Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

Ohio State University MC Taps RTLS

Posted: 06 Jan 2010 05:55 AM PST

The Ohio State University (OSU) Medical Center (Columbus) has selected Reston, Va.-based Ekahau Inc. ’s Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) to enable location tracking applications across its 5 million square foot campus. OSU Medical Center will begin deploying the Ekahau RTLS system this month, starting with tracking and managing of clinical assets, such as compression devices, IV pumps and isolation carts among other things. It will then roll out additional Ekahau tags on mobile medical equipment, and will eventually be utilized to track the location of patients, says the company. The Ekahau RTLS solution will provide OSU Medical Center with information about the location and status of tracked items and individuals, as well as events logged on the system, and enable staff to perform their own analytics, it touts. OSU Medical Center is the only academic medical center in central Ohio, and it is among only 21 hospitals in the country named to U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll, which demonstrates a hospital's excellence in at least six specialties.      

KLAS: Providers Confident in EMR Vendors, Despite Gaps

Posted: 06 Jan 2010 05:53 AM PST

According to a new report from KLAS (Orem, Utah), 85 percent of healthcare providers believe their ambulatory EMR software will enable them meet the 2011 meaningful use deadlines being considered by the federal government. The study, entitled, For Ambulatory EMR: On Track for Meaningful Use, featured interviews with more than 1,400 providers about 26 EMR vendors. According to KLAS, customers of Epic, NextGen and athenahealth customers expressed the most confidence, while SRSsoft and Amazing Charts clients expressed the least. However, providers also identified a number of functional areas that are still lacking, including EMR reporting tools, patient access to medical records and the ability to share key clinical data. KLAS says that more than 17 percent of providers say reporting is difficult or impossible with their current tools, and another 24 percent report needing specific technical expertise to manipulate the tools provided. The study also looks at the EMRs that excel or struggle with other proposed requirements, such as the digital transmission of pharmacy orders. Of all the products in the report, only Allscripts Enterprise had 100 percent of interviewed clients able to digitally transmit qualifying orders, says KLAS. Greenway and e-MDs earned the highest marks for functionality in this area, while MED3000 was considered the most challenged. For more information or to purchase the full report, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com/reports .    
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