Health Management Technology articles from April 2006

Health Management Technology archives from April 2006

Pleasantly plastic.(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... Late last summer, I was deep in a phone conversation with Cognizant Technology Solutions Vice President Simmi P. Singh, discussing her upcoming HMT article on disease management, when a serendipitous digression occurred. Is there anything that...

Safety continues as industry top priority.(information technoloyg used for patients safety)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Improving patient safety by reducing medical errors, implementing electronic medical records (EMRs) and connecting IT at hospitals and remote locations are top industry priorities, according to the 17th annual HIMSS leadership survey. The...

RHIO trio shares data.(Regional Health Information Organizations)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The Connecting for Health initiative, which began in January 2005, successfully transmitted electronic health information among medical record systems in three states on three independent networks. The RHIOs participating in the prototype...

Health IT "high priority" in Bush's 2007 budget.(health information technology)
April 1, 2006... President Bush's proposed fiscal 2007 budget includes $116 million for The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Staffing in the office in fiscal 2007 would increase from 30 full-time equivalent positions to 38....

A well-kept secret among consumers.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... President Bush mentioned EHRs in his past two State of the Union messages, and mainstream media are publishing more articles on the national initiative to make EHRs available to most U.S. citizens. Yet, a whopping 70 percent of Americans still...

Clinicians say PDAs "critical" in practice.(Physician Practices)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Physicians and others who use PDAs, smartphones and related medical decision support tools say the tools help them provide better and more efficient patient care, a new survey says. An overwhelming 84 percent of the 2,800 medical professionals...

Five groups test lab standards.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Five physician organizations are testing standards to electronically deliver lab results to EMRs, funded by $600,000 in grants from The California HealthCare Foundation. The five physician organizations that received grants are: * Brown &...

Standards help vaccination effort.(Health Level Seven Inc service for hurricane evacuees)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Health Level Seven Inc's. (HL7) support of Hurricane Katrina evacuees illustrates how standards may play an integral role in the national health information network. Since the disaster in August 2005, the Houston-Harris County Immunization...

Minn. team pilot tests eRx software in LTC.(Blue Cross Association finance)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with a team of long-term care organizations and software vendors, was awarded $1.2 million from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The team will pilot e-prescribing among facilities,...

RHIO Links Patients and Docs in Northwest.(Regional Health Information Organization)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... RHIO Links Patients and Docs in Northwest. Northwest Physicians Network of Tacoma, Wash. and St. Luke's Health System of Boise, Idaho, supported by Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Medical Solutions, created The Northwest Health Information Network....

Maryland Blues promote EMRs.(electronic medical records)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Maryland Blues Promote EMRs. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the state's largest health insurer, is donating $100,000 to an initiative that promotes electronic medical records. The Maryland/D.C. Collaborative for Healthcare Information...

Privacy Contracts Awarded This Month.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Privacy Contracts Awarded This Month. Contracts valued at up to $350,000 each will be awarded April 28 to study the variations in state privacy and security policies and regulations that may hinder electronic exchange of data. The Durham,...

Cell phones: Boon or Bane?(medical errors)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Despite a small risk of cell phones interfering with medical equipment, their use by medical personnel in one study actually lowered the overall medical error rate due to timelier communication. That is the premise of a survey by Yale School of...

CHIME launches CIO mentoring program.(College of Healthcare Information Management Executives)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A new mentoring program allows chief information officers, regardless of experience, to connect with veteran CIOs to discuss challenges, issues and developmental needs to further expand their skills in the healthcare industry. Sponsored by The...

Epocrates integrates with EMR and eRx Apps.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... San Mateo, Calif.-based Epocrates' clinical solutions now can link to other mobile and desktop solutions, such as EMRs and e-prescribing applications. Does should be glad to learn that, in a recent survey of Epocrates customers, more than 75...

Nuance acquires Dictaphone.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Burlington, Mass-based Nuance Communications Inc. is buying Dictaphone Corp. of Stratford, Conn. for $357 million in cash. The acquisition combines Dictaphone's physician dictation and transcription software services with Nuance's speech...

Payers hold the key to the NHIN: the role of health plans, payers and insurers in the 10-year drive toward nationwide interoperability is enormous, and not yet fully defined.(national health information network)
April 1, 2006... On the one hand, the national health information network (NHIN) could be the answer to physicians' prayers. On the other hand, it could be another major step down the circuitous path to even greater government control of personal information....

Exceptional success: Louisiana hospital automates supply chain processes to save time, increase efficiencies and lower costs.
April 1, 2006... Supply expenses at Woman's Hospital, like at many hospitals, are second only to labor costs. We knew, therefore, that improving supply chain efficiencies through automation and focusing staff's time on supply contract management could have a...

The waiting room is closed: Pocono Medical Center uses emergency department automation to improve patient throughput, charge capture, electronic documentation and patient satisfaction scores.(Emergency Department Information Systems: Case History)
April 1, 2006... Pocono Medical Center (PMC) is a 192-bed hospital in a bedroom community of New York City in East Stroudsburg, Pa. Host to an extra 1 million vacationers, the hospital struggled with high bed occupancy and surges in patient volume, six-hour...

