Health Management Technology articles from September 2003

Health Management Technology archives from September 2003

OD'd on HIPAA.(From the editor)
September 1, 2003... If you're like me, anytime in the last few months that you have entered the office of a PCP, physical therapist, podiatrist or oral surgeon, you have been asked to sign HIPAA forms and preference designations about who can leave what medical...

Senate to vote on medical errors bill.(Patient Safety)
September 1, 2003... The bipartisan Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act may come to the U.S. Senate floor for a vote as early as this month. Like its companion bill in the House, the Senate version contains provisions for the integration of healthcare...

CMS takes a lenient, complaint-driven approach to enforcement.(HIPAA Update)
September 1, 2003... With the Oct. 16 deadline for compliance with HIPAA electronic transactions and code sets (TCS) standards just weeks away, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will offer no extensions. However, CMS has said it will "focus on...

Benefits administration 'goes plastic'.(Health Plan Technology)
September 1, 2003... Growing demand for consumer driven health plans has prompted more insurers and employers to offer benefits debit cards that allow patients to draw funds directly from flexible spending and medical reimbursement accounts (FSA). Waltham,...

AHIMA pushes HHS to adopt ICD-10.(ICD-10)
September 1, 2003... AHIMA (the American Health Information Management Association) has urged HHS to adopt ICD-10 code sets, replacing "obsolete" ICD-9 classifications currently in use. AHIMA CEO Linda Kloss, in a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, praised the...

Bill calls for National Health Information Infrastructure.(Legislative Update)
September 1, 2003... Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, R-CT, introduced in July the National Health Information Infrastructure Act of 2003 in a bold step toward "revolutionizing how providers use clinical information to treat patients." If passed, the act will establish...

Resident physicians want downloadable medical records.(Wireless)
September 1, 2003... The next generation of physicians wants access to electronically downloadable medical information in hospitals where they care for patients. That's the finding of a recent study by Alan Ying, M.D., of Mercury MD Inc. On average, resident...

Program seeks reduction of prescription errors.(e-Prescribing)
September 1, 2003... A program that will allow physicians to write and transmit prescriptions electronically is among the latest efforts to reduce prescription errors and their associated complications. Spearheaded by Tufts Health Plan and Zix Corp., affiliated...

Community medical record system may reduce expenses.(Peer-to-Peer Information Sharing)
September 1, 2003... A California county project offers a model for creating a community-owned data exchange network. CareScience, an Internet-based care management company, developed the associated technology and is spearheading the project. The...

IBC supports decision support.
September 1, 2003... IBC supports decision support. Independence Blue Cross of Pennsylvania has broadened its agreement with McKesson Corp. to use the company's InterQual clinical decision support tools. The three-year agreement includes additional InterQual...

Guide to establishing CIS available.
September 1, 2003... Guide to establishing CIS available. Implementation of clinical information systems holds promise for health providers seeking to reduce medical errors, combat staffing shortages and provide more effective care to patients. So say Cap Gemini...

Zixcorp acquires PocketScript.
September 1, 2003... ZixCorp acquires PocketScript. Zix Corp., Dallas, has formed a strategic agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of Ohio-based PocketScript LLC, a provider of electronic prescription solutions. The acquisition launches ZixCorp into...

Opening the floodgates of usability: clinical information systems allow free flow of patient data to clinicians when and where they need it.(Clinical Information Systems)
September 1, 2003... Treating a patient is a team effort, so key members of that team--from floor nurses and attending physicians to the surgeons, pharmacists and anesthesiologists--need timely access to test results and vital data contained in a patient's record....

Setting the standard: west coast healthcare network mandates ERP system to ensure business standardization in four states.(Enterprise Resource Planning: case history)
September 1, 2003... Healthcare organizations are constantly challenged to seek new levels of operational efficiencies, improve the bottom line and improve quality of patient care--often with limited capital and IT resources. For 150 years, Providence Health System...

At home with coding: western healthcare system improves revenue cycle management via home coders.(Remote coding/ASPs: case history)
September 1, 2003... A healthcare organization's revenue cycle is only as good as its coding. Too few coders results in a backlog of patient charts, which increases the number of unbilled accounts and accounts receivable (A/R) days. Poor coding means more claim...

Pace of change: 75th AHIMA convention to focus on electronic health record.(AHIMA Preview)
September 1, 2003... Working to accelerate the ace of change. That's ow CEO Linda Kloss sums up the focus of the American Health Information Management Association's 75th Anniversary National Convention and Exhibit, scheduled for Oct. 18-23 in Minneapolis. Adopting...

Lean, mean data machine: large New York home health agency transforms itself for success with point-of-care devices and its own internally developed documentation system.(Home Care)
September 1, 2003... Home healthcare has become an increasingly competitive, low-margin business. According to the National Association of Home Care, Medicare cuts have resulted in a reduced number of home healthcare agencies nationwide. Agencies that have survived...

Big gains, small budget: a rural hospital lab implements a hosted LIS that yields big improvements in lab productivity, client service and patient care with a low total-cost-of-ownership.(ASPs/LAB systems: case history)
September 1, 2003... Tight budgets and staffing shortages strain the efforts of healthcare providers to deliver and maintain quality patient care. Clinical and anatomic pathology laboratories like those at Huron Medical Center in Michigan are no exception. Lab...

