jump start news from FierceHealthIT

Never shy about taking on new markets, Red Hat has struck a deal with the University of North Carolina under which it will encourage the use of open source technology in healthcare research, biotechnology, bioinformatics and public policy. The deal follows a larger announcement by Red Hat in which it launched its Enterprise Healthcare Platform in cooperation with McKesson and Intel. …

Ready to jump-start your EMR rollout by donating technology to doctors? You can probably do it, if you pay close attention to recent IRS and CMS policies. But there's a few key points you should include in any agreement you strike with physicians, suggests CPA Michael Peer. Article

Washington has become one of several states that may establish competitive "health record banks" in an effort to jump start EMR adoption. What does that mean? Well, in Washington's case, the state would invest $8 million to $12 million to help create six to eight health record data bank sites. Then, consumers get to choose which bank stores their medical records. Making EMR administrators actually compete for patient data? An intriguing notion, definitely. Article