Health Management Technology articles from July 2008

Health Management Technology archives from July 2008

The circle of non-realty.(From the Editor)(Medicare Part D )(Editorial)
July 1, 2008... Axioms can be illuminating. Take, for example, the project manager's credo: "Fast, good or cheap--choose any two. You cannot have all three." This is sometimes referred to as the Circle of Reality, though in some circles, reality is optional....

FDA proposes drug effects monitoring system.(Briefly)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Federal health officials have announced plans for a new monitoring system known as the Sentinel Initiative, which is intended to allow Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials to monitor the effects of drugs currently on the market. The...

IBM SOA collaborations.(Health IT)(International Business Machines A/S)(service oriented architecture)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... In an effort to promote as well as to facilitate the spread of service oriented architecture (SPA) in healthcare, IBM recently announced a collaboration with nine business partners working to develop their latest healthcare applications using...

U.S. ads promote hospital comparison/shopping.(Transparency)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently launched a national advertising campaign in 58 major daily newspapers to promote the Hospital Compare Web site. The Web site allows users to compare the quality of care provided in...

C. Martin Harris, M.D., MBA Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Clinic.(QA: The Healthcare CIO)(Interview)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HMT: What is the role of today's CIO, and how might it change in the future? "I think we're in a transition period from a physical integrated delivery system to a virtual integrated delivery system that's...

Wireless is more: a comprehensive network strategy can trump wireless challenges for healthcare enterprises.(Wireless/Mobile Computing)
July 1, 2008... There has never been a better time to take advantage of wireless connectivity in healthcare. Technologies have matured, carriers value their highly mobile healthcare customers, and the demand to untether caregiving is high. The time is right...

Robotic assistance remedy: the Michigan Stroke Network utilizes remote presence robots to bring needed specialists to stroke patients at remote hospitals.(Telemedicine/Telehealth: Case History)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] One promise of telemedicine/telehealth technology is greater access to healthcare professionals, regardless of the remoteness of patient location. Although the physical presence of physicians at the bedside cannot...

How do I find thee? Let me count the ways: there's more than one way to locate people and objects in hospitals. The best choice depends on the need.(Asset Tracking and Locating)
July 1, 2008... Real-time location systems (RTLS) have become common in today's hospitals, surgical centers and nursing homes, resulting in cost savings and improved efficiency. From finding key assets in the ED, to optimizing patient flow, to automated...

Clean beds, less-crowded: state-of-the-art bed tracking leads to shorter ED waits and faster turn-arounds.(EDIS: Case History)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At New York Methodist Hospital (NYM), an uncoordinated system for bed turnover at patient discharge caused overcrowding in the emergency department (ED) and became a serious issue. As many as 25 patients might be...

The Bermuda Triangle of healthcare: an Illinois healthcare system closes the gaps in patient handoff communication.(Patient Safety: Case History)
July 1, 2008... When you hear "Bermuda Triangle" what comes to mind? Fear and confusion as planes and ships seem to disappear without a trace? It's a mysterious and unsettling image. What's more unsettling is that an activity that takes place thousands of...

COWs and WOWs Oh My! Focusing on the needs of nurses can help hospital IT departments make the best technology decisions and improve care giving at the bedside.(computers on wheels, workstation on wheels)(POC/Mobile Computing: Case History)(Report)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Connecting with patients always has been a key objective of our leaders at All Children's Hospital (ACH). Since ACH was founded in 1926, it has grown into a leading pediatric referral center that is dedicated to...

Carefx.(News Makers)(Carefx Corp. supplies Real time systems to hospitals)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange is using an integrated open systems platform from Carefx to provide real-time electronic data exchange for teleconsultation services, linking 24 northern Louisiana community providers with...

Versus Technology Inc.(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Cleveland Clinic is implementing the VISion Real-time Location Information System from Versus Technology at its Glickman Urology and Kidney Institute to improve patient safety and satisfaction, increase efficiency and reduce expenses. The...

