November 2007
Raising Efficiency. Raising Capacity. Raising the Bar.
Survey Says Hospitals Could Improve Patient Tracking
Hospitals could do a better job of tracking patients, according to a new study released Monday by StatCom. Fifty-eight percent of the healthcare executives surveyed for StatCom's 2007 National Survey of Patient Throughput and Capacity Challenges reported that their facilities do not have the ability to track patient flow continuously. Additionally, 53 percent of the executives surveyed rated their hospital's efficiency at the bed-turn process as poor or fair, the study found. The study also discovered that 67 percent of executives polled report phone calls and voice messages are still the most common way of tracking patients.
Diana Manos, HealthcareITNews
20 People Who Make Healthcare Better
Who is finding innovative solutions to healthcare’s myriad problems? Who is showing courage in the face of daunting challenges? In short, who is genuinely making a difference in healthcare? The HealthLeaders 20 offers a snapshot of people from multiple corners of the industry who have made healthcare better in ways both large and small. In some cases, their opinions and actions have raised eyebrows—or even drawn sharp criticism.
HealthLeaders Magazine
U.S. Healthcare Payers to Limit IT Investments in 2008
Although top U.S. healthcare payers reported pricing transparency initiatives in 2007, they face challenges in 2008 that will limit information technology investments. The study, conducted by Health Industry Insights, surveyed 79 of the largest and most active of U.S. healthcare payers in both business and technology innovation and investment. It examined investment and execution priorities, strategies, barriers and likely future trends through 2009.
Molly Merrill, HealthcareITNews
Duke Offers $596 Million Hospital Plan
Duke University Health System has proposed the biggest expansion at its flagship hospital in a quarter century to keep pace with a growing and aging population. The health system is asking the state for permission to spend $596 million on a 548,420-square-foot, seven-story building that will increase its capacity to serve patients.
The News & Observer
Progress in Physician IT Adoption Looks Bleak, Preliminary Data Show
Preliminary data show that despite broad encouragement, physician adoption of health IT did not increase much from 2006, David Blumenthal of the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy. Obstacles to EHR adoption are significantly financial, with 69% of the early respondents citing a lack of funding as the reason they have not adopted EHRs.
Fred Bazzoli, Healthcare IT News
New Orleans' Ochsner Leads with Master Patient Index
Ochsner Health System’s new patient index system is going live this month with 2.7 million records. It means the patient records will be available anywhere throughout the extensive health systems hospitals and clinics. Hospital administrators and staff knew the ability to identify and track patients throughout the expanded Ochsner would enable the health system to provide the highest level of care. In order to share and manage patient data, Ochsner tapped IBM and Initiate Systems to create an Enterprise MasterPatient Index, or EMPI.
Patty Enrado, HealthcareITNews
Federal EHR Initiative Draws Skepticism from IT Insiders
A plan announced this week by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to provide financial incentives for electronic health record use has been touted as a major step forward in the federal health IT agenda. But some health IT insiders say the initiative targets too few physicians and won't have a major impact.
Joseph Conn, Modern Healthcare
Nurses Call for Say in Healthcare IT Development
Leaders from the American Academy of Nursing are calling for greater awareness of how healthcare IT can be designed with the nurse in mind. Linda Burnes Bolton, president of AAN said improvement to a nurse’s practice environment would increase patient safety and help to retain nurses. Bolton said healthcare IT can help nurses dispense medication and check on patients, but only when the IT is designed intuitively for nurses. Otherwise, nurses will “go around” the technology and not use it.
Diana Manos, HealthcareITNews
Health IT Bill Stalls in the Senate, Negotiations Continue
Health care technology legislation that was expected to pass the Senate last week has instead stalled as lawmakers continue negotiations. The Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S 1693), sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), failed in two attempts last week to be "hotlined." Hotlining a bill indicates that it has the support of the entire Senate and allows for quick approval. The bill would cost $317 million over five years, the Congressional Budget Office projects.
iHealthBeat
Physicians Need IT to Succeed in Consumer-driven Healthcare Environment
Healthcare in the 21st century will be driven increasingly by consumerism, and healthcare professionals will need to adopt IT tools if they are to practice effectively in this new environment, said the Cleveland Clinic’s chief information officer. Martin Harris, MD, Cleveland Clinic CIO and executive director of eCleveland Clinic, told online attendees at the HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo that healthcare has “lagged behind” other industries in implementing technology that allows consumers to get more involved in their care. He warned that if the problem was not remedied, physicians could lose business.
Richard Pizzi, HealthcareITNews
Healthways Taps IBM for WebSphere Portal
IBM and business partner Mainsoft Corp. announced today that Healthways has crossed the .NET-Java EE software standards divide to deploy a multimillion patient health and wellness portal for its members. IBM and Mainsoft are working together to ensure interoperability between proprietary and open standards-based software systems, which can help healthcare providers to better integrate patient records and deliver healthcare information.
Bernie Monegain, HealthcareITNews
National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) Spearheading Initiative to Develop Standardized Terms
So, what exactly is an EHR? A PHR? An EMR? What does “Health Information Exchange” or “RHIO” mean to you or your organization? Well, thanks to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT), all of these terms should soon mean the same things to all of us. The two organizations are spearheading an initiative to develop standardized definitions for these increasingly popular health information technology terms in the hope that doing so will help advance the proliferation of health care IT.
NAHIT
CCHIT Announces Inpatient EHR Certifications
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has released the names of six in-patient electronic health-record products that fully meet CCHIT’s 2007 certification criteria. Representing the first in-patient products that have passed CCHIT inspection, the six EHRs are specifically used for computerized physician order entry, or CPOE, and an electronic medication administration record, or eMAR. The commission said in a news release that it chose to focus certification first on these two areas because CPOE and eMAR have been shown to offer the highest value for care improvement, but have the lowest rate of adoption in hospitals.
Modern Healthcare
More Efficient Patient Care at New McCune-Brooks Hospital
Efficient, effective and highly responsive patient care is the primary architectural design goal for the all-new, soon-to-open McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage, Mo. To fully achieve this objective, the hospital prescribed for itself a secure, highly reliable IP-based wireless voice and data communications solution from Siemens Communications, Inc. in collaboration with Siemens Building Technologies.
Siemens announcement, CNNmoney.com
StatCom is a HIMSS Analytics client and a HMSS platinum sponsor.