Health Management Technology articles from October 2005

Health Management Technology archives from October 2005

Pay for MAHOASHC.(From the Editor)(moderately acceptable healthcare outcomes at the same or higher cost)(pay for performance)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... As a concept, pay for performance (P4P) has been around awhile in sectors beyond healthcare. Companies like Microsoft, GE and IBM have embraced it for decades, first determining in advance what results they wanted, and then financially...

EHR adoption slow, but steady.(electronic health records)
October 1, 2005... Adoption of EHRs has been "disappointingly slow," says Rep. Nancy Johnson, (R-Conn.), chair of the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, this summer. But it is moving in the right direction. Both the level of implementation...

Massachusetts payer foots tab for EMRs.(Health Plans and Payers)(electronic medical records)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... A $50 million, three-year electronic medical record pilot program funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is experimenting in three communities in the Bay State. The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, which is spearheading the...

CPOE generates more discussion.(Briefly)(Computerized Physician Order Entry)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... A new journal article questions the efficacy of CPOE systems designed to help reduce medication errors. The authors of an article in the July-August issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) examine a serious...

Per-Se and Wolters Kluwer buying NDCHealth segments in $1 billion transactions.(Briefly)(Per-Se Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Per-Se Technologies Inc., headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., is acquiring the transactions processing, business outsourcing and software services of Atlanta-based NDCHealth Corp. for approximately $665 million. As part of the transaction,...

Fraud money should fund EMRs.(Briefly)
October 1, 2005... Now that he's a consultant and no longer HHS Secretary, Tommy Thompson thinks money collected from healthcare fraud and abuse should help fund electronic medical records. Speaking at a Nashville Health Care Council briefing in August, Thompson...

Regional IT efforts on rise.(Health Information Exchange)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Health information exchange networks, referred to as RHIOs (regional health information organizations), are on the rise, but funding--start-up and ongoing--remains a problem, according to the eHealth Initiative Foundation. In the organization's...

Brailer's office official.(Government Watch)(David Brailer)
October 1, 2005... After operating for more than a year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is official. The position of national coordinator for health information...

Better business, more money: administrators of three physician practices offer insight into the financial and efficiency benefits of moving to an integrated PM/EMR system.(Physician Practice Management)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2005... When it comes to investing in a practice management (PM) system, practice managers want to see gains in efficiency and fatter bottom lines. Even if they choose a PM system that's coupled with an electronic medical record (EMR), their primary...

Deals on wheels: a Texas community hospital develops a detailed assessment tool for all IT purchases that accommodates input from a variety of internal users.(POC/Mobile Computing: Case History)(Brazosport Memorial Hospital)
October 1, 2005... The best technology buys represent a strategic combination of thinking outside the box and coloring inside the lines. At Brazosport Memorial Hospital (BMH) in Lake Jackson, Texas, the proverbial box has no borders, but the coloring lines are...

The new frontier of data mining: the power of advanced analytics, combining data from physicians, individuals, labs, payers and beyond, promises to soon transform the delivery of healthcare services to patients. (Data Warehousing/Mining.
October 1, 2005... Healthcare is on the verge of a notable new period of discovery. With the advent of the electronic health record, new opportunities for uncovering patterns of care we did not know existed will come to the forefront of medical knowledge. As the...

Impacting hospitals' business processes and financial health: procurement and supply chain execs can boost bottom lines, compliance and future business growth with the creative use of IT systems.(five trends)
October 1, 2005... As soon as the dust settles from one storm in healthcare, another wind begins to stir. Now, financial transparency is the name of the game. Listen closely at healthcare education conferences; take a glance in industry publications; talk to...

An ideal disc storage solution: when there's a will, there's always a way for a dedicated IT staff to keep data flowing, protected and accessible.(Health Plans and Technology: Case History)
October 1, 2005... Today's electronic, image-driven, Web-based medical industry handles enormous amounts of information. EMRs, EHRs and EFRs (electronic medical, health and financial records), PACS (picture archiving and communications systems) and DICOMs...

Managing the business of surgery: New York hospital employs perioperative system to increase revenue.(Perioperative Information Systems: What Works)
October 1, 2005... To maximize profitability in an operating room, a multitude of factors must come together at the right time and place. Surgery schedules have to be set and met. Patients and staff need to be present and equipment and supplies on hand. Surgeon...

Seeking perfect pitch: in October, healthcare professionals will gather in Nashville to fine-tune their knowledge and skills at the 2005 MGMA annual conference.(MGMA Exhibitor Showcase)
October 1, 2005... Each year the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) orchestrates an impressive gathering of healthcare professionals and medical industry vendors. This year the annual conference takes place October 23-26 in the music capital of the...

Meeting security regulations for e-mail: Texas health system selects e-mail encryption solution.(Security: What Works)
October 1, 2005... HIPAA requires organizations to apply "reasonable and appropriate safeguards" when e-mailing protected health information (PHI). Outsourcing e-mail encryption can help organizations avoid PHI leaks without adding overhead costs. Problem...

Physician practice management hotlist.
October 1, 2005... Physician Practice Management HotList Company A4 Health Systems athenahealth Inc. RSLeads Number www.rsleads.com/ www.rsleads.com/ 510ht-240 510ht-241 ...

Enhanced patient safety.(New Products & Services)(General Data Company Inc. )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... General Data Company Inc. has released Personal ID AC, a new version of their patient identification wristbands with an adjustable adhesive closure that fits children and adults. The wristbands are designed to resist blood, alcohol, tearing and...

