Health Management Technology articles from March 2006

Health Management Technology archives from March 2006

The Big Apple versus diabetes .(for and against of diabetes analysis)
March 1, 2006... When the New York City Board of Health decided in 2005 to implement what many call a "diabetes surveillance" program, not many heads turned. The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Associated Press all picked it up, but no one marched...

Docs fund RHIO to help underserved.(regional health information organization)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Physicians ponied up $1.5 million of their own money to create a regional health information organization (RHIO) in Colorado that links the doctors to medically underserved patients. Integrated Physician Network Avista (iPN Avista) ties a...

Groups identify priorities.(national health information network)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Health IT agendas and strategies often focus on acute and ambulatory care. To make sure they are not left out of efforts to promote adoption of health IT, decision makers in long-term care (LTC) and behavioral health are making their agendas...

e-Rx takes off in Massachusetts.(electronic remote switching )(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... More than 3 million electronic prescriptions were transmitted in the last two years in Massachusetts through the eRx Collaborative. Members transmitted more than 2.6 million e-prescriptions in 2005 alone. Electronic prescriptions grew steadily...

Possible tax credits for health IT.(Legislative Watch)
March 1, 2006... A bill introduced in the U.S. House at year-end would give physicians who buy IT systems such as EMRs bigger tax breaks. The bill, H.R. 4641, amends section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, which covers tax credits for small businesses. In the...

Brailer's office gets $61.7 million.(Federal Funding)
March 1, 2006... The Senate approved the $602 billion Labor/Health and Human Services (HHS) fiscal budget at year-end--and the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology received $61.7 million of the pie. That includes $43.8 million in...

Nurses report lion's share of medical errors.(analysing medical errors)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Results from a survey of hospitals using electronic adverse event and error reporting systems indicate that 92,547 medical errors or adverse events occurred between Jan. 1, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2003. The findings, based on a study by Tufts-New...

Med error rate highest in radiology.(medication error rate)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Serious medication errors are more likely in hospital radiology departments than in other hospital settings, research by The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) shows. From 2000 to 2004, 12 percent of the 2,032 medication errors reported in...

Three million enrolled in HSAs.(health saving accounts)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... At least 3 million consumers currently receive health coverage through high-deductible health insurance plans offered in conjunction with health saving accounts (HSAs), according to preliminary results of a new study by America's Health...

N.C. blues wires docs.(North Carolina)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCB-SNC) rolled out a new program to promote and fund the adoption of electronic prescribing for a select group of physicians. Through the ePrescribe program, BCBSNC funds the technology and set-up...

Continuity of care standard approved.(Electronic Medical Records)
March 1, 2006... ASTM International, a standards development organization, has released a standard specification for a core set of patient data that follows patients as they receive care. The data set includes the most relevant information about a patient's...

IT helps set priorities.(information technology)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Enhanced health information technology with applications for predictive modeling and identification of high-risk members has helped medical management companies to prioritize consumer contact, a URAC report reveals. The finding is one of...

JCAHO recommends reconciling patient medications.(Briefly)
March 1, 2006... JCAHO Recommends Reconciling Patient Medications. To help prevent medication errors, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) encourages healthcare organizations to reconcile a patient's medications as the...

New board certification in disaster medicine.(certification for physician specialists)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... New Board Certification in Disaster Medicine. Physicians may now earn board certification in disaster medicine, according to The American Board of Physician Specialties. The certification was formed because of the need for responders to...

AHA and CMS establish clearinghouse for coding questions.(services of american hospital association and centers for medicare and medicaid services)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... AHA and CMS Establish Clearinghouse for Coding Questions. The American Hospital Association and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched a clearinghouse for questions on the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) for...

GE Healthcare partners for hospitalwide wireless.(Briefly)
March 1, 2006... GE Healthcare Partners for Hospitalwide Wireless. GE Healthcare signed an exclusive, worldwide agreement with Vienna, Va.-based MobileAccess Networks to create the GE Enterprise Access solution. It is designed to help hospitals deploy a full...

