Health Management Technology articles from November 2004

Health Management Technology archives from November 2004

Public trust.(From the Editor)
November 1, 2004... News across the transom is a ho-hum event in this industry, so it surprised even me when an e-mail blip from PR Newswire stopped me. The headline was, "Consumers Making Their Own Diagnosis Online." As it turned out, the headline was an...

Bridges to Excellence program expands.(Pay-for-Performance)
November 1, 2004... Bridges to Excellence (BTE), the national initiative launched last year by major employers, health plans and physicians to promote better quality of care, continues to gather steam. In October, HealthAmerica and HealthAssurance became the most...

Aetna pays California providers for performance, IT adoption.(Pay-for-Performance)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Aetna has paid out $2 million to 54 California IPAs--its first reimbursements under a new pay-for-performance program instituted last year. Representing 107 medical groups, the IPAs were paid for their 2003 performance, and many are eligible...

"Office of the future" selects tech vendor.(Physician Practices)
November 1, 2004... Renaissance Health, a Boston-area clinic born in June based on a vision of "the physician office of the future," has taken another step closer to reality. As with a few new built-from-the-ground-up, all-digital hospitals that are springing up...

Physicians paid for Internet-based consults.(Physician Practices)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield will pilot a new program that allows doctors to conduct Internet-based medical visits using RelayHealth's secure technology and services. Participating physicians will receive a $20 payment from Empire and a $5...

Healthcare timid, but trying RFID.(Radio Frequency Identification)(Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology)
November 1, 2004... Despite continuing concerns about cost, privacy and difficulty of integration, interest in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is growing in healthcare organizations. One exception to adoption of RFID has been in pharmacy...

Security threats, internal and external.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Security threats, internal and external. Company CEOs around the globe are aware of, but failing to safeguard against, threats to their information security, says a new survey released by Ernst & Young (E&Y). More than 70 percent of top...

Also, the SANS Institute just released its fifth annual Top 20 list of most critical Internet threats and security exposures.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Also, the SANS Institute just released its fifth annual Top 20 list of most critical Internet threats and security exposures. Leading the pack are vulnerabilities from Web servers and services, workstation service and Windows remote access...

Frist names first Interoperability group leaders.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Frist names first Interoperability group leaders. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., (R-Tenn.), announced the first of 11 planned appointees of the new Commission on Systematic Interoperability. The appointees are Ivan Seidenberg,...

HIPAA enforcement deadline extended.(Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... HIPAA enforcement deadline extended. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended by one year the interim final rule establishing enforcement procedures for the HIPAA administrative simplification provisions. Now the interim...

Drivers and outcomes of PACS: benefits abound for healthcare organizations that deploy digital imaging and archiving systems. Improved productivity, decreased full-time employee numbers and strong clinician adoption are just a few of the net gains. But they don't accrue without strategic planning and elbow grease.(picture archiving and communications systems)(Southern Ohio Medical Center)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... The need for speed in delivering X-rays and diagnostic scans to staff and referring physicians is helping to drive adoption of PACS (picture archiving and communications systems) in hospitals that have traditionally relied on film-based...

Beyond clinical documentation: using the EMR as a quality tool: once the learning curves are overcome, EMRs can generate revenue and recognition for the group practice.(EMRs/EHRs)(electronic medical records)(Associated Cardiovascular Consultants)
November 1, 2004... Electronic medical records (EMRs) bring efficiencies to medical practices and help ensure the use of best practices to enhance patient outcomes. But perhaps the greatest benefits of EMRs are yet to be uncovered through the practice of data...

Works as advertised: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana adds transaction validator technology that streamlines claims error testing and prevents batches of claim submissions from being rejected because of a single error.(Health plans & technology: case history)(Health-e Web)
November 1, 2004... Even the best laid plans--and the best executed, too--can encounter challenges when it comes to meeting standards emanating from a government mandate. Payers and providers alike know that compliance with transaction and code set (TCS)...

Conversational computing: case history: cytotechnologists at a North Carolina hospital lab log notes and test results via voice, using the technology to cut their turnaround times by nearly 20 percent.(Voice recognition: case history)(High Point Regional Health System)
November 1, 2004... Fast turnaround is important any lab--particularly one building a successful outreach business--since it is a key factor in attracting new clients. But a laboratory cannot afford to sacrifice quality or accuracy, because the consequences could...

