Healthcare IT News - November 2007 - (Page 1) rsNa 2007: at McCormick Place Page 3 Published in partnership with ThE NEwS SouRcE foR hEalThcaRE iNfoRMaTioN TEchNoloGy n NoVeMber 2007 Google Schmidt Google CEO Eric Schmidt among the keynote speakers on the docket for Orlando conference. PaGE 27 News Clooney factor puts privacy on stage When the former ER star landed in the hospital, it put patient rights to the test. By ERic wickluNd, Managing Editor Blueprint The eHealth Initiative has crafted a consensus-built plan for transformaing healthcare. PaGE 3 N ot every hospital gets the opportunity Trial exchange Federal contracts have been awarded to nine data exchanges to test a nationwide network. PaGE 8 commeNtary to take care of George Clooney. And officials at New Jersey’s Palisades Medical Center are probably regretting their brush with fame after learning that some doctors and nurs- Cause of staph infections (July 2004 to December 2005) 13.7% 58.4% 1.3% clooney letters Consider that the invasion of privacy the film star suffered could happen to anyone, say our readers. PaGE 13 HosPItaLs & IDNs IT on infection detail More hospitals turn to technology to help with germ patrol. By BERNiE MoNEGaiN, Editor san Diego es took an unauthorized look at the film star’s medical records during his recent stay following a minor motorcycle accident. Nevertheless, experts say the socalled Clooney incident will teach hospitals and healthcare providers George Clooney a valuable lesson about patient privacy: Make sure you audit. “It’s an evolving issue, and one that’s not going to go away right now,” says Reese Hirsch, a San Francisco-based healthcare law regulatory and transactional expert with the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLP. “Locking down records is often very problematic from a patient standpoint.” At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, which has seen its share of high-profile patients, EMR Director Chuck Suitor says an application feature flags “patients of high interest” during the registration clooNEy see page 10 Palm reading Carolinas HealthCare System employs new technology to securely identify patients. PaGE 15 PHysIcIaN PractIces & ambuLatory care 26.6% dispensing meds Physicians find their electronic record system can help them provide meds in their offices. PaGE 21 Payers e l connect: gRaPHS 1107 SOURCE: JOURnal Of thE MEdiCal aSSOCiatiOn More with less Midwest HMO puts communication to work by automating. PaGE 33 VeNDors Nuance spree Recent acquisition of two companies expected to give Dictaphone products a boost. PaGE 37 Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly called MRSA, on an agar plate. – Hospital clinicians identified tracking infections across the entire hospital as one of their top challenges, according to a recent nationwide survey. Some hospitals are rolling out new technology to help them identify, curb and report the infections, driven in part by government demand for reporting. The survey showed that 22 percent of hospitals use automated monitoring systems to help them track, curb and report infections – up 13 percent from February. Thirty one percent said their healthcare facility had no plans to implement such a system, while 47 percent said they are considering it. A technician at the Centers for Disease Control makes notations on a group of culture plates. According to the CDC, nearly two million infections are acquired each year in hospital settings, causing about 90,000 deaths. San Diego-based Premier Inc, a healthcare alliance that serves 1,700 hospitals, conducted the survey of more than 800 clinicians last month, following an outbreak in schools across the country of a drugresistant type of staph infection – a iNfEcTioN see page 16 cliNical Toolkit Docs’ model for care wins payer buy-in By RichaRd Pizzi, Associate Editor Bridging the miles Telehealth gains traction, especially in rural areas. PaGE 41 MaNaGEMENT Solutions Managing it all Market offers products focused on workforce or encompassing entire enterprise. PaGE 42 www.HealthcareItNews.com MedTech Publishing Company / Vol. 4 No. 11 – The PatientCentered Medical Home, a primary care model physicians across the country are promoting, has garnered support from the nation’s key healthcare payers. Representatives from seven of the nation’s largest health benefits companies last month pledged their support to a national collaborative promoting the medical home model, which is being touted as the way Washington “Primary care that is squarely centered on each patient’s individual needs is the only hope for fixing the broken u.s. healthcare system.” – Paul Grundy, MD to revamp healthcare. “Primary care that is squarely centered on each patient’s individual needs is the only hope for fixing Paul Grundy, MD New Hampshire e-prescribing gets boost By PaTTy ENRado, Contributing Editor ManChester, nh the broken U.S. healthcare system,” said Paul Grundy, MD, chairman of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, and IBM director of Healthcare, Technology and Strategic Planning. “The Patient Centered Medical Home model is foundational to the rebuilding of the nation’s healthcare system.” The seven health benefits companies supporting the model ModEl see page 23 – The New Hampshire Citizens Health Initiative, or NHCHI, and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire have teamed up to encourage physicians in the state to adopt e-preElizabeth scribing. The e-prescrib- Malko, MD ing initiative is a first step to getting all New Hampshire physicians to adopt electronic medical EPREScRiBE see page 34 http://www.healthcareitnews.com
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