Misys acquires Payerpath.(Briefly)
March 1, 2006... Misys Acquires Payerpath. The UK-based parent company of Misys Healthcare Systems is acquiring Payerpath Inc., provider of Web claims management services, for $49 million in cash. Misys designs and develops clinical information solutions for...

Texas docs connected.(services of regional health information organizations)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... A new RHIO, Access Medica, chose Chicago-based Allscripts' TouchWorks electronic health record (EHR) to connect physicians in East Texas with pharmacies, laboratories and each other. The agreement is valued in excess of $1.4 million. The Tyler,...

N.C. hospitals linked.(North Carolina links hospitals)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Western North Carolina Health Network--a collaboration of providers and county health departments will link more than a dozen mountain hospitals to electronically share critical patient information. Four hospitals currently are connected with a...

P4P still on drawing board.(pay-for-performance)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Pay-for-performance (P4P) may be gaining momentum and headed for mainstream America, but it hasn't arrived yet. Only two of 12 communities studied in 2005 by the Center for Studying Health System Change had developed significant programs that...

Partnership designed to advance P4P.(bridges to excellence, a program to pay for performance)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), with support from Bridges to Excellence (BTE), is creating a program to reward physicians for high quality health care. The Comprehensive Care Practice Improvement Module would allow as many as...

Counting on efficiency: healthcare organizations in growth mode need financial information systems that can accommodate expansion.(health care management)(Cover story)
March 1, 2006... Healthcare organizations are no different than most large corporations. Running them efficiently means putting in place a financial information system (FIS) that operates effectively on all levels, from individual departments to the corporate...

Gentlemen--start your engines: when healthcare IT collaborates with hospital marketing, increased profitability is just one of many potential benefits.(Hospital Marketing)
March 1, 2006... Hospital public relations has been around, in one form or another, since the very first time a healthcare facility mimeographed a newsletter, spoke with a reporter or hosted a chamber mixer. Marketing, on the other hand, has traveled a far...

Diving for data: a southwest Florida hospital deploys clinical and financial analysis tools to eliminate losses and empower decision makers.(profile of Sarasota Memorial Hospital)
March 1, 2006... Anyone in big business who is past the age of 40 should recall the days of accountant/librarians, who scribed columns of financial data in giant green ledgers before carting the massive tombs away down dark corridors of shelves and ladders....

Paean to process: Tennessee hospital lab's dedication to process improvement culminates in patient identification system that streamlines the specimen collection process and reduces errors.(Laboratory Information Systems: Case History)
March 1, 2006... Process improvement techniques come and go--or at least the names of the programs change. A consultant comes in, tosses around some jargon, demonstrates ideas that are common sense and soon everyone is chanting the slogan du jour. Lab services...

(Good) growing pains.: Michigan ED automates patient tracking, nurse documentation and charge capture to maintain excellent customer service, increase efficiencies and boost revenue.(Emergency Department Information Systems: Case History)
March 1, 2006... MetroHealth Hospital's emergency department (ED) struggles with the same issues facing EDs across the country. We operate in a challenging fiscal environment and face rising volumes of patients. We also strive to meet high customer expectations...

Prepare and share: the community hospital's path to NHIN: now is the time for community hospitals to plan for a future with nationwide interoperability.(national health information network)
March 1, 2006... As the United States lays a foundation for connecting healthcare communities, initially through individual hospital initiatives, next through regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and eventually through a national health information...

All-out outsourcing: a Virginia community hospital uses outsourcing the way Fortune 100 companies do.(Outsourcing)
March 1, 2006... "Core competency" is a concept that has been around for decades. Every 10 or 15 years, its significance is re-evaluated by hundreds of diverse organizations including financial services, manufacturing, retail and, of course, healthcare. In...

