Senior Support Engineer/Network Administrator (S31)iT NewsOur client who is a market leader in the Healthcare industry has an urgent requirement for a Technical Support Technician to provide exceptional service,
Healthcare IT
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Google News: Healthcare IT
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Senior Support Engineer/Network Administrator (S31) - iT News
10 Nov 2009 | 1:59 am -
NetStar lines up for Vblock kit - iT News
4 Nov 2009 | 11:53 amNetStar lines up for Vblock kitiT NewsThe business has already signed three customers in the healthcare, property and transport industries, two of which are new to NetStar. and more » -
Healthcare IT Solutions Sales - Asia Pacific Region - iT News
30 Oct 2009 | 9:42 pmHealthcare IT Solutions Sales - Asia Pacific RegioniT NewsThe company is a global healthcare leader that provides evidence-based solutions and servcies that empower their clients to measurably improve the quality,
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Fierce Health IT
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Study: Current EMRs don't have measurable impact on cost or quality
16 Nov 2009 | 9:41 amIn news that isn't exactly going to help convince the holdouts of the benefits of health IT, electronic medical records so far have had a marginal effect on quality and cost of care, according to a new study. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, who are presenting their findings today, studied health IT adoption at 3,000 hospitals as part of a follow-up to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report from earlier this year, and found little differences in adherence to best practices, no matter if a hospital had an advanced EMR, a basic EMR or traditional paper records. "The way… -
Electronic claims submission could save $11B per year
16 Nov 2009 | 9:14 amRight now, 25 percent of physician claims are submitted on paper each year. That's a whopping 3 billion claims still being handled the old-fashioned way. The vast majority of those claims are being filed by small provider offices with one to five physicians. Meanwhile, a full 90 percent of payments to providers come in the form of paper checks rather than electronic transfers. The healthcare industry simply can't allow things to stay this way, argues MD On-Line CEO Bill Bartzak, who spoke at last week's session of the World Health Care Innovation and Technology Congress in Alexandria,… -
AMIA 09: CHCF president calls for more 'Kaiserness' to connect information
16 Nov 2009 | 8:59 amLest anyone doubt that healthcare is in dire need of connected information systems, Dr. Mark Smith offers this reminder: "You can walk into the hospital where you were born and the first thing they will ask you is, 'Are you on any medications? Do you have any conditions.'" That was but one of several memorable lines Smith, president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, delivered Sunday during his keynote address to open the 2009 American Medical Informatics Association symposium in San Francisco. Patients are more tech-savvy than ever, but healthcare is mired in the past. -
Point-of-care hardware choices vex CIOs
16 Nov 2009 | 1:49 amCertification of electronic health records ostensibly helps buyers sort out the myriad software choices. But there's no such program when it comes to selecting hardware for hospital use. Physician and nurse demands don't much help. "If I ask clinicians what they need, they tell me they want a computer with a 50-inch high-resolution screen and unlimited battery life that fits in the palm of their hand. I don't know how to make that happen," David House, vice president and CIO at Baptist Health in Little Rock, Ark., tells Health Data Management, mostly jokingly. (And imagine if there were a… -
SPOTLIGHT: Hello Health and online doctor visits
16 Nov 2009 | 12:55 amWe've reported before on Hello Health, a New York City practice of young physicians serving mostly young adults, with the Internet serving as the primary means of communication between doctor and patient. A former hospital executive is intrigued by the concept as a way to bring people who otherwise might not get preventive care into the system, and wants to know if there's a place for it in the future of American healthcare. Hospital Impact
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The Healthcare IT Guy
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Don’t drink the Kool-Aid: It’s ok to be afraid of bloated EMRs and ease into medical technology
15 Nov 2009 | 10:51 amSoftwareAdvice.com recently posed the following questions to its readers in a survey format: “Are more doctors buying electronic medical records than before? Or, has the Stimulus bill only brought out the tire kickers?“. The results of the survey are available here; while the survey wasn’t scientific and it didn’t have enough participants to draw wide scale conclusions, the results do imply a general feeling of positive momentum towards the purchase and implementation of EMRs. As an experienced healthcare IT professional I am very happy to see that people are looking… -
Guest Article: Open Source EMRs for free clinics
15 Nov 2009 | 9:46 amKevin Clifford and I were chatting about his experiences in taking a Michigan-area free clinic live on an open source EMR and I was very interested to share it with others. Kevin said he volunteered at the free clinic because he wanted to serve his community and said that there are many other such free clinics in need of IT improvements in Michigan and elsewhere. I asked him to write a quick summary of what he did and how it worked. What Kevin is doing is an excellent example for other IT firms looking to break into healthcare IT — use open source and other free tools to help your local… -
Breaking into the Healthcare IT job market
10 Nov 2009 | 6:43 pmOne of the most popular questions that I am routinely asked about is how to get a job in the (now hot again) healthcare IT market. I was doing a little poking around on JuJu.com, a job search engine, and the nice folks there gave me some interesting statistics based on their usage patterns: IT positions make up approximately 3.5-7.0% of all healthcare jobs and this number is on the rise. Although the percentage of healthcare IT remains small relative to the healthcare field in general, there appears to be growing demand and consistent demand for this skill set as the field develops JuJu.com… -
And then there were 2: Drummond Group Plans to Certify Electronic Health Records
5 Nov 2009 | 2:06 pmI saw this on PRweb today: Drummond Group Inc. announced today that it will submit to become a certifying body upon the release of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) requirements for certifying bodies for Electronic Health Records (EHR). Drummond Group has been approached recently by numerous EHR software and services companies that need to be certified. This may be good news for the EMR/EHR industry — a second certifying body (CCHIT was the first) has been at least announced. For more information, check out the press release. UPDATE: There… -
Health Wonk Review: Killer viruses and the undead public option
29 Oct 2009 | 2:15 pmThis week’s Health Wonk Review (our Health Policy and IT Carnival) is available at Tinker Ready’s Boston Health Blog. It’s got lots of scary photos but don’t let that keep you from seeing what’s going on this week.
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HIStalk
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News 11/20/09
19 Nov 2009 | 2:02 pmFrom Sam Shem: “Re: mammograms. An independent body, after review and analysis of eight clinical trials, comes out with EVIDENCE that mammogram screening in under-40-year-olds has little or no value. What happens? The radiologists are up in arms and the Obama administration, in the person of DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, tells patients to just keep doing what you did last year. And they want to cut costs by a billion dollars over the next decade to pay for national health insurance? If anyone really believes this country will ever control the costs of health care, they are living in a… -
Former McKesson Chair Charles McCall Found Guilty of Securities Fraud
19 Nov 2009 | 12:54 pmA San Francisco jury has found former McKesson chairman Charles McCall guilty of five of six counts of securities fraud. He was acquitted on a single charge of falsifying records. Federal prosecutors said the former chairman, president, and CEO of HBO & Company covered up that company’s fraudulent activities, allowing it to be acquired by McKesson for $14.5 billion in January 1999. The fraud was discovered three months later, sending McKesson shares into a nosedive. Former McKesson general counsel Jay Lapine was acquitted on all three charges he faced. McCall was originally tried on… -
Readers Write 11/19/09
18 Nov 2009 | 3:58 pmSubmit your article of up to 500 words in length, subject to editing for clarity and brevity (please note: I run only original articles that have not appeared on any Web site or in any publication and I can’t use anything that looks like a commercial pitch). I’ll use a phony name for you unless you tell me otherwise. Thanks for sharing! Let’s Send Mom On A Cruise – Forever By Peter Longo Dear Siblings, With all this chatter about healthcare, I started to think about Mom. It dawned on me that, at some point, Mom is going to need some sort of nursing home (that or she lives with one of… -
News 11/18/09
17 Nov 2009 | 3:01 pmFrom Xper: “Re: Cedars Sinai. The ED is live, including the docs — yes, CPOE at Cedars! — seems like anything really is possible. Nurses are live on the system now and so is registration and billing. They appear to have more food and PR junk than support calls, probably a good thing. Many Epic folks are on site to make sure this goes well, but it’s kind of cool to see all the leaders here during the 40 hour go-live and sitting in the actual command center. One of the better projects I’ve seen as a consultant.” From Kate Spayed: “Re: Windows 7. Anyone know which EHRs are… -
Healthcare IT from the Investor’s Chair 11/17/09
16 Nov 2009 | 4:24 pmUpdate – The IPO Market Return Or in the words of Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As I write this post, the IPO market continues to rock and roll. As some confidence returns, investors look for new places to put money, and perhaps dress their year-end performance results with some nice IPO bounces. Wall Street is, of course, happy to oblige, especially in our own little corner of the economy, healthcare information technology. Accretive Health’s IPO prospectus continues to wend its way through the bowels of the SEC. Management has no…
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HealthNex
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IBM tips microfluidic device for immunodiagnostics
20 Nov 2009 | 4:59 amA Smarter Planet. IBM tips microfluidic device for immunodiagnostics - Small TimesScientists from IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland, have created a diagnostic test using a silicon chip to more quickly diagnose diseases. Their collaborative work with the U. Hospital of Base, published in the December issue of Lab on a Chip, uses capillary forces — the process whereby liquid rises in narrow tubes, or drawn into tiny openings — to analyze tiny samples of serum or blood to find disease markers, t -
A Smarter healthcare system: Sam Palmisano’s speech at the 2009 Medical Innovation Summit, Cleveland Clinic
13 Nov 2009 | 11:16 amA Smarter Planet. A Smarter healthcare system: Sam Palmisano’s speech at the 2009 Medical Innovation Summit, Cleveland ClinicRemarks (as prepared) by Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer -
Cough into your mobile phone for instant diagnosis
11 Nov 2009 | 12:21 pmA Smarter Planet. emergentfutures: Cough into your mobile phone for instant diagnosis Your mobile phone may soon be able to diagnose respiratory illnesses in seconds when you cough into it. -
IBM Opens Advanced Analytics Center in Washington, D.C.
10 Nov 2009 | 12:26 pmA Smarter Planet. IBM Opens Advanced Analytics Center in Washington, D.C. IBM announced the opening of the sixth in a network of analytics solution centers - this one dedicated to helping federal agencies and other public sector organizations extract actionable insights from their data. The new IBM Analytics Solution Center in Washington, D.C., will draw on the expertise of more than 400 IBM professionals. These will include IBM researchers, experts in advanced software platforms, and consultants with deep industry knowledge in areas such as transportation, social services, public safety,… -
IBM Health Analytics Center Launches in Dallas
6 Nov 2009 | 1:35 pmA Smarter Planet. IBM Launches Healthcare Research Center — InformationWeek Dallas facility will focus on how field data from hospitals and clinics can be mined to produce better patient outcomes. IBM has opened a research center dedicated to developing tools that will allow healthcare professionals to more efficiently use data in medical decision making. The company’s Health Analytics Solution Center, based in Dallas, will employ more than 100 experts in healthcare analytics, technical architectures, and other, related specialties.
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Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog
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Breaking: Leavitt to leave CCHIT in March
13 Nov 2009 | 11:23 amThe Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology said today that Dr. Mark Leavitt will retire as commission chairman in March. He's been with CCHIT since its founding nearly five years ago. -
'Meaningful use' explained
4 Nov 2009 | 10:13 pmHalloween may be over, but the quest for meaningful use goes on. I'm told that the source of this is Pat Wise of HIMSS. -
EHRs in the public eye
19 Oct 2009 | 6:15 pmI saw this ad in Terminal 3 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport last week:It's a simple and powerful message, but I wonder how many people truly understand it?I don't know when this ad went up, but it could be something left over from HIMSS in April. I see a lot of healthcare ads at O'Hare since there are so many health and medical conventions here, but many are out of date, such as from last year's Radiological Society of North America event, generally held in late November. Few are this large or have such visibility, right between a gate and an in-terminal restaurant in the heart of a… -
Telehealth at the VA
15 Oct 2009 | 9:56 pmIf you only follow me via this blog, I've been incommunicado for some time. But I've been extraordinarily busy the last few weeks, churning out issues of FierceHealthIT, FierceMobileHealthcare and FierceEMR each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. I've just returned from covering the Medical Group Management Association's annual conference in Denver and, just for good measure, did a piece for my favourite British health IT publication, E-Health Insider.The E-Health Insider piece is an in-depth interview with Dr. Adam Darkins, chief consultant for care coordination and telehealth at… -
New 'Fierce' stories
6 Oct 2009 | 1:29 pmFor readers of FierceHealthcare, FierceEMR and FierceMobileHealthcare, there's some good conference coverage up there right now. I submitted a story from last week's Healthcare Facilities Symposium to FierceHealthcare and in today's FierceMobileHealthcare, commented kind of tangentally on the Health 2.0 Conference going on now. Plus, publisher Wendy Johnson has submitted stories for FierceEMR from the annual AHIMA meeting down in Grapevine, Texas. The more someone else writes, the less I have to do!
