Health Imaging & IT
News coverage of document management
07/24/2009

Healthcare professionals must first gain control of the number of records, forms and files flowing through their organization before implementing an EMR system, according to research published by Xerox.  Copyright © 2002-2009 TriMed Media Group, Inc.

CMSWire
Enterprise Cms News & Articles
07/23/2009

As a scalable system that maintains a beginning-to-end track of all alterations to medical records, this will code, index and extract all necessary data need to construct a complete medical profile of patients. And, MediConnect says, the system is completely secure with strict permissions to reassure people who are afraid that their medical history could end up on a public. .

CMSWire
Secure Document Management for Medical Industry
07/23/2009

RapidReview v2.0 So what exactly does RapidReveiw v2.0 do? Well, says, MediConnect, it gives health insurers payers easier access to data, better data tracking, faster record processing, detailed enterprise reporting, higher levels of quality control and more effective people management. RapidReview v2.0 annotation function But the features MediConnect is particularly proud of include: Customizable medical coding forms that enable the capturing …

examiner.com
Part 1 of Parsing Obamacare–Electronic Health Care System, cost saving or not
07/27/2009

Creating a network of computers and servers that connect all hospitals and doctors offices with compatible software programs covering everything from digital medical records, billing, cost-cutting software, pharmacy programs, and comparative-effectiveness research programs is a large undertaking

Google Health allows users to upload scanned paper docs
July 18, 2009

One of the big limitations to electronic medical records of all stripes is coping with the trail of legacy-paper records that already exists when the digital system goes on place. Sure, it’s possible to get everything online over time, but there’s no question that it’s a big hassle.
FierceHealthIT

DoD expanding personal health record
07/28/2009

Security-enhanced the gateway between its own electronic health record and the Google and Microsoft PHR systems. If Google and Microsoft have a security breach, they face DoD penalties

Prudent Press Agency
Seven Reasons to Have a Digital Personal Health Record
07/27/2009

illnesses, hospitalizations, encounters (i.e. visits and communications), journal information in between doctor visits, medications, allergies, immunizations, surgeries, lab results, and family history. The personal health record differs from an electronic medical record . . .

Health Imaging & IT
Portals | Personal Health Record (PHR)
07/28/2009

Portals | Personal Health Record (PHR) Personal Health Record (PHR) Portal | INDUSTRY NEWS Report: EMR market to grow 14% through 2012, spurred by PHRs  Copyright © 2002-2009 TriMed Media Group, Inc. |

Group Says Avandia Ups Risk For Liver Damage
July 29th, 2009

According to emerging research, GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug, Avandia, can cause death as a result of liver failure, and should be banned by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Yaz Lawsuits Claim Birth Control Pill Caused Blood Clots, Strokes
July 23rd, 2009

Lawsuits are being filed a around the country by women who say they suffered serious side effects from the contraceptive pill Yaz.

Chiropractic Economics, 7/29/2009

Extract: Brian T. HorowitzJuly 27, 2009 As IT departments in medical facilities tackle the seemingly insurmountable task of digitizing years of patient records, security remains top of mind. When you’re considering how to keep electronic medical records (EMR) secure, considering the patient’s health could be a key motivating factor. ‘Keeping that patient information secure is part of caring for that patient,’ said Lisa Gallagher, senior director of privacy and security for the Health Care Information …

Full Article

From CMS Wire, 07/23/2009

Extract:
. . . reassure people who are afraid that their medical history could end up on a public site once it has been ingested into the system. Medical Record Protection Medical records are big business these days with the possibly of multimillion dollar law suits a daily concern of companies and individual who work in the profession. The company identified medical record protection and transmission early on as a potential growth business and since 1996 have been developing technologies …

Health and Electronic Medical Records

Saving the healthcare industry: EMRs are the ‘beginning, not the end’
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Economically healthy industries empower workers to make decisions, compensate based on productivity and use a lot of information technology:

Health Co-op Offers Model for Overhaul
Group Health, one of the country’s few surviving health insurance cooperatives, has recently embraced electronic medical records and a collaborative model of primary care, allowing him to practice proactive medicine for the first time in years.

Who really profits from digital medical records?
An unprecedented effort to computerize the nation’s hospitals and physician offices could be the key to reducing crippling health care costs – or a giveaway to technology vendors whose sales will be subsidized by taxpayers.

Texas on the Potomac: Houston prof: Digital medical records popular, not foolproof
Houston prof: Digital medical records popular, not foolproof. In January, President Obama first articulated plans to digitize the nation’s …

House Releases Healthcare Overhaul Bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The healthcare overhaul proposal offered on Tuesday by U.S. House of Representatives’ Democrats will include an extra 5.4 percent tax on those earning more than $1 million.

