Friday, June 12, 2009

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

Meridios Earns CMS PQRI Qualified Registry Status

Posted: 12 Jun 2009 07:40 AM PDT

Meridios , a healthcare consulting and software company based in Coshocton, Ohio, has received notification from the Washington-based Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that it has earned the status of “CMS PQRI qualified registry” using its healthMATRIX health registry/disease management application. Physician Quality Reporting Initiative is currently a voluntary CMS reporting program that provides a financial incentive to physicians and other eligible professionals.

CCHIT Selects 265 Volunteers for Work Groups

Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:29 AM PDT

The Chicago-based Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has selected 265 members for its 19 all-volunteer work groups. According to CCHIT, these new and returning volunteers will take on the challenge of rapidly transitioning the Commission’s existing certification programs and developing new paths to certification in order to directly satisfy the objectives and measures of meaningful use, to be released soon by the Washington-based Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and its Advisory Committees.   The volunteers were selected from a pool of more than 600 applicants and The Commission says its requirement to maintain a fair stakeholder balance also limited the number of openings for applicants from any particular sector.   To achieve an even higher level of accountability and transparency under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Commission limited health IT vendor participation on work groups to 33 percent, and counted applicants who receive any compensation from a vendor or hold a significant amount of vendor stock as falling within that category.          Work group members will meet for the first time on July 15 and 16 in Chicago. The roster of newly selected work group members is published at www.cchit.org .

Hulse Named CIO at Moffitt Cancer Center

Posted: 10 Jun 2009 08:51 AM PDT

Mark Hulse, R.N., has stepped in as the new vice president of information technology and CIO at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Fla. In his new post, Hulse will direct the development and implementation of information systems initiatives that will support Moffitt’s mission to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer, according to the facility.  Hulse most recently served as the vice president and CIO of North Shore Medical Center, part of the Boston-based Partners HealthCare System. At North Shore, Hulse was responsible for overseeing the IT operations of 500 beds, 3,500 employees and 500 physicians at three hospitals. His background also includes 11 years at Massachusetts General Hospital and eight years with Stanford University Medical Center. Hulse was also a lecturer in health care informatics at Northeastern University.  Moffitt Cancer Center is an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center and is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Moffitt currently has 15 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia and two in Puerto Rico.

Providence Health Extends RCM Solution to Four More Facilities

Posted: 10 Jun 2009 08:47 AM PDT

Providence Health & Services , a multihospital organization based in Renton, Wash., is implementing the ClearContacts revenue management solution from Concuity (Vernon Hills, Ill.), a Healthcare Division of Trintech, Inc., to four more of its facilities. According to the company, Providence Health uses ClearContracts for all contract management functions including accounts receivables management, account recovery, management reporting and managed care contract negotiations, according to the company. Through the agreement, the solution will now be deployed at 16 hospitals in the system. A not-for-profit organization, sponsored by the Sisters of Providence religious community, Providence Health & Services includes 27 hospitals, more than 35 non-acute facilities, physician clinics, a health plan, a liberal arts university, and numerous other health, housing and education services in Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon and California.

Boston Medical Center Live with HIE

Posted: 10 Jun 2009 08:40 AM PDT

Boston Medical Center (BMC) has successfully deployed its community information exchange (CIE). Through the exchange, which is built on IHE and HITSP standards, BMC aims to enhance clinical practice and improve care quality by harnessing data from multiple sources and presenting it to clinicians in useful ways, it says. BMC is a 588-bed, academic medical center affiliated with Boston University School of Medicine. It is both the largest trauma level 1 center in New England and the largest safety net hospital New England, providing more than $233M in care to uninsured patients annually.  

Siemens Rolls Out Latest Version of Soarian Clinicals

Posted: 09 Jun 2009 11:58 AM PDT

Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Healthcare has unveiled the latest version of Soarian Clinicals, its enterprise-wide healthcare information system. The updated version includes a new Plan of Care functionality the company says is designed to empower care teams with tools to implement their patient-specific collective care plan derived from best-evidence content. In addition to Plan of Care, the latest Soarian Clinicals version also delivers enhancements to existing functionality, including Soarian Emergency Department, new Soarian Analytics & Reporting capabilities, wireless compatibility with Blackberry, and iPhone/iPod, broadened CPOE usability, and more, it touts.  

