The following are some of the biggest stories circulating in the health IT sphere this past week.
1. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing March 17 discussing EHRs and meaningful use with four panelists representing different stakeholders in the industry. Peter DeVault, director of interoperability at Verona, Wis.-based Epic Systems, was the panelist representing vendors, and much of his testimony revolved around the IT giant's commitment and progress in interoperability. The backlash to Mr. DeVault's commentary was pretty colorful.
2. Members of the CommonWell Health Alliance took to Twitter to respond to Mr. DeVault's comments regarding interoperability and the work the alliance is doing.
3. Black Book Market Research released results of its annual hospital EHR user poll, identifying the top-ranked vendors according to the people who use them every day. Cerner, Allscripts and CPSI took top spots.
4. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member, wrote a letter to Anthem outlining concerns with how the payer has handled its response to the massive data breach that was reported last month.
5. Three researchers from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic's surgery department are discussing the idea of using drones to deliver medical materials to clinics, disaster areas and remote locations.
6. Premera Blue Cross, a health plan based in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., reported a cyberattack on its IT systems that compromised the data of 11 million customers, employees and business affiliates.
7. Sacred Heart Health System in northwestern Florida reported a security breach due to a phishing attack on a third-party vendor that possibly exposed the information of 14,000 patients.
8. Data analytics company Health Catalyst received $70 million in new venture capital funding from major names in healthcare, such as Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Boston-based Partners HealthCare.
9. Last week, the annual South by Southwest Interactive took place in Austin, Texas, for the 22nd year, bringing together the latest innovative technological advancements. Here are 10 top tech trends discussed at this year's conference.
10. Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner once again made Forbes' 2015 list of billionaires in the world.
11. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill delaying mandated electronic prescribing for one year.
12. Three major organizations in the Pittsburgh area collaborated to create the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, a collaboration focused on gathering and using big data to transform healthcare.
13. CMS will allow Medicare to cover telehealth services for ACOs, which extends coverage for telemedicine to many Medicare beneficiaries.
More articles on healthcare:
Senate GOP releases 2016 budget: 5 takeaways for healthcare leaders
14 latest hospital, health system CEO moves
What's working in population health management: 3 takeaways