Health Data Management articles from March 2005

Health Data Management archives from March 2005

The Claims Processing Evolution.(National claims processing networks dominating health care industry)
March 1, 2005... Exactly 12 years ago, we published the first issue of Medical Claims Management, the magazine that, within months, became Health Data Management. The cover story of that very first issue, which I wrote, proclaimed "National claims...

Industry Responds to Call for I.T. Network Ideas.(national health information network vision)(College of Health Information Management Executives)
March 1, 2005... A core tenet of the government's national health information network vision is the development of clinical data standards to promote information systems interoperability through voluntary adoption of industrywide standards. When the...

Implantable RFID Chip Takes Root in CIO ... Literally.(chief information officer implants radio frequency identification chip)
March 1, 2005... John Halamka, M.D., will always have a chip on his shoulder. Halamka, CIO at Boston's CareGroup Healthcare System, is the first volunteer to test an implantable radio frequency identification chip for medical use. He had the grain-sized...

Society Helps Alberta Docs Standardize on Electronic Records.(Alberta Orthopaedic Society)(Nightingale Informatix Corp.)
March 1, 2005... The Alberta Orthopaedic Society understands the difficulties its 150 specialist members in the Canadian province face when deciding whether to implement electronic medical records. "If we go at it as individual offices, we face barriers," says...

McKesson to Settle Class Lawsuit.(McKesson Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... McKesson Corp. will pay shareholders $960 million-minus undetermined attorney fees-to settle a class action lawsuit arising from its financial scandal in 1999. In January 1999, San Francisco-based McKesson acquired Atlanta-based software vendor...

Merge Makes Two Acquisitions.(Merge Technologies Inc. merges with Cedara Software Corp. and AccuImage Diagnostics Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Merge Technologies Inc., a vendor of radiology information systems and picture archiving and communication systems, will acquire Cedara Software Corp., which sells PACS and medical imaging software. Milwaukee-based Merge will pay about $393...

European Firm to Buy IMPAC.(Elekta AB Group buys IMPAC Medical Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Stockholm-based Elekta AB will acquire IMPAC Medical Systems Inc., Mountain View, Calif., for about $250 million. Elekta is a vendor of radiation therapy devices; IMPAC sells clinical and financial information systems for cancer care...

PracticeXpert Buys Transcriptions Plus.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... PracticeXpert Inc. has acquired Transcriptions Plus, a transcription services company in Palm Springs, Calif. PracticeXpert, Toluca Lake, Calif., sells physician practice management and electronic medical records software and outsourced billing...

New Direction for HealthGate.(HealthGate Data Corp. merges with EBSCO Publishing)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Burlington, Mass.-based HealthGate Data Corp., a vendor of medical information content for hospital Web sites, will sell the content and launch a new business. Ipswich, Mass.-based EBSCO Publishing will acquire the content for $8.1 million....

Company Changes Focus, Targets HIPAA.(Deepfile)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Deepfile Corp., a vendor of network file management services, has changed its name and business strategy. The Austin, Texas-based company, now called STOREDIQ Inc., will focus on helping organizations monitor the content in data. The company...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2005... The Internet2 consortium (Health Data Management, February 2005, page 22) is based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Indiana University, Indianapolis, is the headquarters for the operations center of the consortium's high-speed network. Copyright 2005...

Clinical Data a Phone Call Away.(Cingular Wireless L.L.C.)(PatientKeeper Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Boston-based PatientKeeper Inc. has enabled its clinical data software to run on a mobile phone network from Cingular Wireless, Atlanta. The vendor's mobile clinical software includes results, charge capture, dictation and electronic...

MercuryMD, Care Fusion Combine Tech.(MercuryMD Inc., Care Fusion Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based MercuryMD Inc. and McLean, Va.-based Care Fusion Inc. plan to integrate their mobile technologies. The combined technologies will offer greater continuity between physicians and nurses through a comprehensive...

