Health Management Technology articles from October 2006

Health Management Technology archives from October 2006

Steps in the right direction.(Editorial)
October 1, 2006... Did you get a raise this year? Did it keep pace with inflation? Even if the amount didn't have you leaping tall buildings, chances are no one has reduced your annual salary 1 percent a year for the past seven years. Essentially, that's...

President's IT executive order.(healthcare and government)(information technology)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... On August 22, in an effort to increase transparency in healthcare while arming consumers with information to help them make informed decisions, President Bush signed an executive order to "promote quality and efficient healthcare in federal...

Better bang for healthcare buck.(Health Plans and Payers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Starting next year, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts members who choose to stay in hospitals with high fees, or go to doctors with questionable performance records, will pay more than those who choose less pricey community hospitals or...

More price, quality and efficiency data for consumers.(transparency)
October 1, 2006... Transparency is no respecter of boundary lines, and that's great news for patients. Across the country, states, federal agencies and health plans are making continued efforts to publicly share cost and sometimes quality information with a major...

BCBS launches transparency initiative.(Transparency)(Blue Cross Blue Shield Association)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) also has entered the transparency movement big time, launching a nationwide program to identify and compare medical costs for consumers via demonstrations. Seventeen Blue Cross and Blue Shield...

P4P gains toehold.(Pay for Performance)
October 1, 2006... Slowly but surely, pay for performance (P4P) is making itself known from East Coast to West--and pay-outs to providers are increasing. Just six months ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSM) made headlines when it announced it was...

Vendor helps practices benchmark performance.(Briefly)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Believing that its products should extend beyond simple office utilization, athenahealth has launched a Live Benchmarking Program for its own customers. The program is designed to help physician practices measure their performance (and...

Electronic claims submissions increase.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) reports that a healthy 75 percent of all claims are now submitted electronically. AHIP says that in 1995, only 24 percent of claims went electronically, and even in 2002, just 44 percent did. The...

Banking meets medical claims.(Briefly)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... In the near future, all common bankcards might also access personal health records, flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts. One payer, UnitedHealth Group, is implementing such a plan for their covered members. The patient...

Taking the pulse of practice managers: seven practice managers discuss what works best with their current practice management systems. They also join an "open mike" on how they view federal initiatives and imperatives affecting their futures.(Physician Practice Management)(Column)
October 1, 2006... The old adage dictates: The more things change, the more things stay the same. That may no longer apply to physician practices. Here's what is true in the "staying the same" column. Practice administrators still rely on physician practice...

Cardiology practice pumps up cash flow: implementing a customized practice management system leads to improved workflow and front office collections.(Physician Practice Management: Case History)
October 1, 2006... Even smaller-sized practices can be consumed by administrative tasks and risk losing focus on the driving force of advancing the health of their patients. The management of South County Cardiology was determined not to let that happen because...

Redefining telemedicine: the University of Texas Medical Branch connects physicians the world over, provides medical care for remote populations, and saves the State of Texas more than $1 billion.(Telehealth/Telemedicine)
October 1, 2006... In 1994, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston embarked on a bold managed care initiative for delivering quality healthcare to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), saving the state more than $1 billion since the...

CPR for data: at Bloomsburg Hospital, CPR means capture, protect and recover mission critical data.(Disaster Prevention and Recovery)
October 1, 2006... Roughly three years ago, the board of directors for the Bloomsburg Health System brought in a new management team to streamline the operations of the struggling 72-bed rural Pennsylvania acute care hospital. The team determined that delivering...

Making the "paperless" shift: Colorado nonprofit agency with 14 locations converts its scattered paper records system to a unified electronic document system.(Disaster Planning/Prevention: Case History)
October 1, 2006... Arapahoe House is Colorado's largest nonprofit, community-based rehabilitation and detoxification center. The agency, based in Thornton, Colo., is dedicated to providing a continuum of accessible, affordable and effective services for...

Paper to EMR: a successful transition: for children's healthcare of Atlanta, involving users in a robust selection process and gaining user buy-in was key to a successful implementation.(POC/Mobile Computing)(Electronic Medical Record)
October 1, 2006... In today's information-driven healthcare industry, it is more important than ever for hospitals to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's), one of the leading pediatric healthcare systems in the...