Strategic planning supports ED automation: what works: computerization enables Virginia hospital ED to reduce average length of stay while increasing patient volume.(Emergency Dept. Information Systems: what works)(Emergency Department information system)(Mary Washington Hospital)
November 1, 2004... Nationwide, emergency room personnel handle more than 110 million patient visits a year--an increase of more than 20 million visits since 1992--according to the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey published in 2004. Couple this...

Market competition gives way to benefits of cooperation: rival hospitals in the greater Cincinnati area unite to share clinical information via an SSL VPN and to improve patient care.(Remote access: case history)(HealthBridge)
November 1, 2004... In 1997, 18 competing hospitals in the greater Cincinnati area met to discuss the development of a digital healthcare Internet service provider (ISP) called HealthBridge. Their goal: build a single communications infrastructure enabling...

Achieving transparency in the claims payment process: payers and providers are looking for the same end result: claims that are submitted and paid quickly, accurately and consistently.(Claims)
November 1, 2004... Amanda Peterson is admitted to Northeastern Hospital for a routine cholecystectomy, but complications arise, resulting in a more complex surgery and a longer hospitalization. Finally, Amanda's status improves and she is discharged. The same...

Modular blade server.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... The SF-420 Blade Server platform is an open standard system that offers ultra density, low power consumption, high computing performance along with high reliability and availability. Features include a 4U, 19-inch deep rackmount enclosure,...

High-availability NAS.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... The FlexStor-NAS 1200 is a high-availability NAS server that incorporates storage capacities of 432 GB to 3 TB with the latest NAS and SATA RAID technologies. It provides fault tolerant data storage in a 3U, 19-inch rackmount chassis with...

Ethernet-to-serial device server.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... The DeviceMaster PRO 16-port 10/100 Base-T device server is designed particularly for applications that require multiple interface formats to connect peripherals located long distances from the server, and when programmability and enhaned surge...

Monster backup storage.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... Dubbed the "TeraStorus," the Stirling X524 is a 5U rackmount backup storage server with 24 hot-swappable SATA disk drive bays suitable for 6 TB of scalable storage Routine progressive or full backups can be easily scheduled within multiple OS...

General-purpose server for SMEs.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... The 9115 server is designed for small and medium-sized organizations needing a general-purpose server with low cost, high performance and data redundancy. It ensures superior performance with support for 800 MHz front-side bus processors....

High performance, low cost.(Servers)
November 1, 2004... Based on the Dell PowerEdge 1750 Server, the A + 1750 Server is designed to offer up to twice the performance of competing systems for as little as hall the price. Suitable for medical imaging, the 2U, 20-inch-deep rackmount package includes...

The world through CIO eyes.(CIO Outlook)(chief information officers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Intrinsic rewards still count, at least for healthcare chief information officers. More than hall of all CIOs, IT directors and equivalent IT top guns plan to stay entrenched at their current healthcare organizations during the next three to...

Execs miss some paths to revenue cycle improvement.(Healthcare Finance)
November 1, 2004... Accustomed to operating under the constraints of razor-thin margins, healthcare financial executives appear to be reasonably adept at grabbing the low-hanging fruit to improve the fiscal performance of their organizations. Yet, according to a...

Smart cards at work.(Queens Health Network)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Smart cards at work. According to a study done by Queens Health Network (QHN), part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., 10,000 low-income primary care patients at Elmhurst Hospital received smart cards, and 99 percent of them...

CIGNA to expand reporting of quality care measures.(Health Plans)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... CIGNA will be the first national health plan to report publicly on healthcare quality measures for members in its PPO plans, the company reported. CIGNA announced its plans to expand quality of care measurements--beyond existing HMO and POS...

PACS/RIS/imaging hotlist.(Illustration)
November 1, 2004... PACS/RIS/Imaging Hotlist Company Agfa Corp. AMICAS Inc. RSLeads Number www.rsleads.com/ www.rsleads.com/ 411ht-227 411ht-228...

Automated remittance posting.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Payerpath Remittance Posting enables physician practices to improve the payment process by eliminating manual remittance advice handling. It is customized to replicate the organization's unique workflow for posting payments into the practice...

Thermal printer for prescriptions.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... The TSP800 printer allows physicians to print thermal prescriptions versus handwritten prescriptions from a pad to avoid legibility errors. Pharmacies that electronically receive prescriptions can produce a printed record of the electronic...

Clinical decision support tool set.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... The Essentris OnWatch system is a set of early intervention tools that helps clinicians monitor patients in real time and receive automatic warnings when a patient's vital signs indicate decompensation or an oncoming clinical crisis. Hospitals...

