Healthcare IT News - June 2008 - (Page 31)

www.HealthcareITNews.com June 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 31 NEWSBRIEFS HoSpIRa acquIRES SculptoR, makERS oF vERIScaN Rx Hospira, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based provider of pharmaceutical and medication delivery systems, has acquired Sculptor Developmental Technologies of Cecil, Pa., the developer of VeriScan Rx, software that supports medication administration at the bedside through the use of bar codes. “Acquiring Sculptor expands Hospira’s ability to offer device and software solutions that enhance safety and productivity,” said Chris Kolber, president of global devices for Hospira. “Their approach to developing products designed by clinicians, for clinicians, results in high adoption rates and an immediate impact to patient safety and clinician efficiency.” Hospitals see benefits in automated scheduling By erIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor SAN DIEGO – The days of nurses filling out their schedules on paper and rushing to the hospital to grab prime vacation slots are rapidly fading, thanks to the advent of automated staffing solutions. Three Florida not-for-profit hospitals, for example, are reportedly saving more than $1 million and seeing a marked improvement in operations and morale by using Concerro’s automated nurse staffing solution to fill open shifts. The technology allows hospitals to match open positions with qualified nurses, gives nurses an opportunity to manage their own schedules and reduces the need for costly contract agency personnel or extra incentives to fill slots. The system has proven successful at Health First’s three Florida not-for-profit sTaffINg see page 32 royal Philips to shed shares of MedQuist By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor cdW HEaltHcaRE, BEtH ISRaEl collaBoRatE oN It platFoRm CDW Healthcare is collaborating with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to deploy a technology solution that will enable affiliated practices to access the hospital’s electronic health record and practice management software. The platform ultimately will connect more than 300 physicians in 175 offices to an infrastructure to support pay-for-performance data capture and decision-support tools. Beth Israel Deaconess is a non-profit, 601-bed teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. caRdINal HEaltH BolStERS mEdmINEd SoFtWaRE packagE Cardinal Health, a Dublin, Ohio-based provider of healthcare technology services, has added a benchmarking tool to its MedMined software platform to aid hospitals in tracking and preventing infections. The tool charts the occurrence of each hospital-acquired infection (HAI) in a hospital by unit, determines over time whether a specific unit’s infection rate is rising or dropping, and compares those risk-adjusted rates to peer units in similar hospitals. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 million hospital patients each year contract HAI leading to 90,000 deaths as a result. Employees of the Field Museum of Chicago are using a computed radiography (CR) system donated by Carestream Health to get a closer look inside artifacts in the museum’s Anthropology collection. Among the results is a more detailed look at an ancient Egyptian mummy that helps researchers determine how the person may have died. The museum is also using a picture archiving and communications system (PACS) to manage, view and store its growing collection of digital images. McKesson’s RelayHealth acquires HTP to bolster RCM By erIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor mEdHoSt addS data SHaRINg to EmERgENcy dEpt. SoFtWaRE MEDHOST, an Addison, Texas-based provider of Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) software, is boosting its interoperability with hospital information systems by adding patient data sharing capability. Patient information recorded in the ED will now serve as an information baseline upon the patient’s admission to the hospital. The new capability is being used by Stanly Memorial Hospital in Albermarle, N.C., and Conway Medical Center in Conway, S.C. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: VeNDorS 0608 ● announcement last month that McKesson’s RelayHealth subsidiary will acquire HTP “fills a nice gap” in the healthcare payment continuum, says Dave Mason, vice president and general manager of San Francisco-based RelayHealth. “It’s a great bridge for the consumer, and for hospitals and physicians,” says Mason, pointing out that RelayHealth focuses on the back-end financial clearance services and HTP, based in Columbus, Ohio, focuses on front-end clarification. “That whole bundled approach is going to be important to us.”’ HTP’s software solutions, including RevRunner and MedRunner, connect providers, health plans and financial institutions and are designed to promote timely reimbursement for patient services, ranging from SAN FRANCISCO – The verification of insurance eligibility to the maintaining of payment plans for self-pay balances. Such services are particularly important in the tracking and resolution of uncompensated healthcare, which was estimated by the American Hospital Association at $31.2 billion in 2006. According to Ray Shealy, HTP’s president and CEO, HTP helps to create credible bill estimates for healthcare patients and offers links to resources that would help them pay their bills. Meanwhile, RelayHealth “allows (healthcare providers) to work accounts receivable in a more intelligent process,” Mason says. Hospitals want to know who’s paying the bills and how they’ll be paid, he says, as well as determining what to write off as uncollectible. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: rcM 0608 Following a yearlong struggle over who would control transcription company MedQuist Inc., Royal Philips Electronics, MedQuist’s majority shareholder, with 69.5 percent ownership, has sold its shares to CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. for $11 a share. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008. Executives say MedQuist will continue to operate as an independent company. CBaySystems, based in Annapolis, Md., is a publicly traded, AIM listed holding company with a portfolio of investments in medical transcription, healthcare technology, and healthcare financial services. Philips announced in November last year that it intended to sell ownership interest in MedQuist, which prompted MedQuist executives to question whether the sale would be in the best interest of its shareholders. In collaboration with Philips, MedQuist sought acquisition proposals from various parties. MOUNT LAUREL, NJ – However, the MedQuist committee formed to evaluate the proposals rejected them as insufficient for a sale of the company. Over the past year, MedQuist has faced numerous problems. It paid $7.5 million to settle a customer class action suit in which plaintiffs alleged that the company overcharged certain non-federal governmental hospitals and medical centers for transcription services. MedQuist also saw the resignation of three independent board members who disagreed with the company over how to handle Philips’ planned sale of stock. “Now that the sale evaluation process is concluded,” said Howard Hoffmann, president and CEO of MedQuist, “We can focus all of our energy and talent on growing top line revenue and bottom line performance through the continued development and delivery of innovative, high quality and cost effective technology and services solutions for our customers.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MeDQuiSt 0608 ● HIPAA regulations play a role in IT purchasing decisions 91 percent of healthcare IT decision-makers surveyed acknowledge HIPAA regulations influence or strongly influence purchasing decisions. They aren’t a factor at all 0% They aren’t considered very much They are an influence They are strongly considered They are the primary drivers 6% 3% 45% 46% N = 171 healthcare IT decision makers and executives. e ● Connect: GraPHS 0608 SOURCE: IMPRIVATA, INC., 2008 IDENTITy MANAgEMENT TRENDS IN HEALTHCARE SURVEy, CONDUCTED VIA zOOMERANg. ● www.HealthcareITNews.com HealthcareITNews.com HealthcareITNews.com HealthcareITNews.com

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