Health Data Management articles from May 2005

Health Data Management archives from May 2005

Software Awards: Who's Judging the Judges?(Column)
May 1, 2005... Over the past 12 years, I've written several "buyer beware" messages on this page. A few of those have dealt with consultants. In those, I've written about the need for "full disclosure." For example, I've recommended that health care...

RHIOs Taking Different Paths to the Same Goal.(Regional Health Information)
May 1, 2005... More than 100 regional health information networks-considered the foundation on which to build a national health information network-are in various stages of formation across the nation. But RHIOs have not taken a cookie-cutter approach to...

Trinity Health Trying to Set a Standard.
May 1, 2005... In 2001, Trinity Health launched Project Genesis, a $200 million program to standardize its core information systems across 23 hospitals serving parts of seven states. The Novi, Mich.-based delivery system-which comprises 17 member...

Health Care I.T. Stocks Stay Ahead of the Pack.
May 1, 2005... Health care information technology stocks didn't blow the socks off investors in the first quarter-in fact, they actually dipped slightly as a group. But that's still good-and significant-news because health care stocks managed to outperform...

Web-Linked Microscopes Put Specialists a Click Away.
May 1, 2005... The Children's Hospital in Denver long has tried to keep a neuropathologist on staff to care for children with brain tumors, but has not convinced one to stay for an extended period. Now with the help of telepathology technology,...

HIPAA Complaint Process Outlined.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a notice describing its procedures for handling complaints of noncompliance with rules under the HIPAA administrative simplification provisions. The notice is available in the March...

Feds Name Provider ID Vendor.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has chosen Fox Systems Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz., as the enumerator for the national provider identifier. The contract-for one year and four optional years-is worth $24.2 million. The establishment...

NDCHealth Continues 'Rightsizing'.(HealthTrans LLC)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... NDCHealth Corp., Atlanta, has sold its 49.5% interest in HealthTrans LLC, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based pharmacy benefit management firm. NDCHealth received approximately $8.8 million in cash, which will be used to pay down senior debt....

WebMD Purchases HealthShare Technology.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... WebMD Corp. has acquired HealthShare Technology, a vendor of comparative analysis software for provider and payer organizations. Elmwood Park, N.J.-based WebMD paid $31 million for the Acton, Mass.-based vendor, and will pay up to $5 million...

HealthStream Buys Survey Firm.(Data Management and Research Inc)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... HealthStream Inc., a vendor of Web-based training and continuing medical education for health care professionals, has acquired health care survey firm Data Management & Research Inc. Nashville, Tenn.-based HealthStream paid $9.1 million in cash...

E-Script, Records Vendors Merge.(Wellinx Inc and Purkinje Inc)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Wellinx Inc., a St. Louis-based vendor of electronic prescription software, has merged with Montreal-based Purkinje Inc., which sells physician practice management and electronic medical records software. Terms of the merger were not disclosed....

India Firm to Acquire Payer Vendor.(MphasiS BFL Group and Eldorado Computing Inc)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Bangalore, India-based MphasiS BFL Group will acquire Eldorado Computing Inc., Phoenix, for $16.5 million. Privately held Eldorado, with more than $10 million in revenue and profitable in 2004, is a 20-year veteran supplier of claims processing...

Blues Plan to Offer I.T. Incentives.
May 1, 2005... CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore will pay up to $50 per covered patient to reward physicians who use information technology to improve care. The Blues plan, serving 3.2 million members, has joined Bridges To Excellence, an early...

JCAHO Heightens Safety Focus.(International Center for Patient Safety)(patient safety)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations will establish the International Center for Patient Safety and has named Peter Angood, M.D., as chief patient safety officer. Angood will serve as a co-leader of the safety...

Medicare Wants Input on Payment Codes.(Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has scheduled eight public meetings in June to discuss revisions to the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. The system determines payment levels under Medicare. A law enacted in 2000...

Standards Groups to Collaborate.(services and planning of Health Level Seven )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Two standards development organizations will work together to build interface standards to promote interoperability of health care information systems. The initial focus of the collaboration between the Object Management Group and Health Level...

Paper Probes Decision Support Issues.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Two trade associations have jointly released a white paper with recommendations on how to optimize the value and increase the use of clinical decision support software, particularly in electronic prescription systems. Workgroups of the American...