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Medical Connectivity
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FDA Posts New Draft Guidance on Computer-Assisted Detection Devices Applied to Radiological Images and Radiological Data (CADe)
9 Nov 2009 | 9:03 amIt may be helpful to compare these new guidances with the pending MDDS rule, discussed here, in which the proposed rule defines an MDDS as Class I, the class with the lowest FDA scrutiny. Unlike MDDS, in the current case these CADe devices are not newly defined. However the FDA does acknowledge that the terminology may not widely known or used. A CADe system is not in the same class as an MDDS, and therefore is not an MDDS, because of the degree to which it analyzes medical device data. The Federal Register posting defines CADe’s as “computerized systems that incorporate pattern… -
Market Trends Series #3: Shift from Dept to Enterprise Focus
3 Nov 2009 | 4:32 pmFrom what I have observed over many years, Hospitals have historically approached medical device connectivity projects as a tactical issue to be dealt with. Up until relatively recently, technology alone could be used to solve the connectivity issue (i.e. getting data from point A to point B) with little to no negative impact on clinical workflow. Further, the scope of connectivity projects has been mainly departmentally focused and deployments have been relatively basic. By basic, I refer to projects that have focused on connecting one or two bedside medical devices to a single CIS… -
What (if anything) can the recent Sidekick problem teach us?
27 Oct 2009 | 2:32 pmOn October 12 the NY Times headline read “Some Users May Lose Data On a T-Mobile Smartphone”. Those phones use software and support from Microsoft/Danger for their data applications. According to the article a “technical glitch” had resulted in customers losing personal information held on at least in part an associated cloud computer service. Another story here by Eric Savitz, led with the question: “So how sure are you that you want all of your data to live in the cloud?” The precursor to the Times story had appeared earlier in a number of places including here on October 5th. -
Impact of Modifying FDA Regulated Devices
25 Oct 2009 | 12:47 pmOff Label Use In a previous post, Medical Device System Network Install Issues, I suggested that when health care providers don’t follow medical device manufacturer’s specifications when installing medical device systems they were using the system “off label.” This site’s latest contributing author, William Hyman, provides an alternative perspective: My interpretation of off-label use has been that it pertains to the actual use of the medical device, not the way it is set-up. Thus it isn’t off-label use until it is actually used, and use here is with… -
Canada Posts “Medical Device Data System” Rule
14 Oct 2009 | 9:44 amOn August 31, 2009 Health Canada, Canada’s medical device regulatory authority, posted classification information for Patient Management Software (pdf). This action is similar to the FDA’s proposed rule for the regulation of Medical Device Data Systems (MDDS), nearing finalization. The Canadian announcement begins with a reminder of its definition of “medical device” which is similar to although not identical to the U.S definition. This definition includes Patient Management Software as a medical device. In addition, Canada defines an “active” device as one that requires an energy…
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HealthBlog
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Peace of mind home monitoring with MyHalo and Microsoft HealthVault
17 Nov 2009 | 11:01 amAs I travel the world meeting with public health officials, healthcare executives and providers, a common theme is the concern about aging populations and the growing incidence of chronic disease. This, coupled with the skyrocketing cost of care...(read more) -
Health Tech Today—See It Now!
9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmClick Here to Watch “Health Tech Today” The first program in our monthly video series at the intersection of health and information technology, Health Tech Today , is now live on the web. A show like this takes a village to produce. Special...(read more) -
Leading experts, special guests to be featured on Microsoft “Health Tech Today”
5 Nov 2009 | 3:28 amHealth Tech Today is a monthly, online video series providing cutting-edge stories at the intersection of health and information technology. The show features informative interviews with some of the world's top health leaders; compelling health-related...(read more) -
First Look: Microsoft “Health Tech Today”
2 Nov 2009 | 10:36 pmHealth Tech Today —a new monthly, on-line video series at the intersection of health and information technology. The show premiers November 10th, but you can see a video trailer of our first show right now (click on the link or program logo above,...(read more) -
Why clinicians fear electronic medical records and what we can learn from Toyota and Disney
29 Oct 2009 | 1:04 pmHave you ever wondered why so many physicians resist going “electronic”? Trust me, it is not because they fear technology. It is not because doctors and nurses are Luddites when it comes to using computers. It is because they fear...(read more)
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Candid CIO
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The Magic Answer
19 Nov 2009 | 2:26 pmEvery good geek (and Google) knows that the answer to life and everything is 42. This is a famous line from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But it seems like there is a more sensible magic answer: In order for things to go well, there needs to be a high level of specification. Yes, ambiguity kills. In fact, it literally kills according to a study by Spear and Schmidhofer that was recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The authors found that high performing organizations achieve results “by specifying how work is expected to proceed—who will do what… -
Social Media Policy and Employee Guidance
20 Oct 2009 | 9:11 amThe creation of a social media policy has been a time consuming process for my organizations. There has been a lot of education and various leaders were in very different positions that we needed to reconcile. If you have been charged with this task for your organization be prepared to spend a lot of time to bring people along. Also, have a plan to get the policy out to managers, then staff. That order is important because your managers need to have the dialogue before they are in a position to effectively support the policy. Education of the staff is the greatest value of the… -
After the Brainstrom
10 Oct 2009 | 5:37 pmSometimes I see people cling to old habits, even though there are clearly easier ways to do things. I am not talking about something that would require a new computer system and a large IT project. Just day-to-day stuff. Here is one example… I love whiteboards. I love to use them to brainstorm ideas. Once upon a time SmartBoards were popular. They were a way cool, but expensive, way to capture those notes on paper. They are no longer necessary. An average digital camera can capture a large whiteboard with enough detail to preserve and share your moments of inspiration. … -
I am not Google – an email rant
26 Aug 2009 | 3:33 pmEmail is out of control in the corporate America. More and more people believe they have completed a task by emailing someone to do something. No follow-up, no tracking and no attempt to make sure the email recipient has the time to complete the task. I sent you the email, now this is your problem. What’s worse are emails that describe something that I might not need to know for several weeks. The burden is transferred away by emailing what you want done to scores of people. It is now the responsibility of each employee to hold onto that information until they need it. Some… -
Social Media Policy and Employee Guidance
12 Aug 2009 | 5:56 amI know everyone is working on this. What is management’s response to the sudden and enormous popularity of social media sites? How do we manage its effects on employee productivity (and perceived productivity)? How do we provide employees guidance so they don’t post something that violates a patient’s rivacy rights or otherwise embarrases the organization? Ministry and Affinity have been tackling this too. Because I have been writing a blog for several years a lot of people have asked me about this hoping we were further ahead in figuring this out. So, I thought…
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Lab Soft News
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A Quick Look at Cardiovascular Information and Imaging Systems (CVIS)
20 Nov 2009 | 4:58 amI must have been sleeping at the switch. Outside of my lab/LIS world, a new category of integrated clinical information systems has arisen -- the CVIS or cardiovascular imaging and information system. McKesson provides a CVIS web site promoting the McKesson product. Listed below and copied from the "comparing solutions" tab of this web site is a summary of the functionality of their system: Reporting: (1) Real-time reporting; (2) Remote report creation and signing; and (3) Automated rules-based report distribution A single, coordinated image display, to view all medical images… -
Reader Suggests Substitutes for the Term "Soft Copy Read" in Digital Pathology
19 Nov 2009 | 5:29 amIn a blog note posted yesterday, I suggested that the term soft copy read could be used by pathologists to describe the process whereby a scanned image of a tissue lesion is reviewed using a terminal rather than a microscope (see: Digital Pathology, Pathologists, and the "Soft Copy Read"). I am not completely satisfied with this phrase, borrowed from the radiologists, but think that its use, or a similar phrase, could be useful in the digital pathology dialogue. In response, Lance submitted the following comment:Perhaps a more applicable term would center around the [term]:… -
Digital Pathology, Pathologists, and the "Soft Copy Read"
18 Nov 2009 | 4:57 amA reader of Lab Soft News has suggested that it would be useful if pathologists were to adopt the phrase soft copy read as part of the ongoing discussion about digital pathology. The term is in common usage among radiologists. Digital pathology, of course, refers to the process by which the images obtained from fixed stained paraffin sections of tissue are converted to digital format, interpreted by pathologists, and then stored. Soft copy read refers specifically to the rendering of a diagnosis from an image displayed on a monitor without the creation of a hardcopy image as an intermediate… -
Some Key Questions in Cytopathology That Rquire Immediate Answers
17 Nov 2009 | 5:18 amI recently shared the podium for a lecture with Dr. Liron Pantanowitz. This took place at the annual conference of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) in Denver. The two of us discussed innovation and the relevance of information technology (IT) for the field of cytopathology. At the end of his lecture, he presented to the audience the following key questions that are confronting the field and require immediate answers: Are conventional Pap smears still considered acceptable standard of care? Is autoverification (no human review) of imaged abnormal Pap tests feasible? Will future… -
Will Posting Calorie Counts in Fast Food Restaurants Help Curb Obesity?
16 Nov 2009 | 5:58 amI am a person who thrives on acquiring new information and believe that information can be used to modify one's behavior. In short, I am an informavore (see: Are We Turning into Informavores?). I suspect that many others share this same quality but many in the U.S. population do not. A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times explored the benefits of posting calorie counts in fast food restaurants. Listed below is what I perceive to be the key passage in the article:Based on the scientific literature, we know that people who seek out and use calorie information are likely to be different…
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GNU/Linux And Open Source Medical Software News
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2009 Linux Medical News Freedom Award Recipients
It was a difficult choice this year among many worthy people and projects but the panel of judges has spoken. The recipients of the 2009 Linux Medical News Freedom Award presented at the American Medical Informatics Association (amia.org) Fall Conference are the open source, US Government NHIN Connect project and Kevin Toppenberg, MD for his invaluable work and use of Veterans Affairs VistA in the private sector. -
FLOSS in health care track at Med-e-Tel 2010, 14-16 April, Luxembourg
The 8th annual Med-e-Tel conference (14-16 April 2010) will include a track that is dedicated specifically to Free/Libre Open Source Software in Health Care (FLOSS-HC).If you, your company or your organization is active or interested in FLOSS-HC Med-e-Tel is the place to be in 2010. One of the main goals of the FLOSS track is to serve as a forum for all people and organizations interested in FLOSS-HC, as a meeting place for old and new FLOSS-HC enthusiasts and a place for exchanging ideas, knowledge and experience and setting up new collaborations. -
Proteus Open Source Now
We, the developers of the Proteus Intelligent Processes (PIP) Project, are pleased to announce the availability of source code for tools related to the clinical decision support guidelines model, Proteus under an open source license (EPL). The open source development effort will now proceed in the PIP project. -
ONC launches blog to Solicit Public Feedback
Now ONC has a blog to solicit public feedback on health IT. http://healthit.hhs.gov/blog/faca/index.php/2009/10/28/first-post-placeholder/ Here's your chance to be heard. -
openSUSE-Medical looking for developers
The openSUSE-Medical project is seeking developers and additional packagers. The distribution is an openSUSE sub-project aimed at doctors and medical staff and will include various open source software applications for medical use. The developers plan to start reviewing a list of open source healthcare software for inclusion in the distribution and adding packages to openSUSE, once enough packagers are on board.
