A third of US hospitals now have EHRs
Jon Hoeksma, e-Health Insider
“A third of US hospitals say they have begun to install an electronic health record.
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Articles
HIMSS survey: Meaningful use a top goal
Christine LaFave Grace, ModernHealthcare
“In an online survey of IT executives and information officers at hospitals across the country, half named meeting meaningful-use requirements for electronic health-record systems as their top IT priority for the next two years.
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E-health must be a priority, researchers say
EurekAlert!
“An electronic health record system should be the backbone of health care reform in Canada and more must be done to speed up the implementation of this initiative across the country. Furthermore for this system to be put in place effectively, doctors and front line health care workers and administrators must be encouraged to play a more active role.
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A qualitative study of Canada’s experience with the implementation of electronic health information technology
Rozenblum R et al, CMAJ, 183(5)
Background:
In 2001, Canada Health Infoway unveiled a plan to implement a national system of interoperable electronic health records. This government-funded corporation introduced a novel model for interprovincial/territorial collaboration to establish core aspects of a national framework. Despite this $1.6 billion initiative, Canada continues to lag behind other Western countries in adopting electronic health records. We conducted a study to identify the success of different aspects of the Canadian plan and ways to improve the adoption of electronic health records.
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On “public health”, how much concern is too much?
Jeff Rowe, Healthcare IT HITECHWatch
“One of the many potential benefits HIT proponents like to cite as a reason for pushing providers to go “digital” is that it will assist efforts to improve the overall health of the nation’s citizens.
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Rural healthcare advances
The Daily Siftings Herald
“Thanks to a $495,926 USDA telemedicine grant, Mercy will be able to provide 900 people in some of the nation’s most hard-to-reach rural areas medical care like they’ve never known before.
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Medical data debates: Big is better? Small is beautiful?
Webster PC, Kondro W. CMAJ, 183(5)
“Canada Health Infoway’s plans for highly-centralized electronic health records (EHR) systems within each province containing patient records that can be shared nationwide may not be feasible, a chorus of experts say.
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New report identifies risks linked with privacy and security breaches in health care
ash, biomedme.com
“A new report, “Privacy and Security in Health Care: A Fresh Look,” released today by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, identifies the risks associated with privacy and security breaches in health care.
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HIMSS: EHR is omnipresent; imaging nearly invisible
Cynthia E. Keen, AuntMinnie
“The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is holding its annual meeting this week in the world’s capital of wonder, magic, and make believe. The event is attracting what’s expected to be a record crowd of up to 35,000 healthcare IT professionals to discuss what is increasingly becoming a reality: electronic health records (EHRs).
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Exchange: What’s in a Word?
Mark E. Frisse, Xerox
“The Health Information Exchange, (HIE) at HIMSS11 appears noticeably different than the HIE of HIMSS past. HIE will be ubiquitous. It is not just a topic for a Sunday session any more. Of the 26 sessions that listed HIE as a topic, only eight were specific to the topic. The dedicated Sunday session seemed informative but predictable. Speakers provided perspectives from the federal government, states, and stakeholders. The session also included a Town Hall Meeting, a treatment of consumer engagement, and – my favorite topic – financial sustainability.
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Name Change Alert: Medical Transcription is now Clinical Documentation
EMR Daily News
“The Clinical Documentation Industry Association, or the CDIA, has announced the launch of a new industry trade association dedicated to ensuring the accuracy, consistency and security of clinical documentation contained within all patient health records.
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Patiënt niet aan roer bij EPD
Heleen Croonen, Medisch Contact
“Volledige controle over de eigen gezondheidsgegevens voor patiënten is een illusie, hij zal hem altijd moeten delen met de zorgverlener.
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Some SHARP ideas for health IT
Mike Miliard, Healthcare IT News
“Several leaders of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects Program (SHARP) showed HIMSS11 attendees how they are – in the words of Charles Friedman, PhD, chief science officer of the ONC – “moving the needle forward” on breakthrough healthcare technology.
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Health apps are about as effective as public health ads.
Jay Parkinson, The Future Well
“Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong’s Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There’s no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens.
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Veterans get mobile access to their eHealth records
Lucas Mearian, Computerworld
“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced a new online feature that allows active duty and retired service members to access their electronic health records (EHRs) with the click of a mouse.
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The Problem With Electronic Medical Records
Carolyn Roy-Bornstein, CommonHealth
“There was a story in The Boston Globe last week about “alarm fatigue.” In hospitals across the country, alarms designed to alert staff to critical changes in patients’ vital signs are often not heeded, lost among the many beeps and blares that have become background noise in emergency rooms and ICUs everywhere. In the hospital setting, warnings sound for all kinds of things from low batteries on infusion pumps to IV fluids running low.
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Health information and health care: The role of technology in unlocking data and wellness
United Nations Foundation
Around the world, countless lives are lost due to insufficient access to quality health information. The availability of accurate, timely, and analyzed data is directly relevant to the quality of an individual’s health and the healthcare system in general, the delivery of individual care, and the understanding and management of overall health systems.
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Opinion: Docs Need to Get with the Internet Program
Kevin Pho, AOL News
“If you woke up one day with an earache, you could call your doctor’s office for help.
Or you could do what the majority of patients do today and Google what to do first. Type “earache” into your Web browser and the results can vary wildly.
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Text message reminders double HIV re-testing rates in gay men
Michael Carter, Aidsmap
“Text message reminders significantly increase re-testing rates in gay men for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), Australian investigators report in the online edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Testing rates were twice as high among men who received the reminders than in men who did not.
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Short message service reminder intervention doubles sexually transmitted infection/HIV re-testing rates among men who have sex with men
Bourne C et al, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2011
Objectives
To evaluate the impact of a short message service (SMS) reminder system on HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) re-testing rates among men who have sex with men (MSM).
Methods
The SMS reminder programme started in late 2008 at a large Australian sexual health clinic. SMS reminders were recommended 3-6 monthly for MSM considered high-risk based on self-reported sexual behaviour. The evaluation compared HIV negative MSM who had a HIV/STI test between 1 January and 31 August 2010 and received a SMS reminder (SMS group) with those tested in the same time period (comparison group) and pre-SMS period (pre-SMS group, 1 January 2008 and 31 August 2008) who did not receive the SMS. HIV/STI re-testing rates were measured within 9 months for each group. Baseline characteristics were compared between study groups and multivariate logistic regression used to assess the association between SMS and re-testing and control for any imbalances in the study groups.
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