Real-time diagnostic testing.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Office Medic version 5.0 is a Microsoft .NET-based clinical information system that works with medical devices to provide caregivers with the flexibility and mobility to perform diagnostic tests and securely manage results on PDAs, laptops, and...

Regulatory compliance tool.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Available as a stand-alone product or as part of Identity Management Suite version 7.0, Compliance Courier automates a broad set of processes necessary for organizations to achieve compliance with corporate policies and industry and government...

Patient ID Wristbands.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... PersonalID Patient Identification Wristbands are designed for error-free bar code and photo identification of patients in hospitals and other healthcare environments. Made of a durable latex-free material that is designed for both short and...

Wireless network management.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... The ORiNOCO Smart Wireless Suite is a combination of third-party software applications for advanced wireless management, monitoring, planning and verification. Comprised of Wavelink Mobile Manager, Wavelink Avalanche and Ekahau Wi-Fi Site...

Healthcare privacy courses.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Two healthcare privacy-related courses are available for IT and HIM professionals. "Introduction to Healthcare Privacy for IT Professionals" is an Internet-based course that provides guidance on protecting patient privacy and securing health...

Customizable EDIS.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... The EmpowER emergency department information system is an EMR created by clinically practicing, board-certified emergency medicine physicians and nurses. It offers proprietary, mandatory prompts or alerts such as: IntelliCode, which codes all...

Infection Control Management.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Stericycle Infection Control Management (SICM) software quickly records patient infections to simplify and standardize data input and manage all outbreak documentation and protocol. Once data is entered, the application automatically generates...

Forms management for EMR.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... As a new component of the Patient Chart Manager EMR system, Smart Forms is a database-enabled form that allows physicians to quickly access needed data and input new information into a variety of forms such as those for immunization, OB-GYN...

Perimeter security for SMEs.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... The Firebox X Edge line of appliances is designed to provide small- to medium-sized enterprises with commercial-class security at the furthest points of the network. Offering high throughput and a large number of VPN tunnels and network...

Improved e-books platform.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Enhancements to Books@Ovid, an electronic collection of core clinical texts, allow clinicians, students, researchers and information managers to more quickly and efficiently find answers to important medical questions. It is now fully...

Scalable, high-availability SSL VPN.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... SureWare A-Gate AG-1200 is a scalable, high-availability SSL VPN bundled package consisting of a pair of appliances that provide secure, authenticated remote access to an organization's internal applications and resources. It supports most...

Computerized medication carts.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... Avalo IMC Medication Carts combine the latest medication cart design with Rioux Vision mobile computing and point-of-care technology solutions. They support enhanced medication control and security, bar code scanning, wireless data transfer,...

Clinical context management.(New Products & Services)
November 1, 2004... To simplify the daily work of clinicians, enhance patient safety and streamline back-end administration, the Fusionfx suite of products offers two improved components--Context Manager version 1.2 and Context Enabler version 1.3--that support...

Litronic.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Bellvue, Wash.-based Litronic has shipped its NetSign Privacy Agent, a secure messaging software suite, to Los Angeles County for a pilot program within the county's Department of Mental Health. In addition to increasing information security by...

CPU Medical Management Systems Inc.(NewsMakers)(Health Business Resources contract)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Health Business Resources (HBR) of Montrose, Colo., has selected CPU Medical Management Systems Inc. to provide its Web enabled medical financial management product, Web MED/ FM. HBR provides account management and billing services for...

The TriZetto Group Inc.(NewsMakers; upgrades to Facets Extended Enterprise software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... HealthNow New York Inc., a health plan serving nearly 900,000 members, has upgraded to Facets Extended Enterprise software from The TriZetto Group Inc. HealthNow has used the Facets platform since 1997. The upgrade includes support for consumer...

ZixCorp.(NewsMakers)(Baycare Health Partners Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Baycare Health Partners Inc. will support adoption of ZixCorp's PocketScript a prescribing technology offered through the eRx Collaborative, a program founded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Health Plan. The collaborative's...

VertiSoft Corp.(NewsMakers; acquired by Optio Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Alpharetta, Ga.-based Optio Software has acquired VertiSoft Corp. The acquisition broadens Optio's portfolio of integrated healthcare solutions, adds healthcare expertise and establishes a subscription, based licensing model for a new line of...

First DataBank.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... San Bruno, Calif.-based First DataBank today has added Tall Man Plus drug identification data to its NDDF Plus drug knowledge base. Designed to reduce medication errors, "tall man" lettering helps medical professionals detect drugs that could...

Per-Se Technologies.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Providence Health System in Oregon has chosen Per-Se Technologies' resource management solution for the fourth facility in its multihospital system. ANSOS One-Staff, an enterprise staff and productivity management system, will help Providence...