Mobile Server Replicates Systems.(Realm Systems, Salt Lake City)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Salt Lake City-based Realm Systems has released a mobile server that, when plugged into another computer's USB port, can replicate the exact applications a clinician uses at their health care organization. The technology consists of the Mobile...

Flash Drive Stores Health Records.(MedicAlert, California)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... MedicAlert, a Turlock, Calif.-based vendor of emergency medical technology and services, has developed a USB device that stores personal medical records. The Personal HealthKey device can be plugged into a USB port on a desktop or notebook PC...

PalmOne Makes Corporate Changes.(Reorganization)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Todd Bradley, CEO at Milpitas, Calif.-based palmOne Inc., was expected to resign Feb. 25, the end of the mobile hardware vendor's fiscal third quarter. Bradley will maintain an advisory role with the company until May, the end of its fiscal...

Mobile Resource Guide Updated.
March 1, 2005... Durham, N.C.-based BCC Consulting has updated its list of mobile health care technology vendors. The updated Mobile Resource Guide features new information on more than 160 vendors and 100 clinical applications for PDAs running the Palm OS or...

Study: Outpatient Tablet PC Use Up.(physicians find using tablet computers more convenient for accessing patient information)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Physicians working in a clinical practice setting increasingly are using Tablet PCs to access and collect patient information, according to a recent study by Spyglass Consulting Group. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based organization found that 77% of...

References Mesh with Records.(Elsevier N.V.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Amsterdam-based Elsevier is enabling its clinical reference applications to integrate with various electronic medical records systems. The vendor's iCONSULT service is designed to deliver up-to-date, evidence-based clinical reference...

Mobile App Helps Manage Patient Beds.(Tele-Tracking Technologies Inc. introduces clinical bed management software)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Pittsburgh-based Tele-Tracking Technologies Inc. is offering a hand-held version of its clinical bed management software. The bedboardmobile system is designed to enable clinicians to manage patient beds across an enterprise using a PDA. The...

Tablets Enable Self-Service Check-In.(Galvanon Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Maitland, Fla.-based Galvanon Inc. will install its patient registration and check-in software on tablet computers from Walnut, Calif.-based ViewSonic Corp. According to a reseller agreement, Galvanon will sell ViewSonic's V210 airSync tablets...

App Alerts Docs' Mobile Devices.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Royal Philips Electronics, Amsterdam, has released a middleware application that can wirelessly send select patient information to clinicians' pagers, mobile phones, PDAs or voice-recognition badges. The vendor's new Patient Monitoring Gateway...

Stock Chart.(Illustration)
March 1, 2005... insert p29x (part 1 of 3) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 2/3/2005 Wk High ...

Claims Automation In a New Environment.(health care providers now moving over to electronic data interchange technology for managing information)
March 1, 2005... When a physician refers a patient to a specialist, the patient often arrives at the specialist's office before the requisite clinical and administrative information. This is not a "dirty little secret" in health care. It's a fact of life. ...

Technology expands EDI boundaries.(electronic data interchange)(health insurance industry)
March 1, 2005... Some Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are starting to test-with patient permission-sending physicians a patient's medication, laboratory, procedure, diagnosis and surgical histories, along with the reply to an electronic insurance eligibility...

Industry Awaits HIPAA's Promise.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
March 1, 2005... More than eight years after Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the promise of its administrative simplification provisions have not been realized, providers, payers and others say. In part, that's...

E-Prescribing: Payers Giving, but are they Getting?: Some managed care organizations are sponsoring initiatives. But will their efforts pay off for them or physicians?
March 1, 2005... Dee Carter, M.D., like many of her family practitioner peers, has a drug problem. But she has been getting comfort and support from an unexpected source in her time of need. Carter, who practices solo at Lexington, S.C.-based Living Well Family...