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eHealth
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Enterprise 2.0 - Limits of Social Media in the Organization
13 Nov 2009 | 11:10 amEarlier this week I presented on a social media panel at the NEOSA CIO Symposium in Cleveland. Slides below and bookmarks here. I was surprised at how many companies block social media from their employees (about 50% from an informal poll). After the panel, I think many were going to take a second look at social media as both a customer engagement tactic and/or a internal tool set for employee collaboration and communication. Some related blog posts on this topic include:The Über-Connected Organization: A Mandate for 2010 from Harvard Business ReviewLet's Move Away From Social Media… -
Interview for Significant Science
5 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pmHaving met Hope Leman at Medicine 2.0, I was impressed with her Scan Grants website. Hope asked me for an interview for her new blog Significant Science. Who could refuse to be a part of significant science. The interview appeared today. It made me think about how my thinking about the web has evolved from early websites in the 1990s through more interactive web applications to this age of social media. Social media in health care is evolving quickly as more join the experience and some push the envelope. Technorati: Health 2.0 -
Thinking about the Future
28 Oct 2009 | 5:17 pmWhat will the Web Look Like in 5 years? Gartner presented Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google to talk about the future. Some of his key points include:Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content.Today's teenagers are the model of how the web will work in five years - they jump from app to app to app seamlessly.Five years is a factor of ten in Moore's Law, meaning that computers will be capable of far more by that time than they are today.He also talks about being trapped in a 1980s architecture. I heard a webinar demo of an app today which uses client-server… -
The Experience of being an embedded Twitterer at a conference
22 Oct 2009 | 3:28 pmTwo weeks ago I was at the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit as an embedded tweet. As an experiment to promote the conference and encourage twittering, I was asked to actively tweet at this important conference which included many CEOs from drug and device firms. Here are some of my experiences.A hash tag was decided a few weeks in advance: #CCInnovation.Initially, keeping up with presentations which included slides was manageable. Abbreviating key quotes from leaders in medical innovation is a challenge and including links to their companies required some quick searches. When the program… -
Journal of Participatory Medicine Launched
20 Oct 2009 | 5:24 pmThe Journal of Participatory Medicine was lauched today with a webinar by ePatient Dave. The webinar, titled "How Great EHRs can Empower Participatory Medicine" included a quote from my blog post stating that "If you hav, not read the e-Patient White Paper, you do not understand the future of medicine." On a related note, Roni Zeiger of Google Health posted on Huffington Post "Mission: Transform the Culture of Medicine." He notes that " Participatory Medicine is a new approach that encourages and expects active patient involvement in all aspects of care. In a more surprising…
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EMR and HIPAA
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Study Shows Little Benefit from EMR in Hospitals
20 Nov 2009 | 8:46 amPeople have been buzzing over a recent New York Times article (requires login, but you can get a login and password here) which discusses a Harvard study showing little benefit seen so far in Electronic Patient Records. The study is interesting and worthy of consideration. I think this part of the Times article summarizes the findings: The new study placed hospitals into three groups: those with full-featured electronic health records, those with more basic ones, and those without computerized records. It then looked at their performance on federally approved quality measures in the care of… -
EMR Selection and Implementation Books
19 Nov 2009 | 8:50 amI’ve had in mind and been approached by a number of people about writing a book about the EMR selection and implementation process. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I’ve had in mind to write some e-Books. I like the e-Book better than a hard copy book, but maybe if I combine all the e-Books it would make a nice hard copy book as well, but I digress. The good news is that I’ve started writing. I was actually amazed at how quickly and easily the content has come so far. I’m also quite happy with the value that it could bring to someone looking into… -
EMR ROI
18 Nov 2009 | 8:18 amHIMSS has been collecting stories of EMR success. One of my readers asked for more of these stories as well. So, I figured I’d highlight one that I found that was an interesting look at the ROI he received from implementing an EMR. Here’s an excerpt of the ROI they Glynn Medical Associates out of Georgia saw: The first three months of going paperless were stressful. However, returns have proven the transition well worth it, with the practice saving approximately/conservatively $200,000/year. Also, one physician in the practice is seeing 33 percent more patients daily with use of… -
EMR Vendor Support Tracking
17 Nov 2009 | 7:51 amOne thing that I’m sure very few doctors consider when they’re selecting an EMR software is the method that the EMR vendor uses to handle support calls. Certainly, it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out. First, you can ask the EMR vendor at the end of the demo, “How do you track problems that I call you about?” There answer should be very telling. If they say that you call the 800 number and we try and help you. That’s not so good. If they say that you call, email, IM, etc us with your support request. We take all the information we need and create a ticket… -
Problems with ARRA EMR Stimulus Money
16 Nov 2009 | 5:13 pmI recently read a Healthcare IT article that talks about some of the challenges with the EMR stimulus money. Here’s a couple of the challenges discussed with my commentary. Albert L. Strunk, MD, representing the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said ACOG is concerned that the measures, while clinical in nature, are not related to adoption of electronic medical records. “The meaningful use measures for ARRA should determine whether a physician has met the objectives shown in the meaningful use matrix, not whether the EMR is being used to report clinical quality…
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Medgadget
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Infinity M540 from Draeger Makes Hospital Workflow and Patient Data Oh So So Smooth
20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amHere's another piece of news about medical gadgetry released at the ongoing Medica 2009. The Infinity M540 from Drägerwerk AG & Co. (aka Dräger) is designed to provide portability and full functionality of a stationary vitals signs monitor: The Dräger Infinity M540 measures and saves patient vital signs data, including 12-lead ECG and etCO2 values. For transport, the hospital staff can release the M540 from its docking station using one hand. The monitor continues to display and record vital data without interruption. As soon as the M540 is reconnected to a docking station… -
Sci Fi Contest: Send Us Your Entries
20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amWe are pleased to announce that we now have an adequate number of entries for this year's Sci Fi Writing Contest. But if you are a talented writer, the opportunity is still here, and you still can win a brand new Amazon Kindle. So get your talent and imagination together, write a short interesting fictional piece involving the future of medicine, and send it to us by Tuesday, November 24, 2009. This weekend will be a perfect time to write, and maybe become the next winner. More details here: Med Sci Fi Writing Contest - Return of The Prose... -
Let Draeger Polaris Be Your Guiding Light
20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amWe are continuing to profile the latest gadgets that are being showcased at the Medica 2009 in Düsseldorf. This beautiful line of cold OR light systems, appropriately dubbed Polaris, comes from Drägerwerk AG & Co., a company better known to everyone as Dräger. Details from the press release: Compared with conventional light sources, the smaller LEDs of the Polaris system are considerably more energy-efficient than conventional light sources. An LED light source has a life span of about 30,000 hours (corresponding to about seven to ten years of service life in the operating… -
Evidence MultiStat from Randox Might Save Cardiac Lives and More
20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 amRANDOX Laboratories, a diagnostics company from Crumlin, UK, is releasing in Düsseldorf at Medica 2009 a new semi-automated analyzer that can perform detection of up to 12 analytes from a single patient sample in under 20 minutes. The Evidence MultiStat™ can save lives of cardiac patients or identify drug junkies, hence it can be used in emergency rooms, cardiology departments, ambulatory centers, or even employee drug screening centers. The following arrays are currently available: Cardiac Array [serum]: Creatine Kinase-MB (CK-MB), Fatty Acid Binding Protein (FABP), Myoglobin,… -
My Lab One Portable Ultrasound from Esaote Makes Debut
19 Nov 2009 | 12:46 amAt the ongoing Medica 2009 in Düsseldorf, Esaote out of Genoa, Italy is releasing a new portable ultrasound system that features a 12 inch touch screen for manipulating settings without having to use buttons. The My Lab One can be worn on a shoulder strap and is designed for mobile applications such as ambulatory anesthesia, EMT, military and sports medicine. From the press release: The automatic rotation of the image according to the position of the system, an ergonomic probe equipped with controls, a long life battery, all add up to making this ultrasound an extraordinary innovation in…
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Dalai's PACS Blog
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Attention Target Shoppers
19 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pmIntussesception of the small bowel, not brought to you by Target Stores. -
Siemens' Viable Alternative
18 Nov 2009 | 8:00 pmBreak out the caviar! Brought to you via DoctorDalai.com, with only a minimal degree of joviality, here's a little preview of Siemens' enviable new offering at RSNA, based on the new syngo.x platform:It's WAY too early to have a real name for this, but you don't need to drive over a viaduct to get here. It might even be visible on your VIAO. Hopefully, you won't need any Viagra to enjoy the experience.I've had a brief close-up preview myself, as the second test installation (it's not yet on our production side) of the new system was just completed at our Agfa hospital. The integration with… -
Visage Responds
17 Nov 2009 | 3:12 pmI raised the question prompted by GE's claim about the approval or lack thereof first with some of the principals of Visage and Promedicus whilst at RANZCR. It was their opinion that their product was indeed kosher, if I might use that term. Malte W., the CTO of Visage, sent this response to my recent post:Dear Dr. Dalai:On behalf of Visage Imaging I would like to respond to the points you have raised in your posting of November 12, 2009.The Visage PACS/CS system is cleared by the FDA for the purpose of diagnostic viewing. The ‘Intended Use’ as shown on the FDA web site includes reviewing… -
syngo.x
13 Nov 2009 | 8:32 amWhilst trolling for information about who is approved for what and who isn't, I stumbled across something quite interesting. It seems that Siemens is about to revamp its backbone software with a new version called "syngo.x". From the FDA 510(k) summary: syngo.x is a software solution intended to be used for viewing, manipulation, communication, and storage of medical images. It can be used as a stand-alone device or together with a variety of cleared and unmodified syngo.x based software options. syngo.x supports interpretation and evaluation of examinations within healthcare institutions,… -
"The Only FDA Approved Remote Review System"
12 Nov 2009 | 6:43 amYou might recall the "shootout" between Visage and TeraRecon we held here a few months ago. GE could not attend due to timing conflicts, but later held a separate demonstration of their AW Server system at our site. In brief, this is a thin-client version of the venerable AW software, which allows remote access to high-level processing capabilities. The system works well, especially for those who like the GE/AW approach to such things. It has a lot of power, but doesn't quite have the level of automation that was demonstrated by TeraRecon.Our GE rep, of whom I'm far more of a fan than of the…
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Future of Health IT: Trends and Scenarios
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links for 2009-11-19
19 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pmNorhTec - Gecko Edubook 'The Gecko EduBook is an upgradeable, low power, portable and cost effective laptop. Unlike most inexpensive laptops (often called net books), the Gecko EduBook is designed for tough, long service. ' (tags: netbook health+IT education) -
links for 2009-11-18
18 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pmAirStrip Technologies Monitor your patient's vitals from anywhere using an iPhone, Blackberry, or WinMobile device (tags: health+informatics scenario+planning health+IT Health2.0 telemedicine iphone ubicomp pervasive+computing) JAMA -- A 37-Year-Old Man Trying to Choose a High-Quality Hospital, November 3, 2009, Reynolds 0 (2009): 2009.1684 A JAMA case study on selecting healthcare providers after MI (tags: consumer+health+search Health2.0 health+literacy) HIMSS - News: Achieving ROI with EMR- Seven provider practice saves around $200,000/year with EMR system The first three months of going… -
Personal Tech: Medical Apps for the iPhone
18 Nov 2009 | 7:44 amFrom NY Times Personal Tech: Medical Apps for the iPhone After a lot of time reading "best medical apps" stories online, asking Twitter users for their suggestions and reading online reviews, I finally boiled the list down to about 50 promising apps. I tried them out and further winnowed the list to a bunch that I ultimately demo'ed in my talk. Eventually, the video of the talk will be posted at ted.com/talks, but in the meantime, here's what I covered. (I haven't really given them full-blown testing, so read the online reviews before you spend good money on them. Except for the free… -
links for 2009-11-17
17 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pmNetSci 2010 | International School and Conference on Network Science 'Bringing together leading researchers, practitioners, and teachers in network science (including analysts, modelling experts, visualisation specialists, and others), NetSci fosters interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. The conference focuses on novel directions in networks research within the biological and environmental sciences, computer and information sciences, social sciences, finance and business.' (tags: network+analysis network+theory) -
links for 2009-11-13
13 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pmChapter 12. SOAP Web Services Rather than dealing with HTTP requests and XML documents directly, SOAP allows you to simulate calling functions that return native data types. As you will see, the illusion is almost perfect; you can “call” a function through a SOAP library, with the standard Python calling syntax, and the function appears to return Python objects and values. But under the covers, the SOAP library has actually performed a complex transaction involving multiple XML documents and a remote server.' (tags: python soap SOA web2.0) Python Web Services 'The Web Services for…
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Australian Health Information Technology
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Can NEHTA Really Be Serious With Consultation With This Sort of Notice?
