Bernie Monegain
Overextended staff is the top concern among healthcare IT professionals surveyed recently concerning obstacles to providing better patient care.Healthcare communications company Avaya conducted the survey, hosted by market research firm Exhibit Surveys, Inc., at the Avaya booth at HIMSS11 Feb. 20-24 in Orlando, Fla. A total of 130 surveys were completed.
Epocrates is No. 1 on Fast Company magazine's list of 10 most innovative companies in healthcare. Two other healthcare information technology companies - Voxia and GE - made the healthcare list at No. 3 and No. 7 respectively. Cleveland Clinic came in at No. 4.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) has introduced My Cancer Genome, a personalized cancer decision support tool to help physicians and researchers track the latest developments in personalized cancer medicine and connect with clinical research trials for their patients.The Web-based information tool is designed to educate clinicians on the rapidly expanding list of genetic mutations that impact different cancers and, at the same time, enable them to more easily research various treatment options based on specific mutations.
Medical visualization software that allows multiple physicians to consult on a patient's condition is one of the key areas of growth for virtual reality (VR) technologies in healthcare, according to a new report from Kalorama Information.
Remote patient monitoring, or telehealth, has taken huge strides forward, with demand for this technology on the rise - especially among home-care agencies, disease management companies and clinical trial groups, according to a new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan.
Promoting a two-heads-are-better-than-one approach, Baylor Health System's David Muntz and consultant Stuart Gardner called for greater collaboration between IT departments and clinical engineering during a Tuesday afternoon session at HIMSS11.It's to everyone's advantage, said Muntz, senior vice president and CIO of Dallas-based Baylor, which operates 26 hospitals and facilities at 160 locations. In fact, he called for "radical collaboration," to which Gardner agreed.
Information technology could be a catalyst for improving global health, said Patricia Abbott, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health and co-director of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing Knowledge, Information Management and Sharing.But she warned her audience Tuesday at HIMSS11 that the promise of IT might fail if "it's thought of in purely western terms."Abbott urged attendees to think of IT through the lens of poverty reduction, human rights and local and cultural context.
Sprint has partnered with BL Healthcare, a provider of remote health management technology, to provide 3G connectivity to the latter's new lineup of telemedicine solutions. BL Healthcare, based in Foxboro, Mass., offers several solutions that allow patients to securely receive medical care in their homes, at work, at nursing homes and assisted living homes, and remote clinics such as pharmacies or retail stores. The solutions allow the right medical professionals to deliver appropriate care from any remote location.
Providers report a demonstrable return on their speech recognition dollars, according to a new report from KLAS. Participants of the study indicated benefits of speech recognition such as staff reductions, improved report turnaround times and increased physician satisfaction.
The Saban Free Clinic and school health centers will provide electrocardiogram (ECG) telemedicine and CardioGramKids services to the four community clinics and school health centers it operates. Now in its 43rd year, the Saban Free Clinic (formerly the Los Angeles Free Clinic) provides nearly 90,000 patient visits annually to the uninsured, teens and other vulnerable populations in the Greater Los Angeles area.