The Thorn in the Side of e-Rx.(e-prescribing technology)(eRx Collaborative sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts Health Plan, Neighborhood Health Plan, Zix Corp)
March 1, 2005... The medical community's growing dependence on information technology brings up perhaps the thorniest issue with e-prescribing initiatives sponsored by managed care organizations. Most payers are offering standalone e-prescribing systems that...

Take the Quick Poll...
March 1, 2005... 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 Copyright 2005...

Hardware Mantra: Refresh, Reduce: Health care organizations are looking to centralize purchasing and standardize on vendors.
March 1, 2005... "The aging process is taxing our resources and draining maintenance and support efforts." No, that's not President Bush presaging the death of Social Security, it's a paraphrased refrain voiced by health care organization CIOs describing their...

Hardware: Lease or Buy?(Cleveland Clinic Health System)
March 1, 2005... For some health care organizations, leasing hardware is an attractive alternative to buying, especially with PCs. That's because the dynamics of processor speed and memory make purchasing such hardware a continuous process. At Cleveland...

Dealing with Wi-Fi Turbulence: South Carolina clinicians discuss the highs and lows of using a wireless network in clinical care.(Lexington Medical Center)
March 1, 2005... Lexington Medical Center thought it was taking two steps forward when it implemented a surgical information system over a wireless network in late 2001. The West Columbia, S.C.-based delivery system dove straight into a wireless environment for...

Choices Flow from Decision Tool: PDA-based decision management software helps surgeons evaluate, select medical residents.(personal digital assistants)(Idego Methodologies Inc.)
March 1, 2005... Sometimes, new wireless applications emerge from unusual places. Just ask the neurosurgeons at UCLA Medical Center, who, through an unconventional path, determined that specialized decision support software could be put to many uses. ...

Assessing the Potential of Mini-PCs: Industry experts say the new mobile hardware may have a place in health care, though limitations loom.(personal computers)
March 1, 2005... For years the computer industry has tried to reduce the size of PCs without minimizing their power. Out of this quest have come several types of mobile hardware-namely PDAs, Tablet PCs and notebook PCs. While these devices are being used in...

Contracts Update.
March 1, 2005... 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:...

Advertiser Index.
March 1, 2005... (part 1 of 2) Advertiser 3M Health Information Systems Agfa API Software ATA Carstens ChartOne CompuCaddy Cybernet Manufacturing Dell Dictaphone Ergotron ESRI Extreme Network...

Q: "Most electronic medical records software vendors are aggressively looking for ways to make their products more affordable to physicians. Do you agree or disagree?".
March 1, 2005... Source: Health Data Management Web site, www.healthdatamanagement.com, January 2005 survey results, 1306 responses. AGREE James Shea, M.D. San Luis Obispo, Calif. "With a large and growing population of non-paying...

Beyond Paper Purging: Enterprise-Wide Document Management Systems Support Ambitious Information Technology Initiatives.
March 1, 2005... Turn on cable TV and you're likely to see a team of professional organizers and decorators trying to help homeowners gain some much-needed order. They can be found shuffling through the piles, discarding all the unneeded junk and paper-and then...

Document Management System Empowers Allina's Enterprise-Wide Information Technology Project.(Allina Hospitals and Clinics and Epic Systems Corp.)
March 1, 2005... Leading healthcare providers are now discovering the power of document management systems - and the results are more than welcome. "Once hospital leaders realize just how powerful and effective document management systems can be, hospitals...

Good for One, Good for All: Many Metro Health Departments Ready to Tap Into Document Management System.(MetroHealth Inc.)(Hyland Software Inc.)
March 1, 2005... Brian Quinn, director of finance at The Metro Health System, Cleveland, was simply looking for a document management system that would serve his department. He found much more: A system that could help to reduce paper and improve workflow in...

Document Management Systems: Now-and Into the Future.(Hyland Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... "Healthcare providers such as Metro Health and Allina are among the first to discover the true power of enterprise-wide document management systems such as Hyland's OnBase content management system. And, leaders at these systems are likely to...