Take-along tech and the training of specialty nurses: a unique program to foster nursing recruitment and retention puts PDAs and point-of-care medical references into nurses' hands.(POC/Mobile Computing)
March 1, 2006... Recruitment and retention of high producers are key factors in any organization's business success. For a healthcare system, recruitment and retention are the tip of the iceberg; the nation's nursing shortage automatically quadruples the...

Med cart/mobile workstation.(medication cart)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Rioux Vision's new RIO is designed for use as both a workstation and as a medication cart. It features a 16-inch non-tip base (the smallest currently available on the market for a fully integrated workstation, according to the manufacturer), a...

Evidence-based alerts.(patient compliance with prescribed plans)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Healthy Returns Therapeutic Alerts is the newest addition to Health Management Corporation's Web-based Healthy Returns System, which includes 1,700 evidence-based clinical and pharmaceutical guidelines. The program generates alerts in two...

Patient Registration photos.(medical records information services)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... MRView Registration is a new module from Cardone Record Services for its comprehensive document imaging solution, MRView. With Registration, staff can photograph patients when they present at healthcare facilities, as well as scan their...

Mobile decision support.(clinicians service to patients)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The SxDx disease diagnosis and treatment reference and symptom assessment tool, from Epocrates, was developed in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital's Laboratory of Computer Science to help physicians make well-informed decisions....

Scalable digital dictation.(Speech Exec, a dictation machine)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Speech Exec is a new dictation/transcription system from Philips Dictation Systems that can be configured for each user's needs and centrally installed on a company's network via the Internet. It processes dictated recordings into DSS (digital...

Patient education tool.(Integrated Medfacts Module for drugs)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Wolters Kluwer has released the Integrated MedFacts Module (IMM) for the Medi-Span line of integrated drug data and clinical information systems, in compliance with Congress's "Action Plan for the Provision of Useful Prescription Medicine...

Wireless bar-code imager.(sunlight readable touch screen display)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... JETT eye is Two Technologies' latest addition to its line of customizable hand-held computers. It integrates a bar-code reader with a 5 MP (4 MP processed) digital camera. The bar-code reader reads at up to 8.25 inches with excellent...

Wireless tablet PC.(personal computer)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Scribbler SC 3100 from Electrovaya features an up to 9-hour runtime thanks, in part, to the company's patented SuperPolymer li-Ion 75Wh battery. At its heart is an Intel Centrino M-LV (the LV stands for low-voltage) processor running at 1.6...

Scalable Identity Management.(browser based interface)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... CA Identity Manager, part of the company's eTrust Identity and Access Management Suite, is a scalable solution for automating the creation, modification, suspension and deletion of user IDs, passwords, accounts and entitlements. It is adaptable...

RMS/ORMS upgrade.(resource management system/operating resources management systems)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... 6.09M is Unibased's latest version of their resource and perioperative resource management solution, with 48 new and improved features. The new Process Management for Patient Access module is designed to monitor and track the status of a...

Drug Interaction Alerts.(service from CureMD Corporation)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... CureMD Corp., maker of PM and EHR solutions, has enhanced its products with the addition of Advanced Drug Interaction Marts. The new functionality is intended to help lower the instances of medication prescription errors and protect patients by...

Extended life UPS.(uninterruptible power supplies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The SmartOnline 300OVA is a new UPS from Tripp Lite that packs up to 170 percent more power capacity than other brands, according to the manufacturer. The 3U rack mount system, which is also tower mountable, is designed to keep critical...

Laboratory outreach platform.(analysis of laboratory management systems)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Psyche System's Outreach Suite is a new module for the company's LabWeb LIS and WindoPath anatomic pathology system that adds CPOE capability as well as providing physicians with online access to patient information. These capabilities also can...

Bluetooth bar-code scanner.(New Products & Services)
March 1, 2006... The CRS 9P is a cordless ring scanner from Socket Communications that incorporates a class 2 laser with Bluetooth wireless technology to create a scanning device that can be used nearly hands-free. The scanning laser is worn on the index finger...

