ROI Does Not Drive EMR Adoption
Contrary to conventional wisdom, return on investment - or ROI -
does not drive the adoption of electronic medical record systems in
hospitals and physician practices, according Pat Wise, vice
president of Healthcare Information Systems at HIMSS. Wise said
that most healthcare institutions that adopted EMRs did so to
improve patient care and workflow. Yet while ROI was not the
initial impetus behind most transitions from paper, organizations
could measure it post-implementation.
Richard Pizzi,
HealthacareITNews
Staffing Issues Lag Despite Rising Need: PWC
Report
Nurse turnover can cost hospitals between $1.7 million and $5.4
million a year, but as a priority among executives, nurse staffing
lags behind issues such as reimbursement, quality and uncompensated
care, a healthcare consulting giant said in a report on the
industry's workforce, What Works: Healing the Healthcare Staffing
Shortage. Nurse and physician staffing ranked sixth and seventh,
respectively, on a list of key issues, according to a
PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of roughly 240 hospital C-suite
executives and human resources vice presidents.
Report:
http://www.pwc.com/extweb/...
Price Waterhouse Coopers survey,
Modern Healthcare
In Depth Research Report on Radio Frequency
Identification Technology
RFID's applications in the benevolent field of medicine have
also helped reduce response times in crisis situations and have
also helped make doctors track patient progress better. This report
explains the basics of RFID technology and the system components
used in RFID technology which is also further explained in this
report in the system architecture employed in using the RFID
technology. It evaluates the gains made and constraints faced in
the implementation of the RFID technology like interference etc
which are challenges to be overcome by the development industry.
The report also touches upon the ethical use of RFID in consumer
applications wherein several debates have been exercised over the
infringement of borderline privacy issues of consumers by tracking
etc.
Research and Markets
Experts See Danger to Americans' Health
Data
The federal government is working to create a massive database
of medical records with the aim of improving health care, but
privacy experts worry it will be an inviting target for data
thieves who want to steal your medical identity. Identity theft
threatens your bank account and credit rating, but medical identity
theft -- a crime that is quietly spreading like a virus -- can
result in your medical history being changed, putting at risk your
insurance, your health and perhaps even your life.
Newark Star Ledger, J. Scott Orr,
Healthdecisions.org
Area Firm Tests 'Smart Cards' on N.Y.
Patients
In coming months, patients at Mount Sinai Medical Center and
nine other New York City metropolitan hospitals will get a
wallet-size health card that can carry the equivalent of 30 pages
of medical records, everything from blood type to echocardiograms.
The 64-kilobyte card was developed by Siemens Medical Solutions.
About 1,000 cards have been issued so far, and Siemens and Mount
Sinai expect about 5,000 to 10,000 to be distributed by the end of
the year to a regional network of hospitals and clinics that serve
patients of diverse nationalities.
Philly.com
Sicko and Healthcare Reform
Michael Moore's "Sicko" does two things very well. First, the
film makes it clear that in the U.S., even if you have health
insurance, this does not mean that you are "covered." Everyone
knows that many Americans are uninsured. But now, millions of
middle-class Americans are beginning to realize that they are
UNDERinsured, and Moore drives that point home. Secondly, "Sicko"
underlines the signal difference between healthcare in the U.S. and
healthcare in other countries: the citizens of other countries take
a collective view of the problem. Or as Moore puts it, they realize
that when it comes to sickness and dying, all of us are vulnerable.
"In the end, we truly are all in the same boat . . . they live in a
world of 'we' not 'me.'"
Maggie Mahar,
The Healthcare Blog
Healthcare RFID Market Forecast at $1.2B
The healthcare sector represents three percent of the global
active RFID market, according to new research from IDTechEx, a
UK-based consulting firm. 2006 IDTechEx report forecast RFID tags
and services in the healthcare sector would grow from the $90
million market it was then to $2.1 billion by 2016. Among the key
drivers of RFID adoption on the healthcare front, according to
IDTechEx are the "unquantifiable benefits" of safety, security,
reputation and brand protection.
HealthcareITNews
"Hybrid" Medical Records an Option for Some
Hospitals
For those healthcare institutions unwilling or unprepared to
make a complete transition to electronic medical records, a
"hybrid" record - which includes both paper and digital files - may
be an attractive alternative. Unavoidable paper - such as outside
correspondence, consent forms, and immunization records - along
with the unplanned downtimes that can hit any digital system, make
a hybrid record appealing.
Richard Pizzi,
HealthcareITNews
Google Makes Splash in Health Care
Google announced the formation of a Health Advisory Council that
includes an eclectic group of health care insiders. The result has
been speculation on Google's plans ranging from an application for
patients to store their medical information online to the
acquisition of an EMR vendor. The acquisition of an EMR vendor will
render Google just another EMR vendor (admittedly with one with
lots of money). What I wonder is how (or if) Google will go beyond
their brand and Internet application platform to really
differentiate and drive greater adoption of whatever vehicle the
chose for the health care market.
Tim
Gee, Medical
Connectivity Consulting
AMA Lists Risks, Rewards of Human RFID
Implants
The American Medical Association (AMA) this week issued a report
that gave mixed reviews on the use of implanted radio frequency
identification (RFID) based technology to keep track of medical
patients. The report concluded that while implanting the technology
into humans could improve patient care, it also has yet to be
proven safe or secure. "These devices may present physical risks to
the patient," the report said. "Though they are removable, their
small size allows them to migrate under the skin, making them
potentially difficult to extract."
ComputerWorld.com
McKesson Harnesses HP's SOA for Quality
Assurance
McKesson had Hewlett-Packard Co. come in to provide mentoring
and training, "which went very well." The group did its own
research and realized that it could use the HP tools for both
functional and service testing, and it developed a methodology for
early intervention in the software development process. The huge
advantage this gives McKesson is the ability to fully integrate
quality assurance (QA) with development instead of waiting for a
finished version to do rounds of regression testing, bug fixes and
retesting. McKesson can test modules of new application versions
before other pieces are finished.
ComputerWorld.com
HIPAA audit: The 42 questions HHS might ask
Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital became the first institution in the
country to be audited for compliance with the security rules of the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). A
document obtained by Computerworld from a reliable source indicates
that Piedmont was presented with a list of 42 items that HHS
officials wanted information on within 10 days.
ComputerWorld.com
Visit StatCom at AHA Leadership Summit at Booth
#609
July 22-24, 2007
San Diego, CA
Manchester Grand Hyatt
Read More....
2nd Annual Georgia Healthcare Trade Faire & Regional
Conference
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Atlanta, GA
Read more...
Vision Center Visitors Experience Patient Flow Logistics
and Tracking up Close
Equipped with everything from family waiting area displays,
nursing unit area, bed management hub, ED facility, and an OR
suite, this innovative facility was created to showcase the StatCom
solution, the first enterprise solution of its kind which can
manage patient flow logistics and tracking from admissions to
discharge. In this state of the art facility potential customers
can get a realistic feel for how the solution works. The facility
is also used for customer users and StatCom staff training and
testing, as well as a research laboratory.
StatCom