Health Data Management articles from July 2006

Health Data Management archives from July 2006

With Shortage of Nurses, I.T. Becomes More Essential.
July 1, 2006... In light of the current severe shortage of nurses, more hospitals and group practices are looking for ways to use information technology to help nurses improve their efficiency. Clearly, computers can help nurses streamline many routine...

State Project Pushes EMRs; Some Docs Fret About Future.(electronic medical records systems)
July 1, 2006... The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative envisions building a statewide health information network that's anchored by electronic medical records systems. The collaborative is testing its proof of concept by spearheading EMR implementations...

Clinics Offer Fast Care and Copy of Records.(MinuteClinic Inc.)
July 1, 2006... Patients showing up at a MinuteClinic Inc. non-urgent care facility can quickly get treated for a standard fee and take their medical records with them. The clinics are staffed with a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, supported by...

Implanted Devices Self-Report to Docs.(Medtronic Inc.'s )
July 1, 2006... Recent Food and Drug Adminis-tration approval of two wireless, implantable cardiac devices could help physicians identify occurrences of a trial fibrillation-abnormal beating of the heart's upper chambers-and other adverse events much faster....

I.T. Helps Payer Smoke Out Fraud.
July 1, 2006... Medical Mutual of Ohio reclaimed $5.4 million in fraudulent claims in 2005 by combining a dedicated anti-fraud unit and information technology tools. The Cleveland-based payer, with 1.4 million covered lives, has identified many fraudulent...

Ingenix Gets Serious About EDI.(electronic data interchange, Claredi Corp.)
July 1, 2006... Ingenix's recent acquisition of transactions compliance software vendor Claredi Corp. was in line with the company's focus on giving providers and payers tools to more efficiently process claims and related transactions, and analyze the data in...

Subcommittee Approves I.T. Bill.(Committee on Ways and Means, information technology )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The House Ways and Means health subcommittee has amended and reported health information technology legislation sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.). The bill, H.R. 4157, now needs full committee approval. Any bill passed by the House...

Payers: Slow Down on ICD-10.(America's Health Insurance Plans)
July 1, 2006... A report from America's Health Insurance Plans lays out a six-year path for migrating to the ICD-10 code set, ending with full implementation in 2012. The Washington-based trade association developed the report with assistance from the...

HHS Seeks Ways to Guard Personal Data.(Department of Health and Human Services)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a request for information to seek ideas for helping citizens voluntarily submit personal information-including medical and insurance data-that could then be available in case of an...

Survey: PHRs Not Yet Catching On.(personal health records)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Personal health records have a long way to go before they catch on with patients, a new survey indicates. Health Industry Insights, a unit of IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based research firm, surveyed 1,095 consumers and found that 83% have no...

States Study Privacy/Security Issues.(Department of Health and Human Services contracts with Research Triangle Institute)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Last October, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded a contract for management of a study that analyzes privacy and security practices that may pose challenges to health data exchange. Research Triangle Institute International,...

Summa Health to Help Pay for I.T.
July 1, 2006... Summa Health System, a three-hospital delivery system in Akron, Ohio, will offer grants to 1,100 affiliated physicians to help pay for implementation of a combined practice management/electronic medical records system. The prerequisite is...

Study Ranks Insurers' Payment Rates.(athenahealth Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Providers often complain that insurance companies are slow to pay claims and deny too many, and a new study lends some credence to those complaints. Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth Inc., a vendor of physician software and outsourced...

Palm Readies New Smart Phone.(Treo 700w)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Palm Inc. has released its first Palm OS operating system smart phone that runs on a high-speed cellular network. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based vendor earlier this year included high-speed functionality in its first smart phone that runs on...

Tests Start for Home Monitoring.(Boston Scientific Corp.'s )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Boston Scientific Corp. has started two large studies of its wireless LATITUDE Patient Management system to remotely monitor homebound heart failure patients. The system includes a wireless weight scale and blood pressure cuff. The system...

Stock Chart.(Statistical table)
July 1, 2006... (part 1 of 3) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 6/1/2006 Wk High ...

Nursing I.T.: From Stations to Bedside.(information technology)
July 1, 2006... Sometimes short answers say the most. When famed mountaineer George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, he replied "because it is there." Similarly, ask many nurses and hospital executives why I.T. is increasingly needed at...

Hospital's Long-term Goal: I.T. Everywhere.(information technology)
July 1, 2006... Nurses at St. Agnes Health Care in Baltimore have been documenting at the bedside on rolling computer carts since January 2004. For the 308-bed community teaching facility, bringing computers to the bedside is part of an overarching strategy to...

A Lesson In Perseverance.(nursing)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Nurses whose hospitals have successfully transitioned information technology to the patient bedside share a common trait: a dogged perseverance that helps carry them through a sometimes frustrating learning curve. Planning for radical...

Mobile Apps: Plenty of Choices, Challenges: New generation of applications focuses on improving workflow, but no 'killer app' emerges.
July 1, 2006... Neil Martin, M.D., chief of neurosurgery at the UCLA Medical Center, was 200 miles away in San Diego attending meetings when he received a call about a patient who didn't wake up after surgery. In such cases, Martin typically would get into...

Some Physicians Have a Taste for BlackBerries.(Research in Motion Ltd.)
July 1, 2006... Palm Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., and Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., have been the dominant operating systems when it comes to handhelds in health care, but a new player is entering the market: the BlackBerry. The e-mail device, from...

Mobile App Tracks Student Certification.(Indiana University School of Medicine)
July 1, 2006... Third- and fourth-year medical students must keep track of their education on the run during their clinical rotations, documenting the tasks they've performed. At the Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, medical students...

Measuring Outsourcing's Effectiveness: Organizations differ in how they assess the performance of outsourced functions.
July 1, 2006... Four years ago, Indianapolis-based M*Plan outsourced the hosting and operations of its core payer information system, which includes processing claims and related transactions. The HMO, serving 183,000 members throughout Indiana, also...

Sometimes, Simplicity Rules.
July 1, 2006... Not every information technology outsourcing contract merits a formal measuring of its effectiveness. Sometimes only one or two measures are needed. Colorado West Mental Health in Glenwood Springs, serving 10 counties through 22...

Addressing the Human Factor of Outsourcing.
July 1, 2006... Organizations outsourcing I.T. functions often have initial concerns about two critical areas-data security and the welfare of affected employees. Both are valid, says Charles Orne, CFO of Central Maine Healthcare Corp. in Lewiston. But...

A Partner to Go With the Flow: Delivery system fits third-party transcription services into new I.T. environment.(Heartland Health contracts with CyMed Inc.)
July 1, 2006... A planned two-year migration to an electronic medical records system will challenge all departments within Heartland Health, a delivery system based in St. Joseph, Mo. But when the project was first announced, the transcription team...

Advertiser Index.
July 1, 2006... Advertiser Site Addresses Page # Artromick www.artromick.com 45 AHIMA www.ahima.org/convention 55...

Contracts Update.(List)
July 1, 2006... 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 electronic mail to:...

Readers' Perspectives.(medical information management )
July 1, 2006... "The health care industry can develop and adopt standards-based, interoperable clinical information systems within five years without a federal mandate. Do you agree or disagree?" AGREE Brian Levy, M.D. Senior Vice President, CMO...