Health Management Technology articles from January 2003

Health Management Technology archives from January 2003

In praise of vendors. (From The Editor).(Editorial)(Column)
January 1, 2003... Gotcha' with that headline, didn t I? Some readers might suspect that I don't much care for vendors, since I regularly poke fun at their commercialized behavior, both in this column and to their faces at conferences and trade shows--but nothing...

Minnesota to collect patient data. (Privacy).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Minnesota Health Department can now collect detailed medical information on virtually all its citizens to build a massive new databank, a judge ruled in early December. The ruling makes Minnesota one of only a few states that collect...

Progress on the Rx front. (E-Prescribing).(California HealthCare Foundation report)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Technology can greatly reduce medical errors and costs associated with writing prescriptions, but the potential is still largely untapped. This is partly because only about 30 percent of physicians own personal digital assistants (PDAs), and...

Health plans broaden online services. (Internet Managed Care).(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2003... Managed care organizations (MCOs) continue to increase the breadth of the Web-based services they offer, including more self-service options for members, according to a new survey of webmasters and an analysis of 97 payer websites. Member...

Microsoft to name winners at HIMSS. (Awards).
January 1, 2003... Software vendors in seven categories have been selected as finalists in the sixth annual MS-HUG Industry Solution Awards for Healthcare. The winning IT solutions--selected by a panel of independent judges based on tangible business benefits to...

Medicare administrator goes ASP.(Olympic Health Management System and Synertech agreement)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Olympic Health Management Systems, a 20,000-member health plan in Bellingham, WA, and Medicare administrative services provider for a number of national insurers, has become Synertech's newest ASP customer and its first focused exclusively on...

GE Medical acquires Millbrook.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... GE Medical Systems Information Technologies announced it will acquire Millbrook, whose physician practice management systems are in more than 2,200 medical practices across the U.S. The acquisition marks GE's entry to the physician group...

Monitors for the HIPAA age.(Nova Solutions Retrofit)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Nova Solutions Inc. has introduced the Retrofit Kit, hardware to create a recess for computers and monitors beneath the work surface, ensuring privacy from would-be prying eyes. Users view the monitor at a natural viewing angle, through a...

Partners launches Web-based system. (Physician Order Entry).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Partners HealthCare went live in October with a new Web-based physician order entry (POE) system that it expects will continue to decrease adverse drug reactions and save Brigham and Women's hospital millions of dollars annually. The Web-based...

11th-hour HIPAA: how can you meet the deadlines? (Countdown To HIPAA).
January 1, 2003... January 2003. After years of regulatory turmoil, the fact that just three months remain until the HIPAA privacy compliance deadline and the transactions testing deadline strains credulity. You're ready, right? Your organization has...

Ready as ready can be: many healthcare IT departments are already prepared for HIPAA. (Countdown to HIPAA).
January 1, 2003... With the clock still ticking, many healthcare organizations are confident they will meet deadlines for HIPAA compliance. Some are ready now, while others work feverishly to finish system upgrades, complete last-minute testing and bring onboard...

Infrastructural considerations for supporting POC devices: healthcare executives must focus on creating integration-friendly environments for the most effective use of mobile devices. (Point-Of-Care Workstations).(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2003... There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the advent of point-of-care (POC) devices that enhance patient safety and streamline healthcare delivery by giving physicians and other healthcare workers anytime/ anywhere access to heterogeneous...

Push technology in the pharmacy: clinical decision support helps the pharmacy department of a South Carolina medical center automate monitoring of medication effectiveness. (Medication management: case history).
January 1, 2003... Patient safety and medication management are the hot healthcare topics of the new millennium. However, with all the attention to bar code systems and point-of-care medication administration by nurses, it's easy to temporarily overlook the hub...

Sights and sounds of HIMSS: an inside look at the technology and solutions you can test drive at HIMSS. (HIMSS 2003 Exhibitor Preview).(Buyers Guide)
January 1, 2003... Whether it's automated solutions for e-procurement, revenue recovery services, EMRs and CPOE, or emergency department information systems, you can find it in the exhibit hall at HIMSS. But with hundreds of suppliers and literally thousands...

BPM: antidote to inefficiency: business process management serves as a foundation for effective workflow automation in healthcare. (Workflow Automation).
January 1, 2003... Ask senior executives in healthcare IT what their challenges are, and the answer invariably resembles what healthcare practitioners would say: achieving consistent, beneficial and predictable outcomes. But unlike practitioners who treat known...

Remote access for physicians: SSL VPNs offer advantages for healthcare organizations that want to provide mobile physicians with secure access. (Data Security).
January 1, 2003... Providing physicians and other caregivers with simple and secure remote access to hospital-based applications is emerging--with surprising speed--as a "must-have" for healthcare organizations. It's not hard to see why momentum is building...