Professional coding solution.(for physician services in hospitals)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Physician Coding and Reimbursement System from 3M is designed to help ensure accurate and compliant coding of physician services for hospitals and medical groups. It includes physician-specific edits and modifiers, and direct 7 code search...

Persona-based PACS.(personal access communications system)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... IMPAX 6.0 is a Web-deployable PACS from Agfa that allows multiple users to store, retrieve and manage the flow of images and information on a single server. Its consolidated approach integrates RIS and Reporting with PACS to create an...

Computed radiography system.(oncology image management systems)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The 2000RT CR radiation oncology system from Kodak has a new software upgrade. Version 6.0 supports DICOM RT and DICOM CR image transfer, and is designed to ensure accurate exchange of data with other DICOM-compatibte imaging modalities and...

Medical Present Value Inc.(defining payer contracts)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The University of California, Irvine (UCI) signed a multiyear agreement to deploy Medical Present Value Inc.'s MPV Phynance for payer contract management and payment verification. UCI physicians billing group will use MPV Phynance to define the...

Plexis Healthcare System.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... The Piedmont Health Alliance selected Ashland, Ore.-based Plexis Healthcare Systems' Claims Manager for its claim processing and benefit administration system. Based in Anderson, S.C., Piedmont is a physician hospital organization associated...

Broadlane.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... San Francisco-based Broadlane signed a two-year agreement to provide Brown & Toland Medical Group with a variety of procurement services for its network practices. Brown & Toland is a multispecialty IPA of 1,500 physicians serving approximately...

TheraDoc Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) selected TheraDoc Inc.'s suite of clinical decision-support software to provide real-time connectivity to UMC's health information systems. The purchase of the Utah-based medical informatics...

InteGreat Inc.(health care management)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Ohio-based Smith Clinic and North Canton Medical Foundation selected InteGreat's IC-Chart EMR system to connect multiple healthcare facilities and provide clinicians real-time access to data including patient information, lab results and...

Kryptiq Corp.(health insurance plans for public)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Three large health plans are implementing Kryptiq's Guardian Contract Manager. Northwest Permanente P.C., Centene Corp. and Providence Health Plans will use Guardian to automate their provider contracting processes, which until now have been...

Foresight Corp.(validate in healthcare claims transactions)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), with the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, selected Dublin, Ohio-based Foresight Corp.'s InStream solution to validate healthcare claims transactions against HIPAA and other guidelines, filter out and...

QuadraMed Corp.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., implemented Reston, Va.-based QuadraMed's point-of-care MAR/Medication Ordering to reduce transcription errors and improve medication order communication between departments. The 192-bed Friends Hospital,...

Cisco Systems Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... New York-based Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is deploying Cisco Catalyst switches with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) interfaces throughout its campus network to support mission-critical, converged applications. The network supports 8,500...

Dell Inc.(services to enhance patient care)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... St. Luke's Episcopal Health System in Houston selected a set of Dell solutions, including an electronic bed-management system and secure wireless network that allows clinicians to access electronic patient records at the point of care using...

MobileAccess Networks.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... WakeMed Health & Hospitals, based in Raleigh, N.C., has deployed Vienna, Va.-based MobileAccess Networks' MA-1000 multiservice voice and data platform providing wireless coverage throughout WakeMed's Raleigh campus. The system supports Alltel...

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... New Mexico Heart Institute is deploying Chicago, Ill.-based Allscripts' TouchWorks electronic health record across its locations in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. The Institute includes 45 cardiovascular specialists and 18 locations.

Zynx Health Inc.(health care management)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Memorial Hermann integrated health system selected Los Angeles-based Zynx Health's clinical decision support solutions. The 12 acute care hospitals in the system will use two Zynz Web-based clinical support tools. ZynxOrder is a knowledge...

