Healthcare IT News - April 2008 - (Page 4)

Healthcare IT News ■ April 2008 industry news www.HealthcareITNews.com cincinnati hIE grants boost e-prescribing, disease registry By PaTTy enraDo, Contributing Editor CINCINNATI – HealthBridge, a Sigma Group - 286166 Cincinnati-based community Project: health information exchange, has PAN Toughbook - March Campaign:won two grants – one to enable eHealthcare prescribing and another to develop Creative: PAN308 Trust a disease registry. Both projects AE: Scott Lifschin – already under way – will leverage HealthBridge’s core messaging system. While the HIE, which is profitable and employs a fee-for-service Publication: Healthcare for many model, doesn’t apply IT News IO 616 grants,#:both grants ensure longtermIssue: funding April-08 for projects that are within its mission, said Keith Ad Type: Jr.P4C Hepp, CFO and vice 8.375 in X 10.875 in bleed = president of business development. trim = 8.125 in X 10.625 in The $45,000 grant, which was safety = 7.625 in X 10.125 in awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in December and runs B:8.375 in through June, will pay for the capiT:8.125 in tal work to get e-prescribing up and S:7.625 in running. That includes upgrading Ship e-prescribit the portal to enableInfo: Healthcare IT Newspossible for a fraction because 71 Pineland HealthBridge to ing on handhelds and integration Dr. we have the existwith HealthBridge’s master Ste 203 patient fold the operaing infrastructure,” tional cost into its index (MPI). he said. New Gloucester, ME 04260 general budget, Using an MPI for e-prescrib- Diekmann | MedTech Publishing Through its core Attn: Karen ing eliminates the cost and effort said Hepp. messaging system, Company “This is a demof integrating with an electronic HealthBridge delivt: 207-688-6270 f: None medical record or practice man- onstration of how ers 2.2 million clinagement system. Integration with exchanges can help ical messages, or cincinnati is the only one of the 14 an MPI also eliminates the need in these endeavresults, per month. communities involved in the disease for interfaces, which significantly ors. The key is that registry that has an operational hIE. It is the platform reduce operational cost and make e-prescribing costs that enables reporting to public health departments. There are 2.2 million people within the 14 counties HealthBridge serves. Thus far, 1.9 million people are in its MPI, but Hepp said the goal is 100 percent coverage, which would make e-prescribing and disease registries more robust. The disease registry is a quality improvement and reporting project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and involves the entire CInCInnaTI see page 6 Panasonic recommends Windows Vista ® Business. DON’T TRUST THE PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK T7. LEGALLY, WE CANNOT SAY BIlls Continued from page 3 YOUR HEALTHCARE TO ANYONE ELSE. Why do we call our Toughbook ® T7 the total healthcare package? We did our homework. We looked at healthcare from all angles and engineered the Toughbook T7 to be light on its feet at only 3.3 pounds, and long on endurance with extended battery life. Then we built in protection from drops, bangs and spills. We sealed it from liquids, for easy sanitizing and infection control. We gave it a touchscreen LCD for simplicity with EMRs and enhanced security features to keep those records conﬁdential. Finally, we integrated wireless WAN for a reliable connection virtually anywhere. Have the alternatives done all this homework? panasonic.com/toughbook/healthcare 1.888.357.1311 THE RUGGED ORIGINAL. Whitehouse said he proposed the amendment to address the lack of investment in healthcare IT that he feels is responsible for slowing progress on a nationwide interoperable system that could save lives and lower healthcare costs. “I hope making health IT – especially initiatives supporting the young men and women now returning from war – a priority in our budget will help encourage greater investments and speedier reforms,” he said. Congress has yet to reconcile the Senate’s budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 70) the with the House budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 312), passed March 13. At press time, Congress was slated to begin reconciling the two bills for a final vote within the next month. Harry Greenspun, MD, chief medical officer at Northrop Grumman, said it is encouraging that healthcare IT is part of the national debate during an election year. “As a doctor and someone involved in advocacy and public policy, it is exciting,” he said. “But, it is also combined with frustration that there is so little movement in healthcare IT legislation right now.” Greenspun, who serves as vice chairman of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s government relations roundtable, said talk on Capitol Hill is discouraging, with the election and the sagging economy posing major hurdles to the passage of healthcare IT bills. “We are told to keep our hopes alive; there will be a light at the end of the tunnel,” Greenspun said. “But how bright is the light and how long is the tunnel?” ■ B:10.875 in T:10.625 in More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: BILLS 0408 S:10.125 in e ● Connect: PaNaSoNIC 0408 Intel, Intel logo, Intel Centrino, Intel Centrino logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Toughbook notebook PCs are covered by a 3-year limited warranty, parts and labor. To view the full text of the warranty, log on to panasonic.com/business/toughbook/support.asp. Please consult your Panasonic representative prior to purchase. ©2008 Panasonic Corporation of North America. All rights reserved. Trust_HC_FY08-1 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://panasonic.com/toughbook/healthcare http://panasonic.com/toughbook/healthcare http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=9012 http://www.HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8976 http://panasonic.com/business/toughbook/support.asp

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - April 2008

Healthcare IT News - April 2008 Contents New Media Push Stepping Down BI Headaches Decision Grants Safety Alerts Summit 08 Growing an EHR Year 24

Healthcare IT News - April 2008

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