Health Data Management articles from January 2002

Health Data Management archives from January 2002

Publisher's Letter.
January 1, 2002... There was a documentary on PBS a year or two ago that showed how the fictional technology of "Star Trek," the 1960s' TV show, has influenced the real technology of today. It contended that many of today's scientists, technologists and engineers...

Congress Approves Delay For HIPAA Transactions Rule.
January 1, 2002... Congress on Dec. 12 extended by one year the compliance date for the final transactions and code sets rule. The Senate, by unanimous consent, approved a House-passed bill without amendment and sent it to President Bush, who was expected to sign...

Software Reporting Functions Take on New Urgency.
January 1, 2002... In August 2001, Washington prepared for contentious meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The District of Columbia Department of Public Health, concerned about bioterrorism threats, wanted access to data that may indicate...

Security Officers Worry About Corporate Cultures.
January 1, 2002... Health care chief security officers have a tough job. They work in an industry that handles extraordinary amounts of sensitive personal data. That data is scattered across enterprises on desks, in cabinets, on doors, in desktop computers, in...

Electronic Blueprint Helps CIOs Manage Data Flow.
January 1, 2002... When Orthopaedic Associates of Grand Rapids (Mich.) went searching for practice management and computer-based patient records software, it engaged Doyen Consulting Inc. to analyze its needs and put together a request for proposals. Part of the...

Newsline Digest.
January 1, 2002... The following are based on stories featured on the Health Data Management Web site. For twice-daily news bulletins every Monday through Friday, visit www.healthdatamanagement.com. Advocates Launch Safety Initiative Consumer and...

Newsline Briefs.
January 1, 2002... General News * The American Hospital Association, Chicago, and Quest Communications International Inc., Denver, will build a health care portal for AHA members and others in the health care field. The portal will be designed to enable...

Health Care I.T. Stock Chart.
January 1, 2002... (part 1 of 2) Price Price as One on a % of 52 month Health care software companies 12/11/2001 Wk High Change ...

Intranet Keeps Eye on Data: Massachusetts ophthalmology group uses an intranet via the application service provider computing model to manage nonclinical data.
January 1, 2002... James Bush, CFO of Eye Health Services Inc., wanted a basic solution to what he considered a basic problem. He wanted to find a better way for the group practice to communicate administrative information-including physician schedules,...

Netting Managed Care Transactions: Enabling providers to conduct eligibility and referral transactions over the Internet cuts the paper chase and workload for an HMO.
January 1, 2002... Buffalo (N.Y.) Medical Group used to wait up to 75 days to receive payment from Independent Health, an HMO serving 382,000 members. Paper referral forms were largely to blame for the lengthy delays. Following treatment, the medical group...

Implementation Tips.
January 1, 2002... Industry experts have several tips for ensuring a smooth implementation when introducing Internet-based transactions processing services: * Offer comprehensive benefit determination information with an eligibility verification response....

Army Salutes Use Of Internet: A Web-based telemedicine application helps Army medical centers offer dermatology services at regional clinics.
January 1, 2002... Four years ago, the U.S. Army's four regional medical centers had yet to standardize their telemedicine services. They had such a myriad of applications and initiatives that the hospitals, in some cases, were actually competing with each other...

Is the Future in the Palm of Your Hand?: Hand-held technology is linking clinicians wherever they may roam-to patient data. This is reducing errors, saving time and increasing revenue.
January 1, 2002... A few months ago, Stanley Schwartz, M.D., was conducting patient rounds at Tulsa, Okla.-based Saint Francis Hospital. He encountered a patient whose antibiotic had just been changed because of an allergic reaction. Because Schwartz had...

Technology traits both boon and bane.
January 1, 2002... As hand-held technology teeters on the brink of potentially exponential growth, it may be falling victim to its own success. It is a cruel irony that the very utility of the devices-their size and mobility-also are limiting factors in their...

Security issues and answers.
January 1, 2002... Provider organizations using groundbreaking hand-held technology are devising innovative ways to address unique security issues. For example, at Greensboro, N.C.-based Moses Cone Health System, data residing in an electronic medical records...

