused use cases" in the next five to 10 years, according to research from Frost & Sullivan.

New research prompted the Department of Homeland Security to resend a warning on cybersecurity vulnerabilities in electronic medical devices, according to the Digital Journal.

Hospitals are now adopting artificial intelligence tools to teach physicians and staff to be more empathetic toward patients and families, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google announced April 2 that it will require contracting companies to provide their employees healthcare, parental leave and other benefits, according to Bloomberg.

IBM has patented an artificial intelligence tool that its CEO Ginni Rometty says is roughly 95 percent accurate at identifying employees who are about to quit, CNBC reports.

Amazon unveiled software for its voice assistant Alexa that allows healthcare organizations to transmit and receive patients' protected health information, according to an April 4 company blog post.

Health IT security company Imprivata partnered with Verato, a patient identity matching solutions provider, on a patient identity management platform.