18 Nov 2009 | 10:28 pmThe following hit the RSS feed late yesterday. Invitation to participate in Electronic Transfer of Prescription workshop - 27 November NEHTA would like to offer Software Vendors the opportunity to participate in a 1 day workshop to review the Draft Electronic Transfer of Prescription (ETP) Release 1.0 package. The Draft ETP Release 1.0 document set which was released on the 30 October defines the minimum requirements for the interoperable exchange of prescriptions between general practices and community pharmacies within Australia and is available at… -
Weekly Overseas Health IT Links 16-11-2009
18 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pmHere are a few I have come across this week. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iaFHrJKPoH8vrgUfqgnpoZaXBCIg Experts agree on proposed global privacy standards (AFP) – Nov 6, 2009 MADRID — Experts from 50 nations meeting in Madrid have reached a draft agreement on international standards for the protection of privacy and personal data, participants said Friday. Under the proposed standards, data may only be processed after obtaining the "free, unambiguous and informed consent" of the data subjects and it should be deleted when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for… -
We Bloggers Need To Stick Together!
18 Nov 2009 | 9:33 pmJust a short post to highlight this rather nervous blog! Who Will Speak For Us? A Blog From Inside Katoomba Hospital Desperately Pressing the Call Bell For Help. Description: This blog is from the inside of Katoomba Hospital. It has to be anonymous because all staff of Sydney West Area Health Service are required to not speak to the media as part of their employment contract. The trouble is, where is the transparency if serious issues cannot scrutinized? Where is the accountability of the system if staff are gagged? This blog will have a limited life, either because the problems it seeks to… -
Game Connect Asia Pacific Conference – The Games for Health Forum
18 Nov 2009 | 6:24 pmThis is just a reminder that a workshop on the use of video games for health has been organised for the upcoming Game Connect Asia Pacific conference in Melbourne, Dec 6th. The Game Developers of Australia E-Health Forum. This Games for Health forum brings together the Australian game development industry with healthcare providers, clinicians and heath technology developers. It is intended for games and health practitioners, and for academics from both fields. This sector constitutes a rapidly growing $6.6 billion international market, that Australian companies are well placed to access. -
This Sounds Like Good News for Provider to Provider Communication in Australia.
17 Nov 2009 | 9:47 pmDr Oliver Frank cleverly noticed this piece of news from the AMA on Friday last week. GP Network News Issue 09, Number 38 - 13 November 2009 13 November 2009 - 4:00pm ----- Scanning and storing electronic referrals and requests Following Medicare Australia’s review of electronic referrals and requests, individual public key technology certificates are no longer required for provider-to-provider electronic referrals and requests. In addition, the requirement for independent third party verification for referrals or requests scanned for storage has been removed. This change is the result of…
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GNUmed for the masses
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GNUmed adds medication management and prescription handling
1 Nov 2009 | 4:24 amThe current , work-in-progress state of the new medication handling in GNUmed is captured in this screenshot showing a health issue with associated medication. -
Gelbe Liste Medikamentendatenbank unter Linux
29 Oct 2009 | 11:26 amDie Medikamentendatenbank Gelbe Liste von MMI lässt sich auch unter Linux nutzen. Dazu benötigt man Wine. Es lässt sich problemlos installieren. Man sollte auf die eingesetze Wine-Version achten. Die Testversion 1.3.21 scheint zu neu und produziert einen Absturz. Die Version 1.1.9 funktioniert prächtig. -
GNUmed billing feature for US healthcare providers
19 Oct 2009 | 6:41 amUnofficial word has it that a company is working on a billing feature for GNUmed for US healthcare providers. Stay tuned. This could be a significant move for GNUmed. -
Cardiac device plugin revisited
19 Oct 2009 | 6:36 amUnfortunately I haven't had time to work on the Cardiac device plugin. First GNUmed 0.5 had to be released. Then private activies consumed most of my free time. Not to mention rotating to another hospital.Looking back I wanted to know why work has not progressed the way I would have liked it. I guess most of it is due to wanting everything at once. My dream plugin is so complex it just takes too much effort to implement. This is going to change. I have restarted in simpler steps. A first working version will be provided. Building on top of it I hope to be able to release a better one over… -
GNUmed electronic medical record 0.5.1 released
4 Oct 2009 | 8:04 amGNUmed - the electronic medical record for physician's offices has been updated to version 0.5.1. It helps physicians, physiotherapists or occupational therapists as well as chiropractors keep track of their patient's health, diseases, treatments, hospital stays, medications. It provides an episode view which helps to keep on top of multiple episodes of multiple illnesses.If you want the latest feature packaged for Ubuntu visithttps://launchpad.net/~gnumed/+archive/ppaLet us know if you run into trouble installing and running GNUmed.You can try GNUmed with a publicly available data source or…
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Healthcare Technology News
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H1N1: A Free-For-All in North America
16 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmWhat has been the comparative response to the the H1N1 pandemic in Europe and the US? Belying claims that the Swine Flu response in the US is the precursor to a dysfunctional government run health system, the Europeans have this much more under control. An Associated Press review looked at this question. Highlights of that article follow:"In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flue vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or healthy people who don't really need it. -
Biden: "We're going to cave in like crazy"
14 Nov 2009 | 9:28 pmVice President Joe Biden decides to fix health care while President Obama is out of the country. Saturday Night Live presents a message from the Vice President of the United States. -
US Lags in Health IT for Primary Care
9 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm46% of U.S. primary care physicians report using electronic medical records (EMRs) significantly trailing other leading countries. EMRs are "nearly universal" in the Netherlands (99%), New Zealand (97%), the U.K. (96%), Australia (95%), Italy (94%), Norway (97%), and Sweden (94%).The Commonwealth Fund report on A Survey of Primary Care Physicians in 11 Countries, 2009: Perspectives on Care Costs, and Experiences surveyed 10,000 primary care physicians in 11 countries. The findings: the United States lags far behind in terms of access to care, the use of financial incentives to improve the… -
House Bill May Finally Deliver on HIPAA's Promise
1 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmHIPAA has never achieved its promise of standardized and ubiquitous electronic transactions. The House of Representatives will be voting this week on a Health Reform bill thatrequires electronic transaction standardization including elimination of payer-specific companion guides,enables the "real-time (or near real time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, on a specific date or range… -
"Opt Out" Public Option is In
26 Oct 2009 | 3:39 pmOn Monday October 26, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called for the Senate health reform bill to include a public option. The bill will include a provision allowing states to opt out prior to 2014.The Senate bill will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring within the next couple of days. Reid skirted the question as to whether he had the 60 votes needed to bring a vote to the Senate floor.The much discussed trigger that would have delayed implementation of the public option will not be included nor scored. The bill will include the co-op provisions of the Senate Finance…
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Healthcare & Technology
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Healthcare isn't ready for HITECH security rules?
12 Nov 2009 | 3:59 pmAfter returning from a well received presentation on "Meaningful Use: Why HIPAA is No Longer a Paper Tiger" at the World Healthcare Innovation & Technology Congress - HITECH / HIPAA Compliance Management Leadership Summit, it doesn't surprise me that a majority of healthcare organizations are not prepared to comply with new privacy and security rules enacted within ARRA and the HITECH Act.Although much of the current healthcare investment in technology has been in the realm of diagnostic treatments and equipment, technology investment to support administrative responsibilities has been… -
Why McAllen, TX Should Have Mattered in the Health Reform Debate
29 Oct 2009 | 2:51 pmLink: Atul Gofigure: Why McAllen Should Have Mattered in the Health Reform Debate.Jeff Goldsmith presents excellent commentary on The Health Care Blog regarding an article published in the New Yorker by Atul Gawande, describing problems with the physician community in McAllen, Texas. According to Atul's article, McAllen physicians are some of the most expensive in the United States, second only to Miami and actions taken to eliminate this cost variation could reduce Medicare expense by as much as 30% while also improving the quality of care. Although McAllen is one of the poorest… -
Healthcare spending...$850 billion wasted annually?
28 Oct 2009 | 11:31 amLink: Report: Americans waste up to $850 billion a year in healthcare | Healthcare Finance News.According to a recent article from Healthcare Finance News, and a report from Thompson Reuters, unnecessary spending in healthcare is related to: Unnecessary care (40%), defined as over-use of antibiotics and diagnostic lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure Fraud (19%), covering everything from fraudulent Medicare claims to kickbacks for referrals of unnecessary services. Administrative inefficiency (17%), focused on excess paperwork. Healthcare provider errors (12%), defined as medical… -
CalOptima reports potential loss of claims data....A Breach Notification?
26 Oct 2009 | 4:43 pmLink: Health Data Management Article: Medicaid Payer Gives Breach NotificationThanks to HISTalk for this post.."CalOptima reports that its claims imaging vendor, ImageNet, accidentally sent out unencrypted DVDs that contained claims from 68,000 of its members. The DVDs were sent to CalOptima via certified mail, but never reached CalOptima. CalOptima actually posted this information and identified ImageNet on its home page."CalOptima calls it the "potential loss of past medical claims information for approximately 68,000 of its members that was stored on electronic media devices." CalOptima… -
Physicians double their time online?
22 Oct 2009 | 3:36 pmLink: Physicians have doubled their time online since 2004 | Healthcare IT News.Thought this information was interesting. Not only are physicians spending more time online, but they are also carrying and using mobile devices at the point of care. Mark Bard, head of Manhattan Research reports, Nine in 10 U.S. physicians surveyed now agree that the Internet is essential to their practice, according to Bard's research. Seventy-five percent now go online daily for work, he said. Two-thirds of doctors carry a smart phone – with some of that growth credited to the launch of the iPhone in 2007.
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Bob on Medical Device Software
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Stackoverflow Overflow
19 Nov 2009 | 8:34 pmI really like SO. It’s quickly become an invaluable resource for finding and getting programming answers. I generally browse the new questions to see if there’s anything I might be able to a answer. Even when you find a question you already (think you) know the answer to, it still requires some research. Answering questions is a great exercise. A couple of weeks ago I started to take notice of how fast the question count was increasing. So I decided to track it and quantify the growth. Here’s what I found: So on average there are about 1472 new questions every day! -
A Medical Device Gateway Data Standard?