Natural language processing.(New Products & Services)(Dictaphone's mdEssential)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Dictaphone Corp. has introduced mdEssential, a software-based alternative to higher priced EMR systems. The product includes voice dictation and speech recognition and uses Dictaphone's proprietary natural language processing technology to...

HIPAA compliant wireless security.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2005... Interlink Networks now offers Lucidkink Wireless Security, geared toward small- and medium-size medical practices and hospitals that transmit sensitive information over any 802.11 a/b/g wireless network. The software offers the same level of...

RIS management.(New Products & Services)(Eastman Kodak Co.)(Radiology information System)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Kodak has released two new versions of its Radiology information System (RIS). The upgrade to the modular RIS 2010 installs in hospitals and healthcare systems as a stand-alone product, or as part of Kodak's integrated RIS/PACS suite. A new...

Mobile thin client tablet.(New Products & Services)(Motion Computing LE1600TC )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Motion Computing unveiled the LE1600TC, a thin client version of its LE1600 tablet PC for professionals who need secure access to their network as they roam, such as doctors on rounds. The tablet is built on the same slate tablet chassis as the...

Paperless payment processing.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2005... Herae's new BPM products are aimed at introducing paperless processing into the payment processing healthcare industry. They are designed to eliminate the need for EOB (explanation of benefits) forms, checks and paper envelops by electronically...

Maintenance management module.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2005... MicroMain xmMobile from MicroMain Corp. is software designed to let hospitals use pocket and tablet PCs for inspection and maintenance purposes. The product is an add-on module to the company's MicroMain XM, a hospital and healthcare oriented...

Healthcare bioterrorism module.(New Products & Services)(Isabel Healthcare Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Isabel Healthcare Inc. has released a bioterrorism module for its Web-based diagnosis reminder and knowledge mobilizing system. Providers enter patients' symptoms into Isabel's system through the Web, or from an EMR interface, and the module...

Advance directives module.(New Products & Services)(Dialog Medical's iMedConsent )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Dialog Medical has added an advance directives module to its iMedConsent application. The product meets the requirements of the Patient Self-determination Act of 1991 that requires hospitals to inform patients of their rights in the medical...

Remote coding technology and services.(New Products & Services)(MedQuist's CodeRunner)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... CodeRunner is an Internet-based remote coding system from MedQuist that converts transcribed, faxed and scanned documents into active data files. Its natural language processing (NLP) engine understands the spoken language and "reads" ED...

Wireless EHR solution.(New Products & Services)(electronic health records )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Source Medical Solutions Inc. has released SourcePlus EHR for Cyramed EHR, the company's wireless electronic health records (EHR) solution for ambulatory surgery and medical practices. The product is designed to aid in the creation and...

Single sign-on application.(New Products & Services)(BNX Authenticated Sign-On)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... BNX Systems has released an upgrade to their Authenticated Sign-On. The new 5.5 version is designed to cut IT costs and reduce the time it takes to deploy an enterprise single sign-on (E-SSO) solution. The product includes a wizard-driven...

Cerner Corp.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2005... AmerisourceBergen Corp., based in Chesterbrook, Pa., is selling all of the operating assets of its Bridge Medical subsidiary in Solana Beach, Calif. to Cerner Corp. for approximately $11 million. Bridge Medical's bar code-enabled point-of-care...

API Software Inc.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2005... Ministry Health Care, an integrated network of hospitals, physicians and related healthcare services in Wisconsin and Minnesota, selected Hartford, Wis.-based API Software Inc.'s integrated labor resource management systems. The API LaborWorkx...

AEP networks.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2005... AEP Networks of Somerset, N.J., provider of secure networking solutions, is acquiring V-ONE Corp., provider of software-based S SL VPNS. V-ONE Corp. becomes the newly launched AEP Government Solutions Group. AEP Networks is acquiring all V-ONE...

Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions Group.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Ten healthcare organizations selected Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions Group's speech recognition system. EXSpeech accurately recognizes voice files created by telephone as well as by PC-based microphones. The software permits both medical...

Craneware Inc.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2005... Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System in Baltimore selected Orlando, Fla.-based Craneware Inc. to provide chargemaster maintenance solutions. Johns Hopkins is installing Chargemaster Toolkit, Online Reference Tools and Interface Scripting...

Epocrates Inc.(NewsMakers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Duke University Heath System in Durham County, North Carolina has a five-year agreement with San Mateo, Califi-based Epocrates Inc. to provide its Epocrates Rx Pro mobile drug reference guide to more than 2,000 Duke Medical students, residents...

Affiliated Computer Services.(NewsMakers)(acquired Superior Consultant Holdings Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), provider of business process and information technology outsourcing solutions, acquired Superior Consultant Holdings Corp., provider of healthcare IT consulting services and solutions. ACS, headquartered in...

Fortress Technoloqies.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2005... Columbus Regional Hospital in Georgia has deployed Fortress Technologies' wireless security solution to safeguard the transmission of patient information. The Fortress-secured Cisco wireless infrastructure provides 1,000+ clinicians with access...

Flying in the dark: physicians and pay for performance.(Thought Leaders)
October 1, 2005... Expectations are high in both commercial insurance and Medicare that implementation of pay-for-performance reimbursement programs will move the U.S. healthcare system rapidly forward across the "quality chasm." The thinking is that physicians...