iSoft to launch RadCentre in the Netherlands

“Health IT specialist iSoft says it will launch its RadCentre radiology information system in the Netherlands this autumn.
RadCentre is a modern, scalable product designed for use in practices and hospitals. The system is said to be in use by more than 200 healthcare organisations across Europe.”
Article
Jon Hoeksma, e-Health Europe, 9 October 2008

Italian GPs get digital x-rays online

“Carestream Health and Italy’s San Salvatore Hospital have announced the development of a new radiology information system module that enables GPs to book digital x-ray examinations and get results back online.”
Article
e-Health Europe

La mayor parte de las aplicaciones de telemedicina que se realizan en Cataluña son entre médicos

“El 46,2 por ciento de las entidades sanitarias de Cataluña ya llevan a cabo aplicaciones de telemedicina, que se realizan principalmente entre médicos (21,2 por ciento), entre un paciente y su médico local con un médico de referencia (13,5) y entre un paciente y un médico local (11,5 por ciento). Esta es una de las principales conclusiones del Mapa de Tendencias 2008 de la Fundación Tic Salut, dependiente de la Administración sanitaria, que se ha presentado en la sede de CaixaForum en Barcelona. El informe se basa en encuestas realizadas a centros hospitalarios y de Atención Primaria y tiene el objetivo de conocer el nivel de desarrollo de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en las organizaciones sanitarias de Cataluña e identificar y presentar las tendencias mundiales.”
Article (Spanish)
El Médico interactivo, 5 July 2008

From data to decisions: introducing Knowledge Management to effect superior operations in a radiology department

“Abstract
Contemporary healthcare organisations have to develop an ability to intelligently use the knowledge assets already inherent within them as well as incorporate the new data and information they create daily. To do this effectively, superior tools and methods are required while Knowledge Management (KM) presents itself as an ideal enabler for transforming data to sound decisions. KM is based on a paradigm shift in the business environment where knowledge is central to organisational performance and, by way of effective clinical knowledge discovery techniques, can be used as a process that solves organisational problems by analysing data to identify patterns and relationships that can explain and predict behaviour. This paper examines the efficacy of KM for effecting superior operations in a real-life Clinical Radiology Department in the UK.”
Abstract
T. Goodfellow, R.K. Bali, N. Wickramasinghe, R.N.G. Naguib, International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology 2008 - Vol. 1, No.3 pp. 259 - 272, DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2008.016960

For-profit HIEs are the answer, entrepreneur says

“Multi-stakeholder collaboratives? No way.
Public-private partnerships to develop health information exchanges? Forget about it.
For-profit, businesslike HIEs are the way to go in the current environment, according to a company president who says the free enterprise model can deliver results better, faster and cheaper.”
Article
Nancy Ferris, Government Health IT, 8 May 2008

Dedicated PACS Community is Launched for Radiology Professionals

“Medicexchange PLC (Subsidiary of MGT Capital Investments Inc, Amex: MGT) has launched a focussed Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) online community to highlight the most recent information on industrial news, research and clinical updates in this fascinating and fast developing field of radiology.”
Article
PRWeb, 9 March 2008

Bridging Radiology and Public Health: The Emerging Field of Radiologic Public Health Informatics

“Radiology and public health have an emerging opportunity to collaborate, in which radiology’s vast supply of imaging data can be integrated into public health information systems for epidemiologic assessments and responses to population health problems. Fueling the linkage of radiology and public health include (i) the transition from analog film to digital formats, enabling flexible use of radiologic data; (ii) radiology’s role in imaging across nearly all medical and surgical subspecialties, which establishes a foundation for a consolidated and uniform database of images and reports for public health use; and (iii) the use of radiologic data to characterize disease patterns in a population occupying a geographic area at one time and to characterize disease progression over time via follow-up examinations. The backbone for this integration is through informatics projects such as Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms and RadLex constructing terminology libraries and ontologies, as well as algorithms integrating data from the electronic health record and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine Structured Reporting. Radiology’s role in public health is being tested in disease surveillance systems for outbreak detection and bioterrorism, such as the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics. Challenges for radiologic public health informatics include refining the systems and user interfaces, adhering to privacy regulations, and strengthening collaborative relations among stakeholders, including radiologists and public health officials. Linking radiology with public health, radiologic public health informatics is a promising avenue through which radiology can contribute to public health decision making and health policy.”
Abstract
Daniel J. Mollura, John A. Carrino, Diane L. Matuszak, Zaruhi R. Mnatsakanyan, John Eng, Protagoras Cutchis, Steven M. Babin, Carol Sniegoski and Joseph S. Lombardo, Journal of the American College of Radiology, Volume 5, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages 174-181, doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2007.08.020

New partnership to develop technologies for personalized medicine

“Siemens Healthcare and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver are teaming up to develop new imaging, diagnostic and information technologies using genomics, proteomics and integrated research and clinical care.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 13 February 2008

The future isn’t now, Brailer and Lieber say

“I don’t know about you, but if I hear the phrase “transformational change in healthcare” one more time, I might lose my cool.
So it was comforting to hear from a couple of healthcare information technology experts that the sound bite for 2008 will be more “steady as she goes” with incremental, instead of sweeping, changes expected in the IT landscape.”
Article
Joseph Conn, Modern Healthcare Online, 8 January 2008

Distribution of Telemedicine in Japan

“Of 1,006 telemedicine projects initiated between 1997 and 2004, 348 were active in 2004, representing a two-fold increase in active programs. There was a four-fold increase in home health and telepathology. Telemedicine is widely distributed in Japan with most serving rural populations, but 30% of the projects in urban areas.
This paper reports the situation of telemedicine in Japan. A comprehensive database search showed that a total of 1,006 telemedicine projects had been implemented from 1997 to 2004. Teleradiology accounted for the largest proportion (37%) of these projects and home-care telemedicine (home telecare) accounted for one third of the total number of projects. The subsequent questionnaire-based survey revealed that 348 projects were active in 2004, indicating a more than twofold increase in the number of ongoing projects from the 151 projects reported in 1997. In particular, the use of home telecare and telepathology has exhibited an approximately fourfold increase since 1997. Telemedicine was most common in remote areas, although approximately 30% of the projects were implemented within urban areas. The number of telemedicine projects peaked twice: in municipalities with populations ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 and in municipalities with populations ranging from 100,000 to 300,000. However, with regard to the population density, there was no characteristic distribution of implementation. The present data suggest that in Japan, there are various population sizes and densities for which telemedicine may be valuable.”
Abstract
Takashi Hasegawa, Sumio Murase. Telemedicine and e-Health. 2007, 13(6): 695-702. doi:10.1089/tmj.2007.0013

Virtually always available

“Virtual Radiologic Corp. has made a booming business of sending medical images to radiologists, which is an increasingly popular way to overcome the growing shortage of doctors who are available to read scans around the clock.”
Article
Thomas Lee, Star Tribune, 16 December 2007

Los nuevos hospitales tendrán imagen médica centralizada

The new Madrid hospitals will have centralized medical imaging diagnostics.

“La Consejería de Sanidad de Madrid aprovechará la interconexión informática con que nacen los nuevos hospitales para centralizar la interpretación de las pruebas de diagnóstico por imagen en el servicio del Hospital del Norte, de San Sebastián de los Reyes.”
Article
Alain Ochoa, Diario Medico, 4 October 2007

The forefront of a medical revolution

“Someday, researchers say, doctors using sophisticated diagnostic and data analysis tools will be able to precisely identify a disease and tailor treatment to a person’s biological particulars.”
Article
Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle, 11 August 2007