A new report put out by global management consulting firm Accenture predicts that healthcare organizations gearing up to make large investments in e-health solutions will have to clear hurdles in five interrelated disciplines of information governance: data privacy, confidentiality, security, quality and integrity. Read »

Ohio's largest provider of mobile x-ray and cardiac testing services has incorporated CompuMed's CardioGram and OsteoGram systems as core components of the Visio Mobile Diagnostics suite of telemedicine and digital x-ray-based healthcare services. Visio has begun rolling out CompuMed's digital telemedicine technology to hospitals, occupational and home health clients, as well as long-term care facilities in mobile and rural markets across Ohio. Read »

The push for health reform and the much ballyhooed need for greater IT implementation throughout the healthcare system has providers focusing on integration. In fact, more and more healthcare providers are insisting on better integration of pharmacy systems with their core clinical systems, according to a new report from Orem, Utah-based research firm KLAS. Read »

The arrival of “e-care” should help broaden access to health care, generate savings for employer-sponsored health plans and help offset a growing shortage of physicians nationwide. With video-conferencing, remote patient monitoring and e-mail already standard tools for many physicians across the country—and real-time access to doctors via webcam recently launching in Hawaii—it seems mobile point-of-care technologies are well positioned going forward. But can operators keep up with demand? Read »

Speculation, double-talk, hope, sobriety and fear. It’s a weird mix of knowledge, perceived knowledge and emotion driving us from one rough patch into another as we hurtle through the hairpin turn called 2008, pump our brakes, change lanes, swear out loud, then gun it for 2009. Baby New Year, be damned. The good news for those in the healthcare industry is that it’s not all bad news; while the coming year will likely prove fraught with hazards—recession, cataclysmic inflation, the end of the paper-dollar standard, national security threats, Congress—there are some bright spots ahead. Read »

I couldn’t help but chuckle while watching the President-elect’s third press conference in as many days last week. Like the first two, the third also focused on the economy. It was the day before Thanksgiving and we were about to find out the man almost 67 million people voted for was about to name former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the head of a special economic recovery advisory board, with University of Chicago economics professor Austan Goolsbee to serve as the board’s staff director and chief economist. Read »

Many medical groups saw operating costs outpace their revenues in 2007, a scenario some industry insiders say falls in line with the slow uptake of IT among physicians. It makes sense when you consider that most physician organizations support the medical home model—a partnership approach with families to provide access to quality health care in a cost effective manner in the primary health care setting—which calls for the implementation of information technology as a means for lowering healthcare costs nationwide. Read »

Over the next five years, contracts for as many as 21 state Medicaid Management Information Systems will expire, a fact that should bode well for vendors advancing new technologies. In fact, one recent report goes so far as to claim that state Medicaid programs could pony up as much as $380 billion on information technology in the coming year alone. Read »

At a party recently, I was told an awful story about a “plastic surgeon” who mutilated a woman. Apparently, any medical doctor can adopt the plastic surgeon title, according to FTC guidelines. The surgeon in question had only a weekend course to his credit, and the closest he had ever come to performing a cosmetic procedure was when he practiced his technique on a tomato. Read »

A couple years back, there was some buzz concerning an educational video game called “Immune Attack,” a first-person strategy game in which immune cells went head-to-head with bacterial and viral infections. The premise was simple enough: a teen prodigy with a unique immunodeficiency must teach his immune system how to function properly, or die in the process. Using a nanobot, with assistance from a professor, the teenager explores biologically accurate and detailed environments in pursuit of this primary objective. Read »