A personal health record (PHR) embedded in mobile communication devices--or mPHR--is the “killer app” that may change the game for providers, consumers and payors, according to an issue brief from consulting firm Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, based in Washington, D.C.
Hilary Worthen, MD, has been named CMIO of Cambridge Health Alliance, a three-hospital, Harvard-affiliated integrated public healthcare system that serves Cambridge, Somerville and Boston's metro-north region.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has employed Lockheed Martin for two contracts to advance EHRs and secure health information exchanges to support the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), for a total of $9 million over two years.
Written by Lisa Fratt
With the feds brandishing more than $20 billion dollars to encourage health IT adoption and usher in a new era of streamlined healthcare, interest in integration stands at an all-time high. The ability to integrate, share and route data among disparate systems is essential. And the rationale extends beyond dollars. “This isn’t just another way to deliver information. It’s a way to stay connected to the communities where you do business, so patients can get the best possible care,” says Susan Hollabaugh, project manager, clinical information at RadNet, Inc., in Los Angeles.
PACSGear has acquired all assets of NAI Tech Products, a Auburn, Calif.-based developer of digital video capture of medical images, for an undisclosed sum.
Written by Gina Narcisi
Funding incentives for EHR use is the main goal of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) meaningful use initiative, and there are incentive programs for both hospitals and eligible professionals, according to Elizabeth Holland, health insurance specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke during a CMS-sponsored webinar Aug. 8.
NextGate has released MatchMetrix 7, a master data management (MDM) platform used to build industry-specific indexes, and three MDM suites for healthcare organizations that are built on the MatchMetrix 7 MDM platform.
Humana and athenahealth have formed an alliance connecting Humana's Primary Care Rewards Program with athenahealth's EHR service.
Written by Mary Stevens
Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use incentives aim to strike a balance between the overall goal of EHR use and widespread adoption, while avoiding added work, said Jonathan Teich, MD, PhD, chief medical informatics officer at Elsevier Health Services, during a HIMSS webinar titled “Meaningful Use: Safety and Quality of Care.”
Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit health system based in Salt Lake City, will employ enterprise-wide EHR technology from MedPlus, a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics.
Cerner has reported strong revenues for the 2010 second quarter, which ended July 3, with its revenue at $456 million, up 13 percent compared with $403.8 million in the year-ago period. Also, its net earnings saw a double-digit increase over the same period last year.
Quality Systems, the parent company of NextGen Healthcare, has announced the results of operations for its fiscal 2011 first quarter, which ended June 30.
Written by Mary Stevens
The final rule for Stage 1 meaningful use has been published in the Federal Register, marking “the end of just one part of the first cycle that is the first stage of meaningful use,” said Karen Trudel, deputy director of the Office of E-Health Standards & Services at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaking at the July 27 meeting of the Health IT Standards Committee. “We’re moving away from a totally completely a policy development process to one that is a mixture of policy and operations,” she said.
SRS and Ingenix have formed a partnership to expand clinical, financial and administrative operations options for SRS’ customers.
athenahealth, a developer of web-based practice management, EHR and patient communication services to medical groups, has posted financial and operational gains for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010, which ended June 30.
Allscripts-Misys has announced robust financial results for the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter and fiscal year, which ended May 31.
EHR implementations are the top priority among healthcare IT professionals, with 85 percent indicating that they are either in the midst of an EHR project or plan to start one within the next 18 months, based on a survey from Embarcadero Technologies.
Mirth powered the first U.S. publicly staged multiple-organization demonstration of National Health Information Network (NHIN) direct standards and technologies at the recent Redwood MedNet HIE Conference in Santa Rosa, Calif.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has submitted the first of two reports on the National Quality Foundation's (NQF) progress in meeting the five Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 mandated duties related to quality measures, the costs and fixed fees NQF has reported, and what NQF and the Department of Health and Human Services do to help ensure NQF's reported costs are proper.
Saint Luke’s Health System, a 1,200-bed organization representing 11 hospitals across Missouri and Kansas, has signed on with CapSite Consulting's online subscription-based healthcare technology pricing and packaging service.
|