Delivering improved healthcare through nationwide EHRs will be a long, complex and iterative process requiring flexibility and local adaptability both with respect to the systems and the implementation strategy, according to research published online Sept. 2 in the British Medical Journal.   Read more...

The Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., has purchased Digisonics’ DigiView CVIS/PACS and structured reporting system to provide image analysis and structured reporting with measurement options for vascular studies.   Read more...

Healthcare organizations should disclose medical mistakes that affect multiple patients even if patients were not harmed by the event, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) funded research paper published in the Sept. 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.   Read more...

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Sept. 2 that Cincinnati and Detroit are the two final pilot communities selected under the new Beacon Community Program that is using health IT to help tackle leading health problems in communities across the U.S.   Read more...

UnitedHealth Group will invest $10 million to help California’s critical access hospitals improve their health IT systems and adopt EHRs.   Read more...

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced three sets of grants and cooperative agreements, totaling nearly $17 million for patient-centered outcomes research.   Read more...

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) has launched a non-profit, wholly owned subsidiary organization, called the Global Health Informatics Partnership, to serve as an international center for collaborative initiatives on healthcare informatics.   Read more...

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has launched Quality 101, an online resource for the basics and metrics of quality measurement and improvement.   Read more...

Iasis Healthcare, which operates 16 healthcare facilities across six states, has selected QuadraMed's coding, compliance and reporting technologies to improve coding practices and transition to the ICD-10 code sets in 2013.   Read more...

The FDA has cleared Haldor Advanced Technologies’ ORLocate, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system that accounts for items used during surgery to reduce incidence of surgical items left inside patients.   Read more...

The IVD Industry Connectivity Consortium (IICC) has appointed Eric Olson, vice president of informatics and eBusiness for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, as its president.   Read more...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a reminder to healthcare providers, health plans, clearinghouses and vendors about the approaching January 2011 compliance date for testing transaction standards.   Read more...

Royal Philips Electronics has released its upgraded cardiac ultrasound, the iE33 xMATRIX cardiac ultrasound system, which now offers a X5-1 transducer for adult echocardiograms, at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC) this week in Stockholm.   Read more...

The Certification Commission for Health IT (CCHIT) has been recognized by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as an Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB) under the initial certification program created to certify that EHRs are capable of meeting the criteria to support meaningful use and qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.   Read more...

CAS Medical Systems has appointed Thomas M. Patton president, CEO and a member of its board of directors, effective Aug. 27.   Read more...

Vision Facilities Management has started a new two-way communication interface with ECRI Institute to improve the ability of hospital staff to manage medical device safety alerts and recalls.   Read more...

Welch Allyn has lanched Connex Electronic Vitals Documentation System to capture and transmit patient data to EMRs to provide clinicians in non-critical settings with access to vital signs.   Read more...

On average, hospital stays for patients with healthcare-acquired infections were 19.2 days longer and the cost was nearly $43,000 greater than stays without infections, according to a statistical brief released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).   Read more...

A personal health record (PHR) embedded in mobile communication devices--or mPHR--is the “killer app” that may change the game for providers, consumers and payors, according to an issue brief from consulting firm Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, based in Washington, D.C.   Read more...

SonoSite has received FDA clearance for its tracking and guidance technology for peripherally inserted central catheter line procedures, the LumenVu Catheter Guidance System.   Read more...