Agfa Healthcare Updates PACS Product

Posted: 09 Jun 2009 11:46 AM PDT

Mortsel, Belgium-based Agfa HealthCare is introducing IMPAX 6.4, the latest version in the IMPAX PACS product line. The updated solution delivers new features and tools to aid users in managing complex multi-series imaging studies, says the company. According to the company, IMPAX 6.4 offers several new features designed to improve workflow for radiologists, clinicians and other healthcare professionals, including Active Target navigation tools, Auto Link and Volume Viewing.  

Survey: Privacy compliance has declined

Posted: 14 May 2006 01:56 AM PDT

Three years after federal rules governing the privacy of patients' medical records went into effect, compliance seems to have declined for 6 percent, according to an annual survey conducted by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Read more about this at here.

E-book: Making E-Health Work

Posted: 14 May 2006 01:53 AM PDT

E-Health has become an integral part of present-day healthcare delivery. With healthcare consumers, increasingly the focus of most health systems, the widespread implementation of health information and communications technologies offers cost-effective opportunities to meet their increasingly sophisticated healthcare needs.Bankix Systems Ltd has released its latest e-book. It is a 200-page in-depth analysis of the issues involved in "Making E-Health Work," the e-book's title. Read more about this e-book at here.

Consumer tools: UCompareHealthCare Offers Free Reports on Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Physicians

Posted: 11 Mar 2006 01:01 AM PST

"UCompareHealthCare has just unveiled its Web site, ucomparehealthcare.com, which features free reports on the nation's nursing homes, hospitals and physicians to help consumers make informed healthcare decisions. I checked the web site and found it very informative for health consumers to help them make informed decision about their choices of doctors, hospitals and others." Read more about this at UCompareHealthCare

Articles: Direct to Consumer: Women are a powerful, but untapped, audience

Posted: 03 Feb 2006 12:04 AM PST

"Women influence many family decisions—from choosing what's for dinner to selecting the medications their children take. In fact, nearly two-thirds of women are responsible for family healthcare decisions, according to a 2004 national survey conducted by Plan for Your Health. Many women also assume the care-giving role outside their nuclear families. Today's middle-aged woman may also look after her parents and in-laws too, often determining how long they can live on their own and how to best care for them. In addition, she often influences the important health decisions of grandchildren, co-workers, and friends." Read more at PharmExec.

Consumer tools: Really Personal PHRs

Posted: 27 Jan 2006 01:05 AM PST

"If we're committed to fostering the adoption of personal health records, we should take a page out of the consumer marketing textbooks — not the primers of health IT marketers. This was my conclusion after attending a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Markle Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Quality Research and Quality. " Read more about this at iHealthBeat .

Consumer trends: Manhattan Predicts Online Health Trends

Posted: 27 Jan 2006 12:06 AM PST

"US healthcare specialist Manhattan Research has published a summary of the major trends for health and pharmaceutical marketers to consider in 2006. The trends chart the increased use of the web and other new technologies as a health information and communication tool for both patients and physicians." Read more at Daily Research News Online.

News: Wall Street Journal Looks at Tools That Identify Low-Cost Care Options

Posted: 26 Jan 2006 01:07 AM PST

"The Wall Street Journal on Thursday looked at efforts by insurers to provide patients with tools - including a cell phone Web browsing service - to help them find low-cost treatment options. Lumenos, a unit of WellPoint, in February will launch the cell phone service, which lets patients type drug names into their cell phones' Web browsers and get lists of lower-cost alternatives. The program is designed so that patients can ask their physicians about cost-effective alternatives while they still are at their appointments." Read more at iHealthBeat.

Consumer tools: Consumer Health Complete Now Available from EBSCO Publishing

Posted: 25 Jan 2006 12:09 AM PST

"In continuing with the company's goal of providing the most comprehensive collection of online health and wellness resources, EBSCO Publishing has announced the release of Consumer Health Complete (CHC). This full text database is designed to support consumer and patients' information needs as well as foster an overall
understanding of health-related topics." Read more at Managing Information News.

Hospital tracks down 'frequent fliers'

Posted:

By Bill Hirschman
6/12/2009 © Health News Florida
A hospital system in Broward got tired of seeing the same expensive patients cycling through its emergency room instead of getting preventive care in a lower-cost clinic. So the staff set out to find those patients -- even if meant going door to door.
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