November 15, 2010 John DeGaspari
article
Kaiser Permanente in October released the first large studies of its proprietary Panel Support Tool, first rolled out in 2006, which extracts information from Kaiser’s HealthConnect electronic Health Record (EHR) to help physicians improve and manage their patients’ care. The studies are the organization’s first that evaluate the effectiveness of the tool on the large, divergent population in the Pacific Northwest.
September 15, 2010
blog
I would subscribe that imaging is way out in front of MU in terms of the ability to apply it today. Take the case of Radiology PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System). In the United States, Radiology PACS is relatively well-saturated in all but the smallest of facilities. Most current-day PACS offer some form of web services that enable external users such as physicians to remotely access their patient’s exams. Hence, the general practitioner that referred their patient to the hospital for a CT to rule out a tumor can access the images from their office, and potentially even share them with the patient.
August 27, 2010 Mark Hagland
article
Hospital and health system CIOs are working intensively to help physicians achieve meaningful use; but, given limited resources and the foreshortened timeframes involved, most are putting the bulk of their focus on their employed physicians. Still, some CIOs are also finding creative ways to engage their affiliated physicians and move forward on several fronts at once.
August 27, 2010 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
The CIOs and CMIOs from Trinity Health System, Beth Israel Deaconess, Summa Health System, and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh share their experiences toward meaningful use and offer tips for navigating the long road ahead.
August 10, 2010 Mark Hagland
article
This week, professionals in the Waltham, Mass.-based Emerging Practices group at the Falls Church, Va.-based CSC are releasing a new report, “Hospital Quality Reporting—The Hidden Requirements of Meaningful Use.” In the report, authors Jane Metzger, Melissa Ames, and Jared Rhoades articulate an analysis they’ve done of the 15 quality reporting measures for hospitals put forward in the final rule around meaningful use, released July 13, in accordance with the unfolding sets of requirements under the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA-HITECH) Act.
August 6, 2010 John DeGaspari
article
As CIO of the 600-physician Muir Medical Group IPA in Walnut Creek, Calif., Tina Buop has been following the progress on meaningful use regulations for electronic health records closely. In a recent interview, she shared her thoughts on the implications for the final rule on independent physician practices—plus her concerns for the next steps going forward.
February 24, 2010 Daphne Lawrence
article
Leaders in healthcare IT innovation are often large academic medical centers with access to great resources. In these changing times, however, small community hospitals are finding ways to harness the power of IT to not only improve patient care, but also to help protect and bolster their bottom lines. For these hospitals, it's more than prestige is at stake. With heavy competition for admissions, it is a case of outright survival. One such hospital is 220-bed Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pa. Located near Philadelphia, which is also home to many large academic medical centers, Chester faced the need to stand out.
