Health Data Management articles from May 2004

Health Data Management archives from May 2004

If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself.(analysis)
May 1, 2004... Hard to believe it's been almost four years since Bush vs. Gore. In six months, though, it will be time again for us to choose our leader. And like any important decision, this choice should be made based on cold, hard facts. If you're...

Electronic Records Adoption: What Must Happen.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Concerning the March 2004 Health Data Management Perspective Department about electronic medical records ("Electronic Records and Presidential Politics"), I think most doctors want to practice quality medicine and most would accept, or even...

Physicians React to Electronic Records One of Two Ways.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I agree with the commentary in the March 2004 Health Data Management Perspective Department about electronic medical records ("Electronic Records and Presidential Politics"). Our office used a DOS-based electronic medical records system for 13...

Disappointment with the Pharmacy.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... As a pharmacist, I am disappointed that your local Chicago pharmacies won't accept faxed or Internet prescriptions. There is no reason for this (with the exception of prescriptions for controlled substances). My pharmacy gets a large...

Bar Code Rule Expected to Speed Adoption.(drugs)
May 1, 2004... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hoped mandating standard bar codes on many human drug and blood products would spur industrywide adoption of bar code technology. Now that the agency has made the mandate official through a rule published...

What Will the U.S. Learn from England's Clinical I.T. Initiative?(national health information infrastructure)
May 1, 2004... England is developing what many in the United States would like to see-a national health information infrastructure. However, the two nations' health systems are so different, there are a limited number of lessons the U.S. can learn from the...

Health Care I.T. Stocks Down But Not Out in First Quarter.
May 1, 2004... The first quarter of 2004 seemed to be a splash of cold water on what has been a rip-roaring ride up for health care information technology stocks. But a snapshot doesn't always tell the whole story. The price of a marketbasket of 23...

E-mail: When to Keep, When to Toss.(internet use)
May 1, 2004... Any provider organization that has faced a medical malpractice lawsuit or other legal action can attest that attorneys on both sides have one thing in common: They want every piece of documentation that could possibly be connected to the case....

Former McKesson CFO Indicted.(Richard Hawkins )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco has indicted former McKesson CFO Richard Hawkins on conspiracy and fraud charges related to the McKessonHBOC scandal in the late 1990s. The indictment alleges Hawkins, who pleaded not guilty,...

HHS Gets HIPAA Advice.(Department of Health and Human Services)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics has issued recommendations for changes in the HIPAA privacy rule and forthcoming claims attachment rule. The committee is an advisory body to HHS on HIPAA and other health data issues. The...

Oncology Vendor Buys Partner.(Varian Medical Systems Inc.)(OPTX International)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Varian Medical Systems Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has acquired the assets of Denver-based OpTx for $18 million. Varian sells radiation therapy technology and information systems designed for radiation treatment facilities. OpTx sells practice...

Medicare Changes Data Requirements.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has changed certain data elements needed to adjudicate Medicare claims submitted on or after July 6, 2004. The change affects all Medicare providers who bill to fiscal intermediaries. The agency...

HP Gets VA Contract.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Department of Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Hewlett-Packard Co. will support and maintain the Department of Veterans Affairs' VistA information system under a 10-year contract worth $784 million. VistA has more than 100 clinical and administrative functions and is in the department's 170...

Public Vendor to Go Private.(Emergisoft Holding)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Emergisoft Holding Inc., a publicly held vendor of information systems for emergency departments and outpatient facilities, will voluntarily return to being a private firm. The Dallas-based company on March 18 filed documents with the...

Cerner Sells Zynx Guidelines.(Hearst Business Media)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Hearst Business Media, a unit of New York-based The Hearst Corp., has acquired the Zynx Health evidence-based treatment guidelines of Cerner Corp., Kansas City, Mo. Terms of the acquisition were not immediately disclosed, but Cerner says it...

Association Takes over Vendor.(MGMA Services Inc)(Physcape Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... MGMA Services Inc., a subsidiary of the Medical Group Management Association, has assumed management control of Physcape Inc., a vendor of physician benchmarking software. The Englewood, Colo.-based association owns 80% of Charlotte, N.C.-based...

A4 Health Names New President.(a4 Health Systems)(David Bond promoted)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A4 Health Systems has promoted David Bond to president and COO. Bond, who previously served as executive vice president of the company's ambulatory division, succeeds John McConnell as president; McConnell remains CEO and chair. The COO...

