Health Data Management articles from February 2008

Health Data Management archives from February 2008

Readers' Perspective.
February 1, 2008... The Government-Initiated Program To Reach Consensus On The Definition And Use Of The Terms EMR, EHR, PHR, RHIO AND HIE Is A Waste Of Time And Resources. AGREE Michael Agriopoulos There is too much debate and too little action....

Editorial/Ad Index.
February 1, 2008... A ActiveHealth Management 64 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 68 Allscripts LLC 18, 84, 106 American Nurses Credentialing Center 70 Ann Arbor Health Information Exchange 50 Angst, Wendy, Bio-Imaging...

Why Allscripts bought ECIN.(Extended Care Information Network)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Allscripts LLCs acquisition of Extended Care Information Network expands its care management product line and its footprint into the hospital market, says Lee Shapiro, president of Chicago-based Allscripts. But that doesnt mean the vendor...

Draft PHR Standard Model Approved.(Personal Health Record )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Standards development organization Health Level Seven has approved the Personal Health Record System Functional Model as a draft standard for trial use. The model defines a set of functions and security features that may be present in PHR...

Report: E-Scripts Rapidly Growing.(Report)
February 1, 2008... The use of electronic prescribing has grown dramatically in 2007 and will triple in 2008, according to a report from SureScripts, which operates a national e-prescribing network. The Alexandria, Va.-based vendor published its first National...

Editors' Choice Award Winners.(Awards list)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The winners of the first annual Editors Choice Awards were announced at the 3rd Annual World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress (WHIT 3.0). The awards were presented Sunday, Dec. 9, at the conferences networking gala at the Mandarin...

Study: Quarter of RHIOs are Defunct.(Regional Health Information Organizations)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... A survey of regional health information organizations known to exist in July 2006 found that a quarter of them likely were defunct by early 2007, according to a study recently published in Health Affairs. Researchers supported by the Program...

Self-Report Gives FDA Dismal Grade.
February 1, 2008... Two decades of inadequate funding have seriously hampered the Food and Drug Administrations ability to fulfill its mission of protecting the health of Americans, according to an internal FDA report. The agency does not have the...

Report Checks Public health Readiness.(Report)
February 1, 2008... The states are making progress in preparing to respond to public health emergencies, but significant gaps remain, according to a new report. For instance, 12 states do not have disease surveillance systems compatible with the National...

HealthTalk acquired by Revolution Health.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Revolution Health, which offers a comprehensive health care Web site designed for families, has purchased HealthTalk, a Web-based vendor of chronic care information. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Seattle-based HealthTalk...

Alliance Pushes Voluntary Patient ID.
February 1, 2008... The National Alliance for Health Information Technology, an industry advocacy group, is calling for a voluntary national health identifier system. This means a system would be established to create unique patient identifiers and consumers could...

HIPAA Update Done By 2014?
February 1, 2008... Two advocacy organizations have released the first of several regulatory timelines to help industry stakeholders track information technology initiatives. The released timeline covers implementation of version 5010 of the HIPAA standard...

Payers to Test Medical Home Model.
February 1, 2008... Two affiliated health insurers serving the greater New York metropolitan region will conduct a pilot program of the Medical Home model to better coordinate patient care. Among other factors, the model advocates extensive use of information...

Philips to Buy ICU I.T. Vendor VISICU.
February 1, 2008... Amsterdam-based Royal Philips Electronics will acquire VISICU Inc., a vendor of telemedicine technology that enables remote specialists to monitor intensive care units, for $430 million in cash. The deal includes $130 million that VISICU...

Team to Assess Standards.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... A new industry team will develop and validate standardized assessment instruments for the use of certain messaging standards by home health and nursing home facilities. Heading the team will be the Foundation of Research and Education at the...

FDA Releases Draft I.T. Plan.(Food and Drug Administration)(Information Technology )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Food and Drug Administration has released for public comment its Prescription Drug User Fee Act IV Information Technology Plan. The agencys intent is to provide regulated industry and other stakeholders with information on its vision...

Feds Adopt More Data Standards.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has announced adoption of three additional data standards for use in federal health care I.T. systems. Federal agencies in recent years have adopted about two...

