Healthcare IT News - August 2007 - (Page 5)

www.HealthcareITNews.com industry news August 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News industry By DIaNa MaNos, Senior Editor news vate partnership and stop current work in its tracks,” Leavitt said. “It would prevent the establishment of an independent, public-private, stakeholder operated, consensus organization as the AHIC successor and Edward Kennedy instead freeze it as a federal entity.” Leavitt said the administration would veto the current bill unless changes were made. Anne Phelps, a consultant for Health IT Now!, a coalition of employers, providers and patients who support the bill, said the coalition is working on negotiations to smooth the differences between HHS and framers of the bill. Phelps, a leading Washington healthcare KeNNeDy see page 7 Kennedy bill faces fight over AHIC Healthcare IT News posts original news stories on its Web site daily. Here are recent top stories, as selected by the editors. waShINGtON VA makes disaster recovery top priority The Department of Veterans Affairs has chosen Royal Philips Electronics of Andover, Mass., to provide a disaster recovery system that will be available to VA users through the Philips’ iSite Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS). If a natural disaster strikes and VA information is lost from the department’s site, the VA’s entire radiology electronic image data set can be restored using Philips’ recovery site. DATE: 7/16/07 Healthcare piece of RFID market forecast at $1.2B The healthcare sector represents 3 percent of the global active RFID market, according to new research from IDTechEx, a UKbased consulting firm. The report, “Active RFID and Sensor Networks,” defines active RFID (radio frequency identification) as RFID in which a battery drives the tag. In healthcare, RFID is used primarily for tagging pharmaceuticals and in hospitals, where real-time location systems track assets, patients and staff. About 50 hospitals a year are adopting this type of technology, known as RTLS, according to IDTechEx. DATE: 7/09/07 Health Information Community (AHIC), a – A healthcare IT bill slated federal panel that has been advising HHS for action in Congress by the end of July since 2005, is opposed to establishing a new continued to face stiff opposition from the federal panel. Bush administration as “the draft legislation Healthcare IT News went would undo what is to press. The Wired for Health presently a successful Care Quality Act of 2007, health it public-private proposed by Sens. Edward partnership ” K e n n e d y ( D - Ma s s .) , – Michael Leavitt Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) In a June 26 letter to Kennedy, Leavitt and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) intends – among other things – to establish a new federal defended AHIC’s plans already under way to advisory panel on the exchange of health convert AHIC to a private-sector successor organization. information. “The draft legislation would undo what is Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, chairman of the American presently a successful health IT public-pri- Not a dog day summer for IT DIaNa MaNos, Senior Editor he weather may be hot in Washington, but there’s nothing dog day about this summer’s action on Capitol Hill. Amid a grueling gridlock over refunding the State Children’s He a l t h In s u r a n c e Program, Congress has managed to slip in a couple of healthcare IT bills. Proponents of these bills had their sights set on getting something passed before August. As we go to press, this seems unrealistic. It nonetheless shows the intention is there. Perhaps the momentum will blast a healthcare IT bill through this fall. One bill that might strike washington it rich is a bill from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the Wired for Health Care Quality Act of 2007, introduced June 21 by Sens. Edward Kennedy (DMass.), Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Orrin Hatch (RUtah). Health IT Now!, a coalition of patients, providers and employers, is determined to get action on it this year. Former Sen. John Breaux, co-chair of the coalition, said the bill would save money and save lives. “Americans have waited too long for the benefits of health IT—benefits that we could have right now if only Congress would act,” he said. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Edward Kennedy put out a bill July 18 to address privacy. Their bill is meant to “strike a delicate balance” between sharing healthcare IT MaNos see page 7 t New tool unveiled for Alzheimer’s detection Philips and UKE have developed a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) software package that can automatically interpret Positron Emission Tomography (PET) brain scans of patients who may have early symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The PET scans are combined with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans for diagnosis. Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) of Germany say it is the world’s first MRI/ PET image software tool for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. DATE: 7/09/07 WHITE HoUSE PHoTo by CHRIS GREENbERG President George W. Bush meets with Edward Benzel, MD, director of the Center for Spine Health, on tuesday, July 10, 2007 at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. the president discussed the importance of empowering consumers with information and using technology to improve healthcare. the Cleveland Clinic publishes annual reports on patient outcomes and uses information technology to provide doctors and patients with access to complete medical records online. Clinic stop WAtCH Gladwell favors a ‘Cezanne approach’ to healthcare reform The man who wrote about decisions made in the blink of an eye is advocating a slow and steady approach to healthcare reform. Malcolm Gladwell spoke recently of healthcare reform and healthcare IT at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ Institute 2007 in Las Vegas. Gladwell, who is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of The Tipping Point and Blink, suggested the country might benefit from more patience when it comes to transformation. “I worry that the national conversation is taking the wrong way,” he said. DATE: 7/05/07 More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: WeBBrIeFS 0807 Bill calls for healthcare It trusts By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor waShINGtON ● – A bill introduced in the House last month would create healthcare information technology trusts to manage the exchange of medical records. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat who represents the Third District in Kansas, introduced the legislation. Under the Independent Health Record Trust Act, individuals would have the option of submitting their medical records to be managed electronically by health record trusts. In turn, these trusts would ensure the security, confidentiality and privacy of the medical information. Health information technology has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of healthcare for all Americans by sig- nificantly reducing medical errors, reducing wasteful administrative costs and ensuring that appropriate and accurate information is available for medical decisions, Moore said. “I believe Paul Ryan that there is no better way to transition the medical community from paper-based medical records than by adopting independent health record trusts.” Rep. Paul Ryan, a Republican representing the First District in Wisconsin, and 33 bipartisan colleagues joined Moore in introducing the bill in the House. Moore said the bill has garnered the support of a large coalition of healthcare and TrusTs see page 6 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7506

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - August 2007

Contents AHIC Redux IT Saving Lives IT, Wal-Mart Style OR Workflow Counting on Quality PHR Position Tapping Talent Slimming Down E-Prescribing Claims Processing

Healthcare IT News - August 2007

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