Premise Development Corp.(origin of Massachusetts general)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston selected Hartford, Conn.-based Premise Development Corp.'s Bed Management Dashboard to automate its patient-flow processes. Massachusetts General, established in 1811, is the original and largest...

Mediware Information Systems Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... NYU Medical Center's blood bank selected Lenexa, Kan.-based Mediware's HCLL Transfusion and HCLL Donor solutions. The software enables the technologist or supervisor to have immediate access to patient data including transfusion history,...

Benefitfocus.com Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (BlueCross) selected Benefitfocus.com Inc. to provide electronic billing services to its administrative service accounts, adding to its suite of Benefitfocus enrollment and data exchange services....

Bluesocket Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Three hospitals selected Burlington, Mass.-based Bluesocket Inc. to provide secure wireless LAN solutions to enable their mobile staff to access healthcare information when and where they need it. The hospitals include: Baptist Health in Little...

Microsys Computing Inc.(practice management software)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Forty-four physician groups from September through November 2005 selected Boardman, Ohio-based Microsys Computing Inc.'s MicroMD practice management software. The physician groups include Urology Associates of South Texas, RA., in McAllen,...

Dialog Medical.(iMedConsent automates the patient information)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... St. Luke's Health System in Texas selected Dialog Medical's iMedConsent application to standardize and automate the informed consent process. The application includes procedure-specific consent forms for most medical and surgical procedures;...

eCIinicalWorks.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Baptist Health selected Westborough, Mass.-based eClinicalWorks' integrated electronic medical record and practice management solution for its five-campus healthcare system. Baptist Health, serving residents of Northeast Florida and Southeast...

MedQuist.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Northeast Regional Medical Center selected Mr. Laurel, N.J.-based MedQuist's SpeechQ for Radiology system. The solution allows radiologists to dictate a case, immediately review it and electronically sign the report in a single step. The...

MediServe Information Systems.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore, Md. is deploying MediLinks by Tempe, Ariz.-based MediServe Information Systems. The clinical information system will be used in the rehab departments of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview...

Expand Networks.(to support disaster recovery efforts)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Hunterdon Healthcare System chose Roseland, N.J.-based Expand Networks, provider of applications acccleration over the wide-area network (WAN), to support its disaster recovery efforts. The Flemington, N.J.-based healthcare system deployed...

PatientKeeper.(helps to access patient information)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Physicians at Covenant Healthcare in Michigan are using PatientKeeper Platform to access patient information like lab results, clinical notes and drug references, with mobile devices such as PDAs and Smartphones. The healthcare system,...

Craneware Inc.(Chargemaster toolkit)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health System selected Orlando-based Craneware Inc.'s Chargemaster Toolkit suite of products for their five hospitals. The suite includes Online Reference Toolkit, a browser-based application that gives easy...

Source Medical Solutions.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Sound Medical Imaging selected Source Medical Solutions' SourceRad Web-based radiology information system (RIS) for their Puyallup, Wash. location. They plan to implement the system in their Seattle locations this summer. Eatontown, N.J.-based...

Evolved Digital Systems Inc.(provides complete digital imaging workflow solutions)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Woodward Hospital selected Evolved Digital System Inc.'s RadWeb/View2 complete digital imaging workflow solution. RadWeb is an online source for tracking and managing medical imaging processes and patient information. View2 combines radiology...

BidShift Inc.(NewsMakers)
March 1, 2006... Abrazo Health Care selected San Diego-based BidShift Inc.'s online scheduling and shift bidding technology for its six hospitals in Phoenix, Ariz. The solution allows nursing staff to access open shifts and request work via the Internet.

Why are we worried about denials management?(scrubbers mitigate denials)
March 1, 2006... For the February 2002 issue of Health Management Technology, I authored a Thought Leaders column entitled, "Write Offs: Doing It Right The First Time"--and received an outpouring of responses from a wide variety of healthcare providers. In...