Senators Ask AG for E-Script Help.
February 1, 2008... Nineteen U.S. senators have sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking him to review the issue of permitting electronic prescribing for controlled substances. The letter also urged the Drug Enforcement Agency to promptly issue...

HITSP OKs Interoperability Specs.
February 1, 2008... The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel has recommended a second set of interoperability specifications to facilitate health data exchange. The new interoperability specifications cover consumer access to clinical...

Kaiser Gets Grant for EHR Study.
February 1, 2008... Kaiser Permanentes Center for Health Research has received a $600,000 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to analyze its electronic health records to help improve cardiovascular care. The Oakland, Calif.-based provider and...

Mass. Hospitals Subsidize I.T.
February 1, 2008... More than 230 physicians in the Boston region are implementing integrated practice management/electronic health records software through an information technology subsidy program by three hospitals. The physicians, 70 of whom are live on the...

Nurse Survey: Mobile Tech Unreliable.
February 1, 2008... Sixty-four percent of nurses believe their organizations wireless infrastructure isnt reliable enough to support point-of-care computing, according to a recent survey. Further, the nurses sometimes have to log in and out of their wireless...

App Helps Pinpoint Outbreaks.
February 1, 2008... The National Institutes of Health has announced the availability of free software to assist in speeding detection of infectious disease outbreaks. The TranStat application was developed by epidemiologists and computer scientists from the Models...

Grants Support First Responder Tech.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The State of Illinois has awarded grants totaling nearly $18 million to 10 organizations to enhance first responder communications technology. Each grant recipient in various regions of the state outside Chicago and Cook County must match 20%...

MedAssets Gains in IPO.
February 1, 2008... Shares of Alpharetta, Ga.-based MedAssets Inc. were up more than 28% on Dec. 13 after the company issued its initial public offering of stock. The company sold more than 13.1 million shares of its stock at $16 per share on the NASDAQ market....

Calif. Hospital Posts Performance Data.
February 1, 2008... Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital at Stanford has launched a Web site to display various data about its performance. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based hospitals new site is designed to further its initiative to improve data transparency in an effort...

CCHIT Gets Interoperability Aid.
February 1, 2008... The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is getting additional support in building a tool to test compliance of electronic health records with its interoperability criteria. The Integrating the Healthcare...

IMS to Cut Workforce 10%.
February 1, 2008... Pharmaceutical database firm IMS Health has announced a restructuring that will cut about 1,050 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide workforce. The Norwalk, Conn.-based vendor collects and sells market intelligence, such as physician prescribing...

MedQuist Cuts 200 Jobs.
February 1, 2008... Medical dictation/transcription technology and services firm MedQuist Inc. has begun informing 200 employees that their positions will be eliminated immediately. The Mount Laurel, N.J.-based company is restructuring its non-medical...

MEDSEEK Lays Off 30.
February 1, 2008... Web portal builder MEDSEEK Inc. in December laid off about 30 employees, a representative of the Birmingham, Ala.-based vendor has confirmed. CEO Mike Drake also left the company. Company executives declined to discuss reasons for the moves....

How Do Consumers Perceive Health I.T.?(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is proposing the use of focus groups to learn about consumer awareness and perceptions of health information technology and how to engage consumers in development of I.T. applications. AHRQ has so...

Elsevier Buys Eclipsys Apps, Services.
February 1, 2008... Elsevier, an Amersterdam-based vendor of clinical and other content, has purchased the Clinical Practice Model Resource Center from Eclipsys Corp., Atlanta. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based resource center...

Honeywell Buys Hand Held Products.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Honeywell International, a manufacturer and vendor of technologies in various industries, has purchased Hand Held Products Inc., Skaneateles Falls, N.Y., for $390 million. The vendor of handheld technologies that resemble PDAs will become...

Emdeon Adds Billing Apps.
February 1, 2008... Nashville, Tenn.-based Emdeon Business Services has acquired complementary software for its claims clearinghouse services. The company has purchased IXT Solutions, a Nashville-based vendor of patient billing and communications software and...

Bosch Buys Home Health Vendor.
February 1, 2008... The Bosch Group of Stuttgart, Germany, has acquired a majority share of Health Hero Network, a vendor of patient monitoring devices for use in the home. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Health Hero sells...