HIMSS: CPOE Study Flawed.( Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)(computer-based physician order entry system)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... A study published March 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a computer-based physician order entry system caused or exacerbated the risk of 22 types of medication errors. However, the study has its own flaws because...

What Does 'Interoperability' Mean?(National Alliance for Health Information Technology )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The National Alliance for Health Information Technology has developed a definition for the term "interoperability," as the nation moves toward interconnected clinical information systems. The alliance is accepting comment on its definition and...

Eclipsys Beefs Up Flagship Product.(Sunrise Clinical Manager software)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Eclipsys Corp. has unveiled version 4.0 of its Sunrise Clinical Manager software product suite. The new software has nearly 450 enhancements or new features, according to the Boca Raton, Fla.-based vendor. Some of the new features include: ...

Blues Plan to Give Docs PDAs, Apps.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania is the latest payer to begin offering PDAs and hand-held software to physicians. The managed care organization plans to distribute PDAs equipped with clinical reference software...

Smart Phones Receive Monitoring Data.(product information of Card Guard AG)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Data from Card Guard AG's patient monitoring devices now can be accessed on select smart phones from Samsung Telecommunications America, Dallas. The Switzerland-based vendor's suite of PMP4 wireless monitoring devices use mobile phone network...

Second Hospital to 'Read' Humans.(equipments of University Medical Center)(VeriChip system)(Applied Digital)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center will become the second provider organization that can read radio frequency identification chips embedded in patients. The 683-bed, not-for-profit provider plans to test the VeriChip system-from Delray...

App Gives Voice to Records Systems.(product introduction of WiSPER Technologies LLC )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Reston, Va.-based WiSPER Technologies LLC has released an information system that enables clinicians to use a wireless headset to enter information into electronic medical records. The vendor's application uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless...

RFID Lands at Maxell Corp.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Maxell Corp. of America has released a radio frequency identification system designed for use in clinical trials facilities, pharmaceutical companies and research labs. The vendor's Heliport system is comprised of RFID readers and chips that...

Future CIOs Will Learn in a Flash.(College of St. Scholastica)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Students in the health care informatics and information management department of the College of St. Scholastica soon will receive a USB device to help them manage their medical records. The Duluth, Minn.-based college worked with Bio-Imaging...

Spurr Named Zix CEO.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Dallas-based Zix Corp. has named Rick Spurr its new CEO. Spurr has been serving as acting CEO for the secure electronic messaging and electronic prescriptions vendor since Feb. 8. He replaced John Ryan, who left Zix earlier this year. Spurr...

Survey: Docs' PDA Use Still Limited.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Though more than half of U.S. physicians regularly use PDAs, most rely on their hand-helds for administrative tasks rather than accessing clinical data, according to a study by the Chicago-based American Medical Association and Cambridge,...

Daou Offers Mobile Strategy Services.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Exton, Pa.-based Daou Systems Inc. is offering new consulting services designed to help health care organizations develop enterprisewide mobile strategies. The I.T. consulting firm created the services to help organizations better use existing...

Summit Explores Rx Use of RFID.(RFID Health Care Industry Adoption Summit)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Two trade associations will host a conference this fall on the use of radio frequency identification technology in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The RFID Health Care Industry Adoption Summit-from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores...

MDeverywhere Adds Claims Editing Tool.(ClaimsManager software )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Hauppauge, N.Y.-based MDeverywhere has integrated a claims editing and compliance tool into its integrated suite of hand-held scheduling, charge capture and billing software. The ClaimsManager software from Ingenix Health Intelligence, Salt...

Maintenance Software Goes Mobile.(Total Maintenance System Mobile)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Pittsburgh-based Four Rivers Software Systems Inc. has released a mobile version of its regulatory data management system. Total Maintenance System Mobile enables health care professionals to enter and view regulatory data from PDAs running the...

First Responder App Gets Rugged.(OptiSTAT Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... West Mifflin, Pa.-based OptiSTAT Corp. now is offering its hand-held first responder software on rugged PDAs from Corvallis, Ore.-based Tripod Data Systems. The OptiPocket software is designed to help emergency medical technicians record...

Tablets Slated to Screen Youth.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Columbus (Ohio) Children's Hospital Inc. will deploy tablet computers to help assess adolescents for at-risk behaviors. The provider will use Tablet PCs, check-in software and kiosks from Maitland, Fla.-based Galvanon Inc. in the initiative....

