Bernie Monegain
Optimism is prevalent in the healthcare IT sector, where 77 percent of venture capitalists expect investment to increase, according to results of the 2011 Venture View predictions survey, conducted by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Dow Jones VentureSource.
The Alaska eHealth Network, Alaska's statewide health information exchange, has tapped Santa Monica, Calif.-based Orion Health as its primary technology provider, with the purchase Orion's HIE solution. AeHN will deploy the technology as a hosted, software-as-a-service model.
The implementation of a telepharmacy model in a multi-hospital health system increased access to pharmacy services, allowing for round-the-clock medication order review by pharmacists, which is critical to reducing errors, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.
The real barrier to adoption of personal health records is not privacy and security, but rather the unwillingness of healthcare data sources to give consumers control over their health information, Dossia CEO Colin Evans told a government panel recently.
The American Hospital Association is urging the Office of the National Coordinator to relax its rules on meaningful use so EHRs do not have to be certified against all 24 criteria, arguing that the requirement is inconsistent since hospitals are required to report on 19 measures.
To best meet the goals of optimized, coordinated patient care and also help curb costs, physicians should be at the center of accountable care organizations (ACOs), the American Medical Association told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in a Dec. 2 letter.
In West Texas, where unemployment is at 2 percent, the popular chain Chili's had to close some of its restaurants because there were not enough employees to fill the jobs. Imagine what it's like for a healthcare system in that part of the country to recruit IT staff, says Gary L. Barnes, CIO of Medical Center Health System in Odessa, Tex.
To make sure patients are safe, hospitals have to put their CPOE systems to the test, warned healthcare industry watchdog The Leapfrog Group in a report released in July. Leapfrog, one of the strongest advocates in healthcare for the use of CPOE – computerized provider order entry – called on the federal government to make testing mandatory.
Catholic Health Initiatives, a Denver-based healthcare system, announced in June it would hire more than 200 high-tech workers to help roll out its new clinical system across the country.
Chalk one up for the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase. Come 2013, the showcase, a popular draw at the Health Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference, will be on display and working on all things interoperable year-round in a new showroom in Nashville.