Health Management Technology articles from May 2008

Health Management Technology archives from May 2008

A nation at risk. (From the Editor).(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... With the recent opening of the "Hospital Compare" Web site (www. hospitalcompare.hhs. gov), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may be leading the race to transparency in...

Google Health: birth of a giant.(Special Industry Watch)(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... On Feb. 28th, at the 2008 annual HIMSS conference, Google announced its first product for healthcare--Google Health--a new personal health record (PHR) that will be free to use and available just about anywhere in the United States. To say that...

Walgreens purchases health centers.(Briefly)
May 1, 2008... Walgreens begins its transition to a broader healthcare services company with the recent acquisition of I-trax Inc. and Whole Health Management--two worksite health centers. The new health and wellness division of Walgreens will manage health...

CCHIT Certification.(Briefly)(Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... As the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) closes the pilot testing for its 2008 EMR certification program, vendors await the full-fledged EMR certification on July 1 of this year. CCHIT tested several...

Health IT terms defined.(Briefly)(The National Alliance for Health Information Technology )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance) has added March 24 to April 9, 2008, as a second public comment period on completed work towards defining five health IT terms. The terms are: electronic medical record (EMR),...

Top e-Prescribing states award.(e-Prescribing)
May 1, 2008... Massachusetts ranked first among the top 10 e-prescribing states to receive an award at the third annual Safe-Rx Awards held recently during National Patient Safety Awareness Week. More than four million prescriptions representing 13.4 percent...

The fire next time: Sharp HealthCare's effective use of an ambulatory EHR during the California wildfires meant uninterrupted healthcare for displaced patients and clinicians.(Case History: EMRs/EHRs/PHRs)
May 1, 2008... Catastrophic events affecting thousands, such as last fall's California wildfires, may be the truest indicator of how electronic health records (EHR) are helping to transform patient care. That was the experience of San Diego-based Sharp...

Moving pictures: a Minnesota imaging company upgrades its RIS and PACS for streamlined workflows that facilitate sustained growth.(Case History: PACS/IRIS/Imaging)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Radiological imagery is a critical and often lifesaving component of the healthcare system with doctors using MRI, CT scans, nuclear medicine, X-rays, mammograms and bone density exams to diagnose frequently...

Back to the lab: as more practices implement EMRs, a measure of effectiveness is the ability to interface with the lab and the LIS.(Systems Integration)
May 1, 2008... According to The Joint Commission, the lion's share of the information used by physicians for medical decision-making is produced in the lab. Consequently, a major portion of the clinical data populating EMRs comes from the lab. It is therefore...

Getting CIOs involved: failing to include CIOs in the initial stages of design planning can have dire consequences.(Digital Hospitals)(Chief information officers)
May 1, 2008... Healthcare in the U.S. is experiencing a major building boom. Estimates place it at more than $56 billion in new construction and $20 billion in renovation, underway as of April 2007. Some reports also state that the hospital industry spent...

Ultrasound tag tracking system.(Products and Services)
May 1, 2008... The PC-Detector from Sonitor Technologies uses ultrasound indoor positioning and realtime location systems (RTLS) technology to automatically track the realtime location of patients and moveable hospital equipment. The RTLS solution makes the...

EMR selection Web tool.(Products and Services)
May 1, 2008... The EMR selection tool is a service from EHR Scope, a quarterly electronic journal published by EMRConsultant, that features half-page listings providing readers with the information they need to make an informed EMR-purchase decision, such as...

Web-based coding software.(Products and Services)
May 1, 2008... ComplyMD is a Web-based patient encounter documentation tool for doctors and clinicians to bridge the gaps between encounters, EMR/EHR systems, charge capture and coding processes. The software gives physicians onscreen options to quickly...

Teleradiology study management service.(Products and Services)
May 1, 2008... Telerad is a new Web-based teleradiology study management service from SoftLight Development that enables teleradiologists to access their studies over the Web from any computer while maintaining HIPAA privacy compliance. The service keeps both...

Corporate medication cart.(Products and Services)
May 1, 2008... Rubbermaid Medical Solutions designed the Mini-Med Module with a mounting bracket that supports the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA), the point-of-care tablet PC from Motion Computing. The compact, lightweight medication cart rides atop a...

Convertible touch tablet.(Products and Services)(Dell Inc. tablet PC)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Dell Latitude XT convertible tablet PC features dual-mode pen and touch technology that allows users to write naturally, eliminating the need to avoid inadvertent palm contact and improved digitizer technology which provides faster touch...

Digital conference recorder.(Products and Services)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Philips Conference Recording System 955 comes equipped with boundary conference microphones and a remote control that enable a number of applications such as small conferences and workgroup meetings. By adding additional microphones (up to...

Checking in at check-up time: a healthcare system implements an automated patient outreach solution, increasing proactive appointment scheduling.(Preventative Care)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Today's focus on quality of care has a far-reaching impact on medical practices throughout the country. Driven by a commitment to improving patient health and by emerging payer incentives, physicians are exploring...

Extreme makeover: an open-architecture document management solution helps a provider reduce expenses and improve member benefits.(Case History: Document Management)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At Health Net Inc., we strive to make our members and customers a top priority. Based in Woodland Hills, Calif., Health Net provides health benefits to approximately 6.5 million individuals in 27 states as well as...

Top hospital complements EMR with EDM interoperability.(Document Management: Special Promotional Feature)(electronic medical record )
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ranked as one of America's top three hospitals (1), the Cleveland Clinic embraces the integrity of innovation that puts patients first, while extending its global reach for providing world-class patient care....