Marking and coding.(Hardware: Printers, Copiers, Scanners)
April 1, 2006... The Videojet 1310 ink jet printer from Videojet is designed for marking and coding everything from pharmaceuticals and packaged goods, to food and beverage. Its nozzles automatically backflush and clean themselves at start up and shut down,...

Large-volume monochrome support.(Hardware: Printers, Copiers, Scanners)
April 1, 2006... Dell's 5100cn laser printer features the company's Color-Track driver, which includes separate color and monochrome print drivers. The intention is to reduce cost by allowing users to print black and white documents using no color toner. It can...

Compact document scanner.
April 1, 2006... Ambir's DocketPort DS485 portable sheet fed scanner converts two-sided printed documents into electronic images at a respectable six pages per minute on its highest setting of 600 dpi. At 1.75" H by 2.0" W by 11.75" L, and lust 1.3 lbs., it Is...

Intelligent Mark Recognition.(Hardware: Printers, Copiers, Scanners)
April 1, 2006... The Clarity 120 from Scantron is a hybrid scanner that can capture data and images on the same device. When bundled with the company's SIMR (Scantron Intelligent Mark Recognition) software it is possible for users to collect data and images in...

Full-color workgroup printing.
April 1, 2006... Sharp's new AR-C360P Digital IMAGER system is intended to bring commercial print shop quality and capability in-house. It features an embedded 1 GHz Fiery controller from EFI (Electronics for Imaging Inc.) that provides 36 ppm color and 40 ppm...

Mac compatible.
April 1, 2006... The ScanSnap fi-5110EOXM is Fujitsu's first scanner to be compatible with the Mac operating system. It features four scanning modes that range in resolution from 150 dpi to 600 dpi color and 300 dpi to 1,200 dpi black and white, and in scanning...

The all-in-one solution: a large-scale healthcare provider chooses one manufacturer to fulfill all of its IT needs.
April 1, 2006... It all started with printer toner, which can be more expensive by volume than oil, champagne and imported caviar. Organizations spend millions each year on the stuff. When Ed Simcox and Phil Canada of Clarian Health Partners of Indiana dug...

Setting the stage for growth: Ohio urology practice installs practice management system, boosting patient volume, improving cash flow and increasing revenue.(Physician Practice Management: Case History)
April 1, 2006... Deciding to bring practice management in-house, or to upgrade from an older system, is difficult. Change requires investment and always involves a degree of risk. Group practices reach the tipping point for change when they recognize the...

Contactless proximity device.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... The pcProx proximity card reader is one of several RFID authentication solutions offered by RFIDeas. Designed for installation where controlling the physical and logical access to networks and data is crucial, the small device laptops, walls,...

Nurse Communications system upgrade.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... NCM 4.0, Hill-Rom's latest upgrade to their COM-Linx Nurse Communication Module includes technology intended to increase efficiency and enhance existing fall prevention programs by enabling instant communications between staff and patients, and...

Palm O/S smartphone.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... The Trio 700w smartphone from Palm combines telephone, e-mail, text messaging and Web browsing capabilities in one compact device. It features the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and includes an Intel XScale 312Mhz processor; a built-in,...

Hospital grade isolation transformer.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... The ISO-PUCK from Bridgeport Magnetics is designed to increase safety by decreasing the chance of electrical shock when operating equipment in exam rooms and at the bedside. It mounts on the wall between the electrical outlet and equipment and...

60kW availability solutions.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... APC's latest high-density InfraStruXure systems can scale up to 60kW per rack, thanks, in part, to new InRow RC cooling units designed to remove heat at the source, before it can mix with ambient temperatures. They are, according to the...

Open standards RIS.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... NovaRIS is a Web-based, open-standards RIS from NovaRAD designed to track reimbursement costs, payers and the profitability of procedures. The product generates reports, analyzes exams and can operate in environments using paperless patient...

Portable video system.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... Polycom's Mobile Responder video conferencing system is designed for use in the field under extreme conditions by first responders, emergency and healthcare personnel. It's based on the company's VSX 8000 video system and shares several of its...

Platform independent BPO.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... Eldorado's non-core business processes outsourcing (BPO) customers can avail themselves of those services independent of the need for platform compatibility or support. The health benefits management solutions company' now offers payers an ala...

Lightweight Wireless Display.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... Panasonic designed the new Toughbook Wireless Display to be durable, reliable and highly portable. The thin-client device is Bluetooth compatible and tested using U.S. Military MIL-STD-810F standards for ruggedness, it features a 10.4" 1024x768...

API upgrade.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... Version 3.1 of Medi-Span's Drug Information Bridge Application Programming Interface is intended to increase patient safety by decreasing or eliminating dangerous abbreviations and adding drug names that include "tall-man" letters. It also...

Portable platform.(New Products & Services)
April 1, 2006... The ipix Caddy is a stable, rolling display, stand designed for the company's ipix SX-700 all-in-one computer, which integrates a 17" or 20" LCD with a compact PC in a combined form factor. Rear wheels in its base, a handle behind the screen...

Transforming healthcare through patient empowerment.(patients care )
April 1, 2006... Healthcare is a topic fraught with sensitive issues, beginning with privacy, liability and growing costs, which then lead to equally controversial fixes such as HIPAA, malpractice insurance reforms and health savings accounts (HSAs). The...