Health Data Management articles from May 2003

Health Data Management archives from May 2003

Errors as Catalysts for Change.
May 1, 2003... The spotlight on medical errors prevention is serving as a catalyst for change in the health care information technology arena. But just where are we headed? For those hospitals and integrated delivery systems with growing I.T. budgets,...

Will Error Reporting Data be Reliable?(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... Realizing that health care providers must gather information, analyze it, and share the results with others in order to learn from medical errors, the House of Representatives passed the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (H.R. 663)....

Experts: FDA Bar Code Rule a Good Balance.
May 1, 2003... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed rule to mandate bar codes on human drug and biological products is not controversial and will stay that way if the feds avoid making big changes in the final rule, industry observers contend. ...

Will New Chip Transform Mobile Health Care?
May 1, 2003... Major manufacturers of laptop computers and Tablet PCs recently announced they will launch products using Centrino, a new chip set from Intel Corp., San Jose, Calif. Centrino was built with a host of energy-efficient features to run at...

Investor Worries Drag Down Health Care I.T. Stocks.
May 1, 2003... Investor worries about the overall state of the heath care industry dragged down the prices of health care information technology stocks in the first quarter of 2003. The price of a marketbasket of 22 health care I.T. stocks tracked by New...

Medics Find Data in Wild Blue Yonder.
May 1, 2003... When William Cyr climbs into a helicopter to make an emergency medical run, he brings information from nearly a dozen medical reference books along with his company's standard orders of care. All these voluminous books would make for a rather...

Cerner Stock Tumbles.
May 1, 2003... Investors abandoned Cerner Corp. on April 3 after the Kansas City, Mo.-based software vendor announced it will badly miss projected financial targets in the first quarter. Further, Cerner executives say the company faces significant competitive...

House OKs Error Bill, I.T. Grants.
May 1, 2003... The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation creating protections for provider organizations-and individual providers-who voluntarily report medical errors. The legislation, H.R. 663, which now moves to the Senate for consideration,...

Bucks Are Top I.T. Barrier.
May 1, 2003... Physician and nurse executives say inadequate financial support is the biggest barrier to implementation of information technology initiatives at their provider organizations, a recent poll shows. Twenty-one percent of respondents picked money...

Coalition Supports Federal Data Push.
May 1, 2003... Connecting for Health, a coalition of 90 organizations seeking consensus on clinical information standards, is supporting the federal government's adoption of some standards. On March 21 the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense,...

QuadraMed: Few Funds for Bonds.
May 1, 2003... QuadraMed Corp., faced with being obligated to repurchase up to $74 million in outstanding bonds, acknowledges it has insufficient funds to buy substantial amounts of the bonds. "The company currently has sufficient liquidity to meet its normal...

Feds Correct Transactions Rule.
May 1, 2003... The Department of Health and Human Services on March 10 published a notice correcting several areas of the final rule, issued in February, that made modifications to the HIPAA transactions and code sets rule. The department outlined five...

Standards Group Eyes Biometrics.
May 1, 2003... The International Committee for Information Technology Standards has created four task groups to consider new standards for biometric technologies. The Washington-based committee is a standards development organization accredited under the...

HIMSS Opens D.C. Office.(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society )
May 1, 2003... The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has taken several steps in the past year to improve its visibility in public policymaking. Now, the Chicago-based trade group is opening an office in Washington. Director of Public...

HHS Sets Privacy Complaint Process.(Department of Health and Human Services' )
May 1, 2003... The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights has published a notice explaining how to file a complaint of an alleged violation of medical confidentiality under the HIPAA privacy rule. On March 20 the office, which will...

NCQA, JCAHO May Certify Privacy.(National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations )
May 1, 2003... The National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations have signed a letter of intent to consider joint development of a HIPAA privacy certification program for business associates....

Industry Groups Create HIPAA Site.
May 1, 2003... In anticipation of the October 2003 HIPAA deadline for electronic transactions changes, two leading health care industry coalitions have launched a universal Web site aimed at standardizing HIPAA communications between health plans and the...

Physician Solves Privacy Problem.
May 1, 2003... While working to comply with HIPAA's final privacy rule, Eran Bellin, M.D., couldn't find software that protected patient data and met the needs of researchers working with that data. Consequently, the medical researcher at Montefiore Medical...

