|
SAN DIEGO--An implantable pacemaker-sized monitor that sounds an alarm when it senses abnormal changes in the heart’s electrical activity is proving an effective early warning system for patients at high risk of MI or plaque rupture, according to data presented Wednesday at the 33rd annual scientific sessions for the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI).
Patients admitted to the hospital during the weekend hours are more likely to experience delays in major procedures, be emergency and critical cases and have a higher mortality rate compared to patients admitted during weekday hours, according to a statistical brief conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Written by Neil Versel
Among the many differences between the proposed regulations for “meaningful use” of electronic health records and a draft circulated last summer is that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) now wants hospitals and physician practices to implement clinical decision support (CDS) for a minimum of five high-priority conditions in order to qualify for federal subsidies in 2011.
Hospitals rated in the top 5 percent in the U.S. have a 29 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality rate and are improving their clinical quality at a faster pace than other hospitals, according to a study issued Jan. 26 by HealthGrades, a healthcare ratings organization.
The Joint Commission, in its fourth annual report, found continual improvement on 12 quality measures reflecting the best evidence-based treatments and practices leading to the best outcomes in American hospitals.
Written by Justine Cadet
Research, published in the January/February issue Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, found the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) Trial Implementations project showed “proposed data specifications as the starting point for data exchange nationally were quite suitable for the goals of the project and for the eventual NHIN rollout,” said lead author Gilad J. Kuperman, MD, PhD., in an interview.
A decade of improvement in the quality of healthcare provided in the United States came to a halt in 2008, according to a report issued last week by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
A report by the New York City-based Commonwealth Fund Commission has found there is a significant difference between the access, quality and cost of healthcare across state lines and that healthcare disparities among states continue to widen.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the results from three value-based purchasing (VBP) demonstrations, one for large physician practices, one for small and solo physician practices and one for hospitals. The agency simultaneously commissioned the launch of three additional VBP demonstrations.
The performance gap between safety net and non-safety net hospitals continues to shrink as a result of hospital participation in value-based purchasing, according to an analysis of the Hospital Quality Demonstration Project, released last week by the Premier Healthcare Alliance.
|
An EHR program cut cardiac deaths by 73 percent through linking coronary artery disease patients and teams of pharmacists, nurses, primary care doctors and cardiologists with an EHR. It also kept the patients healthy two years after they left the program by keeping them in touch with their caregivers electronically, according to a randomized trial published in this month's American Journal of Managed Care.
A home telehealth monitoring program developed by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has cut hospital readmission by 54 percent for heart failure patients. The program also has been shown to save up to $20,000 for each patient safely diverted from an emergency department visit, readmission and hospital stay.
High-field strength MRI and high-slice-count CT are top technologies that hospital c-suite executives need to keep their eyes on in 2009, according to a technology watch list released Monday by the ECRI Institute.
U.S. hospitals have failed to adequately protect patient safety and too many hospitals have failed to implement standards known to improve quality and save lives, according to the 2008 Leapfrog hospital survey.
Kaiser Permanente has improved the heart attack survival rate for its members in Colorado through a program that links coronary artery disease patients and teams of pharmacists, nurses, primary care doctors and cardiologists, with an EHR and advanced clinical care registry.
Friday, July 30 2010
Friday, July 30 2010
Friday, July 30 2010
Friday, July 30 2010
Friday, July 30 2010
|
RSS 
“We’re beginning a revolution the way information is collected, managed, used and purposed for patients in the U.S. healthcare system,” said David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, in opening remarks at an audioconference training session on meaningful use and EHR certification last week.
In Part 1 of our closer look at the final rules for meaningful use and EHR certification standards, CMIO’s Jeff Byers spoke with David Blumenthal, MD, chair of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. In Part 2, CMIOs weigh in with mixed reviews.
The framework for meaningful use is “something that had to be done and has been started intelligently,” John P. Glaser, PhD, vice president and CIO of Partners HealthCare System told CMIO. However, the challenges of becoming meaningful users and optimizing health information exchange will require unprecedented levels of communication within organizations and among healthcare systems, he said.
The contractual obligations in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on modifications to the HIPAA privacy, security and enforcement rules under the HITECH Act for business associates and downstream entities are game changers, according to Amy S. Leopard, JD, from Walter and Haverfield, during a webinar sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Standardizing performance measures, with the help of health IT, will make it possible to collect the right data at the right time to support performance measurement, clinical decision support, clinical research and quality improvement, said Janet M. Corrigan, PhD, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF) during a webinar hosted by the forum on June 17.