Greencastle Consulting.(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Riddle Memorial Hospital, located in Philadelphia, became a member of the Main Line Health System and employed Greencastle Consulting to manage the transition. The project management and consulting services firm established an integration...

Dell Inc.(News Makers)
July 1, 2008... Collexis Holdings Inc. and Dell collaborated on the development of an online community for biomedical and life science researchers across the globe to meet, share medical research and potentially expedite the development of new medical...

MediNotes Corp.(Akami Practice Management LLC)(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Akami Practice Management LLC, a practice management and reimbursement service provider for independent physicians located in Hawaii, and MediNotes, began a partnership to offer MediNotes e, a certified EHR system, to small, independent...

Emageon Inc.(overall vendor ranking)(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The KLAS 2007 PACS Perception Report listed Emageon Inc. first in "Overall Vendor Ranking" among the field of major healthcare industry vendors. The enterprise medical IT systems provider also was tops in Vendor Vision, Clinical Workflow, End...

NextGen Healthcare.(medical practice software)(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... AmSurg Corp. is implementing the integrated EMR and enterprise practice management platform from NextGen Healthcare. AmSurg uses the product suite to support operational and clinical process improvement at its 170 ambulatory surgery centers and...

Vital Data Technology.(providing access to critical health information via its secure gateway)(News Makers)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... EMSystem LLC and Vital Data Technology LLC formed a strategic partnership to provide secure access to patient health data at the emergency point of care. MyVitalData is accessible to EMSystem's 1,200 U.S.-based hospitals throughout 26 states...

Fully-equipped Smartphone.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... The MOTO Q 9c smartphone leverages the potential of high-bandwidth wireless networks with a robust set of applications such as Documents to Go, which enables viewing of e-mail attachments, including PDFs, and allows viewing and editing of...

Healthcare mobility solutions.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... Sprint Nextel is leveraging new partnerships with healthcare application developers such as Global Care Quest, PatientKeeper, Thomson MercuryMD, and DrFirst to extend a range of robust enterprise healthcare applications capabilities to wireless...

New chemotherapy Web site.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... ChemoOrders.com helps clinicians administer current chemotherapy protocols with greater accuracy and efficiency. The site creates patient-specific chemotherapy orders and supporting documents based on physician or nurse-entered vital signs and...

Electronic fax record.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... SecureCare Technologies is adding digital signature and annotation features to its Sfax electronic fax record that it calls a "progressive solution that could cut costs and time for providers considering implementing an EMR." The digital...

IV infusion pump system.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... The Outlook Safety Infusion System from B. Braun is designed to help ensure the right patient receives the right medication in the right dose from an authorized clinician. DoseScan technology allows the clinician to automate the programming of...

Supply management solution.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The InnerSpace System 100 clinical supply management solution uses integrated radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and biometric security access to track and account for clinical supplies in real time....

9-Pin serial impact printer.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... For the most demanding print tasks such as reports, 10-part forms, shipping documents and mailing labels, the Epson DFX-9000 is a wide format (136 column), 9-pin serial impact dot matrix printer capable of printing up to 1,550 characters per...

Compact industrial-strength printer.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... The new M-4210 Mark II direct thermal printer from Datamax incorporates a modular design that makes maintenance and part replacement easy, while a small footprint enables deployment in a variety of limited-space environments. Uses roll-fed,...

Electronic medical records solution.(Products and Services)
July 1, 2008... The LighthouseMD CareTracker EMR is a Web-based electronic medical records (EMR) system that provides access to more than 270,000 elements of clinical data such as medical histories, patient symptoms, clinical tests, therapies and diagnoses....

The evolving role of the hospital CIO.(Thought Leaders)(Report)
July 1, 2008... Not long ago, the head of technology at a hospital was mainly concerned with how data networks were functioning and whether workers could access the electronic files they needed. Other hospital department heads handled equally important but...