Health Data Management articles from February 2006

Health Data Management archives from February 2006

Deja vu All Over Again?(providing access to medical records through information technology)
February 1, 2006... Back in the mid-1990s, when I was editor of this magazine, we wrote dozens of stories about community health information networks, or CHINs. In those days, every major software vendor was touting their CHIN-enabled software at the HIMSS...

Public Health Agencies Encouraged to Sit at RHIO Table.(regional health information organisation)
February 1, 2006... As health care stakeholders across the nation develop regional health information organizations, public health agencies are missing from many tables. After surveying the RHIO landscape, "it was clear that public health participation in the...

Lessons Learned From Soarian 'Big-Bang' Go-Live.(services of healthalliance hospital inc. with siemens medical solutions)
February 1, 2006... The two acute care facilities of HealthAlliance Hospital Inc. last December went live with parts of the Soarian clinical, financial and health information management suite of Siemens Medical Solutions, Malvern, Pa. The facilities in...

Why the Blues Want Their Own Bank.(for the health savings account)
February 1, 2006... The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's intent to create a bank will give consumers tools to better manage their health savings accounts, according to the Chicago-based organization. "We think Blue Healthcare Bank will help facilitate...

Proposal Would Link Homeland Security, Health I.T. Networks.
February 1, 2006... A national communications network being built to exchange homeland security information among local, state and federal government agencies also could host the national health information network, according to a new research paper. "Though...

HIPAA Heats Up Demand for Environmental Monitoring.
February 1, 2006... Until early 2005, ITWatchDogs Inc. executives never heard of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Since that time, the environmental monitoring technology vendor has learned that HIPAA's security rule is behind a spike in...

Take a Quick Poll...
February 1, 2006... Visit the Health Data Management Web site and express your opinion on one of health care I.T.'s hot topics. Your comments may appear in a future Readers' Perspectives department. www.healthdatamanagement.com (c) 2006 Health Data...

Humorous TV Ads Spotlight Hospitals' I.T. Innovations.
February 1, 2006... Health care marketing ranges from hospitals touting specialty programs to pharmaceutical companies plugging new drugs. Advances in information technology, however, are seldom the cornerstone of a marketing campaign. But Evanston...

Health Care I.T. Stocks Continue to Make Gains.(information technology)
February 1, 2006... After a slow first half in 2005, health care information technology stocks found their footing and outpaced other technology indexes for the fourth quarter and the entire year. The price of a marketbasket of 24 health care I.T. stocks...

Newsline Digest.
February 1, 2006... HHS I.T. OFFICE GETS FUNDS FOR 2006 Congress has approved the Department of Health and Human Services' fiscal 2006 budget with a sizable funding hike for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The office...

Stock Chart.(health care software companies)(Illustration)
February 1, 2006... (part 1 of 3) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 1/12/2006 Wk High Allscripts...

Are RHIO's for Real?(forecasts and trends of regional health information organizations.)
February 1, 2006... A year ago, federal officials estimated there were about 100 regional health information organizations across the nation, in various stages of development. That number has more than doubled, according to recent surveys by the University of...

Brailer: RHIOs will need makeovers.(regional health information organizations)
February 1, 2006... The federal government has pushed hard for the development of regional health information organizations. But the mission of RHIOs will change dramatically within two or three years as the government's effort to build a national network gains...

Experienced networks offer business model.(health information network)
February 1, 2006... Only a few networks that started in the days of community health information networks, or soon after, remain operational. These surviving networks provide lessons for regional health information organizations searching for a sustainable...

National network keeps debate over patient identifier alive.(access control of patient identifier)
February 1, 2006... Can anyone imagine a social security system without a unique Social Security Number for each participant? Or a national banking ATM network without a unique personal identifier for everyone with a debit card? If not, some experts ask, how...

Smart Phones Finding Voice in Health Care: Though adoption still is low, new health care applications are evolving for the converged devices.
February 1, 2006... Dan Diamond, M.D., began using a smart phone about a year ago. The family physician, who practices at The Doctors Clinic in Silverdale, Wash., bought the mobile hardware to replace two devices-a PDA and a cell phone-he had been using during...

Choosing the right smart phone, network service.(usage of smart phones)
February 1, 2006... Physicians and provider organizations wanting to use smart phones previously were limited to the specific devices or operating systems that could support their software. Now that many clinical systems can run on various smart phones and mobile...

VNA vocalizes support for smart phones.(visiting nurses association)
February 1, 2006... David Brooks, principal at BCC Consulting, a Durham, N.C.-based health care consulting firm, anticipates that smart phones have a bright future in health care. But the group of physicians that stand to gain the most benefits from the form...

Are Cards Finally a Good Bet?: There's no consensus on whether smart cards have a role to play in an increasingly connected industry.(smart cards in health information services industry)
February 1, 2006... In 2003, executives at Queens (N.Y.) Health Network rolled out an initiative to use smart cards to fill in the information gaps at its two emergency departments. The cards are "smart" by virtue of embedded microprocessors that can store 64...