And the winner is ... everyone: a two-year old e-prescribing program blossoms into a statewide initiative that may be the model for other states wanting to improve patient safety.(e-Prescribing/Health Plans & Technology)
October 1, 2006... With all that has been written about e-prescribing--much of it in the pages of Health Management Technology--it's hard to understand why it is not ubiquitous in physician practices. The benefits are numerous, the technology isn't tremendously...

Beyond infrastructure: small community hospital sets its sights on the future with big-time network development.(Network Management: Case History)
October 1, 2006... Since 1951, Hancock Regional Hospital has provided Hancock County, Ind., with the services of a full-service regional hospital, a focus on primary and secondary care, and patient comfort and convenience. Because of a progressive board, medical...

Storage insurance: Dan Simpson, CIO at Physicians Mutual, engineered his firm's launch of a major business transformation initiative, including the re-engineering of its business processes.(Network Management)
October 1, 2006... Transforming business processes in a 100-year-old company is never easy, but Dan Simpson, senior vice president and chief information officer at Physicians Mutual, and a 25-year veteran of the IT industry, has the benefit of a long perspective...

Healthcare Management Systems Inc.(NewsMakers)(supply contract with Val Verde Regional Medical Center)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, Texas, has selected Healthcare Management Systems Inc., Nashville, Tenn., as its supplier of a full suite of clinical and financial software for the 93-bed rural hospital.

QuadraMed Corp.(NewsMakers)(transforming health records into electronic format)(Wilkes Regional Medical Center)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Wilkes Regional Medical Center in North Wilkesboro, N.C., has signed a multiyear contract with QuadraMed Corp. of Reston, Va., for a comprehensive healthcare information system that will enable the 120-bed facility to deploy an electronic...

Omnicell.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... In Davenport and Silvis, Ill., Genesis Health System has deployed OmniRx Cabinets, the OmniDispenser Module and SecureVault technology from Omnicell Inc. at three hospitals to support its medication-safety initiatives.

ASI.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Wisconsin-based healthcare network Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan, which operates a large multispecialty medical group practice, will expand its relationship with ASI (formerly known as Amisys Synertech), using the company to provide...

Emageon.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... CHRISTUS Health, operating facilities in seven states and in Mexico, has signed an agreement with Emageon Inc., Birmingham, Ala., to implement the vendor's HeartSuite cardiology image management and visualization system across its network of 14...

Per-Se Technologies.(NewsMakers)(will provide accounts receivable services for Anesthesiology Associates of Radford )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Per-Se Technologies will provide accounts receivable (A/R) management, including medical claims coding, billing and A/R services for Anesthesiology Associates of Radford in Radford, Va. Per-Se will also assist with the organization's managed...

MEDHOST Inc.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2006... In Joliet, Ill., Silver Cross Hospital will upgrade its emergency department using MEDHOST's full-suite Emergency Department Information System. A partnership between the vendor and Iatric Systems will allow the hospital to integrate its...

Medical Present Value Inc.(NewsMakers)(agreement for monitoring activities of SouthCoast Medical Group)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Savannah, Ga.-based SouthCoast Medical Group, a 55-physician multispecialty group, has chosen Medical Present Value Inc.'s MPV Phynance for performance monitoring of payer contracts and for assessing the implications of new and proposed...

HKS Medical Information Systems.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Henry Ford Hospital, a 903-bed tertiary care hospital and health system in Detroit, will use the Organ Transplant Tracking Record, or OTTR, from HKS Medical Information Systems Inc. to track the medical history and progress of organ transplant...

Allscripts.(NewsMakers)
October 1, 2006... Fisher-Titus Medical Center and Magruder Hospital in northern Ohio will deploy the HealthMatics ED system from Allscripts Healthcare Solutions to automate more than 40,000 annual emergency department visits in the two hospitals.

Streamline Health Solutions.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y. has selected accessANYware business process management tools from Streamline Health Solutions Inc. to meet its document management and HIM workflow requirements.

Athenahealth.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The New Hampshire Medical Society has partnered with athenahealth Inc. to offer the vendor's Web services for revenue and clinical back-office functions to physician members as part of the organization's Corporate Affiliate Program.

Lawson Software.(NewsMakers)(Mohawk Valley Network Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... In Utica, N.Y., Mohawk Valley Network Inc. has selected multiple products from Lawson Software, St. Paul, Minn. Mohawk Valley offers home care services, inpatient and community-based rehab center services, long-term care, cancer centers,...