Little Blue Book Now on PDAs.
May 1, 2003... The Little Blue Book for physicians now is available in a software version for personal digital assistants. The book, published for 146 separate metropolitan regions, gives contact information for area pharmacists, physicians, hospitals and...

URAC Unwraps Privacy Certification.
May 1, 2003... Twenty provider, payer and vendor organizations are going through a recently developed HIPAA privacy accreditation program from URAC, a Washington-based accreditation firm. The program will certify that a covered entity or business associate...

Genome Guide Available in Spanish.
May 1, 2003... The National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, Md., has launched a Spanish-language version of its "Talking Glossary of Genetics" Web-based resource guide, located at www.genome.gov/education. The institute and Department of Energy...

Do Vendors Really Know?
May 1, 2003... Want to find out how much vendors know about their customers' information technology needs and priorities? Then give both vendors and customers the same survey questions and note the differences in their answers. That's what the Healthcare...

Physician Micro Targets Tablets.
May 1, 2003... Physician Micro Systems Inc., a vendor of electronic records and practice management software for physician practices, has upgraded its software to work on Tablet PC devices. The upgrade means customers of the Seattle-based vendor can use its...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2003... * In an April 2003 Health Data Management Newsline story, the total amount of the recent software contract between Kaiser Permentante and Epic Systems Corp. was incorrect. Both companies decline to discuss the contract's specific value to Epic....

Stock Chart.(Illustration)
May 1, 2003... (part 1 of 3) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 4/3/03 Wk High Allscripts...

Protection on the Road to Patient Safety.
May 1, 2003... Berkeley Family Practice's computer-based patient records system helps prevent medical errors in some very fundamental ways. First, it makes every part of a patient's medical record easily accessible in one place, says Chip Bounds, M.D., a...

Is Patient Safety Affecting the Growth of Electronic Records?
May 1, 2003... Medical error reduction is a factor in provider organizations' decisions to implement computer-based patient records, many industry observers say. But the technology's capability to cut down medical errors isn't necessarily sealing any deals....

Clearing the Hurdles to Decision Support: Provider organizations must overcome numerous obstacles to expand the use of decision support systems.
May 1, 2003... When University Health Network was implementing a clinical decision support system, it assumed that physicians would be the chief roadblock to success, says Robert Wu, M.D., who spearheaded the process. Physicians often balk at using...

NCVHS to Extol a Standard Vocab: HHS committee completing its work culling alphabet soup of terms.
May 1, 2003... You say potato, I say potato. You say myocardial infarction, I say heart attack. Potato, potato. Myocardial infarction, heart attack. Let's call the whole thing off. That's pretty much been the attitude in health care when it comes to...

NCVHS Nomenclature.(National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics)
May 1, 2003... Following is a list of terminologies being considered by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics for inclusion in a standard clinical vocabulary. (part 1 of 2) Terminology (Abbreviation) Terminology...

For Some CIOs, Thin is In: While thin client devices make inroads, the Web is redefining 'thin.'.
May 1, 2003... Urology of Indiana LLC bulked up on information technology in late 2001 when it implemented a computer-based patient records system. Soon after, it decided to slim down. After installing the electronic records software, the group...

Responding to a Distant Cry for Help: Remote access software enables I.T. analysts to troubleshoot from afar.
May 1, 2003... Providing information technology help desk support for any integrated delivery system can be tricky. For a sprawling organization like Sentara Healthcare with 70 locations, making service calls in the heavily populated area of Hampton Roads,...

About Sentara Healthcare.
May 1, 2003... Headquarters: Norfolk, Va. Hospitals: 6 Urgent Care Centers: 8 Nursing Homes: 12 Employed Physicians: 180 Health Plan Members: 300,000 Operating Revenue 2002: $1.6 billion Copyright 2003 Thomson...

Advertiser Index.(Directory)
May 1, 2003... Advertiser Site Addresses Page # AAHP www.aahp.org 75 AIC www.aicsoft.com 57 Baxter ...

Contracts Update.
May 1, 2003... The Contracts Update Department features announcements of recent contracts that health care information technology companies have signed with provider and payer organization customers. Please send contract announcement news releases via e-mail...

Q. Do you Agree or Disagree?(The federal government should mandate the use of a standard clinical vocabulary)
May 1, 2003... "The federal government should mandate the use of a standard clinical vocabulary." AGREE Frederick Meyer CEO Meyer Healthcare, Pasadena, Calif. "For 30 years I have heard clinicians debate terminology and which...