Noffsinger Heads Another Start-Up.
February 1, 2008... SafeMed Inc., a start-up vendor of decision support software, has named Richard Noffsinger as CEO. He succeeds founder Ahmed Ghouri, M.D., who will serve as chief medical officer and continue on the board. Noffsinger is a veteran of the health...

Surescripts CEO to Leave.
February 1, 2008... Kevin Hutchinson, president and CEO of SureScripts, which operates a national electronic prescription network, was expected to leave the company at the end of January. Hutchinson has been with the Alexandria, Va.-based vendor since 2002,...

Elekta to Buy Oncology Software Firm.
February 1, 2008... Radiology therapy and radio surgery vendor Elekta AB has signed a letter of intent to acquire CMS Inc., which sells radiation treatment planning and oncology workflow management software. Stockholm-based Elekta will pay $75 million for...

HL7 Expands Board with New Members.(Health Level)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Standards development organization Health Level Seven has named three individuals to its newly expanded board of directors. The new members are: * Dennis Giokas, chief technology officer for Canada Health Infoway, a federally funded...

Site Explains Candidate Positions.
February 1, 2008... WebMD Health Corp.s consumer Web portal now has a section that explains the positions of the 2008 presidential candidates on health care issues. The Health Matters in the 2008 Election center defines health-related topics, enables a...

Vendor, State Link Immunization Data.
February 1, 2008... Physician software vendor Visionary Medical Systems Inc. has connected its practice management system to Floridas immunization registry. The connectivity enables immunization data to be uploaded to the Department of Healths registry, called the...

Database Sheds Light on Retail Clinics.
February 1, 2008... Yardley, Pa.-based Verispan, a vendor of market intelligence databases, has introduced the Retail Clinic Database. A total of 921 such clinics operate in 36 states today, according to VeriSpans research. The database lists more than 830...

Survey Coming to Home Health.
February 1, 2008... The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will test a data collection program to expand the CAHPS consumer satisfaction survey initiative to home health care services. CAHPS is the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey started in 1995...

Cisco Joins CalRHIO Network.
February 1, 2008... CalRHIO has added Cisco Systems Inc. to its vendor team for building a statewide health information exchange in California. San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco will participate in strategy development, infrastructure design, deployment and...

Baker Named VivoMetrics CEO.
February 1, 2008... Ventura, Calif.-based VivoMetrics Inc. has named Howard R. Baker as president and CEO. Baker succeeds Paul Kennedy, who will remain with the company as executive vice president. Before joining VivoMetrics, Baker served in several senior...

GE Courses Focus on Biomedical Issues.(General Electric Co. GE Healthcare)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... GE Healthcare has launched a vendor-independent health information technology education program for biomedical and I.T. professionals. The program focuses on connectivity and troubleshooting of medical devices and information systems regardless...

The Value of Speaking The Same Language: Runaway acronyms don't imperil the national health information network. But they don't help.
February 1, 2008... What in the world is the difference between an electronic medical record, electronic health record and personal health record? Whats the difference between a regional health information organization and a health information exchange? Two...

Here Comes PHR.
February 1, 2008... In addition to sorting out the terms EMR and EHR, the Records Work Group put together by the Department of Health and Human Services also is seeking consensus definitions for the meaning and use of personal health records. These are...

Paper Takes A Stab At Definitions.
February 1, 2008... A paper published in the March/April 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association discussed pragmatic steps the federal government could take to facilitate interoperable health care information technology. The...

RHIOs Struggle to Find a map to Success: Health information exchanges evaluate their predecessors' strategies to determine what to do - and what not to do - to achieve viability.(Regional Health Information Organizations )
February 1, 2008... About four years ago, health care leaders in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia wanted to create a patient data exchange across their region. So they sought advice from several more established regional health information...

Initiatives exchange data without RHIOs.
February 1, 2008... Saint Lukes Health System is participating in the planning of two regional health information organizations across the Kansas City, Mo. area. But rather than wait for those projects to get off the ground, the 11-hospital delivery system also...

