Cleveland Clinic Selects Top Medical Innovations for
2009
Cleveland.com
Physicians and consultants affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic
announced their list of the top 10 cost-effective innovations that
could greatly benefit patients in 2009, including plans for a
comprehensive, national health care information exchange.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1226568655266710.xml&coll=2
Political Temperature May Be Just Right for Healthcare
Overhaul
Los Angeles Times
When Barack Obama takes office in January, healthcare reform
will join a list of priorities that include a ballooning budget
deficit and an economy mired in one of the worst slowdowns since
the Great Depression. But the bleak environment may paradoxically
spur the kind of costly, sweeping overhaul of the nation's
healthcare system that has eluded policymakers in Washington for
decades, many political strategists, industry leaders, and
economists say. "Healthcare reform is very much linked to the
broader economic issues that the country is facing," said Todd
Stottlemyer, president of the National Federation of Independent
Business. "Our view is that there is the energy now to make this a
top priority."
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-health18-2008nov18,0,1244119.story
Frost & Sullivan Recognizes StatCom as Healthcare
Technology Innovator of the Year
Frost & Sullivan
Based on its recent analysis of the hospital management systems
market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes StatCom with the 2008 North
American Frost & Sullivan Award for Healthcare Technology
Innovation of the Year for its development of a Hospital Operations
System that enables all patients to collectively flow at their best
possible rate with regard to service, quality, safety, and resource
consumption. "The StatCom solution transcends the current patient
flow solutions by effectively facilitating interactions between and
across departments to reduce errors, improve patient satisfaction,
and improve hospital operational and financial performance," says
Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst, Miriam C. Nagel.
http://www.frost.com
Federal Study Details Barriers to Health Care IT
Adoption
Diana Manos, HealthcareITNews
A study released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality found that patients not seeing the benefit of using health
IT to manage their health conditions is a barrier to adoption by
doctors and patients. The study was conducted by Oregon Health and
Science University's Evidence-Based Practice Center. Researchers
found the most common factor influencing the successful use of
interactive technology by the special populations occurred when
consumers perceived a benefit from using the system. Convenience
was also an important factor.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10423
IT Infrastructure Needed for Potential Public Health
Emergencies
Kathryn Foxhall, Government Health IT
Local communities will be in danger during a public health
crisis because of a shortage of relevant information technologies,
according to Department of Homeland Security officials. Maribeth
Love, deputy director of HHS's office of preparedness and emergency
operations, says her office is trying to come up with IT solutions
that bridge the gap between when a disaster hits and when the
federal government responds. "We have serious health communications
and IT infrastructure issues to deal with," she said.
http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350680-1.html
Survey: PHR Adoption Could Lead To Big
Savings
Health Data Management
The widespread adoption of personal health records could save
the U.S. health care system more than $19 billion annually after
expenses, according to a new survey by the Center for Information
Technology Leadership at Partners Healthcare System. Start-up costs
to provide interoperable PHRs to 80% of the population would total
$3.7 billion, the study estimates.
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/PHRs27281-1.html
Donald Berwick: Curing the Healthcare
System
Business Week
Consider the problem of how to move patients through a hospital
efficiently, from patient admission to the emergency room through
surgery and recovery to discharge. ERs in the U.S. are typically
operating beyond their capacity, and hospitals often respond by
expanding the ER to accommodate more patients. But this worsens the
problem by bringing more patients into the system (who will
ultimately need more operating rooms or in-patient beds) and adds
to hospital costs because more patients end up "parked" in
expensive ER beds as they wait to be transferred. To solve the
problem, IHI studied how hotels manage patient flow and found that
the answer lay in eliminating unnecessary fluctuations in
demand.
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/nov2008/id20081117_820750.htm
Uninsured Not To Blame for Long Emergency
Waits
Reuters, Julie Steenhuysen
Contrary to conventional wisdom, hospital emergency departments
in the United States are not overrun by uninsured people with minor
ailments who want free treatment, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, contradict widespread assumptions that the nation's 46
million uninsured are to blame for long wait times and overcrowding
in U.S. hospital emergency departments. "In spite of a common
belief, the uninsured don't cause emergency department
overcrowding. They are not showing up with non-urgent conditions.
