Health Management Technology articles from August 2003

Health Management Technology archives from August 2003

Praise and predictions. (From The Editor).(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... I'm not one to gush, and rarely about trade shows, but if I were, I'd gush about the American Association of Health Plans' (AAHP) 2003 Institute and Display Forum, held in June in Washington, D.C. "Top-flight" is the phrase I would choose. ...

HHS seeks standardized EMR design. (Standards).
August 1, 2003... In a move that may help spur nationwide acceptance of electronic medical records (EMRs), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has asked the Institute of Medicine to design a standardized model of an electronic healthcare...

CIGNA Behavioral Health enhances claims system. (Health Benefits).
August 1, 2003... Using IT to better support its mental health provider network and enrolled members who use mental health services, CIGNA Behavioral Health (CBH), Eden Prairie, Minn., has enhanced its claims system to track and highlight complex, cost-intensive...

Financial worries curb efforts to employ EMRs. (Electronic Medical Records).
August 1, 2003... Lack of funding can stonewall healthcare providers' efforts to implement electronic medical records (or electronic health records) at their facilities, according to the fifth annual Survey of EHR Trends and Usage from the Medical Records...

Report details CPOE lessons learned in community hospitals. (CPOE).
August 1, 2003... Community hospitals can face significant challenges in gaining physician support for computerized physician order entry (CPOE), challenges not faced by larger hospitals and teaching hospitals where residents enter orders and are accustomed to...

NQF supports 30 safety practices for implementation. (Patient Safety).
August 1, 2003... Representatives from leading healthcare and consumer organizations have endorsed 30 specific practices they say should be implemented in healthcare organizations to improve patient safety. Safe Practices for Better Healthcare: A Consensus...

e-Prescribing mandates in awaited Medicare Rx bills.
August 1, 2003... e-Prescribing Mandates in Awaited Medicare Rx Bills. While House and Senate Democrats and Republicans struggle to reconcile two Medicare prescription drug bills, there is some common information technology ground that likely will not be among...

Broker modeling for health plans.
August 1, 2003... Broker Modeling for Health Plans. Computer Sciences Corp. has introduced an advanced sales distribution management system for health plans and administrators. The new Web-based software, PerformancePlus, allows health plan administrators to...

EMR vendor evaluations released.
August 1, 2003... EMR Vendor Evaluations Released. The AC Group Inc., an advisory and research firm, has released its 2003 annual report on EMR applications, authored by healthcare IT futurist Mark Anderson. The project surveyed desktop, remote access, wireless...

New online prescribing guidelines.
August 1, 2003... New Online Prescribing Guidelines. New guidelines from the American Medical Association (AMA) encourage physicians to obtain medical history information and perform a physical examination before prescribing medications online. They also suggest...

Recommendations for providers. (Patient-Friendly Billing).
August 1, 2003... A new publication from the Patient Friendly Billing project, Summer 2003 Report, offers 14 recommendations for healthcare providers to improve financial communications with patients. Those suggestions include establishing customer service...

Buyouts continue big in healthcare I.T. (Acquisitions).
August 1, 2003... Some players in the healthcare IT market continue to garner strength in their bids for increased market share, as noted by recent acquisitions. Misys Healthcare Systems has purchased Patient1, a computerized patient record/CPOE solution,...

Stanching hospitals' financial hemorrhage with information technology: there are three key revenue cycle areas where hospitals can turn cash leakage into profitability. (Financial Information Systems)(Cover Story).
August 1, 2003... If ever there were a need for a warning label in healthcare, it is now. While attention is focused, and rightly so, on clinical quality to address medication errors within the industry, a silent epidemic is eroding the financial health of these...

Smooth flow: technology helps midwest healthcare network avoid OR scheduling conflicts. (Scheduling: case history).
August 1, 2003... In most integrated delivery networks, a successful surgery department often depends on multifacility integration to minimize waste, improve accuracy and streamline services. Disparate operating room management systems at Evanston Northwestern...