Genes a Good Fit for IBM, Affymetrix.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... IBM Corp. and Affymetrix Inc. will jointly market technologies and services designed to integrate genomic research data with patient clinical data to provide more targeted treatment plans. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Affymetrix sells technology...

Feds Approve Incident Response Network.(National Incident Management System)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Department of Homeland Security has approved the development of a National Incident Management System to create a unified structure for first responders at federal, state and local government levels to deal with major attacks, natural...

New Name, Mission for Payer Group.(American Association of Health Plans)(Health Insurance Association of America)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The recently merged American Association of Health Plans and Health Insurance Association of America has selected a new name and mission for the expanded national payer advocacy group. The organization, representing 1,300 payers, now is...

eWebCoding Becomes eWebHealth.(names)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Atlanta-based eWebCoding has changed its name to eWebHealth to reflect expanded services to provider organizations. The company originally offered remotely hosted medical coding software. Over time, it added services for the scanning and...

Passport Claims New Business Line.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Passport Health Communications Inc. has entered the claims processing arena with the acquisition of United Wisconsin Proservices Inc. of Milwaukee. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Franklin, Tenn.-based Passport provides...

Automation Key to New Practice Model.(health care news)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A coalition of medical associations has created a new approach to family medicine that includes an emphasis on advanced information systems. "A standardized electronic health record, adapted to the specific needs of family physicians and the...

New Leader at Solucient.(Nancy Pope Nelson appointed)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Solucient, an Evanston, Ill.-based vendor of data benchmarking software for provider and payer organizations, has named Nancy Pope Nelson CEO. She succeeds Charles Leonard, who will continue to serve on the vendor's board of directors and as a...

New Alliance for Primary Care I.T.(National Alliance for Primary Care Informatics)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Organizations representing clinicians and medical I.T. professionals have formed a new group to enable the primary care community to speak with one voice on information technology issues, according to its founders. Members of the National...

Grants to Study Doc, Patient Portals.(patient-provider Web portals)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, N.J., will offer $2.45 million in grants for up to eight projects to study the effectiveness of patient-provider Web portals. While such portals hold promise for improving communication, containing...

Web Site Rates Hospital Procedures.(CaliforniaChoice)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... CaliforniaChoice, which provides health insurance to the state's smaller employers, has launched a Web service enabling consumers to review hospital statistics for more than 160 high-risk procedures. The "Choice Outcomes" service, available at...

Claredi Adds Pharmacy to HIPAA Tests.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(standards)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Claredi Corp., a vendor of HIPAA transactions testing and certification services, now offers compliance testing for the pharmacy transactions standards of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs. In addition to testing transactions...

Blues Plan to Pay for Guidelines Use.(BlueCross BlueShield)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will reimburse physicians for using evidence-based clinical guidelines under a year-long pilot program with Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The physicians will use Web-based guidelines from HealthGate Data...

Vendors Partner for Data Warehouse.(Anceta LLC)(Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Siemens Medical Solutions, Malvern, Pa., will partner with Anceta LLC to build what the vendors call the largest repository of longitudinal patient information in the nation. Alexandria, Va.-based Anceta is a for-profit subsidiary of the...

Script Vendor Teams with SureScripts.(SureScript Systems)(Axolotl Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Axolotl Corp., Tampa, Fla., will enable the 13,000 physician users of its Elysium prescription management software to transmit prescriptions and refills to pharmacies via the emerging national network of SureScripts, Alexandria, Va....

New Name for Messaging Vendor.(SecureCARE Technologies Inc)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Secure messaging vendor eClickMD Inc. has changed its name to SecureCARE Technologies Inc. The new name aligns the firm's corporate identity closer to its software applications, company executives say. The vendor's SecureCARE application is...

Microsoft Upgrades Windows Mobile.(new product)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. has released a new operating system for PDAs and smart phones. The Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition features new functions, additional hardware support and a software development kit. The new mobile...

PalmOne Extends Free PDA Offer.(Personal Digital Assistant)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Milpitas, Calif.-based palmOne Inc. has extended its volume rewards program for health care organizations. The PDA vendor's Healthcare Purchase Promotion, which began Sept. 1, 2003, now will end Aug. 29. The program offers health care...

Group Revs Up Mobile Forum.(Medical Records Institute)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Medical Records Institute has launched an online discussion forum about mobile health care and electronic medical records. The Boston-based organization is hoping to use the forum to bring together health care I.T. industry participants for...