18 Nov 2009 | 1:40 pmThe Wipro OEM medical device gateway press release makes it all seem so easy (my highlight): The device, consisting of interfaces that can feed-in data such as blood pressure, pulse rate, ECG reading and weight from the respective devices, is connected to the gateway that would format it into standard patient information and transmit it to either public health data platform such as Google Health or to private platforms like Microsoft Health Vault. What exactly is “standard patient information”? Maybe they’ve finally developed the magic interoperability bullet. Yeah,… -
iPhone Health Applications for Medical Professionals
1 Nov 2009 | 9:04 amThere are a lot of iPhone health and fitness applications available. Many are for the general public. Here are some vetted lists that target medical professionals: TPD’s List of iPhone Applications (73 by my count) 100 Awesome iPhone Apps for Med Students and Doctors 12 iPhone : EMR , PHR and Patient Trackers applications Top iPhone Apps For Health Pros, Patients Update (11/3/09): There’s an entire Web Site devoted to this subject: iPhone Medical & Health Apps: news, reviews, trends Hat tip: John Zaleski Tweet this post -
Standards should be as Simple and Stupid as Possible
31 Oct 2009 | 9:23 pmGreat post by Adam Bosworth: Talking to DC Hat Tip: Joel on Software Also see Dreaming of Flexible, Simple, Sloppy, Tolerant in Healthcare IT and Liberate the Data! Tweet this post -
Selling Anonymized Health Data
18 Oct 2009 | 8:11 pmThe New York Times article When 2+2 Equals a Privacy Question raises some serious medical data privacy concerns. But by 2020, when a vast majority of American health providers are expected to have electronic health systems, the data mining component alone could generate sales of up to $5 billion… The magnitude of data needed to generate that kind a revenue is significant. The likelihood that “de-identification” of someone’s health information will occur is very high. “Anonymized” Data Really Isn’t points out the same thing that the NYT article…
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Healthcare IT Consultant Blog
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Florida first to launch new health-record network
20 Nov 2009 | 7:42 amFlorida is the first state to launch a Medicaid claims-based electronic health record system, the state's Agency for Health Care Administration announced Thursday. The Florida Medicaid Health Information Network is available through a portal where similar records from other payers may also be accessed. Health-care providers treating Medicaid recipients may access up to 18 months of Medicaid claims history, helping them make better-informed decisions about their patients. The network was made possible through an innovative agreement with Jacksonville-based clearinghouse operator Availity LLC. -
Former McKesson Chair Charles McCall Found Guilty of Securities Fraud
20 Nov 2009 | 6:51 amThe jury convicted former McKesson Corp. chairman Charles McCall of four counts of securities fraud, plus a charge of evading corporate accounting controls. He was acquitted of a sixth charge accusing him of doctoring financial documents. The jury also acquitted another top executive, former general counsel Jay Lapine, of any criminal wrongdoing for his involvement in McKesson's $12 billion acquisition of Atlanta-based HBO & Co. in January 1999. [1] A federal jury has found Charles McCall, former chair of McKesson Corp. and leader of HBO & Co. before McKesson bought it, guilty of five… -
Health IT panel to heed calls for simpler EHR standards
20 Nov 2009 | 6:41 amA panel advising the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) said it will heed the overwhelming consensus it has received in recent public comments to develop the simplest possible certification standards for accelerating health IT adoption. The Health IT Standards Committee’s implementation workgroup reported today that it distilled the testimony of industry organizations within and outside healthcare, as well as contributors to its public blog. The participants provided details of their experiences with adopting standards. On the blog, physicians and practices have reported… -
Why Do Some Hospitals Successfully Implement EHRs and Others Fail?
19 Nov 2009 | 1:11 pmThere are pieces of advice I hear repeatedly when talking with technology executives about implementing electronic health records and why some organizations are successful whereas others struggle. Phrases like "get physician buy in," "allocate more resources for training," and "spend more time planning on the frontend" come to mind. Unfortunately, the advice doesn't always come with strategies on how accomplish it. Recently, I spoke with Chuck Podesta, senior vice president and chief information officer for Fletcher Allen Health Care, about its conversion to an EHR from Verona, WI-based Epic… -
CCHIT Seeks Comments on Criteria
18 Nov 2009 | 6:45 pmThe Certification Commission for Health Information Technology is accepting a first round of comments through Dec. 11 on its proposed criteria for certifying behavioral health, clinical research and dermatology electronic health records. After additional rounds of comments and refinements, CCHIT will offer these new certification options to vendors in July 2010. To make a comment, visit the Chicago-based CCHIT Web site at cchit.org. An initial comment period on criteria for long-term care and post-acute care EHRs will be held Dec. 14 through Jan. 12. --Howard Anderson
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Medicine and Technology by Dr. Joseph Kim [part of HCPLive]
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Reducing your home radon levels
20 Nov 2009 | 8:26 amWe're having some work done in our house because our radon levels in the basement are too high. Our current radon mitigation system is not working well. It's an old system, so it's not too surprising. The fan has been replaced, but the soil suction radon reduction system needs to be redone. There are four types of systems: subslab suction, drain tile suction, sump hole suction, or block wall suction. According to the EPA, active subslab suction (also called subslab depressurization) is the most common and usually the most reliable radon reduction method.Many people are living with high radon… -
Are we ready for HITECH's security breach notification rules?
20 Nov 2009 | 3:46 amThere are some out there who will argue that we are not ready for HITECH's security breach notification rules. Consider this recent story on Healthcare IT News, titled, "Survey: Healthcare isn't ready for HITECH's security breach notification rules"In that report, we see that the results of a national survey found that: 50 percent of large hospitals have experienced at least one data breach this year; 68 percent of all hospitals indicated that the HITECH Act's expanded breach notification requirements will result in the discovery and reporting of more incidents, and 57 percent reported that… -
The "pain" of primary care vs. the needs of the nation
19 Nov 2009 | 9:12 pmIf you survey medical students who are in their clinical clerkships, most will tell you that they are not interested in primary care. Some have horrendous experiences and will eagerly describe the "painful" experience of routine outpatient practice, chronic management of diseases, social issues, demanding patients, and drug-seeking individuals who are trying to abuse the system. Is this really the world of primary care?What will happen to primary care in the future? The vast majority of current medical students choose to pursue specialties that involve higher salaries or better lifestyles. -
Toothpaste out of the elbow! (yucky!)
19 Nov 2009 | 7:06 pmOK, this is not technically toothpaste. However, it sure looks like it. This is an image of a man's elbow and it's from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). A 77-yr-old man renal-cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) presented with painful swelling of his elbow. This white chalky substance was a result of an acute flare of previously asymptomatic, chronic tophaceous gout. Hence, this image receives a heading titled, "Gouty Tophi." To read more, visit the NEJM here.Trouble viewing the contents? Visit MedicineandTechnology.com by Dr. Joseph Kim. Follow @DrJosephKim on Twitter.Subscribe to the… -
New warning on Plavix (from the FDA)
18 Nov 2009 | 9:23 pmYou've probably heard the news already. You've probably seen the FDA press release. Plavix combined with Prilosec/Prilosec OTC significantly reduces the anti-platelet efficacy of Plavix. For that matter, Plavix combined with any other drugs that inhibit the CYP2C19 enzyme will have significant drug-drug interactions.Plavix is one of those pills that people take and we don't typically measure or monitor whether the drug is working. It's not like Coumadin (warfarin) where we constantly measure an INR to make sure that your levels are therapeutic. We don't check for peaks of troughs when you're…
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E-Health Designs, LLC
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New Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Less Than World Class?
16 Nov 2009 | 10:17 pmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/12/AR2009091202432.html Article by Dr. Steve Schimpff, former CEO, Maryland Medical Center. Note comment on importance of training and simulation labs. -
Compare Hospital Quality: Hospital Value Index
5 Nov 2009 | 7:46 amhttp://www.hospitalvalueindex.com Provides rankings of 4500 U.S. hospitals on mortality and readmission rates, plus core quality measures. It would be interesting to determine if the top ranked hospitals make greater investment in healthcare IT. -
101 Ways To Use Twitter In Your Hospital
27 Oct 2009 | 7:48 pmGreat blog entry from LPN to RN.net Blog on use of Twitter in hospitals. http://www.lpn-to-rn.net/blog/2009/101-ways-to-use-twitter-in-your-hospital/ -
hData: Alternative to HL-7 3.0 CCD and C.32 for Health Information Exchange?
7 Oct 2009 | 5:45 amMitre is promoting hData, a simple XML-based alternative to the HITSP standards for health information exchanges. http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/vol3/html/Beuchelt01/BalisageVol3-Beuchelt01.html This is a highly technical read, but it points to some weakneses in the CCD/C.32 standard. It appears that hData is collaborating with HITSP and IHE, so perhaps a new, improved HIE standard will emerge. -
Dr. Blumenthal’s Letter on “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records
2 Oct 2009 | 11:34 amHere is Dr. Blumental’s latest letter on what constitutes “meaningful use” of EHRS. The letter is helpful in gaining shared vision on this topic. E-Health Designs, LLC believes that until we have EMRs, CPRs, PHRs, and PHMTs which provide for some degree of built-in clinical decision support for clinicians and consumers, we won’t really attain “meaningful use’. We are headed in the right direction, though. Clearly the EHR needs to be more than just a file cabinet that collects text based information. Per previous guidance from GartnerResearch, it would be…
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Legacy Data Access
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Why the Pre-built “Data-Archive” Won’t Work: A Techical Perspective
4 Nov 2009 | 10:53 amShelly gave some very important points in the previous posts about pre-built data archiving solutions and how they can impact your application retirement plan and you business in general. I would like to take a few minutes to convince you that there is a very strong technical case against using one of the "turn-key" data archive products. Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs. Not only is it the title of a classical tome that should grace every Computer Science nerd's bookshelf, it is a fundamental principle that underlies all of computing. Data Structures are coherent, structured… -
LegacySuite – A Custom Solution to eliminate legacy system costs without The Custom Headaches
8 Oct 2009 | 9:23 amIn a previous post, I detailed how a pre-built application to store and manage legacy data from a retired application may not be the best solution. In this post, I will address each point and explain how LegacySuite will provide a custom solution without the custom price tag and extended time line usually associated with custom projects. 1. LegacySuite requires NO data mapping. The files and fields that exist in the source system are the same files and fields, in their natural order, that are loaded into LegacySuite. If your source system has 10 files with 20 fields each, keyed by an internal… -
“Turn-key” Data Archiving Solutions for Legacy Data - Caveat Emptor
6 Oct 2009 | 7:35 amSo we have definitely convinced you to move the data off your retired system and you are shopping your options…that is great! Beware of marketing pitches that say the same words but actually solve your problem in completely different ways… If one of the alternatives you are looking at is a "pre-built" or "turn-key" Data Archiving solution, make sure you recognize the differences: 1. A pre-built application requires data mapping. Hours of spreadsheets, validations, definitions, clarifications, issue to resolve. Left over data? They will “find a home for it” or can “accommodate it”. -
Evaluating Your Legacy system Retirement Options
5 Oct 2009 | 9:23 amWith the ARRA getting the focus back on IT spending and system replacements, the need for legacy system retirement options is more urgent that ever. Deadlines for payment and tax incentives are fast tracking implementations, making data conversions from old to new even more unlikely. With the assistance of a partner, we have developed a matrix that helps you identify at-a-glance the critical success factors for your legacy system data and the potential risks and costs associated with them. We will provide detail in future blogs. -
Our new Sales and Customer Care Development Program
18 Sep 2009 | 4:52 amHere at Legacy, we are constantly seeking to improve our processes from the front to the back. Because we are small, we like to look to others in our industry to mentor us (although probably unknowingly) so that we can quickly identify what works and stay clear off the paths that don't. To that end, we have come upon some ideal videos that help our sales and customer care teams as they work on their strategic plans for 2010. Part 1 of the series is a lesson on handling an unhappy customer and developing listening skills: Part 1 Part 2 of the series demonstrates following up and working…
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Goomedic.com» Goomedic.com
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iPhone or Android !!
24 Oct 2009 | 4:56 pmWell Android is coming there is no doubt about that ,but the question is : how much time it’ll take for android to can compete with iPhone ?! First of all Why iPhone is the best phone of doctor so far ?! My points of view is different as i am a developer , a doctor , [...] -
radRound : a Social Network for Radiologists- Building Radiology Images and Cases Database
23 Oct 2009 | 12:32 pmradRound.com is a Social network intended for Radiologists , radRound is using ning.com the social network generator service , it looks similar as many other social networks built using ning.com , as it contains , groups , forums , videos , blogs , resources and members directory . radRound.com is an active social network some members [...] -
30 Youtube.com Medical Video Channels : Youtube.com for Medical Education .
22 Oct 2009 | 2:47 pmYoutube.com is a social video network , its the most popular site in its area yet , its also owned by Google inc. , as any other popular social site , Youtube.com has also a huge set of users in medical field such as doctors or medical students . Videos in medical fields have always been [...] -
Is House MD a bad role model for doctors ! a Doctor Opinion !
22 Oct 2009 | 5:05 amQuick intro before facts : Well as i am one of the million fans of House M.D. the TV Show , however there are some facts I should consider as a doctor watching this show : • Doctors don`t have big fancy office as House ! • House is kinda irresponsible . • Doctors don’t have balls : ∘ He [...] -
OpenSIS : Tracking Students Health Records with Student Information System .
