May 16, 2012
Wolters Kluwer Health, a Minneapolis-based provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, has signed an agreement with MEDITECH (Westwood, Mass.) to offer clinical decision integration between MEDITECH version 5.64 (Client/Server and MAGIC) and Wolters’ ProVation Order Sets.
May 16, 2012
In a blog post by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has announced the creation of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer and an Office of Consumer eHealth. The primary function of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer will be to infuse a clinical perspective across ONC on all activities which have clinical implications. The Office of Consumer eHealth will work on consumer engagement.
May 15, 2012
According to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, a dramatic increase in the fall death rate in older Americans is likely the effect of improved reporting quality, specifically from the 1999 update to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The researchers say this suggests a major change in the way deaths were classified.
May 15, 2012
The Denver-based TriZetto Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Gateway EDI, has acquired NHXS, a software company that aims to help medical practices manage physician reimbursement and minimize the administrative cost of recovering lost revenues. The Sacramento-based NHXS’s capabilities will be integrated into Gateway EDI’s solutions, which include EDI and revenue cycle management services for reportedly more than 100,000 physicians.
May 15, 2012
A new report from healthcare market and advisory firm Manhattan Research indicates physicians’ device and digital media adoption is increasing at a much faster than anticipated rate, especially when it comes to tablets. The study surveyed 3,015 U.S. practicing physicians online in Q1 2012 across more than 25 specialties and found physician tablet adoption for professional purposes almost doubled since 2011, reaching 62 percent in 2012.
May 14, 2012
According to a study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, an EMR tool that tallies patients' previous radiation exposure from CT scans can help reduce potentially unnecessary use of the tests among emergency room patients with abdominal pain. When the tool is in use, researchers say patients are 10 percent less likely to undergo a CT scan, without increasing the number of patients who are admitted to the hospital.
May 14, 2012
The American Medical Association (AMA) has sent a letter to the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Marilyn B. Tavenner, asking for a longer delay time period to the ICD-10 transition compliance date. While AMA says it welcomes the proposed extension in the compliance deadline for ICD-10 from Oct. 1, 2013 to Oct. 1, 2014, it urges CMS to further extend the ICD-10 deadline at a minimum to Oct. 1, 2015.
May 14, 2012
The Office for the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) is requesting public comments on its Request for Information on Governance of the Nationwide Health Information Network, which was put on public display today by the Office of the Federal Register's Public Inspection. The key component of the proposed governance approach includes a focus on entities that facilitate electronic health information exchange.
May 14, 2012
According to a new report from Orem, Utah-based KLAS, more providers are using Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for their EMRs, thanks to growing confidence in cloud storage, as well as increasingly limited hardware expenses. The report, “SaaS EMR 2012: Is It For You?" says SaaS EMR vendors, such as AdvancedMD, athenahealth, Bizmatics, and CureMD, are growing in prominence.
May 11, 2012
According to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's (AHA) Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2012, differences in regional hospital readmission rates for heart failure have more to do with the availability of care and socioeconomics than to hospital performance or patients' degree of illness.
May 11, 2012
Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.) has launched an iOS health management app, offering its members access to all of the same tools available through My Health Manage. This includes provider details, lab test results, order prescription refills, and manage appointments.
May 10, 2012
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) about the ICD-10 compliance delay, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) said it continues to recommend there be no delay, but since one is likely, AHIMA stated that the association will continue to work with HHS and the healthcare industry to ensure the delay is as short as possible, preferably not more than one year.
May 10, 2012
Hartford-based, Aetna is teaming with Banner Health Network (Phoenix) to include full technology support for population health management and patient services for more than 200,000 patients. There were will be support for the 50,000 Medicare fee-for-service patients covered under the Pioneer ACO shared savings program and members in Aetna’s ACO relationship with Banner Health Network.
May 10, 2012
The Deval Patrick, Tim Murray Administration announced Laurance Stuntz, senior vice president at NaviNet (Boston, Mass.), as the new director of the Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI). MeHI, which received $24 million in federal Recovery Act funding, has been asked to develop the Massachusetts Regional Extension Center and initiate a statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE).
May 10, 2012
According to a research report from Cambridge, Mass.-based Chilmark Research rapid growth and evolution will continue to define the nascent health information exchange (HIE) market, even though federal funds earmarked for them have begun to run dry this year. The report, 2012 HIE Market Report: Analysis and Trends, says the market is making a significant shift to serving healthcare organizations (HCOs) of all sizes – an enterprise market.
