Special Industry Watch
Google Health: Birth of a Giant
On Feb. 28th, at the 2008 annual HIMSS conference, Google announced its first product for healthcare — Google Health — a new personal health record (PHR) that will be free to use and available just about anywhere in the United States. To say that the news was received positively does not adequately describe the response. Hours before Google’s press conference, several EMR/Practice Management software vendors had already announced agreements to interface their technology with Google Health, which created a stir that became fervor and, ultimately, the talk of the show.
(Read the full article)

Briefly
Walgreens Purchases Health Centers.
Walgreens begins its transition to a broader healthcare services company with the recent acquisition of I-trax Inc. and Whole Health Management — two worksite health centers. The new health and wellness division of Walgreens will manage health centers and pharmacies at large company worksites with the drugstore chain operating more than 500 worksite and retail health centers in 40 states after the close of the deal. The company says the I-trax Inc. acquisition is valued at $278 million including the assumption of $18.3 million in debt while the privately held Whole Health acquisition terms have not been disclosed. I-trax provides worksite health solutions through its subsidiaries to more than 160 companies including BMW, Toyota and Lowe’s. Cleveland-based Whole Health Management provides primary and urgent care, wellness programs and other occupational health services through 69 worksite centers for 27 clients, including Continental Airlines, Harrah’s Entertainment and Sprint. The acquisitions are expected to close within 60 days of the announcement pending regulatory approval.
(Read the full article)

e-Prescribing
Top e-Prescribing States Award
Massachusetts ranked first among the top 10 e-prescribing states to receive an award at the third annual Safe-Rx Awards held recently during National Patient Safety Awareness Week. More than four million prescriptions representing 13.4 percent of all eligible prescriptions were sent electronically by the state in 2007, which is more than six times the national average.
(Read the full article)

                        

A Nation at Risk

By Michael McBride,
Editor-in-Chief

With the recent opening of the "Hospital Compare" Web site
www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov,
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may be leading the race to transparency in healthcare and, consequently, to consumerism.

(Read the full editorial)

Should RHIOs Extend to Canada?

 By Barbara Cox

There is certainly a business case for establishing interconnectivity between the U.S. and Canada, though neither government would particularly like to acknowledge it.

There are populations on both sides of the border...

(Read the full article)

PHRs/EHRs/EMRs
The Fire Next Time: Case History
Sharp HealthCare’s effective use of an ambulatory EHR during the California wildfires meant uninterrupted healthcare for displaced patients and clinicians.
By E. Victor Brown, Senior Editor

PACS/RIS/Imaging
Moving Pictures: Case History
A Minnesota imaging company upgrades its RIS and PACS for streamlined workflows that facilitate sustained growth.
Center for Diagnostic Imaging, Minneapolis

Systems Integration
Back to the Lab
As more practices implement EMRs, a measure of effectiveness is the ability to interface with the lab and the LIS.
By E. Victor Brown, Senior Editor

Digital Hospitals
Getting CIOs Involved
Failing to include CIOs in the initial stages of design planning can have dire consequences.
By John Vitalis and Frank D. Kittredge, Jr.

Preventative Care
Checking In at Check-up Time: Case History
A healthcare system implements an automated patient outreach solution, increasing proactive-appointments.
By Vicki Fehrenbach and Alex Grahovac

Document Management
Extreme Makeover: Case History
An open-architecture document management solution helps a provider reduce expenses and improve member benefits.
By Robert Redding

PHRs/EHRs/EMRs
“Less Paper” Trumps Paperless: Case History
Sometimes, an ideal solution needs a reality check to function in today’s healthcare environment.
By Tony Thompson

Hardware:
Printers, Copiers and Scanners
This quarter, HMT showcases some of the hottest network-ready multifunction products on the market.

Special Industry Watch:
Google Health, Birth of a Giant
By Michael McBride, Editor-in-Chief

(more)

Ultrasound Tag Tracking System
The PC-Detector from Sonitor Technologies uses ultrasound indoor positioning and realtime location systems (RTLS) technology to automatically track the realtime location of patients and moveable hospital equipment.
(click for more on this product)

EMR Selection Web Tool
The EMR selection tool is a service from EHR Scope, a quarterly electronic journal published by EMRConsultant, that features half-page listings providing readers with the information they need to make an informed EMR-purchase decision, such as best-practice guidance on simplifying the implementation process.
(click here for more on this product)

Web-based Coding Software
ComplyMD is a Web-based patient encounter documentation tool for doctors and clinicians to bridge the gaps between encounters, EMR/EHR systems, charge capture and coding processes.
(click for more on this product)

Teleradiology Study Management Service
Telerad is a new Web-based teleradiology study management service from SoftLight Development that enables teleradiologists to access their studies over the Web from any computer while maintaining HIPAA privacy compliance. (click here for more on this product)

Compact Medication Cart
Rubbermaid Medical Solutions designed the Mini-Med Module with a mounting bracket that supports the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA), the point-of-care tablet PC from Motion Computing. (click here for more on this product)

Convertible Touch Tablet
The Dell Latitude XT convertible tablet PC features dual-mode pen and touch technology that allows users to write naturally, eliminating the need to avoid inadvertent palm contact and improved digitizer technology which provides faster touch response times, requires less force and results in fewer touch attempts. (click here for more on this product)

Digital Conference Recorder
The Philips Conference Recording System 955 comes equipped with boundary conference microphones and a remote control that enable a number of applications such as small conferences and workgroup meetings. (click here for more on this product)