Sybase to Buy XcelleNet.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Dublin, Calif.-based Sybase Inc. will purchase XcelleNet Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., for $95.2 million. The vendor of integration and infrastructure technology will integrate XcelleNet mobile technology into its iAnywhere Solutions subsidiary, which...

Survey Profiles Wireless Monitoring.(health care industry)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Emerging standards and technology interoperability are fueling the growth of wireless monitoring in health care, according to a new survey by Greystone Associates, Amherst, N.H. Standards are fostering the introduction of new wirelessly enabled...

PDAs Used to Verify Specimens.(Personal Database Application, McLean )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Washington Hospital Center is using PDAs to help increase patient safety during specimen collection and lab results reporting. The 900-bed provider organization is the flagship hospital of MedStar Health, Columbia, Md. It's using the new...

Vendor Offers PDA-based Claims Check.(Personal Database Application )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Toluca Lake, Calif.-based PracticeXpert Inc. has released a PDA version of its revenue management information system that enables point-of-care claims review. The PXpert application is designed for group practices and is integrated with the...

Cypress Brings Portal to PDA.(personnal digital assistant)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Cypress Corp. has released a new application that unites patient data from disparate information systems on hand-held computers. Called Physician Portal, the new software is designed to eliminate the need for expensive and time-consuming...

EPocrates Adds, Upgrades Software.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... San Mateo, Calif.-based ePocrates Inc. has added reference software to its suite of clinical applications. The vendor has launched ePocrates Dx, a hand-held application based on content from "Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult." ePocrates Dx...

Reference Title Bound for PDAs.(Personal Database Application, Unbound Medicine)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Charlottesville, Va.-based Unbound Medicine has added an evidence-based medical reference title to its PDA-based suite of applications. The vendor now offers a hand-held version of the Clinical Evidence title from London-based BMJ Publishing...

Skyscape Offers Specialty PDA Apps.(Personal Database Application)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Hudson, Mass.-based Skyscape Inc. has released PDA-based reference applications customized for a variety of medical specialties. The Constellation suite of applications features individual hand-held references for anesthesiology, cardiology,...

ECG System Bites into Bluetooth.(Electrocardiogram)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based GMP Companies Inc. has released an electrocardiogram system that transmits data via Bluetooth wireless technology. The LifeSync System consists of two transceiver devices that collect and transmit ECG and respiration...

Reference App Runs on Wi-Fi.(application, Wi-Fi network)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Amsterdam-based Elsevier has developed an automated clinical reference application that can run on a health care organization's wireless local area network. Dubbed FIRST Consult, it is one of several medical reference modules in the vendor's...

PC Card Reads Blood Pressure via PDAs.(Personal Digital Assistants)(QRS Diagnostic L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Plymouth, Minn.-based QRS Diagnostic LLC has introduced BPCard, a PC Card embedded with a digital blood pressure monitor that connects to PDAs. The BPCard is designed to give users digital blood pressure readings in seconds via PDAs running the...

Hospital Staff, Patients Go Wireless.(Central DuPage Hospital )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Winfield, Ill.-based Central DuPage Hospital is offering wireless access over two separate networks for its staff and patients. To enable clinical staff wireless access to patient data, the hospital worked with Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint...

AHRQ Offers Free Hand-held App.(Agency for Health Care Research and Quality)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality has released free, PDA-based decision support software to assist in the treatment of pneumonia. The Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator, available in Palm OS or Windows Mobile formats, is the...

Stock Chart.(Illustration)
May 1, 2004... (part 1 of 3) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 4/8/2004 Wk High...

Getting Started in the Electronic Records Game.(internet use in health care business)
May 1, 2004... Executives at Health-Partners know all too well what it's like getting started with electronic medical records. They've been doing so for about 10 years. Minneapolis-based HealthPartners, which includes a hospital, health plan and 30...

Group Practices' Strategies for Starting Akin to Hospitals'.(adopting electronic medical records)
May 1, 2004... Many group practices are using the same strategies as hospitals when jumping into the electronic medical records game. For example, Ira Bedenbaugh, practice administrator at Family Health Care Center, Clinton, S.C., concluded early on that...

Uncertainty Clouds Online, Real-Time World: Both payers and providers want to communicate online and in real time. But costs, complexities and HIPAA can get in the way.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 )
May 1, 2004... Increasingly, payer organizations are becoming convinced that the best way to help their provider partners is to help them-or make them-help themselves. Such is the case with Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc., which in 2000 implemented a...

