The federal government's requirements for hospitals and health care facilities to transition to electronic medical records has prompted health care management company Clear Choice Healthcare to swap out its Cisco equipment at nine skilled nursing and assisted living facilities throughout Florida and one SNF in Denver. To support the leap to EMRs and deliver broadband access to patients and staff, Clear Choice has replaced its Cisco gear with a ZoneFlex 802.11n Smart WLAN system from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ruckus Wireless. Read »

With the average annual failure rates for non-ruggedized handheld computers hovering at 38 percent, it makes sense that a maker of ruggedized handheld devices would team up with a mobile clinical software developer and an end-to-end solutions Integration firm to provide healthcare professionals with access to electronic medical records anytime, anywhere. Read »

Can physician practices stretch IT dollars by virtualizing their applications and moving them onto the cloud? Some already are, according to an InformationWeek Healthcare report. A good example is Pentucket Medical Associates, a multi-specialty practice with five out-patient facilities in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts. Pentucket has saved time and money by transitioning its clinical systems to a software-as-a-service environment hosted by Global Data Systems. Read »

The market for EMR data transfer equipment and applications, valued at $575 million in 2008, is projected to reach $1.6 billion in 2013, according to a study from research firm Kalorama Information. The new report states this segment of the patient monitoring market will grow 23.3 percent annually through 2013, spurred on by the growing use of EMRs in hospitals and physician offices. Read »

Following near-record attendance at HIMSS09 last month, it seems most of the health IT industry is focused on how ARRA funds will be used to get physicians to adopt electronic medical records. But as a recent article in Health Plan Week points out, the bigger question relates to how the industry will bring together the different health records now being used by physicians, payers, hospitals and consumers in a way that creates a truly integrated electronic environment. Read »

Healthcare executives confronted with tightened capital budgets, clinician concerns over patient care and personal income, and the overall strategic direction of their institutions might want to check out the latest top 10 list of health technologies for hospital c-suite executives. Read »