August 14, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
At Cullman Regional Medical Center (CRMC), a 145-bed facility in Cullman County, Ala., leaders have implemented an iPhone app that helps providers with medication reconciliation, readmission rates, and nursing accuracy and efficiency. President and CEO Jim Weidner explains why this technology was a worthy investment.
July 25, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
In late July, healthcare leaders brought forward concerns around the rigorous requirements of Stage 2 of meaningful use to federal officials at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Department of Health and Human Services. How might federal officials respond—and what kinds of concerns must they balance?
January 22, 2013 John DeGaspari
news
A review of the available evidence underscores the safety of the federal childhood immunization schedule, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. However, the report offers a framework for conducting safety research using existing or new data collection systems. should signals indicate the need for investigation of the schedule.
January 2, 2013 John DeGaspari
news
Medical centers that elect to keep psychiatric files private and separate from the rest of a person's medical record may be doing their patients a disservice, a Johns Hopkins study concludes.
October 26, 2012 Gabriel Perna
blog
David Chao, Ph.D., chief technology officer of The Advisory Board Company, could talk about the Washington, D.C.-based research, technology, and consulting firm’s recent Patient Engagement Blue Button Challenge for hours on end. The thing that impresses me about this initiative, and others like it, is a fostering of this attitude that “if you build it, they will come.”
September 26, 2012
news
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded Leap of Faith Technologies (Chicago) a $1,021,296 grant to further develop eMedonline, its software-as-service (SAS) mHealth platform for mobile medication therapy management (MTM) and care transition that improves medication adherence, monitors outcomes, and provides data mining opportunities for drug surveillance and research.
August 2, 2012
news
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved of an ingestible digital sensor that is used to transmit patient data to track medication adherence, according to a press release from the company that is marketing the device. The company, Redwood City, Calif.-based Proteus Digital Health, Inc., announced that the ingestible sensor, referred to as the Ingestion Event Marker, has been approved by the FDA after the company worked with the agency for several years to determine a regulatory pathway.
June 14, 2012 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
Not only must organizations create sophisticated business intelligence tools to help identify high-risk patients, providers will have to engage patients and provide better care coordination to reduce readmissions, said IT industry leaders. “If we’re going to crack this whole issue of readmissions, plus so many other deficiencies, we need better processes, better outcomes, and a sustainable process, which is what cost [reduction] is really all about, then we’re going to have to solve these problems. It’s not just decreasing readmissions,” said James L. “Larry” Holly, M.D., CEO, Southeast Texas Medical Associates.
May 23, 2012
news
OmniCell, a Mountain View, Calif. provider of medication and supply management solutions and analytics software for healthcare systems, has acquired MTS Medication Technologies, Inc., a provider of medication adherence packaging systems. Omnicell says it will use the MTS Medication acquisition to integrate medication management across a broader spectrum of care.
May 2, 2012 John DeGaspari
article
In an effort to reduce its readmission rates, Cullman Regional Medical Center, a 145-bed hospital in Cullman, Ala., found that that communication issues were consistently the root cause of patients being readmitted for the same condition. This is especially a problem at discharge, when crucial information is given to the patient, who may be sent home without fully understanding his or her care plan or medications. By reinforcing discharge instructions to the patient, the hospital has been able to lower its readmission rates.