Giving Transactions a Good Scrubbing.(services)(Queen City Physicians Ltd.)
May 1, 2004... Queen City Physicians Ltd. has derived many benefits from being able to perform online, real-time transactions with payers. But the practice also is getting a boost from a real-time application that checks its claims before they get out the...

I.T. Helps Battle 'The Big C': Oncology information systems help track potentially toxic treatment regimens, capture substantial lost charges and mine data.
May 1, 2004... "Mrs. Smith" is 44 years old and she has breast cancer. The disease was caught in its early stages and her prognosis is very good, pending the successful completion of chemotherapy treatment. One Monday morning at 8:15 she arrives at South...

Why One Oncologist Is Focusing on I.T.(technology use)
May 1, 2004... An irony of cancer research is that one of the most treatment protocol-laden and data-driven fields in health care is one of the least endowed with information technology tools to manage the data. The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer...

Mobile Leadership from a Group Practice: An L.A. practice is bringing together area hospitals to give physicians and nurses mobile and Web-based data access.(health care services)
May 1, 2004... Once there was a medical group that wanted to improve patient care by giving physicians access to patient data in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and their offices. And the medical group was willing to fund data integration efforts that...

Getting Generosity to Pay Off: Aspiring physicians get free PDAs, but medical center faces challenges trying to drive use.(Personal Digital Assistant)
May 1, 2004... Nearly thee years ago, Ohio State University Medical Center started handing out PDAs for free to third- and fourth-year medical students and residents. To date, the medical center has distributed about 2,600 devices that clinicians are allowed...

Ease on Down the Mobile Road: The Mobile Healthcare Alliance hopes to help providers navigate mobility with its 'Roadmap to Mobile Healthcare.'.(services)
May 1, 2004... Unlike most maps, the "Roadmap to Mobile Healthcare" won't reveal a definitive route to a destination. Instead, the document-being developed by the Mobile Healthcare Alliance-will discuss the landmarks and barriers provider organizations likely...

Comply with HIPAA Fast, Get it Right: A Tennessee Blues plan relies on I.T. to ensure compliance with the HIPAA transactions and code sets rule.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)(Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee)
May 1, 2004... Information technology projects typically are more about functionality than punctuality. Getting it done fast seldom outranks doing it right. But when payer organizations needed to implement new information technology to help comply with...

Provider Promulgates Patients' Progress: A delivery system uses tracking software to keep families and staff informed of surgical patients' whereabouts.(technology)
May 1, 2004... There's only one thing more stressful than undergoing surgery and that's waiting for someone undergoing surgery. Family members and friends wait anxiously, often unsure about when a procedure begins, when it ends and where the patient is at any...

Contracts Update.(health care information technology companies)
May 1, 2004... The Contracts Update Department features announcements of recent contracts that health care information technology companies have signed with provider and payer organizations. Please send contract announcement news releases via e-mail to Senior...

Q. "The annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition is well worth the time and expense to attend. Do you agree or disagree?".(Healthcare Information Management Systems Society )
May 1, 2004... AGREE Laurel Anderson Applications Manager Longmont (Colo.) United Hospital "I have attended the HIMSS conference for the past four years and have found the educational sessions very informative and helpful. They are geared...

MISYS CPR's CPOE Delivers on Patient Safety.(computer-based patient record)(computerized physician order entry)(Saint Raphael)(MISys Inc.)
May 1, 2004... The Hospital of Saint Raphael and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation are among the nation's pioneering healthcare facilities implementing computerized physician order entry (CPOE). These two early adopters use Misys CPRTM to...

Misys CPR.(computer-based patient record)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Software Building the Future of Healthcare * Integrated computer-based patient record that supports physicians, nurses and other clinicians enterprise-wide to enhance clinical workflow. * Includes decision-support driven CPOE,...

Can You Keep Patients Safe While Reducing Costs?(Hitachi VisionPlate)
May 1, 2004... A recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), entitled To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System, focused attention on the issue of medical errors and patient safety. The report indicated that, because of medical errors, there are...

Patient Safety and Other Benefits Emerge as Pediatric Practice Implements the Right EMR System.(electronic medical records)
May 1, 2004... Although he had been tossing the idea around for quite some time, Juan Jose Ferreris, M.D., thought he was eons away from actually implementing an electronic medical records system. About a year ago, however, serendipity stepped in - and the...

A Holistic Approach to Improving Patient Safety.
May 1, 2004... According to the Institute of Medicine, an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 patients die each year in U.S. hospitals due to medical errors, primarily adverse drug events. To help address patient safety initiatives, healthcare organizations are...