News
As you read this November issue of Healthcare IT News, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Across the country healthcare IT personnel are beginning to count their blessings.
The inaugural Global eHealth Forum, a successor to the Baltic eHealth Conference, opened today in Hamburg, Germany. More than 200 delegates have already registered for the event, making it one of the highlights on the annual eHealth events calendar from the outset.
Survey data consistently show the public supports health IT but is very concerned about the risks health IT poses to individual privacy. Contrary to the views expressed by some, privacy is not the obstacle to health IT. In fact, appropriately addressing privacy and security is key to realizing the technologyʼs potential benefits.
The need for speed in the emergency department (ED) cannot be overstated because seconds and minutes can make all the difference in ED patient outcomes. Ironically, however, some hospitals’ recent moves to replace best-of-breed emergency department information systems (EDIS) with enterprise electronic health record solutions may jeopardize ED physicians’ ability to provide quality care in our industry’s fastest-paced environment.
Not since the rise of managed care in the 1990s has there been such a surge in the acquisition of physician practices by hospitals and health systems.
Health IT vendors should make sure they market and sell their products and services to healthcare providers in minority communities to avoid a new form of "digital divide" that could leave low-income areas without the benefit of electronic health records, according two of the nation's top physicians.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has announced it will house the Network Coordinating Center for a newly established data-sharing collaborative organization, the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network.
CCHIT chair Karen Bell says the EHR certification process required for meaningful use is moving steadily in the right direction. "It's a little bit like the Wild West because things are changing so rapidly," she said. "But we're clearly making progress."
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, Texas.
Alisa Ray, executive director of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, said Friday that CCHIT doesn't foresee a backlog of any kind in accommodating testing for meaningful use certification.