Online hand-held technology resources.
January 1, 2002... The following list of URLs is a sampling of resources pertaining to the purchase and use of personal digital assistants and other hand-held devices and software. Some overlap of resources occurs from listing to listing....

Nurses a good place to start.
January 1, 2002... While many provider organizations begin hand-held technology implementations by making physicians more mobile, some choose to start with nurses. Olympic Medical Center, a Port Angeles, Wash.-based delivery system with a 120-bed hospital and...

Mobile Technology Vendors.
January 1, 2002... Following is a sampling of hand-held hardware and software vendors serving the health care industry. (part 1 of 3) COMPANY LOCATION Hardware Vendors Casio Inc. Dover,...

Industry Consolidation Hits a Snag.
January 1, 2002... One of the first sales in 2001 was a harbinger of things to come. Libertyville, Ill.-based Allscripts Healthcare Solutions in mid-2000 agreed to pay about $250 million in stock for ChannelHealth, a division of IDX Systems Corp., Burlington, Vt....

Tracking the Buys in 2001.
January 1, 2002... (part 1 of 3) ACQUIRING COMPANY Jan-01 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Libertyville, Ill. Electronic prescription software vendor Allscripts picks up Web-based clinical software. Perot Systems Corp., Dallas ...

Telemedicine Begins To Make Progress: Although use of telemedicine applications is increasing, some obstacles still prevent these services from becoming routine.
January 1, 2002... In describing the state of telemedicine, Max Stachura, M.D., executive director of telemedicine at the Medical College of Georgia, cannot use a conventional analogy like a ladder. In such a comparison, the industry might move up rung by rung as...

Telemedicine services grow in Montana and Wyoming.
January 1, 2002... The Billings-based Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network has added four new affiliate sites to its network over the past year. The network, which has included 15 care sites in eastern Montana and northern Wyoming, now provides programming,...

Young telemedicine network eyes wireless technology.
January 1, 2002... About four years ago, the Scott & White Hospital and Clinic, a part of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center, began creating a T1-line network connection to several rural hospitals and clinics so it could provide telemedicine services...

Technology to the Rescue: Emergency medicine practitioners summon information technology to improve patient care and bolster revenue.
January 1, 2002... Suppose you walk up to the desk clerk of an Atlanta hotel and say you'd like a single room with a king-size bed. The clerk responds, "I'll see if we have any available." He steps from behind the desk, takes the elevator to the top floor, then...

Hand-held, wireless coming into play.
January 1, 2002... Many provider organizations are trying to make drug interaction data accessible to clinicians via the nearest computer. But for mobile emergency department physicians and nurses, that's not always close enough. The California Emergency...

Telemedicine Takes Aim At Final Frontier.
January 1, 2002... Telemedicine networks have enabled physicians to diagnose and treat patients thousands of miles away. Consequently, forging such a network only 250 miles seems a mundane task. Unless the direction is straight up. This has been the...

HIMSS Adds Disaster Topics To Educational Sessions.
January 1, 2002... The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society is expecting about 18,000 attendees at its 2002 Annual Conference and Exhibition, which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Following is a guide to the nearly...

Exhibitors Guide.
January 1, 2002... HIMSS provided the following tentative list of exhibitors for its conference and exhibition, Jan. 27-31 in Atlanta. The final list will be available on site. Company Booth # 3M Health Information Systems 2224 A&T...

Dealing with Employee Grief: CIOs share various methods of helping employees deal with anxiety or grief caused by illness, death of a loved one or disaster.
January 1, 2002... CIOs often must flex their muscles in daily tasks, such as when convincing CEOs of the value of new I.T. or delegating large projects to employees. Some of CIOs' other responsibilities, however, require them to take on a more sensitive...

Contracts Update.
January 1, 2002... 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 via facsimile to (312) 913-1959...

Readers' Perspectives.
January 1, 2002... Q. "Within the next five years, at least 50% of U.S. physicians will use personal digital assistants or other tiny hand-held computers to access some clinical information at the point of care. Do you agree or disagree?" Peter Hochla, M.D....