Healthcare IT News - December 2007 - (Page 1)

Newsmakers: HHS Secretary makes the cut page 19 Published in partnership with tHE NEwS SOuRCE fOR HEAltHCARE iNfORMAtiON tECHNOlOGy n DeCeMber 2007 New kids on the block The board elects four new members. See who they are and what they hope to accomplish. PAGE 24 News Rural hospitals get $417M boost By fREd BAzzOli, Contributing Editor CHICAGO Paying docs HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt promised government would pay physicians to use EHR. PAGE 3 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last month launched a $417 million telehealth project that government officials say will help rural healthcare providers across the country provide better care. The $417 million has been awarded as grants in 42 states and three U.S. territories. The project is part of the Rural Health Pilot Program. The pilot program is designed to help rural health- Kevin Martin care facilities take advantage of telemedicine programs, electronic health records and other information technology. “In order to receive the benefits of telemedicine, electronic healthcare records and other healthcare benefits, health providers must have access to underlying broadband infrastructure,” Martin said. “Without this underlying infrastructure, efforts to implement these advances in healthcare cannot succeed.” Participating in the program are hospitals, clinics, universities and research centers, behavioral health sites, correctional facility clinics, and community health centers. Martin announced the FCC’s initiative in mid November at RuRAl see page 4 Seal of approval Certification commission certifies six EHRs for use in hospitals. PAGE 4 commeNtary Key to success Leverage IT to handle daily challenges, advises Joanne McCool. PAGE 9 Smartphones gain appeal with more docs By RiCHARd Pizzi, Associate Editor DALLAS HosPItaLs & IDNs Stage 4 Intermountain Healthcare’s projects with GE Healthcare are ready to take on additional challenges. PAGE 11 PHysIcIaN PractIces & ambuLatory care Stark payoff Physicians in North Carolina to reap benefit from relaxation of Stark regulations. PAGE 15 Payers Real-time trend The trend in claims is to adjudicate right away. PAGE 30 VeNDors On the block Philips plans to auction off its 60 percent share in transcription company MedQuist. PAGE 33 CliNiCAl toolkit Picture perfect Picture archiving systems’ performance is tied to workflow. PAGE 36 – As mobile communications devices become ubiquitous in society at large, it shouldn’t be surprising that physicians are using mobile technology at higher rates than ever before. And soon, Alex Kasten Internet-enabled “smartphone” technology may be leading the mobile pack. According to a recent study by the Dallas-based Diffusion Group, smartphones will become essential weapons in the physician’s arsenal in the next few years. By 2011, the study estimates that close to 70 percent of active physicians will use smartphones, up from the approximately 49 percent of doctors that currently use the devices. “The new breed of physician is technologically savvy, and the smartphone is considered just another part of the toolkit,” said Alex Kasten, Diffusion Group analyst and author of Defining the SMARt see page 16 Mitch Wilder, MD, of Diagnostic Imaging in Shreveport, La. is looking at several X-Ray images of a patient at Homer Memorial Hospital in Homer, La. Homer Memorial is one of 24 Louisiana hospitals that are rolling out electronic health records systems that will make it possible for all hospitals to share data. At the top of the map are the seven northern and central communities in the first stage of the project. Linking Louisiana hospitals By BERNiE MONEGAiN, Editor – Seven community hospitals in central and northern Louisiana have launched IT projects at their rural hospitals that the administrators and staff could only have imagined a couple of years ago. Twenty-four hospitals, members of the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition, will be automating their medical records and eventually connecting to one another to share data. The $13 million in seed SHREVEPORT, LA money for the project comes from state supplemental funds. Administrators, doctors and staff at the hospitals recognized they needed to go digital, said Doug Efferson, administrator at Homer Memorial Hospital in Homer. They just didn’t have the money up front to do anything about it, he said, noting that most small hospitals are lucky to operate on a 1 percent margin. “This gets us over the initial lOuiSiANA see page 12 MANAGEMENt Solutions Cardinal boosts its infection watch By ERiC wiCKluNd, Managing Editor DUBLIN, OH Head of the class Healthcare, seen as lagging behind on the IT front, is ahead of others with wireless technology. PAGE 37 www.HealthcareItNews.com MedTech Publishing Company / Vol. 4 No. 12 – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of every 20 patients admitted to a hospital contracts an infection caused by exposure to the healthcare setting. And for every 1,000 patients, 46 are either infected or colonized with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a much more serious infection that’s responsible for an estimated 94,000 life-threatening conditions and 18,650 deaths each year, according to the American Medical Association. Little wonder, then, hospitals take the threat of infection very seriously. Cardinal Health, Inc. is taking an IT approach to targeting infections with its new MRSA Scorecard, an add-on to its MedMined data mining service, now in use in some 250 hospitals in the country. The Scorecard uses Cardinal Health’s Nosocomial Infection Marker iNfECtiONS see page 34 ImPact of reaL-tIme PatIeNt moNItorINg Don’t know None of the above Provide condition updates during unit transfers Identify patients at risk for hospital acquired infections Monitoring signs of adverse drug effects 6% 11% 21% 23% 39% e l Connect: gRapHS 1207 SOURCE: HIMSS Vantage Point - OCtObER 2007 http://www.healthcareitnews.com

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Healthcare IT News - December 2007 Contents Paying Docs Seal of Approval Key to Success Stage 4 Stark Payoff New Kids on the Block Real-time Trend On the Block Picture Perfect Head of the Class

Healthcare IT News - December 2007

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