They are not overwhelming the emergency department," said Dr. Manya
Newton of the University of Michigan, who led the study, in a
telephone interview.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE49K7WL20081021?sp=true
St. Clair Hospital Unveils New State-Of-The-Art
Emergency Wing
Pop City
The seventh largest hospital in Southwestern Pa., St. Clair's
emergency room is the busiest in the region, having treated 52,000
patients in 2008. The $13.5 million center will increase the
capacity to 46 patient treatment rooms, 30 equipped for everything
up to acute adult care, six for pediatric needs and three for
behavioral and mental health. The facility is equipped to
accommodate 80,000 visits per year. Perhaps the most impressive
feature is the increased efficiency of emergency operations, or
door to doctor time. One of the first hospital's in the region to
embrace the Toyota Production Model, a patient-care method promoted
by the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative, St. Clair expects
to drastically reduce the bane of all emergency rooms, wait
time.
http://www.popcitymedia.com/timnews/stclairhosp1119.aspx
Nursing and Technology
Carolyn Bloch blog
Nurses agreed that technology is absolutely essential to be able
to retain nurses and to generally help the workforce. However
specifically, they want to see the rapid retrieval of data at the
point-of-care, the use of smart voice activated devices-especially
wireless devices, the use of technology to do accurate tracking and
scheduling, improved interoperable, integrated, and globally
accessible communication systems, functionality that eliminates
"work arounds," and more robots used in hospitals. Nurses would
like to see hospital executives and technology vendors listen to
the staff when designing and installing equipment. Essentially
nurses want to be partners up front in the design of the technology
and demand that the vendor's products be thoroughly developed,
tested, and affordable.
http://telemedicinenews.blogspot.com/2008/11/nursing-and-technology.html
More Hospitals Use Electronic Tracking
Systems
Wall Street Journal
More hospitals have started to use electronic tracking systems,
including infrared sensors and RFID tags, to monitor medical
equipment and laboratory specimens, as well as to locate patients
and staff. The increased use of these systems, however, has raised
some concerns related to privacy and safety, as tracking technology
could disrupt the operation of medical devices or be used to access
personal information.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122645364411819495.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Even the C-suite Isn't Safe
Carrie Vaughan, HealthLeaders Media
Hospitals are looking at every way possible to keep their
organizations financially stable. Unfortunately, for many
providers, staying financially stable has meant cutting service
lines and laying off employees. What's interesting is that these
cuts aren't just happening in housekeeping or food service. Many
hospitals are trimming staff from administrative levels-even as
high up as the C-suite.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/223478/topic/WS_HLM2_LED/Even-the-Csuite-Isnt-Safe.html
Health IT Group CEO Urges Obama to Alter Health IT
Strategy
Health Data Management
C. Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Medical Records Institute, sent a
letter to President-elect Barack Obama offering advice on how to
promote health IT adoption, Health Data Management reports. In the
Nov. 11 letter, Waegemann writes, "A new start is needed that
corrects the well-intentioned but misguided strategies of the
Office of the National Coordinator and its affiliates that have
contributed to slowing the transition to electronically supported
health care." He adds, "Your new administration has the capacity
and opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past and to create
new strategy for health information technology."
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/NHIN27273-1.html
Global CEOs Cautiously Optimistic for
Growth
Rick Johnson, for HealthLeaders Media
Well, the next U.S. president won't be the only one wrestling
with the economy. CEOs of international health systems are closely
tracking the financial markets, and those I've recently connected
with expect that new business development will be challenging. Some
are putting new deals on hold. At the same time, many of these
health leaders are optimistic that capital access will improve soon
and new growth plans will return.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/222755/topic/WS_HLM2_GBL/Global-CEOs-Cautiously-Optimistic-for-Growth.html