Remote control: North Carolina IDN chooses SSL access to ensure HIPAA compliance. (Security: case history).
August 1, 2003... It's hard, or maybe impossible, to find a healthcare organization not challenged by HIPAA mandates during the past year or two. Particularly hard hit have been integrated delivery networks and merged healthcare organizations, where an increased...

AHRQ: a tradition of evidence: federal agency carries a rich history of involvement in today's evidence-based medicine movement, focusing on the "evidence" inside healthcare IT. (Evidence-Based Medicine).
August 1, 2003... Over the past decade, the importance of applying scientific evidence to improving clinical care has become increasingly apparent to clinicians and healthcare organizations. The recognition that information technology can bring this evidence to...

Getting to the bottom of hospital finances: Florida Hospital, an experienced data miner, stretches its extensive use of data mining to deliver financial results that will improve its bottom line. (Data Warehousing/Mining).
August 1, 2003... In the late 1990s, the IT department at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Fla., was approached by IBM to pioneer the use of business intelligence (BI) solutions--specifically, data mining--in the healthcare industry. We took IBM up on its offer, and...

Creative credentialing: a CVO helps New York health plan maintain operations after 9/11. (Credentialing: case history).
August 1, 2003... Health plans, hospitals and physicians have relied on credentials verification organizations (CVO) to save time and resources in gathering and verifying physician qualifications. In the event of a disaster, CVOs can also play an important role...

Supporting an enterprise mission with IT: Oregon healthcare organization improves recruitment process with Web-based technology. (E-Recruiting).
August 1, 2003... Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), like many of its peers in the healthcare industry, receives a daily flood of employment applications. As Oregon's fourth-largest employer and the state's only academic medical center, OHSU has more...

No boundaries: advanced telecom solutions enable secure storage and transfer of electronic medical records over great distances. (Telecommunications/EMRs).
August 1, 2003... As medical records continue to go paperless, the challenge facing hospitals is how IT staff members manage these complex databases--a challenge for even the most sophisticated IT department. Communications providers are pursuing technical...

Never going back: New Jersey ophthalmology practice moves from paper charts to an EMR system. (What works: practice management/EMRs).
August 1, 2003... When a physician practice wants to move from paper charts to an electronic medical records (EMR) system, the entire project involves time, capital and a commitment on the parts of physicians to use the system. However, if the EMR is...

ROI x 45: Alabama surgical practice uses Web-based scheduling technology to save the equivalent of one FTE per month and achieve incredible annual savings by leveraging surgeons' availability. (What works: scheduling).
August 1, 2003... The true test of IT innovation lies with the end-users' ability to apply their wisdom and their organizations' experience to stretch the potential benefits of the latest Web-based technology. PROBLEM Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala.,...

Family Physicians gain access to benchmarking data. (Benchmarking).
August 1, 2003... Physicians who are members of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) will now have Web access to national data that allows them to benchmark their practice's performance against similar practices. Benchmarking against like practices...

Harvard Med School doctors get clinical references. (Support decision).
August 1, 2003... By popular demand--literally-medical students at Harvard Medical School will soon have clinical reference data in the palms of their hands. Harvard Med students, who are required to matriculate with handheld devices, will gain access to...

Financial information systems HotList.
August 1, 2003... Information in the HotList is based on survey responses collecte from companies with products in the category covered. The HotList is not intended to reflect the quality of products or services, nor is it intended to be an inclusive list of the...

Improved EDI transactions.
August 1, 2003... Improved EDI Transactions. Some provider organizations may find their EDI transactions streamlined thanks to DocEnroll.com, a Web-based EDI enrollment service that has compiled and organized the unique provider enrollment workflow...

Online customer care and e-billing.
August 1, 2003... Online Customer Care and e-Billing. Brokers and customers of Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross (IBC) can now receive bills, check commissions, get quotes, schedule payments and conduct a variety of account-related communications...

First study, then commit.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... First Study, Then Commit. Stanford Hospitals & Clinics has decided to license and co-brand the RelayHealth provider-patient communication service from RelayHealth Corp. The healthcare organization made its decision after being part of a study...