NHIN not dependent on RHIOs.(National Health Information Network)(Regional Health Information Organizations )
February 1, 2008... Though the National Health Information Network initiative has focused on exchanging data among RHIOs or HIEs, federal officials say the national networks success isnt contingent upon these regional networks. As the result of a presidential...

Magnet Hospitals Rely on I.T.: Many organizations honored for nursing excellence use clinical systems to help achieve high-quality care.
February 1, 2008... When it comes to nurses, a magnet can indeed be a powerful attraction. Only about 263 hospitals nationwide have earned recognition for nursing excellence by achieving designation as a magnet hospital. These facilities use their magnet status as...

Scorecards Help Nurses Improve Quality.
February 1, 2008... One of the nations largest hospitals is using business intelligence technology to improve the quality of care offered in its 73 nursing units. The 1,352-bed Methodist Hospital, located at Texas Medical Center in Houston, is relying on...

I.T. Progress at Smaller Hospitals: Demand from physicians, competition for patients leads to increase in clinical automation.
February 1, 2008... Americas smaller hospitals are climbing aboard the clinical automation bandwagon. Theyre turning to information technology as they look for ways to attract physicians to small towns and convince area residents that they dont need to drive to...

Let's Make A Deal: Negotiating a software contract requires diligent attention to details and a partnership mentality.
February 1, 2008... Unlike haggling over the price of a car, negotiating a software contract involves far more than just bickering about the list price, consultants who broker such deals say. Both sides have to approach the deal as the start of a long-term...

Gaining Leverage In Negotiations.
February 1, 2008... Sometimes, even smaller hospitals have more leverage in negotiating contracts than they originally realize. When Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., began negotiating a deal with Cerner Corp., it discovered that the...

Be Prepared: California hospitals got a real-world test for their disaster plans during the recent wildfires and learned some important lessons.
February 1, 2008... Early in the morning on Monday, Oct. 22, one question was on the minds of executives at Palomar Pomerado Health: Which way would the wind blow? Wildfires had begun to threaten the area near the 107-bed Pomerado Hospital and the 129-bed...

Consultant Offers Planning Tips.
February 1, 2008... Hospitals face many challenges when drafting disaster preparedness and recovery plans, says consultant Tom Walsh, who specializes in such planning. For example, achieving a consensus among nurses on which applications need to be activated...

Staying the Course, With a Twist: For eight years, SRSsoft has sold a document imaging and management system for physicians who want electronic records, but not a full-fledged electronic medical records systems.
February 1, 2008... Over time, however, its customers and prospects wanted more functionality than the flagship Clinical Manager system could deliver. So the Montvale, N.J.-based vendor in September 2006 held a users meeting and asked, What do you need? recalls...

A Dashboard for the OR: Massachusetts General experiments with large monitors that clearly display patient information.
February 1, 2008... In most of the operating rooms at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists have to ask one another for information that only one of them may be seeingsuch as how a patients blood pressure is faringand...

Handling I.T. Responsibilities: Why some practices hire full-time technicians, while others rely on existing staff to get the job done.
February 1, 2008... In 2002, Graybill Medical Group had a computer network that was patched together, says Leslie Chapman, director of finance at the 33-physician practice with five locations. Back then, the computer troubleshooting was split up among business...

Getting Some Outside Help: Why one payer is turning to outsourcers to help it manage I.T. for its consumer-driven health plan.
February 1, 2008... The basics of all the emerging consumer-driven health plans are very similar. These lower-cost, high-deductible managed care plans are linked to health savings accounts that consumers use to pay their out-of-pocket expenses. To...

Contracts Update.
February 1, 2008... The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts that health care information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be sent to Health Data Management by e-mail to:...

Stats Snapshot.
February 1, 2008... United States health care organizations will spend more than $9.5 billion on electronic health records systems in 2012, according to a report from London-based Datamonitor. In 2006 providers spent $2.4 billion, and Datamonitor expects a...

What It Means to Be Really Busy: CIOs always have a lot on their plates.
February 1, 2008... Ive had two careers in health care; one as a registered radiologic technologist and the other as a CIO. There was some time spent in the world of HIS vendors that helped bridge the gap. My first career is important as a reference point....