21 Oct 2009 | 4:54 amOpenSIS : is an Open source student information system , built to cover the schools need to manage and organize student information including many functions any school needs . However OpenSIS : takes care also in Students Health records such as Nurses visits, immunizations, physician contact information, allergies and more are all a part of our [...]
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EMR and EHR
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Chrome OS Electronic Medical Record Anyone?
20 Nov 2009 | 8:05 amThe tech world is buzzing about Google’s new Operating System (OS) called Chrome. You can read the full writeup from Google’s Chrome OS announcement on Techcrunch or the official announcement on the Official Google blog. Basically, Google has created an operating system for a netbook (or at least netbook like) computer that will be super fast. The reason it can work so fast is that it will basically only run web applications. Yes, this is hard to wrap your head around, but it is really interesting. Let’s apply the Chrome OS to EMR and healthcare. Imagine you have an EMR… -
EMR Tire Kickers
18 Nov 2009 | 10:52 pmThe people over at Software advice ran a poll asking essentially whether the HITECH act had created EMR buyers or just brought out the EMR Tire Kickers. Sadly, only 74 people responded. I wish I would have known about it and I would have promoted the poll so we had a wider audience voting to get a more interesting set of data. The poll did essentially say that right now it’s brought out the tire kickers. I’ve been talking for a while now about how the HITECH act would actually slow EMR adoption (at least in the short term for sure). This poll basically agrees with that prediction. -
Practice Fusion Adds Free PHR
18 Nov 2009 | 3:05 amThere’s no doubt that Practice Fusion has been making a big splash in the world of EMR. They were the first EMR company that I’d seen that was pioneering the “free” ad based EMR on the web. You can read more about my first impressions of their free EMR offering on EMR and HIPAA. This interview with the CEO of Practice Fusion is pretty interesting as well. Now Practice Fusion has made the next logical step and added a PHR front end for patients to be able to access their clinical record. From the look of the screenshots (see below), I’m not seeing anything… -
New EHR Certifying Body – Drummond Group CEO Interview Highlights
16 Nov 2009 | 11:35 pmHealthcare Informatics has been doing a number of really interesting interviews lately. One of their most recent ones is an interview with RiK Drummond, CEO of The Drummond Group. You may have seen that the Drummond Group will be certifying EHR for ARRA funding. So the interview with Rik Drummond is pretty interesting. It is in 2 parts, but here are some highlights from the first part (since the second part isn’t up yet): In regards to the cost of EHR certification (looks like Drummond Group EHR certification could still be pricey): GUERRA: So you don’t have a better sense of whether… -
Getting an EMR Job
12 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pmIt looks like Shahid gets a lot of the same emails I get. He recently posted some suggestions on how to break into the healthcare IT industry. Here’s some of his ideas: If you’ve got experience running or working in a medical office or you’re an experienced project manager you can apply for an implementation specialist or assistant at almost any healthcare IT firm like an EMR or EHR vendor, consulting firm, or systems integrator. The thing to keep in mind is that every customer that buys an EMR needs to have it installed and deployed and that’s done by implementation folks. There…
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Healthcare IT Weblog
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An interesting new iphone app….
17 Nov 2009 | 10:07 amCheck out this link to a quicktime video – it highlights a new iphone app all about the H1N1 virus – http://spedr.com/tjdg -
Tech buying guide from Time.com
16 Nov 2009 | 9:39 amHere’s a nice tech guide from the folks at Time magazine – some cool gadgets just in time for the holiday season! Here’s the link http://bit.ly/TIzUI -
Web presentation
9 Nov 2009 | 11:56 amI thought that some of you may be interested in registering for this web presentation. Here is the link http://preview.tinyurl.com/yem7klv -
Health IT Certification
5 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pmCheck out this link Health IT Certification . Has anyone had any experience with this organization. Looks like there are four ways that the educational programs and certification for CPEHR, CPHIT and CPHIE can be taken: The programs and examinations are offered periodically at hotel locations. The programs are also offered in a hybrid model, with one day of four courses offered as a preconference or post-conference, the remaining six to eight courses online, and the exam online. The programs and certification exams are available online. The programs may be conducted as in-house… -
US Docs lag behind in usage of EHRs
5 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pmThe U.S. health care system lags behind many other industrialized nations in health IT adoption and other measures related to health care access and quality, according to a new study. The study was published online today in the journal Health Affairs (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 11/5). For the study, researchers surveyed more than 10,000 primary care physicians in 11 countries between February and July 2009 . The study found that 46% of U.S. physicians use electronic health records, up from 28% in 2006. The researchers found that 99% of doctors in the Netherlands use EHRs. Australia, Italy,…
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The Medical Quack
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Fortune 100 Companies Don't Get Twitter Study Says and I Agree
19 Nov 2009 | 7:16 pmThis is a good study I think as a user of Twitter I can clearly say those without any personality don’t get the reads. You can pretty much tell the stale and stuffy ones out there as they don’t understand how Twitter works, it’s not like putting an ad online, this is interactive. Best Buy uses it for customer service. http://twitter.com/twelpforce You know I have to say it’s difficult for me to explain how valuable Twitter is for efficiency and getting information to those who never even got to RSS feeds, and there’s a ton of folks there who don’t know what they… -
Quest Diagnostics gets European CE Mark for H1N1 (Swine) Flu Test
19 Nov 2009 | 6:56 pmThe test has been approved here in the US by emergency declaration a few months ago. Quest recently posted 3rd quarter profits of 1.9 billion so they are doing a lot of tests. I did a short interview with their VP of sales with MedPlus, the IT connection with the company not too long ago and you can read more at the link below. Quest Diagnostics and Health IT – Interview with Rohit Nayak, Vice President of Sales, Clinical Information Solutions Group, MedPlus Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) can now let you know if it's safe to be out in crowds on both sides of the pond. The… -
Whistle Blowers Are The Department of Justice’s Best Friend When It Comes to Solving Fraud
19 Nov 2009 | 6:23 pmI posted this last October in 2008 and little did I know how true it would really play out to be as time moved on, those 2 items right there are what seems to make the dollars and profits in healthcare today. The DOJ certainly has been helped with the efforts of whistle blowers and there’s money here for a reward too. The largest recoveries have come from both Pharma and Medical Device manufacturers. Again with competition, the marketing sides of the companies want the products moving and making money, so sometimes things get skewed beyond where they should be in the chase… -
ZigBee Alliance Creates Group to Educate Healthcare Professionals and Consumers on Telehealth
19 Nov 2009 | 6:13 pmFirst stop for this group should be the US Congress to educate, as they need some of this knowledge so they can create and pass laws that are useful and meaningful, kind of like what everyone is shaking around with meaningful use. All the wireless solutions are there with companies biting at the bit to make a dollar and thus products are thrown at healthcare professionals and patients and not implemented properly. While they are at it, they might want to meet with the Participatory Sensing Group at UCLA and get some insight beyond proof of concept. It’s a Catch 22 as… -
The Silence is Deafening With Meaningful Use – Start Spelling Some of This Out In Algorithmic Formats
19 Nov 2009 | 5:51 pmOne thing to be said for algorithmic formats is that there would a bit less text to deal with and less money going out for legal advice. Publish the algorithms that need to be met and put them out there, of course along with some text. If we could have a programmatic approach with certain parameters to meet, it might give us a running start. Laws are amended and the same could be done for algorithms. We can’t get rid of text entirely but a working model of what need to be incorporated as the basic standards would sure improve and bring everyone to the same…
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Fred Trotter
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On project governance
17 Nov 2009 | 10:25 amRecently, some of the i2b2 team asked me for my thoughts on project governance. I find that my lengthy email answers to these kinds of questions are worth blogging about. I mean really, its a bother to write a good blog post and a bother to write a long email… why duplicate?? The original question was [...] -
Lack of Transparency in Houston, T.X.
3 Nov 2009 | 9:08 amI am quite happy to say that your insane business practices will soon be coming to an end. http://www.hhs.gov/valuedriven/ Do you honestly think that any other business could get away with not providing up-front pricing? You actually expect me to visit in-person to determine whether you have a fair price for services? Try calling Walmart or IHOP [...] -
Who owns the data
27 Oct 2009 | 6:28 amWho owns the health information? the patient to whom it refers? the health provider who created it? the IT specialist who has the greatest control over it? the researcher who aggregates it? the health 2.0 company that harvested it? the notion of ownership is inadequate for health information. No one has an absolute right to destroy health information. But you can [...] -
The Health Internet
20 Oct 2009 | 7:46 amFor whatever reason, people still do not get the basics of the Health Internet. Part of the problem is the fact that the marketing term has been, until recently the National Health Information Network or NHIN. The Feds recently decided to start calling the project the Health Internet, because that gives a much better idea [...] -
Open Source Health Software Conference
6 Oct 2009 | 1:35 pmSo I have two small news items. First, I am renaming the yearly Houston Open Source Conference from fosshealth to OSHealthCon, which just stands for Open Source Health Software Conference. Why the name change? Well, it is caused by the need for me to distance myself from the term “free”. I know what “free” means when [...]
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Medical Software Guides
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EMR/EHR Software Implementation: Project Planning
20 Nov 2009 | 12:48 pmOverview The decision to implement an electronic health record (EHR) is one of the most important decisions for your health care organization or physician practice. The transition to an EHR system changes everything. Nearly every business process is impacted with the EHR implementation from registration/admission, scheduling, documentation, billing, patient follow-up, and communication within and external to your organization. Considering the profound change this implementation generates, your organization needs a clear road map to ensure a successful transition that will capitalize on the… -
User Friendly Medical Billing Software
28 Oct 2009 | 9:01 amEase of Use is a major factor to keep in mind when choosing medical billing software. Here are some important considerations regarding ease of use, security, and other factors when comparing medical billing software options: When you start using the medical billing software, moving from one screen or one function to another should be intuitive and make sense to you, the user. Do transitions from screen to screen proceed logically? Is there a simple graphical interface between different modules of the medical billing software? What about data security and HIPAA compliance? Is it easy to… -
EMR Options for the Smaller Practice
28 Oct 2009 | 8:46 amThe type of EMR and medical software platform that will work best for you depends on the size and complexity of your medical practice or organization. If you are a smaller practice or a solo practitioner, one of the most daunting aspects of buying and implementing EMR is the price: purchasing, licensing, implementation, and training can cost a true fortune. This outlay can make sense and save money for a large medical organization. If the system is implemented carefully, it will cut the number of man hours you need, perhaps reduce the number of employees, and help your practice comply with… -
EMR Software Offering Transcription Services
30 Sep 2009 | 10:27 amA great benefit that substantial EMR software can offer is integrated medical transcription software – and the associated cost savings it will bring. Many doctors in solo or small practices spend a lot of time and money on (a) writing their notes on paper charts for patients and (b) on a medical transcription service or using a dedicated person to get those notes into a decent format and on disk. Letters have to be sent to the patient and to other doctors for referrals, and to insurance companies. Poor medical transcription, of the lack of efficient medical transcription, can cost a… -
How Much Medical Software Do You Really Need?
31 Aug 2009 | 11:27 amEMR software, medical billing software, and medical practice management software are not the same. Buying more than what you need can be very costly for a medical practice. Large Practice If you run a large medical practice or health-related organization, you probably have to meet many regulatory rules, provide scheduling at multiple locations and manage different coding requirements for Medicare. In that case you should be evaluate a medical practice management software that covers both an electronic medical records or EMR and medical billing. A good medical software package that handles…
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Laura O'Grady, PhD
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Twitter tidbits
25 Oct 2009 | 6:57 pmI’ve been using Twitter for a couple of months now (take a peek at my tweets by looking in the column on the right under the heading, “Laura’s Tweets” or follow me @ogradylaura). I’m not sure what’s going on with the API for this particular application (as opposed to Facebook or any other social networking or web 2.0 type of services) but there seems to be quite the buzz around mining the Twitter feed. Here’s just a few Twitter utilities I’ve saved in the past while. Trendistic – see trends in Twitter Backtweets – search for links on… -
Health enough for all!
