On Friday, October 16th, MEDITECH Manager of EHR, Interoperability, and Standards Initiatives Barbara Hobbs joined several hospitals and I.T. vendors to address the growing number of questions surrounding EHRs and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), during the New England HIMSS & HFMA Fall Conference in South Portland, Maine.

Hobbs participated in a panel titled "Responding to an Industry in Transformation," which gave the vendors a chance to discuss how they are using their experience with installing EHR systems to help health care organizations prepare for ARRA.

"It's a good idea for hospitals to start using HIMSS' stages of EMR adoption to focus on getting your facilities to Stage 4 (CPOE utilization) and higher," said Hobbs, at the event. "We've worked with several MEDITECH customers, to give them the software they need to attain the prestigious Stage 6 recognition. As a result, they are already well prepared for the ARRA legislation."