Rx for password headaches: biometric authentication solution lets physicians be their passwords. (Data Security).(St. Vincent Hospitals and Health Care Center Inc.'s solution)
January 1, 2003... Here's a familiar scenario: A physician with a hospitalized cardiac care patient wants to review the patient's vital statistics prior to prescribing medication. He attempts to logon to the hospital's network to review the electronic patient...

Productivity gains of speech-recognition technology: organizations that gain the most will be those armed with the facts, tempered by reasonable expectations. (Voice Recognition/Transcription).
January 1, 2003... Imagine you're a physician and you have just seen 10 hospitalized patients at 7 a.m. before you head to your office to see 35 additional patients. You stop by the physician lounge to find another notice from the health information department...

Voice recognition goes home: Arizona physical therapy practice successfully uses voice recognition with the advantage of portability. (Voice recognition: case history).(uses ProVox Technologies' TalkNotes)
January 1, 2003... Until a year ago, Adrienne Parry, PT, owner of a private physical therapy practice in Tucson, AZ, regularly stayed at her office until 7 p.m. to document the day's patient visits. Then she would carry an armful of charts home with her. Her busy...

Money multiplies: revenue cycle solutions lead three-tiered update of healthcare system's business office. (Financial Information system: case history).(Baptist Health Systems)
January 1, 2003... Baptist Health System (BHS) in Knoxville, TN, was trying to profitably manage its revenue cycle in the face of changing rules and regulations issued by commercial and government payers while, at the same time, keeping pace with the health...

An inside look at outsourcing: Southern California healthcare system finds financial and performance pluses in IT outsourcing. (What works: outsourcing).
January 1, 2003... Healthcare providers looking to reduce information technology (IT) expenses and expand their use of technology often consider IT outsourcing to obtain the specialized services and expertise they require. The "pro" arguments are well-known:...

Go with the flow: medical group overcomes geographic obstacles to improve workflow. (What works: workflow automation).
January 1, 2003... Distributing patient information manually is hard enough. Try distributing it from one island to another. Here is the story of how our healthcare group, located throughout the Hawaiian islands, changed our workflow systems from manual...

Oh, say scan you see. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Panasonic has introduced a new color production scanner--the KV-52025C. This binary and color scanner captures documents at 24 ppm/42 ipm (binary) and 10 ppm/18 ipm (color), with up to 600-dpi optical resolution. The KV-S2025C includes...

Have a heart. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Siemens Medical Solutions has announced the availability of Soarian Clinicial Access and Soarian Cardiology. Soarian Clinical Access is a clinical repository available through the Web. The system gives clinicians real-time access to a complete...

I look, you look, we look. (New Products & Services).(SonoSite's iLook)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... SonoSite has unveiled the iLook series, an all-digital, ultrasound, hand-carried platform for routine application of visual medicine. Slightly larger than a PDA, iLook was developed to enable greater access to visualization technology across...

View better believe it. (New Products & Services).(Source Medical Solutions' ReadyView)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... From Source Medical Solutions, ReadyView is a Web-based solution that distributes diagnostic images and reports to referring physicians with or without PACS in place. The application enables physicians to review patient information at any time,...

Just for the CFOs. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Cain Brothers has announced the launch of CBFiRM, a Web-based data collection, FAS-133-compliant accounting and risk management tool for nonprofit hospitals and health systems. CBFiRM provides CFOs with an overview of the total financial...

Clean up your desk. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... IQ Desk, a mobile software application that provides a virtual desktop for mobile users, is now available from IQMax. The IQDesk software provides user-level security by requiring the user to enter a user D and password to gain access. With...

Membership has its privileges. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Inpriva has announced the release of Health TrustNet, a Web service for healthcare organizations seeking HIPAA compliance. The system establishes an infrastructure for external relationships and rules of engagement to exchange patient health...

Process your claims. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Eldorado Computing has released HEALTHpac-4, available on an ASP-hosted basis or on a licensed basis. HEALTHpac-4 gives users greater flexibility, higher levels of automation for claims payment and HIPAA-compliant formatting. The system...

Tele your friends. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... SecureLogix has introduced the 4.0 version of the ETM (Enterprise Telephony Management) System, as well as two new applications for the system: TeleWall Firewall and TeleVPN Call Shield. Version 4.0 enhancements include support for the Oracle...

Image enhancement. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Mitsubishi Digital Electronics' Imaging Products has introduced the MD3000 Medical Recorder, which incorporates advanced digital technologies for enhanced image quality in real time, ease of operation and network expandability. The S-VHS ET...

Performance expert. (New Products & Services).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... MEDSTAT Performance Expert, a new clinical management solution to help organizations improve clinical outcomes and quality of care while managing resources, is now available from MedStat. The system uncovers practice patterns driving...

Instructive resistance. (Viewpoint).
January 1, 2003... The pages of trade journals are filled with stories reflecting on the difficulties of introducing state-of-the-art clinical systems into our old-world institutions. There are many barriers to success that are cited as issues to navigate and...