Online HIPAA training. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... "Embrace HIPAA With confidence" is an online multimedia training course designed to teach healthcare information management professionals about HIPAA privacy rule regulations. Topics include accounting of disclosures, professional...

Decision-supporting CPOE. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Affinity CPOE, the latest addition to the integrated Affinity HIS suite of Web-enabled software, features a secure, centralized database designed to give users a high degree of functionality coupled with the scalability to meet the needs of...

Electronic charting via ASP. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Interfaceable with most practice management or billing systems, Sevocity is designed as an Internet-based electronic charting solution for small- to medium-size medical practices. Built to help physicians meet HIPAA guidelines, it stores chart...

Network monitoring device. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Vericept Intelligent Early Warning for Health Information Protection is designed to help healthcare information security professionals monitor and capture all network content related to potential and actual leaks of protected health information...

Automated notification system. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... The Event Notification and Response application is designed to automatically, quickly and reliably initiate, manage and monitor emergency notifications as well as routine events such as staffing shortages, group messaging and meeting...

Small-practice EMR. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Developed by a practicing family physician' Amazing Charts enables small medical practices to begin using an electronic medical record system without making significant investments in licensing fees, training or extra software modules. The...

Web distribution for teleradiology. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... The Kodak DirectView Web Distribution System is designed to provide users with both Web distribution and teleradiology functionality, allowing authorized physicians to view imaging studies from their homes offices and facilities they work in....

Remote-coding solution. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... The integration of the WinStrat Coding, Compliance and Reimbursement Management system with eWebCoding's Web-based remote-coding software is designed to enable the seamless transfer of information between the encoder and the imaging system....

Wireless network products. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... New ORiNOCO enterprise-class IEEE 802.11g products are designed to provide best performance in a mixed 802.11b and 802.11g network. Features include up to 50 percent better throughput than currently shipping, single radio 802.11g solutions and...

Powerful Tablet PC. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... The M1300 Tablet PC offers increased processing speed, battery life and connectivity by utilizing Intel Centrino mobile technology that consists of an ultra-low-voltage Pentium M processor running at 1 GHz, an Intel 855 chipset and an Intel...

Improved contract management. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... The latest version of Neoforma Contract Management Solution (CMS) features contract catalog capabilities as well as new reporting capabilities to track utilization of contract purchases. It offers online access to pricing and product...

Enhanced claims management. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... PLEXlS Claims Manager has incorporated Intuit's QuickBooks accounting software to facilitate accurate and automatic claims adjudication, referral authorizations, benefit administration and contract management for payers, benefit administrators...

Clinical decision support. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Providing new HIPAA compliance and multifacility support features, Misys Insight 2.2 is a clinical decision-support system that integrates data from nearly any HIS and clinical information system and then instantly sends critical signals via...

HIPAA compliance aid. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... HIPAA Excelerate is a set of bundled solutions designed to offer healthcare organizations tools and services to help facilitate their HIPAA compliance, improve their workflow and protect revenue. It includes two packages that provide HIPAA...

Computerized forms creation. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... FORMS.MD is a digital forms creation module developed to computerize handwritten tasks such as telephone messages, physician orders, patient workups and other areas that require a simple documentation procedure for recurring events. Documents...

Spend management software. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... Aimed at helping mid-to large-size organizations reduce their service- and work order-related expenditures, ProcureIT version 6.0 includes more than 250 enhancements such as a full-fledged work order system, a vendor portal and electronic...

Healthcare costs prediction. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... RxGroups version 2.1 includes National Drug Codes (NDC) through January 2003 with the predictive model that uses pharmacy claims information to create detailed pharmacological profiles that predict future costs. Reporting features enable...

Document management system. (New Products & Services).
August 1, 2003... MEDISTAR is a medical document and image storage, archiving and retrieval system created to support EMR security, integrity and accessibility. Its features include integration with existing or newly acquired PACS resources; working directly...

CPOE: why don't we get it? (Viewpoint).
August 1, 2003... The question begs to be asked, especially considering the rapid adoption of similar technology in other industries. It's difficult to identify an industry that has not embraced computerization to increase efficiency and accuracy, yet medicine...