25 Oct 2009 | 6:22 pmAccording to the Canadian Community Health Survey the vast majority (91%) of Canadians were satisfied or very satisfied with life, which was correlated with health (about two thirds of this majority reported their health as excellent or very good). Do the Americans really think universal health care is hazardous to our well being? You would think so with articles like, “Did Canada’s Universal Health Care Kill Natasha Richardson?” and this more “scholarly” approach, “Universal Healthcare Will Endanger the American Health System“. Do my neighbours to… -
The ethics of ethical review boards
25 Oct 2009 | 5:21 pmI was recently reflecting on research I conducted when I was a PhD student and during my post doc. I realized that the research protocols I submitted were under review by an ethics board on average of about nine months. I think this is too long. Perhaps this was caused by my choice of populations (HIV/AIDS) or location (in a hospital). I’m not sure. Perhaps I’m bad at filling out forms After speaking with others (and hearing some pretty bad horror stories) I’m starting to realize a couple of things. People are also experiencing delays similar to mine. Ethics boards are… -
Five minutes, five dollars and one pair of shoes for a lifetime
18 Oct 2009 | 5:28 pmSay I told you that you had five minutes and five dollars to by one pair of shoes that would last you a lifetime. I’m sure a few things would cross your mind including “That’s not enough time” and “That’s not enough money”. You would probably consider other issues like what you would be doing while wearing these shoes (for example, “What kind of job would I have”? and “Where would I live”?). No one would be able to accomplish this task. Not only do you not have enough time (five minutes) or money (five dollars) you don’t… -
eHealth, H1N1 and getting it together
26 Sep 2009 | 12:07 pmH1N1 may be the best thing that ever happened to eHealth. It may be the “perfect storm”. It may provide us with motivation (based on fear of contracting the virus), a ready-built infrastructure (the Internet), primed with dozens of collaboration and social networking tools and eager participants ready to share data. Will we be able to take advantage? In a perfect scenario anyone experiencing symptoms of the flu registers within web-based electronic form. This form is automatically linked to the patients’ physician. Using an algorithm based on clinical guidelines the program determines…
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Most Popular Items from healthcareitnews.com
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ECRI picks top 7 health plan IT trends to watch
16 Nov 2009 | 8:12 amGenetic testing and electronic medical records are top of the ECRI Institute's 2010 technology watch list for health plans. ECRI officials said the list represents important technologies and technology-related issues that private and public payers should pay close attention to in 2010. The trends as listed are: -
Blumenthal: Tear down walls that block information exchange
13 Nov 2009 | 9:20 amDavid Blumenthal, MD, who leads the government's effort to transform the nation's healthcare system from paper to digital, is urging the industry to break down barriers to health data exchange. To ensure the best patient care, he said, information exchange must reach every nook and cranny of the healthcare system. In an e-mail sent Thursday – the third in a series – Blumenthal outlines the provisions of the HITECH Act that addresses barriers to exchange. -
Consultant: Healthcare IT market to grow at 'impressive' rate
10 Nov 2009 | 3:19 amHealth information technology is the fastest growing segment of the $1 trillion global healthcare marketplace, and the "impressive" 11 percent combined annual growth rate is likely to continue through 2013, according to a Scientia Advisors global review released Tuesday. According to Scientia, a global management advisory firm with offices in Cambridge, Mass., and Palo Alto, Calif., healthcare IT sales will grow by 25 percent, from 4 percent to 5 percent of the worldwide healthcare market, by 2013. -
Physicians still worried about EHRs disrupting work
4 Nov 2009 | 6:48 amPhysicians have limited knowledge of the American Recovery and Reinvestment provisions, according to a recent online survey of 1,001 physicians, and they are still reluctant to adopt information technology. Ingenix, a healthcare IT company and consulting firm, is under the umbrella of UnitedHealth Group, conducted the survey. While financial incentives and penalties drive physicians to adopt health IT, the survey showed, they continue to be worried about upfront cost and workflow disruption. -
Healthcare systems racing to fill CIO positions with 'right talent'
4 Nov 2009 | 6:22 amThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is a major contributor in the spike in CIO recruitments at hospitals and healthcare systems, according to a national executive search expert. "ARRA's requirements for the incentives are bringing it (the importance of the CIO position) to the forefront of hospital boards and administrations," said Linda Hodges, vice president of health information technology practice leader for Witt/Kieffer. "We've seen more searches for CIOs in the healthcare industry now than in the last 15 years."
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News from healthcareitnews.com
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Standards group offers 10 guidelines to make HIT adoption easier
20 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amFederal officials should follow 10 guidelines as they write rules for healthcare IT adoption, according to members of an HIT Standards Committee workgroup. At a Thursday meeting of the HIT Standards Committee, Judy Murphy, a representative of Aurora Health and member of the HIT Standards Committee Implementation workgroup, said the feedback received from providers, vendors and other stakeholders on how to promote healthcare IT adoption could best be summed up as follows: -
Physicians network uses wireless IT to improve home-based care
20 Nov 2009 | 7:28 amThe Wound Technology Network, a Hollywood, Fla.-based network of physicians, is using wireless services and mobile devices to provide better care to chronic wound patients in south Florida and southern California. The WTN is using a tele-management center to help physicians diagnose and treat wound patients. Through the use of telemedicine, information technology and an evidence-based approach to care, officials said, the group looks to reduce the cost of care to patients and provide the same quality of care in the patient’s home. -
$10B loan program targeted at small medical groups
20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 amA bill that provides loans of up to $350,000 for physicians and $2 million for medical groups to buy electronic health record systems or other healthcare information technology is likely to benefit solo and small group practices the most, according to investment bank Piper Jaffrey. -
HealthPort postpones IPO, citing market conditions
20 Nov 2009 | 6:34 amConcerned about market conditions and its own financial footing, HealthPort officials have postponed plans to go public. -
Vendor Notebook - Eclipsys Sunrise goes live at Singapore General Hospital
20 Nov 2009 | 6:30 amThe Eclipsys Corporation of Atlanta has announced that Singapore General Hospital has successfully activated Eclipsys Sunrise Patient Flow. Carestream Health, Inc., of Rochester, N.Y., has signed a multi-year contract with Atlanta-based MedAssets Supply Chain Systems to provide MedAssets customers with access to Carestream’s line of data archiving, RIS/PACS and cardiology PACS solutions.
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News in Industry News
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Standards group offers 10 guidelines to make HIT adoption easier
20 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amFederal officials should follow 10 guidelines as they write rules for healthcare IT adoption, according to members of an HIT Standards Committee workgroup. At a Thursday meeting of the HIT Standards Committee, Judy Murphy, a representative of Aurora Health and member of the HIT Standards Committee Implementation workgroup, said the feedback received from providers, vendors and other stakeholders on how to promote healthcare IT adoption could best be summed up as follows: -
$10B loan program targeted at small medical groups
20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 amA bill that provides loans of up to $350,000 for physicians and $2 million for medical groups to buy electronic health record systems or other healthcare information technology is likely to benefit solo and small group practices the most, according to investment bank Piper Jaffrey. -
HealthPort postpones IPO, citing market conditions
20 Nov 2009 | 6:34 amConcerned about market conditions and its own financial footing, HealthPort officials have postponed plans to go public. -
Mobile health monitoring on Gartner's top 10 trends list
19 Nov 2009 | 7:08 amMobile health monitoring is among the top 10 consumer mobile applications for 2012 identified by Gartner as likely to have an impact on consumers and industry players. Gartner analysts considered revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value and estimated market penetration in developing their list. Mobile health monitoring was listed at No. 5. -
Library of Medicine publishes SNOMED draft
18 Nov 2009 | 8:20 amThe National Library of Medicine has published a draft map linking content from SNOMED Clinical Terms to ICD-9-CM billing codes, as a precursor to the development of similar maps. The map aims to support administrative reporting and reimbursement functions where SNOMED CT is the terminology for clinical descriptive purposes, said Betsy Humphreys, NLM deputy director. The draft consists of about 5,000 mappings of the SNOMED CT terms most commonly used by Kaiser Permanente and the University of Nebraska.
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News in Hospitals & IDNs
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Children's Hospital Boston launches 'Text 4 Kids' campaign
20 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amFirst, doctors were using mobile devices. Now, fundraisers at Children's Hospital Boston are asking donors to text their donations. The hospital launched the campaign Friday with PSA announcements on You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. Children's Hospital Boston' first text-message fund-raising campaign encourages New Englanders to "become a champion for Children's" by using text messaging to donate to the hospital's patient care, research and community outreach initiatives. -
Louisiana hospital links 'smart pumps' to its EHR
19 Nov 2009 | 6:36 amOur Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, a 700-bed hospital in Baton Rouge, La., has integrated its infusion pumps with a bar-code point-of-care system. Helping set the standard for interoperability between medical devices and electronic health records, Our Lady of the Lake achieved the connection with the help of EHR provider Cerner and pump provider Hospira. -
Physician shortage drives telemedicine market
18 Nov 2009 | 6:29 amSwedish Medical Center, the largest medical center in the Pacific Northwest, will enable remote hospitals to access its nationally recognized stroke team for stroke support services. -
Survey: Healthcare isn't ready for HITECH's security breach notification rules
17 Nov 2009 | 7:56 amBusiness associates who handle private patient information for healthcare organizations are largely unprepared to meet the new data breach related obligations included in the HITECH Act, according to a new survey. Those affected include billing operations, credit bureaus, benefits management, legal services, claims processing, insurance brokers, data processing firms, pharmacy chains, accounting firms, temporary office personnel and offshore transcription vendors. -
Study: RTLS technology can save hospitals time and money, boost care
17 Nov 2009 | 6:57 amA study of the use of a real-time location system (RTLS) at Southeastern Regional Medical Center indicates the technology can save hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, improve clinical outcomes and boost staff morale.
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News in Payers
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ECRI picks top 7 health plan IT trends to watch
16 Nov 2009 | 8:12 amGenetic testing and electronic medical records are top of the ECRI Institute's 2010 technology watch list for health plans. ECRI officials said the list represents important technologies and technology-related issues that private and public payers should pay close attention to in 2010. The trends as listed are: -
Data collection center to start measuring payers' efficiency
13 Nov 2009 | 7:20 amA national data collection center has been launched to monitor business efficiency in healthcare by tracking electronic adoption and resulting cost savings. Officials say primary data collection will begin with healthcare payers, but will later be opened up to providers and clearinghouses to provide a complete view of the industry. -
Health 2.0 catches up
5 Nov 2009 | 1:53 pmCompared to other stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, payers are late adopters of Health 2.0 technology. While many payers are beginning to invest, a panel at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco in October demonstrated how they are leading the pack. Kaiser Permanente’s electronic health record system is well known in the industry. The healthcare organization is putting the finishing touches to its EHR throughout the enterprise, said Christopher Ohman, senior vice president of health plan operations outside California for Kaiser. -
Oregon calls for transparency
5 Nov 2009 | 1:49 pmIn a move to drive more transparency in the healthcare insurance market, the Oregon legislature has mandated health plans to provide the cost of 35 different treatments to consumers. PacificSource has delivered nearly 1,000 estimates for its members since it deployed TriZetto’s Treatment Cost Navigator in July, said CIO Erick Doolan. -
ICD-10 gets payers' attention
5 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pmAlthough healthcare reform dominates the payer world, payers need to start working on a game plan for the major transition to ICD-10, industry consultants said. “The biggest mistake payers can make is not addressing the impact assessment quickly,” said Pamela Ruebelmann, vice president of healthcare solutions for HighPoint Solutions. An assessment, which provides a full understanding of all the impacted components of people, process and technology, will help payers develop a multi-year, organization-wide roadmap, she said.