A system with substance: Information Technology streamlines assessments and administration for Michigan-based substance abuse coordinating agency.(Behavioral health: case history)
September 1, 2003... Getting a patient into the right type and intensity of substance abuse treatment within the time frame (seven days) and distance requirements (60 miles) imposed by Medicaid is no easy task. Doing it in the sparsely inhabited Upper Peninsula...

Web and wireless: a winning combination: southwest healthcare organization rolls out a Web strategy for its internally developed applications to cut costs and streamline efficiency.(Web applications: case history)
September 1, 2003... In 2002, the Indian Health Service, (IHS) New Mexico unit confronted a series of challenges familiar to CIOs in most healthcare organizations. Our IT budget is extremely tight, and the list of information requests from end-users is rising...

The workhorse of IT: provider organizations have specific requirements for this behind-the-scenes technology, and equally rigorous demands of their suppliers.(Data Storage)
September 1, 2003... In an era when CPOE, wireless devices the size of your pinky and all point-of-care applications are the glitzy, must-have technologies everyone wants, pity poor data storage. In comparison to the more glamorous front-runners, it looks like a...

Targeting populations at highest risk: IT delivers a 2:1 ROI for Midwest health plan.(What works: disease management)
September 1, 2003... All managed care professionals understand that 5 percent of a health plan's members generally account for 50 percent or more of total medical expenditures. What is less well understood is that within this group, there is a highest-risk...

Desperately seeking storage: Seattle hospital abandons individual server-based storage and backup and adopts an NAS enterprise solution.(What works: data storage)
September 1, 2003... Backup and recovery in a patient care facility is exceptionally critical, since lost data can delay medical decisions and ultimately result in a loss of life. This serious responsibility prompted Seattle's Northwest Hospital & Medical Center to...

Clinical information systems hotlist.(Directory)
September 1, 2003... Information in the HotList is based on survey responses collected from companies with products in the category covered. The HotList is not intended to reflect the quality of products or services, nor is it intended to be an inclusive list of...

Outreach services software.(New Products & Services )
September 1, 2003... SoftWeb Outreach Suite is an IT solution specifically for physician offices and clinics that manage lab processing and billing and want to offer convenient, cost-effective outreach services. The Web based application allows integrated,...

Remote care videoconferencing.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... The Intern II combines a TANDBERG 880 video system with an IV-stand design to create a self-contained mobile videoconferencing system with a wide-angle camera, microphone, speaker and monitors for clinical applications such as remote...

Labs inquiry system.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... LabRetriever 3.0 is an automated inquiry system designed to provide patients with confidential access to their lab results at any time by using unique personal ID numbers and offering the option of secondary passwords. To ensure privacy on the...

Online insurance claims course.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... "Understanding Health Insurance: A Guide to Professional Billing" is an online course designed to help medical assistants, medical insurance specialists and health information technicians acquire basic skills in health insurance claims...

Hospital chargemaster services.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... 3M Chargemaster Services is a comprehensive program of consulting services and software to enable hospital finance and billing departments to maintain an accurate, up-to date chargemaster throughout the healthcare facility by assessing...

Medical-grade UPS.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... The linear/1 is an isolated, medical-grade UPS that features no-break transfers, high surge capability, multiple voltage outputs and low current leakage of less than 100 microamps typical to minimize patient risk. It is designed to be...

EDIS for patient tracking.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... PulseCheck is an emergency department information system developed to provide a complete patient-tracking system from triage to disposition, with integration to other hospital information systems. Its nurse and physician documentation modules...

Cardiology information system.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... Designed to simplify the physician's natural workflow and eliminate duality in data entry, TCS Symphony aggregates cardiology multimodality, images such as echo, cath and nuclear medicine with patient information including hemodynamics and ECG...

Small-practice EMR.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... PatientMinder is an electronic medical records system developed by a physician for physicians in small solo or group office practices. It lets physicians access patient data from any Internetenabled computer, place partially finished charts on...

Secure e-messaging solution.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... ZixVPM 2.0 is the latest version of the server-based e-messaging solution to provide companywide protection for inbound and outbound e-mail communications combined with enhanced policy management capabilities. It incorporates an e-mail content...

Payer information system.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... The AMISYS 3000 product suite, version 11.01.06, contains several functionality enhancements such as multiple rider processing, protected address design changes and 278 transaction changes. It also provides greater cross-product integration...

Improved EMR functionality.(New Products & Services)
September 1, 2003... Enhancements to the Practice Resource System, a network of integrated systems and services that addresses a medical practice's clinical, financial and administrative Workflow, include EMR features AutoNote and AutoCalc. AutoNote allows complete...

An IT vendor's (and mother's) worst nightmare.(Viewpoint)
September 1, 2003... For the second time in a week, I took my 7-year-old daughter to the pediatric hospital s emergency room. She couldn't stop coughing. It was so excessive, a nurse asked us to move to a more isolated area of the ER waiting room. The ER was...

Transcription solutions.(Marketplace)
September 1, 2003... The TaeSeries[R] software suite, by Arrendale Associates Inc., is a Web-based, HIPAA-enabled, single source solution for integrated dictation, transcription, document management, electronic signature and electronic chart. Our...

Close the gate!(Marketplace)
September 1, 2003... Securing your wireless systems and devices need not be a challenge. Get high-performance, reliable, policy-based WLAN security and management solutions for wireless data and voice applications without the need for proprietary client-side...