"Less paper" trumps paperless: sometimes, an ideal solution needs a reality check to function in today's healthcare environment.(Case History: EHRs/EMRs/PHRs)
May 1, 2008... For many physicians, the goal of implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) is to rid themselves of paper. While the paperless office is considered the ideal healthcare environment, the reality is that it can result in unintended...

Color duplex scanner.(Special Section: Hardware: Printers, Copiers and Scanners)(Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp.'s Fujitsu fi-5220C )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Fujitsu fi-5220C color duplex workgroup scanner comes with a full version of Kofax VRS Professional, Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard and ScandAll 21 image enhancement and scanning software. Scans in color, grayscale and monochrome at duplex speeds...

Multi-function center.(Special Section: Hardware: Printers, Copiers and Scanners)(Brother International Corp.'s Brother MFC-9840CDW )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Brother MFC-9840CDW is a multi-function product (MFP) that offers color laser printing, faxing, copying and scanning with built-in 802.11b/g wireless network connectivity. Features include: automatic duplex capability (two-sided...

Network-ready copier.(Special Section: Hardware: Printers, Copiers and Scanners)(Sharp Electronics Corp.'s Sharp MX-4501 N)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Sharp MX-4501 N is a 35-ppm color copier (45-ppm B/W) capable of large-job applications with standard features such as: a 150-sheet document feeder; an ample paper capacity (up to 5,600 sheets); trayless duplexing; electronic sorting and...

Network scanner.(Special Section: Hardware: Printers, Copiers and Scanners)(Canon U.S.A. Inc.'s ScanFront 220p )
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Canon ScanFront 220p (pictured) is a letter-size color duplex network scanner that features a large 8.5-inch color touchscreen interface and is capable of scanning directly to e-mail, FTP, shared-folders and USB...

Medium-sized workgroup MFP.(Special Section: Hardware: Printers, Copiers and Scanners)(Lexmark International Group Inc.'s Lexmark XS60n )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The all-in-one Lexmark XS60n color laser multifunction device prints and copies at speeds of up to 31 ppm, (20 ppm color) from a 50-sheet ADF; resolutions are the same for print (B/W and color, 2400 image quality) and optical scanning, 600 by...

athenahealth.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Oregon Medical Association (OMA) is offering athenahealth's Web-based practice management (PM) services to its more than 7,400 member physicians. OMA expects their new PM solution to better enable its physicians to follow up on unpaid...

MEDSEEK.(NewsMakers)(Trinity Health Care Services)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health tasked MEDSEEK to provide it with a corporate eHealth plan for enhancing the hospital system's interaction with patients, physicians and other associates via the Web through a health information exchange....

Premier Inc.(NewsMakers)(provides webservice to health care sector)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Eight hospitals in Ohio selected the SafetySurveillor from the Premier Inc. healthcare alliance as their Web-based solution for detecting and alerting staff to healthcare-associated infections. The hospitals include four in the Kettering Health...

Gateway EDI.(NewsMakers)(Professional Management Group of Virginia Inc.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Electronic data interchange solutions-provider Gateway EDI acquired Professional Management Group of Virginia Inc. (PMG) under terms neither privately held company divulged. PMG submits the electronic claims of more than 5,000 Virginia...

HealthTransaction Network.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A nationwide healthcare provider network known as The HealthTransaction Network has been created to provide routine wellness and preventative care services to underserved populations. The first of its kind, it uses an electronic transaction...

PGP Corp.(NewsMakers)(Payformance Health deployed the PGP Whole Disk Encryption platform)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Jacksonville, Fla.-based Payformance Health deployed the PGP Whole Disk Encryption platform to protect sensitive customer healthcare data accessed and viewed on corporate laptops or stored on hard drives. Payformance Health is centrally...

Sunquest Information Systems Inc.(NewsMakers)(Los Angeles County, California. Department of Health Services contracted with Sunquest Information Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) contracted with the professional services group of Sunquest Information Systems to help expand and transfer its IT software assets and capabilities from the current LAS+USC Medical...

MedAssets Inc.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... One of the five largest public health systems in the nation, Broward Health, selected MedAssets for group purchasing, supply chain analytics and technology, and tools and services for revenue integrity enhancement. Additionally, the Fort...

MedPlus.(NewsMakers)(Brooklyn Health Information Exchange )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Brooklyn Health Information Exchange (BHIX) awarded a contract to MedPlus to implement a clinical portal and information exchange. The company is providing BHIX consulting, project management, design and implementation services to deploy...

CitiusTech.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Twenty-six CitiusTech technology professionals received the HL7 Control Specialist Certification from a program conducted by the HL7 organization. With the addition of these certified professionals, CitiusTech enhances the healthcare domain...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.(NewsMakers)(Zix Corp.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... ZixCorp is conducting a joint pilot of disease management enrollment alerts through their PocketScript e-prescribing service with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). The disease management enrollment system uses the e-prescribing...

eHealth Global Technologies.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Rush University Medical Center, the University of California, San Diego Medical Center and the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview, signed contracts for the eHealthConnect service from eHealth Global Technologies. The service...

Should RHIOs extend to Canada?(Thought Leaders)(Regional Health Information Organization )
May 1, 2008... There is certainly a business case for establishing interconnectivity between the U.S. and Canada, though neither government would particularly like to acknowledge it. There are populations on both sides of the border who would benefit...