Wi-Fi Phones Part of Nurses' Mission.(Mission Community Hospital )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Nurses at Panorama City, Calif.-based Mission Community Hospital are communicating via mobile phones over a Wi-Fi network. In late 2004, the 150-bed hospital implemented 28 NetLink i640 phones from Boulder, Colo.-based SpectraLink Corp. Nurses...

Stock Chart.(Illustration)
May 1, 2005... (part 1 of 2) Price Price as on a % of 52 Health care software companies 4/7/2005 Wk High Allscripts...

Systems Integration: The Electronic Records Linchpin.(electronic medical records system)
May 1, 2005... The term "electronic medical records system" is something of a misnomer. While many health care information technology vendors sell products by that name, no such software comes in just one box. In reality, it's the combination of various...

Shakespeare Had It Right.(electronic medical records system)
May 1, 2005... Editor's Note: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Put another way: "You say po-tay-to, I say pa-tah-to." Either way, we're talking about the very same thing. And this is why in Health...

Putting Integration into Context.
May 1, 2005... Many organizations feel they've crossed the finish line when they integrate back-end applications to create an electronic medical records system. But even at that point, a little something extra often is needed to make the whole package more...

Conducting the Orchestra.
May 1, 2005... The health care industry is just beginning to change their systems integration strategies to incorporate the concept of service oriented architecture. And it won't be long before the concept leads to new methods to "orchestrate" business...

Mobility matters, but how much?
May 1, 2005... Wireless networks and mobile software now factor into many information technology initiatives, including systems integration. But some organizations are unsure how large a role the technologies will play in their march toward an electronic...

Safety Innovators Put I.T. on the Line: Some provider organizations are facing medical errors head-on and are using technology to try to bring them under control.
May 1, 2005... Today's patient safety movement in health care is born out of tragedy. Estimates by the Institute of Medicine put the number of patient deaths caused by preventable medical errors somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 per year. Staggering...

Effective I.T. Budgeting Takes Practice: Budgeting for information technology in a group practice can be tricky and imprecise.
May 1, 2005... Many physician group practices that undertake major information technology initiatives quickly learn an important lesson about I.T. budgeting. "It probably will cost 20% to 30% more than you think it should, maybe more," says Jon Dennis, M.D.,...

Getting the buy-in to buy.(electronic health records)(Medical Associates Clinic)
May 1, 2005... For Medical Associates Clinic in Dubuque, Iowa, implementing electronic medical records and a picture archiving and communication system from San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. was a strategic decision to better compete in the marketplace. ...

An Rx for Reducing Medication Errors: Seeking to improve patient safety, providers are automating the medication administration process-despite some significant challenges.
May 1, 2005... Lori Yackanicz at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network likens the cost-benefit analysis of automating the medication administration process to the ubiquitous advertisements used by MasterCard. Bar code technology? Not inexpensive. ...

Bar Code Systems Present Challenges, Changes.
May 1, 2005... Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated bar codes be placed on most human drug and blood products by April 2006, it hasn't required health care organizations to use them when administering medications. This, however, hasn't...

Mobile Images Music to Radiologists' Ears: New software helps physicians store and view medical images using iPod digital music players.
May 1, 2005... Unlike most physicians, radiologists are not always on the move. They frequently spend most of their days using tethered, high-resolution workstations in their organizations' reading rooms. These workstations boast huge screens that give...

CIOs Getting Vocal about iPods.
May 1, 2005... Scrolling through the master playlist on an iPod, one could come across the following selections: The Beatles, Duran Duran, Foghat, I.T. Conversations, The Police, Frank Sinatra... Wait a second. I.T. Conversations? Never heard of them. ...

Contracts Update.(Brief Article)
May 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.(Illustration)
May 1, 2005... Advertiser Site Addresses Page # Agfa www.agfa.com/healthcare 13 AHIP www.ahip.org/Institute/HDM 40 ...

"Pharmacy benefit plans and pharmacies are moving expeditiously to support electronic prescriptions. Do you agree or disagree?".
May 1, 2005... AGREE Robert Mohr Partner LogiSolve LLC, Minneapolis "The standards and connectivity are in place and available to assist the pharmacy vendors and pharmacy benefit managers in adopting and supporting e-prescribing. The...