Electronic health history tool being developed to detect pregnancy risks
WHITE PLAINS, NY – An electronic tool to help alert physicians about patients at risk for birth defects or pregnancy complications is being developed through a three-year cooperative agreement with a $1.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services
 
Study: Privacy laws deter hospitals from EMR adoption
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Hospitals have seen a decrease in EMR adoption in states where privacy laws restrict their ability to disclose patient information

Cisco, UnitedHealth team up to build a national network for virtual doctor visits
UnitedHealth plans to partner with a myriad of medical instrument makers and industry equipment developers to increase the number of procedures that can be applied at remote telemedical facilities. It would also partner with national providers of electronic medical record databases and medical claims processing systems. For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright

Massachusetts helping to shape U.S. efforts to digitize health records for all
Massachusetts-based doctors, professors, entrepreneurs, and hospital IT experts are using $20 billion of stimulus money to help shape the electronic medical record landscape for the country as a whole. According to John Halamka, chief information officer at CareGroup Healthcare System, ‘The average use of EMRs in the U.S. is between 2 and 20%. In Massachusetts, we’re somewhere between 30 and 50%, so we’ve had a fair degree of experience with what works and what doesn’t work.’

HBMA Forms ICD-10 Task Force
July 14, 2009
HBMA, it is a collaboration representing the entire healthcare community, including participation from Americas Health Insurance Plans, CAQH, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, practice management software vendors, electronic medical record system vendors, coding professionals and others. The Task Force has designated liaisons to work with key stakeholders including the American Health Information Management Association, the American Medical Association and the Radiology …

A Strategic Plan for the Physician Enterprise
July 15, 2009
Physicians and hospitals need to consolidate to have any hope of achieving market leverage. Connecting physicians is becoming a mandate rather than an option. Ballyhooed government EMR funding is a small carrot accompanied by a very big stick. Fail to show ‘meaningful’ use of EMR and you start to lose big chunks of your Medicare cash flow. There are folks getting ready to swing even bigger sticks. In an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, former New York Lt. Gov.

Class Action Lawsuits

Chinese Drywall Debacle Sparks Lawsuits
Problems with defective Chinese drywall in Florida have led to two separate lawsuits.  Late last week, the Bonita Springs law firm of Parker Waichman Alonso LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Florida consumers whose homes were ruined by the defective Chinese drywall.  Meanwhile, Miami-based Lennar Homes, the builder at the center of many drywall complaints, has sued the manufacturer of the material, as well as the supplier and contractors who installed it.

Obama’s plan to digitize America’s health records in five years faces many hurdles including cost, but experts say it will ultimately save billions.
Check out this article from CNNMoney.com:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/02/news/economy/stimulus_electronic_health_records/?postversion=2009070204

Hundreds of personal medical records were found dumped into a Montgomery, Alabama landfill where  sensitive information like names, numbers, doctors notes, and radiology reports were left in a dumpster.

To read more about this click below. 

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=10570404

A recent report lists the top 100 areas of medicine in which research is needed to determine which treatments or preventive measures work best.

Here’s the article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-30-treatments-government-study_N.htm

BusinessWeek has a great article focusing on how making primary-care physicians the center of America’s health system could ease the burden.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_27/b4138034173005.htm?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories

Headlines for the Week of June 24-July 1, 2009:

Here are links to the current news in life, legal and healthcare.  If you find stories that you think should be included please email me at epeterson@mediconnect.net, or leave a comment on the blog. If you would like to receive this as an RSS Feed, click on the “subscribe link” at the top of this page.

07/01/09 Newsinferno.com: Infuse Bone Graft, Other BMP Protein Products Linked to Complications in Neck Spine Surgery

07/01/09 Reuters.com: New Drug Raises Hope of Ending River Blindness: WHO

07/01/09 USAToday.com: Ala. Closes in on Miss. as most Obese State

07/01/09 USAToday.com: Panel Pinpoints 100 areas to Yield Most Bang for Health-Care Buck

06/30/09 Newsinferno.com: VA Cancer Probe Continues

06/29/09 USAToday.com: Wal-Mart Backs Employer Health Insurance Mandate

06/29/09 USAToday.com: FDA Panel Suggests Smaller Doses of Acetaminophen, Vicodin

Ban

06/29/09 Newsinferno.com: Accutane Pulled from Market Amid Lawsuits, Increased Generic Competition

06/28/09 CNNmoney.com: Obamacare: Cheaper than you think

06/25/09 BusinessWeek.com: The Family Doctor: A Remedy for Health-Care Costs?

06/24/09 Dallasmorningnews.com: Administration: Hospitals Unwilling to Share Electronic Records will Miss Out on Billions in Stimulus Funds

06/24/09 USAToday.com: Healthcare, Healthcare, Healthcare

06/23/09 USAToday.com: U.S. Insurers Send Warnings on Healthcare