Thursday, June 3, 2010

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

Arkansas Children's Hospital Awarded $2.2 Million for Asthma Research

Posted: 03 Jun 2010 07:29 AM PDT

The National Institutes of Health  has awarded investigators at the  Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) (Little Rock, Ark.) a 5-year, $2.2 million grant to explore whether school-based telemedicine sessions with doctors can help students in rural areas control their asthma. The Reducing Asthma Disparities in Arkansas (RADAR) research team will examine 12 school districts in rural east Arkansas counties, outfitting six with video-conferencing so that recruited students can have regular education and interaction with specialists in Little Rock. The remaining schools will act as control sites. Researchers anticipate that students participating in the trial will gain better control over their disease, with fewer episodes of acute breathing problems. The RADAR study will include three years of school-based intervention, with each site hosting the video-conferencing sessions for a year. The project will begin in the schools in the fall of 2011.

Covidien to Acquire ev3 Inc.

Posted: 02 Jun 2010 08:28 AM PDT

Global healthcare products provider  Covidien (Dublin) has announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement with Plymouth, Minn.-based ev3 Inc. , under which Covidien will acquire all of the outstanding shares of ev3 Inc. for $22.50 per share in cash, for a total of $2.6 billion net of cash acquired. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2010. The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. Ev3 Inc. is a developer of peripheral vascular and neurovascular treatment technologies, including the primary interventional technologies used today: peripheral angioplasty balloons, stents, plaque excision systems, embolic protection devices, liquid embolics, embolization coils, flow diversion, thrombectomy catheters and occlusion balloons. "With its broad product portfolio, clinical expertise and call-point synergies with our existing vascular franchise, ev3 will be an important addition to our innovative vascular intervention products,” said Richard J. Meelia, Chairman, President and CEO of Covidien.

AHRQ Releases Report on EHR Usability

Posted: 02 Jun 2010 07:55 AM PDT

A new report by the  Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recommends usability become part of the certification test for electronic health records (EHRs) to ensure physicians find them both appealing and can operate them safely and effectively. The report, titled Electronic Health Record Usability: Vendor Practices and Perspectives , was researched by  James Bell Associates and the Altarum Institute , and focused on how vendors integrate usability into their products. The researchers interviewed companies including Cerner Corp., athenahealth, and the Veterans Health Administration. The May 27 report states that usability, which implies both ease-of-use and designing for effective use, is one of the main factors which will determine the success of EHRs in the healthcare industry. AHRQ plans to award a follow-on project for the development, testing, and distribution of standards healthcare organizations can use to evaluate their own systems. AHRQ is working on this project with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of the National Coordinator.

EHSI to Produce Auto-Med iPhone App

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 08:42 AM PDT

Houston-based  Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (EHSI) announced today that the company is developing an iPhone app aimed to reduce medication errors for senior citizens. EHSI’s new “Auto-Med” application is being designed to automatically call users every day to remind them at the precise time of exactly what medication and dosage they are to take based upon their doctor’s recommendation. The company expects to complete this application for delivery within the next 60 days and to offer it on a subscription basis for $10.00 per month (to cover the costs of phone lines, etc.). The Company’s goal is to enroll 1,000,000 subscribers within the first year.

VA Announces Winners of Health IT Initiative

Posted: 01 Jun 2010 08:13 AM PDT

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced the selection of 26 winning ideas in the Veterans Health Administration / Office of Information and Technology (VHA/OIT) Innovation Competition. The VHA/OIT is the most recent effort under the VA Innovation Initiative, a department-wide program bringing together employees and the private sector to find solutions to the VA’s most important challenges. The VHA/OIT Innovation Competition specifically solicited health care IT solutions with the potential to transform VA health care service in the next century. Over 6,500 ideas from different department employees were submitted, with 26 winners representing 23 different VA medical providers from 17 states. After a Web-based community voting method narrowed the submissions to a smaller group of finalists, a panel of federal and private sector health care and IT leaders reviewed the top proposals and selected the winners.   The VHA/OIT Innovation Competition Winning Innovations: Reducing health care associated infections using informatics CPRS-based automated queries & reports Robust VA forms search engine Augment CPRS with standards-based decision support engine Enhanced care management to facilitate case management and chronic disease care Integration of behavioral health lab & CPRS for mental health primary care Edischarge pilot program Show patient picture in CPRS CPRS enhancement for veteran-centered care "Parking" outpatient prescriptions to prevent waste Suicide hotline: be a hero, save a hero Touch screen device support for nursing triage of patients Tools for front line veteran eligibility staffing VA-wide core collection of knowledge based information resources Integrate VistA surgery package with CPRS Illustrated medication instructions for veterans Share verified insurance info via use of the master patient index Veteran online tracking of mail prescription delivery Search function in CPRS Accessible contact information for all assigned care providers Online radiology protocoling tool integrated within CPRS/VistA Wireless voice communications with hands free options Improved access to military personnel records Brief resident supervision index Emergency medical response team communication Reduce unnecessary/duplicate lab tests by rules-based algorithms  
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