Leach's wish this year centers around policy changes. She hopes "to make the 2006 Stark EHR 'safe harbors' permanent." That legislation, which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2013, allows hospitals and health systems to subsidize the implementation of EHRs for their independent, partnering, community practices without risk of violating the anti-kickback statute. "It won’t cost the federal or state governments anything," says Leach says, "And without extension, many physician practices will have to de-install their EHRs due to the cost of long-term maintenance, upgrades and support." At the Children's Hospital Colorado, the program is called PedsConnect, and Leach says, "It is an essential component to managing populations, fostering continuity of care, enabling care team communications, and ensuring quality of care for the children we collectively serve.”

Ralph Johnson, CIO of the 65-bed Franklin Community Health Network based in Farmington, Maine,

If costs were no concern, Johnson would wish for a universal patient medication list that was compatible with any EMR. "The medication list would need to be 'actionable', meaning that it could flow from any provider’s practice EMR, enter automatically into any hospital EMR and work with the formulary for Drug-Drug/Drug-Allergy and Drug-Food interactions," he said.