Perot Systems.(NewsMakers)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... University Physicians & Surgeons of Huntington, W.Va., has entered into a 10-year agreement with Perot Systems Corp., Piano, Texas, valued at $80 million. University Physicians is the faculty-practice business corporation of Marshall...

Broadlane.(NewsMakers)(Tulare District HealthCare System)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Tulare District HealthCare System serving Tulare and community in California's Central Valley has signed an exclusive five-year contract with Dallas-based Broadlane. The vendor will provide sourcing and contracting for consumable supplies and...

High-speed workgroup scanner.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... HP's Scanjet 8390 flatbed scanner features a 100-page automatic document feeder and dual heads that can scan both sides of a document at up to 70 images per minute. It scans single-sided documents at 35 pages per minute and captures preview...

Integrated billing component.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Biller Worklist is the latest addition to a product family that streamlines workflow within Affinity, QuadraMed's healthcare information system solution. It provides embedded HIPAA-compliant electronic data interchange and code sets and a...

Rugged bar code scanner.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The LS3008 hand-held bar-code scanner adds to Symbol Technologies' enterprise mobility solutions for healthcare providers. It is lightweight, impact resistant and sealed against water and dust to IP53 standards. Its single board construction...

Self-scheduling shift management.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... RES-Q Labor Resource Management's new self-scheduling module enables nurses and other employees to control their work schedules, even from home. Registered staff sign on, access a control panel and select from three areas: 1) Personnel Record...

Multifunction printer.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The Lexmark X642e is a monochrome laser multifunction printer that prints and copies 45 pages per minute, including legal size, and it has fax capabilities. Its maximum resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi enables users to better identify photos and...

Updated reference guides.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Epocrates has added new safety and monitoring sections to Epocrates Essentials, its suite of mobile drug and formulary reference guides. The new sections emphasize enhanced black box warnings that now have their own monograph section. Included...

ASP Practice Management Solution.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... GBA Health Network Systems offers a Linux-based application service provider (ASP) model of its Web-based MEDfx Practice Management Solution. It retains the same rich client-based interface, HIPAA compliance and Java Enterprise Edition...

Versatile notebook.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... The Nexlink Versatility 15.4A notebook was designed to Intel Interchangeability Initiative specifications, making it highly upgradeable and easily serviced. It can be ordered with Intel Core Duo T2300 dual processors or an Intel Core Solo T1300...

Claims tracking.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Medicare CFO is a Web-based utility of Companion Technologies' Enterprise CDI software that enables automated tracking and statistical reporting of Medicare Part A claims from any computer that has an Internet connection. Medicare Claims...

OR side-by-side images.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... The NovaPACS OR Viewer offers large-scale viewing of multiple images on a 30" monitor for side-by-side comparison by physicians during surgery. The system contains standard window pan and zoom functions and allows radiology reports to be viewed...

Patient feedback solution.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... PatientVoice provides a communication tool to help improve patient safety in U.S. healthcare facilities. Through anonymous Web-based communication, patients are able to communicate their safety concerns to hospitals via an open forum. Patients...

Cardiac monitoring.(New Products & Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The Welch Allyn Office Holter and Expert Holter Systems complete the company's line of cardiopulmonary monitors/recorder products. Their lightweight, compact styling should help to promote patient comfort and compliance, while the configurable...

Compact imaging solution.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... Canon's DR-5010C is designed to be small, fast and versatile. The 7.5" H by 15.6" W by 13" D device features a straight path intended to handle up to 11" by 17" documents as well plastic ID cards. Its 3-line sensor technology enables the device...

User-centric identification.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... IdentifiOR, Version 4.0 from Bio-Optronics is a complete patient, staff and visitor identification solution that has been enhanced with the following new features: A comprehensive library of Avery, LaserBand and EndurID forms;...

Information retrieval and reporting.(New Products & Services)
October 1, 2006... HT FileStore now searches indexed text, as well as metadata of archived files across enterprisewide domains and multiple platforms. Through a common browser interface, auditors and decision makers can locate and recover specific text from...

Healthcare must ensure operability before it can reap full benefits of interoperability.(Thought Leaders)
October 1, 2006... Interoperability has become one of the hottest topics in healthcare and is recognized as an extremely worthwhile objective. Virtually all segments of the industry--payers, providers and vendors alike--support efforts to share critical...