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News in Physician Practices & Ambulatory Care
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Standards group offers 10 guidelines to make HIT adoption easier
20 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amFederal officials should follow 10 guidelines as they write rules for healthcare IT adoption, according to members of an HIT Standards Committee workgroup. At a Thursday meeting of the HIT Standards Committee, Judy Murphy, a representative of Aurora Health and member of the HIT Standards Committee Implementation workgroup, said the feedback received from providers, vendors and other stakeholders on how to promote healthcare IT adoption could best be summed up as follows: -
Physicians network uses wireless IT to improve home-based care
20 Nov 2009 | 7:28 amThe Wound Technology Network, a Hollywood, Fla.-based network of physicians, is using wireless services and mobile devices to provide better care to chronic wound patients in south Florida and southern California. The WTN is using a tele-management center to help physicians diagnose and treat wound patients. Through the use of telemedicine, information technology and an evidence-based approach to care, officials said, the group looks to reduce the cost of care to patients and provide the same quality of care in the patient’s home. -
$10B loan program targeted at small medical groups
20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 amA bill that provides loans of up to $350,000 for physicians and $2 million for medical groups to buy electronic health record systems or other healthcare information technology is likely to benefit solo and small group practices the most, according to investment bank Piper Jaffrey. -
New York IPA to roll out EMR, practice management systems
19 Nov 2009 | 7:44 amThe Catholic Independent Practice Association of Western New York is poised to automate its medical records and business practices. CIPA, based in Buffalo, selected electronic medical record and practice management software from Westborough, Mass.-based eClinicalWorks for its network of ambulatory care offices and select community physicians. The organization purchased 150 licenses. eClinicalWorks will work with the IPA to connect into HEALTHeLINK, the local regional health information organization. -
New York's e-health collaborative heads toward more connectivity
17 Nov 2009 | 6:50 amState e-health collaboratives across the country are gearing to submit their operational plans for the health information exchange (HIE) portion of the federal stimulus funds under the HITECH Act. New York eHealth collaborative is no exception, but it finds itself at a critical juncture. With a new executive director leading the not-for-profit corporation, NYeC is at an "important crossroads" for what its next steps will be, according to Carol Raphael, its board chairwoman.
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News in Vendors
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Standards group offers 10 guidelines to make HIT adoption easier
20 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amFederal officials should follow 10 guidelines as they write rules for healthcare IT adoption, according to members of an HIT Standards Committee workgroup. At a Thursday meeting of the HIT Standards Committee, Judy Murphy, a representative of Aurora Health and member of the HIT Standards Committee Implementation workgroup, said the feedback received from providers, vendors and other stakeholders on how to promote healthcare IT adoption could best be summed up as follows: -
Physicians network uses wireless IT to improve home-based care
20 Nov 2009 | 7:28 amThe Wound Technology Network, a Hollywood, Fla.-based network of physicians, is using wireless services and mobile devices to provide better care to chronic wound patients in south Florida and southern California. The WTN is using a tele-management center to help physicians diagnose and treat wound patients. Through the use of telemedicine, information technology and an evidence-based approach to care, officials said, the group looks to reduce the cost of care to patients and provide the same quality of care in the patient’s home. -
$10B loan program targeted at small medical groups
20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 amA bill that provides loans of up to $350,000 for physicians and $2 million for medical groups to buy electronic health record systems or other healthcare information technology is likely to benefit solo and small group practices the most, according to investment bank Piper Jaffrey. -
HealthPort postpones IPO, citing market conditions
20 Nov 2009 | 6:34 amConcerned about market conditions and its own financial footing, HealthPort officials have postponed plans to go public. -
Vendor Notebook - Eclipsys Sunrise goes live at Singapore General Hospital
20 Nov 2009 | 6:30 amThe Eclipsys Corporation of Atlanta has announced that Singapore General Hospital has successfully activated Eclipsys Sunrise Patient Flow. Carestream Health, Inc., of Rochester, N.Y., has signed a multi-year contract with Atlanta-based MedAssets Supply Chain Systems to provide MedAssets customers with access to Carestream’s line of data archiving, RIS/PACS and cardiology PACS solutions.
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Latest Podcasts from healthcareitnews.com
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How one hospital plans to show meaningful use of IT
13 Nov 2009 | 11:59 amIn this podcast interview, Editor Bernie Monegain speaks with Sue Schade, vice president and CIO of Brigham and Women's and Faulkner's Hospitals in Boston. Schade tells how Brigham and Women's is preparing to show meaningful use of healthcare IT and provides advice for smaller hospitals with fewer resources. -
Fast-Tracking Your EHR: How to Implement an EHR in 9 1/2 Weeks or Less
20 Oct 2009 | 9:42 amImplementing a new application system can be a lengthy and, at times, daunting project. Left in the lurch by their incumbent EHR vendor, and forced to revert back to paper-based medical records, SunHealth needed to get their new EHR/document management system up and running in a hurry. Learn how they planned, managed, and flawlessly executed a nine-month implementation project in nine weeks - and what they learned along the way. 5 minute excerpt from original recording. -
Newsmaker Interview: Sean Walker
21 Jul 2009 | 12:39 pmSean Walker is a director in the healthcare group at McGladrey Capital Markets, LLC, a middle-market-focused investment bank. In this interview with Healthcare IT News Contributing Editor Richard Pizzi, Walker discusses the economics of the healthcare industry under the Obama administration and how the investment community will be affected. The discussion touches on topics such as healthcare IT and the outsourcing of physician services. -
Sam's Club EMR - Full Interview
17 Apr 2009 | 12:09 pmThis podcast is the full-length version of Editor Bernie Monegain's interview with Kenji Gjovig, Healthcare Business Development Manager of Sam's Club, in which Gjovig tells Monegain about the Wal-Mart subsidiary's new EMR offering. -
Newsmaker Interview: HL7's Charles Jaffe, John Quinn
7 Apr 2009 | 6:50 amCharles Jaffe, MD and John Quinn of Health Level Seven sit down to discuss healthcare IT standards with Editor Bernie Monegain in this podcast from HIMSS09 in Chicago.
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Latest healthcareitnews.com Events
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Delivering on the Promise of eHealth
12 Nov 2009 | 11:46 am -
Boston 'Healthcare Stimulus Exchange' Conference
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San Francisco 'Healthcare Stimulus Exchange' Conference
29 Oct 2009 | 10:03 am -
2nd Annual Health 3.0 Conference: The Next Online Generation
19 Oct 2009 | 7:46 am -
Healthcare IT Institute
5 Oct 2009 | 12:18 pm
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Healthcare IT News Resources
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Calculating Total Cost of Ownership for Patient Identification Wristbands
19 Nov 2009 | 11:55 amWith dozens of bar coded patient wristband printers available to healthcare organizations, it can be challenging to decide which option is the most cost-effective over the long term. By taking steps to determine the total cost of ownership before selecting and deploying a print solution, healthcare organizations can create a roadmap for improving workflow processes and enhancing overall productivity. This white paper will outline how healthcare organizations can calculate the total cost of ownership for laser and thermal print solutions. It will also compare and contrast thermal print… -
Determining Hedge Effectiveness for State and Local Governments Under GASB 53
19 Nov 2009 | 9:47 amThe Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement Number 53 (GASB 53) that is now a requirement for all governmental entities that hold derivatives in their portfolio. Governments often enter into derivative instruments as hedges of identified financial risks associated with specific assets or liabilities, or expected transactions (hedgeable items). If your organization is involved in these types of transactions, this GASB 53 white paper will provide you with the basics of derivative valuations used to meet GASB 53 requirements. Download this free white paper now. -
How to get the cost benefits of server virtualization while also protecting patient data
19 Nov 2009 | 9:07 amYour healthcare organization is under growing pressure to improve efficiency and cut costs. Meanwhile, new and existing regulations require increased security for Protected Health Information (PHI). Download analyst reports, technology white papers, a video and Webinar to get a helpful overview as well as in-depth details about the challenges and proven approaches to virtualization security. Access this free content now -
How to get the cost benefits of server virtualization while also protecting patient data
19 Nov 2009 | 9:06 amYour healthcare organization is under growing pressure to improve efficiency and cut costs. Meanwhile, new and existing regulations require increased security for Protected Health Information (PHI). Download analyst reports, technology white papers, a video and Webinar to get a helpful overview as well as in-depth details about the challenges and proven approaches to virtualization security. Access this free content now -
How to get the cost benefits of server virtualization while also protecting patient data
19 Nov 2009 | 9:03 amYour healthcare organization is under growing pressure to improve efficiency and cut costs. Meanwhile, new and existing regulations require increased security for Protected Health Information (PHI). Download analyst reports, technology white papers, a video and Webinar to get a helpful overview as well as in-depth details about the challenges and proven approaches to virtualization security. Access this free content now
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Latest Blog Entries for heathcareitnews.com
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The Magic Answer
20 Nov 2009 | 8:43 amEvery good geek (and Google) knows that the answer to life and everything is 42. This is a famous line from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But it seems like there is a more sensible magic answer: In order for things to go well, there needs to be a high level of specification. -
Study shows EHRs make little difference in cost, quality
19 Nov 2009 | 10:42 am -
Guiding principles for the HIT Standards Committee
19 Nov 2009 | 10:40 amIn the past few weeks, the HIT Standards Committee has gathered a significant amount of written and in person testimony from standards stakeholders. We've run the FACA blog and multiple personal blogs. On Thursday November 19, we'll present a complete distillation of everything we've learned but there are several recurring themes can could be called Guiding Principles. Just as HITSP was guided by Harmonization Readiness principles to choose standards that were good enough, the HIT Standards Committee has a been told to think about the following whenever it recommends standards: -
CatDog
16 Nov 2009 | 7:37 amWhen my daughter was growing up, she watched a program called CatDog about the seamless integration of the two animals. "Their" life required constant communication and mutual understanding of the underlying cat and dog cultures. During the work of the last 4 years, the "healthcare informatics crowd" has been labeled the cats and "internet/health 2.0 crowd" has been labeled the dogs. -
EHR Implementation: Process and Technology Overlap
13 Nov 2009 | 7:23 amFor years, IT Management Consultants have instructed their clients to not do system implementations for technology's sake. Core to this philosophy is ensuring that system implementations combine people, process, and technology versus attempting to automate manual processes and behaviors. This principle holds even truer in the world of electronic health records. A frequent question that we receive regarding EHRs and all digital hospitals is "how are the workflows different than a those in paper based environment?"
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healthcareitnews.com
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Dicom Systems' Latest Statistical and Monitoring API Innovation Further Improves Healthcare Enterprise Interoperability
19 Nov 2009 | 10:50 amDicom Systems is preparing to launch the latest addition to their DCMSYS family: API for Advanced Statistical reports and graphs, and for monitoring. This feature will provide Dicom Systems' users with the facility to pull any network, system or DICOM statistics using secure SNMP v.3. This product will further enhance enterprise interoperability, and will improve the experience for doctors, physicians and providers in accessing and analyzing images, and in report workflow. -
Aware Inc. Introduces AccuRad ImageShare Platform at RSNA 2009
19 Nov 2009 | 10:44 amAware, Inc., a global provider of imaging and biometrics software, today announced it will showcase its new AccuRad ImageShare Platform, a standards-based cross-enterprise image sharing platform for health information exchange (HIE), at the RSNA 2009 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. Aware will also participate in the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise Image Sharing Demonstration at RSNA, demonstrating use of AccuRad ImageShare Platform to retrieve and display medical imagery from other standards-based systems. -
H. D. Smith Launches Comprehensive New Web Site
19 Nov 2009 | 10:41 amH. D. Smith national supplier of healthcare products, services and business solutions, announced today the launch of their new Company Web site, www.hdsmith.com. -
Medspira and Mayo Clinic Enter Into Agreement
18 Nov 2009 | 7:22 amMedspira, and Mayo Clinic have entered into an agreement to commercialize, manufacture and market several Mayo Clinic developed products and technologies invented by Mayo physicians and scientists. Mayo Clinic technologies included in the license agreement are two Radiology products currently available in the market, the Interactive Breath-Hold Control System and the BC-10 MRI Coils, and two technologies that Medspira will develop further, with the intent of making them commercially available in the next 12-24 months. -
Hitachi’s Origin 2.0 Software Gives Oasis Users Additional Motion Free Imaging and Parallel Imaging Capabilities
17 Nov 2009 | 11:23 amHitachi Medical Systems America Inc. is providing their Oasis users - at no charge - RAPID 3D and RADAR Spin Echo and Balanced SARGE along with the ORIGIN 2.0 software upgrade.
