Healthcare IT News - September 2008 - (Page 38) 38 Healthcare IT News September 2008 ■ www.HealthcareITNews.com NEWSBRIEFS vaRolII aIdS phaRmacIES WIth adhERENcE outREach The Varolii Corporation of Seattle has launched Varolii Adherence Outreach, a fully managed, on-demand patient notification service designed to help retail, mail-order and specialty pharmacies improve prescription medication adherence through improved communications with patients. The company’s software allows pharmacies to welcome new patients, pass along news and timesensitive information, update records and connect with non-adherent patients through phone, text messages and e-mail. Stratus looks for healthcare boost with Avance By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor MAYNARD, MA – Medical practices can’t afford hp dEployS aRchIvINg at gEoRgIa’S gWINNEtt cENtER HP is helping Georgia’s Gwinnett Medical Center manage its growing repository of digitized medical data through use of the company’s Medical Archive platform. Gwinnett, a hospital with four acute-care facilities in Georgia’s Gwinnett County, is using the platform to improve access to information, reduce data storage costs and meet regulatory compliance standards. Officials say the hospital systems has reduced its resources for managing and storing data by 25 percent by moving its cardiology and radiology image archives to the HP platform. Cardinal Health considers spinoff downtime – either financially or medically. And few, if any, have IT personnel on hand should disaster strike. Stratus Technologies, Inc. of Maynard, Mass. is targeting that nightmare with its Avance software, a high-availability (HA) product that uses embedded virtualization thE NEWS: Stratus markets Avance to healthcare. ➔ What It mEaNS: High-availability software ➔ would help physicians’ practices keep their IT assets up and running at all times. and x86 servers to allow continued access to critical data. “There is certainly a need in the healthcare sector for approaching six nines of availability,” said Lee Kaminsky, Stratus’ Avance project manager. “Virtualization is the buzzword out there now, and the ability to consolidate servers … makes this a very strong play in the healthcare space.” Released this past June, Avance is designed to allow customers to create and avaNCE see page 40 Network data security is a top concern for IT professionals New survey shows organizations continuing to invest in securing applications, data and networks. Network virtualization Having reliable and secure wireless access Having current network technologies Ability to hire and keep quality network support staff Data storage Human error by network users Securing networks and data 3.7% 5.7% 6.4% 12.1% 12.1% 19.6% 32.8% Company may split clinical, medical products from drug business. By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor DUBLIN, OH – Combating medical infections in healthcare settings is proving to be profitable for Cardinal Health, which is considering splitting its clinical and medical products units off from the troubled – and much larger – drug distribution business. The Dublin, Ohio-based vendor announced last month that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income had fallen 64 percent, in part because of its pharmaceutical segment, and the company expects that segment to continue to struggle through the first half of 2009. The company is the second largest U.S. distributor of prescription medicines, behind McKesson. Net income for the fiscal fourth quarter fell to $326.6 million, or 91 cents a share, down from $902.2 million, or $2.33 a share, just one year earlier. Part of that decrease was caused by the $3.3 billion sale of a drugpacking unit, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc., which inflated last year’s earnings. In July, the company consolidated its businesses into two primary operating and reporting segments – the healthcare supply chain services segment, which spINoff see page 39 gE hEalthcaRE acquIRES vItal SIgNS, INc. GE Healthcare has acquired Vital Signs, Inc., a Totowa, N.J.-based developer of single patient-use products for anesthesia, respiratory care, sleep therapy and emergency medicine, for roughly $860 million. The company will be folded into Londonbased GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business, and is considered by GE officials to be another cog in the healthcare giant’s high-tech portfolio. The acquisition is expected to close during the latter part of 2008 and add about $230 million in revenues and 1,200 employees to GE Healthcare’s business. e ● Connect: GraPHS 0908 N = 934, conducted June 3 through August 25. Source: computing technology induStry ASSociAtion. Carestream goes for mobility with wireless DrX-1 system By ErIC WICkluNd, Managing Editor ROCHESTER, NY – Healthcare providers struggling to provide up-to-date X-ray services might find a solution in the Carestream DRX-1, a cassettesized wireless DR detector that’s designed to do the work of an entire digital radiology suite. “Everyone wants a DR suite, but they’re too expensive” for many smaller hospitals and healthcare facilities, said Todd Minnigh, worldwide director of marketing in digital radiography for Rochester, N.Y.-based Carestream Health. “They’ll use CR (computed radiography) instead to kind of fill in.” The DRX-1 system incorporates a console and wireless 14-by-17-inch, cassette-sized digital radiography (DR) detector that allows for quick conversion of radiographic film or CR systems, delivering fully processed preview images in three seconds. The 8.5-pound device is up to 30 percent lighter than other portable detectors and about half their size, said Minnigh, and can be used with existing wall-stand or table-based Buckys. They’re designed for use with custom-made batteries – about the size of a large cellphone battery – that can take about 90 images and be changed out in 90 seconds. Images are transmitted as DICOM files to a PACS or storage device pERcEptIvE SoFtWaRE dEployS ImagENoW at doctoRS oF uSc Perceptive Software, based in Shawnee, Kan., has announced that the University of Southern California Care Medical Group, Inc., will deploy the company’s ImageNow enterprise document management, imaging and workflow software in its accounts payable and human resources departments. Known as the Doctors of USC, the organization numbers more than 500 physicians and serves as faculty members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. USC will implement ImageNow and integrate the software with its Lawson core business application. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: VeNDorS 0908 Carestream Health’s new DRX-1, a cassette-sized wireless DR detector, is designed to do the work of an entire radiology suite at a fraction of the cost. ● The system costs about $125,000, Minnigh said, which amounts to roughly one-third of the cost of a full DR suite. ‘This innovative wireless detector presents an extremely attractive option for facilities that want to improve productivity and image quality in existing film or CR rooms, but do not have the budget for equipment replacement,” said Diana L. Nole, president of Carestream Health’s digital medical solutions division. “No modifications to existing xray systems are needed and facilities can continue to use the Bucky with CR or film-based cassettes drX-1 see page 39 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9915
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