Health Informatics News |
| CSC Study: Budget Concerns Hitting Harder Posted: 01 May 2009 07:16 AM PDT Hospitals and healthcare provider networks are getting hit even harder with budget concerns in the current economic climate according to a new study by Falls Church, Va.-based CSC . The study cites a recent CEO survey by the Washington-based American Hospital Association which found that donations, grants and other non-operating income — which often pays for new equipment and information technology (IT) — fell from a surplus of $396 million at the end of 2007 to a deficit of $896 million at the end of last year. The study says this drop in funding is having an adverse effect on IT budgets. CSC found that 38 percent of hospital CEOs have delayed or deferred IT projects that were already underway, and 55 percent were delaying or deferring upcoming projects. The report, which also offers tips for doing more with less, is available online at: www.csc.com/health_services/insights/24658-getting_value_from_it . |
| Psych Hospital Inks Deal for Open Source EHR Posted: 01 May 2009 07:15 AM PDT Silver Hill Hospital (New Canaan, Conn.) signed a five-year contract with Carslbad, Calif.-based Medsphere Systems Corporation for implementation, training and support of the company’s OpenVista EHR solution. Under the terms of the deal, the implementation of OpenVista at Silver Hill will provide psychiatric practitioners with access to clinical IT support, including a comprehensive EHR in the OpenVista Clinical Information System, CPOE functionality, an inpatient bar code medication administration system, a health information management system, interoperability via the OpenVista Interface Suite, and testing support through the laboratory application. Additionally, Silver Hill practitioners will have access to OpenVista Group Notes, which allow behavioral treatment therapists to use a single interface to take clinical notes for a group of patients, says the company. Silver Hill Hospital is a not-for-profit psychiatric hospital that provides inpatient and residential Transitional Living Programs for adolescents and adults with psychiatric and substance use disorders. |
| AMIC Endorses Senate Finance Committee’s Imaging Proposals Posted: 01 May 2009 07:14 AM PDT The Washington-based Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) offered its support for proposed policies regarding medical imaging as well as the Senate Finance Committee’s goal of providing universal coverage for all Americans. Specifically, AMIC endorses the Finance Committee’s proposal to promote adherence to appropriateness criteria for imaging services. The designation of nationally recognized, physician-developed appropriateness criteria, together with an education and confidential feedback program to report patterns of adherence to those criteria, will provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with necessary information to limit inappropriate imaging while maintaining patients’ access to needed imaging services, it says. AMIC also strongly supports the establishment of a nationwide Diagnostic Imaging Exchange Network that would allow physicians to access a patient’s past imaging studies in order to determine the necessity, safety and appropriateness of ordering a new scan. AMIC also supports the transparency in self-referrals policy proposal that would require that physicians disclose their financial interest in pre-identified imaging services. AMIC remains very concerned about the potential inclusion of a policy that would use radiology benefit managers (RBMs) to control Medicare beneficiaries’ access to certain imaging services. RBMs are for-profit management companies established by the health insurance industry to deny coverage for imaging services. |
| Posted: 5/1/2009 © Tampa Bay Business Journal Even though WellCare Health Plans Inc. lost money last year, it paid President and CEO Heath Schiesser nearly $8.1 million, including about $5 million in stock and options. Check this SEC filing to see who else made millions. |
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