Smart Cards' Future: Dim or Bright?(smart cards, a boon for the health care industry)
February 1, 2006... Assessing the potential of information technology in health care depends on whom you ask. Some see smart card technology as an important tool for attaching health and insurance information to patients. Its proponents expect great things to...

Linux Knocking at the Back Door: The platform makes some inroads with servers, but has a ways to go on the front end.(Linux, a good alternative for health department)
February 1, 2006... For the vast majority of computer users, Microsoft Windows is the operating system that pops up when they turn on their computer. Technology from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has become nearly as familiar to back-end users in information...

Innovators Put Linux Out in Front.(Knoxville (Tenn.) Pediatric Associates uses linux)
February 1, 2006... Knoxville (Tenn.) Pediatric Associates has 82 desktop workstations in its 29-physician, five-site practice. Since the fall of 2004, 70 of the workstations have run a practice management system from Physician's Computer Company, Winooski,...

Linux Litigation Causes Hesitation.(legal proceedings on linux)
February 1, 2006... Medical Mutual of Ohio is using Linux servers only for very limited back-end functions. What's holding the Cleveland, Ohio-based insurer back from using Linux more widely? It's not a lack of confidence in the operating system, but rather...

Payers Using I.T. to Give and Receive: Health plans help docs automate and increase electronic ties to patients.(information on E-prescribing software for doctors)
February 1, 2006... Managed care organizations and physicians historically have had a tense relationship. But some payers are trying to use information technology to improve relations as well as cut some of the fat out of their budgets by decreasing the costs of...

Payers Getting Personal with Records Software.
February 1, 2006... Three years ago, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New York rolled out personal health records software for its members. The software from Elmwood, N.J.-based Emdeon Corp., formerly WebMD, enabled members to build and maintain a medical...

I.T. Asked to Read the Fine Print: Delivery system uses contract management application to uncover millions in underpayments.(information management )
February 1, 2006... Managed care contracts often are riddles inside a mystery, wrapped in an enigma. Health plans offer a dizzying array of insurance plans that are a complex jumble of copays and reimbursement rates, many of which are negotiated on a...

Suite Spot Provides Interesting Views: Telemedicine links and electronic records enable docs to treat rural, urban and international patients.
February 1, 2006... When emergency medicine specialist Oscar Boulting-house, M.D., goes to work at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he doesn't go to the emergency department. Instead, he enters one of 11 telemedicine suites and begins his day...

Group Finds App Within App: A specialty practice is happy to 'inherit' Web-based claims management software.(AdventX)
February 1, 2006... Sometimes the path of least resistance is the most productive. In late 2003, Citrus Urology Associates PA wanted a centralized practice management application to serve the six-physician, specialty group practice that was formed by merging three...

EKG + E-Records Equals Efficiencies: Group practice saves time, paper after wirelessly integrating EKG devices with its records system.(Elektrokardiogramm)
February 1, 2006... Implementing an electronic medical records system doesn't always mean the end of paper records for many provider organizations. Instead, it brings the challenge of determining where to store paper documents originating from sources not...

EMR Goes on a Lengthy Assignment: A long-term care organization brings together clinical and financial software to reduce the paper form glut and improve efficiency.(electronic medical records)
February 1, 2006... Paper forms are a chronic headache for most provider organizations; for long-term care facilities, they're more like a severe concussion. The long-term care industry is regulated by federal and state agencies that mandate different...

Technologies Improve Care in First Minutes: New systems give doctors and ambulance crews more upfront information that can help save lives.(tucson and iowa projects provides information to doctors in emergency process)
February 1, 2006... The 60 minutes after an accident occurs or an illness is diagnosed are known as the "golden hour," the time when the right-or wrong-decisions have the most impact on a patient's condition. Across the country, a growing number of ambulance...

Advertiser Index.(websites)(Directory)
February 1, 2006... Advertiser/ Site Addresses Page # 3M Health Info Systems www.3Mhis.com/Consult 67 AGFA www.agfa.com/healthcare 89 Ambir www.ambir.com 60 Antek...

Web Site Helps Drive Bottom Line: In-depth medical content helps hospital increase online traffic and patient volume.(University of Maryland)
February 1, 2006... The Web site of the University of Maryland Medical Center was not designed with the casual Web surfer in mind, says Ed Bennett, director of Web strategy. "When people come to our Web site they are in a crisis, have a serious illness or are...

Electromagnetic interference remains a serious concern with wireless networks in provider organizations. Do you agree or disagree?".
February 1, 2006... Online survey results Agree - 37% Disagree - 63% Source: Health Data Management Web site, www.healthdatamanagement.com, December 2005 survey results. 300 responses (c) 2006 Health Data Management and SourceMedia, Inc. All...