Webify Solutions.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Austin, Texas-based Webify Solutions has achieved "on-demand optimized" status under IBM's PartnerWorld Industry Network Program. The designation is granted to select independent software vendors that have verified enablement with a customer on...

Galvanon.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Baylor Health Care System is using Galvanon's self-service MediKiosks to streamline the patient check-in process, reduce administrative costs and enhance the total patient experience as part of its systemwide clinical transformation...

QuadraMed Corp.(NewsMakers)(Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, St. Paul, Minn., has selected Affinity HIS by QuadraMed Corp. Gillette will implement Affinity Access Management and Financial Management products, which include registration, scheduling and patient...

Eclipsys Corp.(NewsMakers)(NYU Downtown Hospital)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... NYU Downtown Hospital (NYLJDH) will deploy Eclipsys Corp.'s advanced financial and surgical management software solutions to improve its operations. NYUDII will implement Sunrise Access Manager and Patient Financial Manager as part of an...

Varian Medical Systems.(NewsMakers)(Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tenn., purchased Varian Medical Systems' 2,000th Eclipse treatment planning program for advanced forms of radiotherapy.

FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA announced that the Department of Defense (DoD) has selected Fuji's Synapse PACS for the DIN-PACS II contract. The contract will be the basis for which the DoD and other federal agencies, including the Veterans...

DocuSys.(NewsMakers)(Rush Foundation Hospital)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Rush Foundation Hospital of Meridian, Miss., has signed with DocuSys to use the Intravenous Medication Management Sys tem that will feature a system for bar coding IV-injectable meds used during anesthesia. The technology will also be able to...

Misys healthcare systems.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Elmira, N.Y.-based Arnot Health (Arnot Ogden Medical Center and Arnot Medical Services) will be purchasing a Misys EMR physician office ambulatory clinical system for its doctors group. Options also exist for future purchase of Misys Image...

MedAptus Inc.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... M.D. Anderson, a top-rated cancer hospital in Houston, will be installing a mobile charge capture and dictation application from MedAptus Inc. The company's Charges In Hand and Notes in Hand software will ensure workflow streamlining and...

Sprint.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... No fewer than 1,000 Impact Rx physicians soon will be equipped with Sprint's wireless voice and data services via PCS Vision Smart Device Treo 600 by palmOne. The benefit will be the immediate receipt of data collected by physicians anywhere on...

Redwood Software.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Birmingham, Ala.-based St. Vincent Hospital has chosen Redwood Software's Report2Web to capture, categorize and store electronic documents and document images in PDF, mainframe print streams, business forms and other multimedia formats. The...

athenahealth Inc.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Texas' largest medical and surgical group practice, COR Specialty Associates of North Texas, has selected athenahealth Inc. to automate its central billing, reimbursement services and comprehensive workflow technology.

Carefx.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Dallas' Children's Medical Center will implement Carefx Fusionfx Context Manager in conjunction with the Unityfx Emtek Viewer to allow clinicians to visually integrate data PowerChart and Emtek. The two Carefx components will create the...

Vianeta Communications.(NewsMakers)(HealthSouth Rehabilitation)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The 103-bed Mechanicsburg, Pa. based HealthSouth Rehabilitation is the first physical medical facility, as well as the first HealthSouth facility, to commit to the Vianeta Harmony software platform, an XML IT solution that will allow...

Emergisoft Corp.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The 65-bed Show Low, Ariz.-based Navapache Regional Medical Center, serving Navajo and Apache counties, now features new patient tracking and medical documentation technologies through EmergisoftED from Emergisoft Corp. The facility cites a...

GE Healthcare.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... St. Francis Hospital, Tulsa, Okla., has the benefit of GE Healthcare's all digital heart hospital installation that features electronic medical records, digital imaging, computerized physician order entry, clinical decision support, charge...

Picis.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The 769 bed University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa, has chosen Picis' CareSuite as the point-of-care documentation and remote access source for making decisions for 282 critical rare beds. Picis Critical Care Manager...

Eastman Kodak Co.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Montclair Radiology Associates of Montclair, N.J., and North Fork Radiology PC, Riverhead, N.Y., have upgraded their PACS capabilities by adopting Eastman Kodak Co.'s digital image capture and information management systems. Montclair chose a...

HSAs will catalyze adoption of EHRs.(Thought Leaders)
November 1, 2004... "By computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs and improve care." --President George W. Bush State of the Union Address January 20, 2004 At the president's urging, the nation has pinned its...