) February 17, 2009 -- Living in the "Technology Age" benefits not only daily lives, but also, provides a significantly positive impact on healthcare in the United States. The electronic health record (EHR) offers the ability to track, monitor, trend and improve patient outcomes, as the following examples illustrate.

HIMSS Davies Awards

) September 17, 2008 -- The New Jersey and Delaware Valley Chapters of the national Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) have joined forces to bring regional health information technology professionals together for a two day regional conference entitled The Healthcare Technology Evolution: Smarter Solutions for Better Patient Care on September 18-19, 2008 at Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.

) September 17, 2008 -- The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is sponsoring an Electronic Prescribing Technology Solutions Showcase on October 6-7, 2008 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel & Towers in Boston, MA, during the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National E-Prescribing Conference.

) January 26, 2009 -- With the economic stimulus package under consideration, healthcare IT was one of five domestic priorities identified in Tuesday's inaugural address, with President Obama noting that he is ready to "wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost."

) December 23, 2008 -- Mayo Clinic Web sites recently won awards in several classifications of the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, presented by eHealthcare Strategy & Trends, and two classifications of the W3 (World Wide Web Consortium) Awards, presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts.

Mayo Clinic's medical and professional services site, www.mayoclinic.org, won two W3 awards: a highest-honor "Best in Show" award for copy or writing, and a "Gold" award in the health care services category.

) October 6, 2008 -- Cielo MedSolutions, a provider of healthcare software and web applications, today announced a Preferred Business Affiliate agreement with TransforMED LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Through this relationship, Cielo MedSolutions' customers will have access to TransforMED's practice transformation services. In addition, TransforMED will encourage medical practices implementing a Patient-Centered Medical Home to use Cielo Clinic's integrated patient registry, clinical decision support and population management tools.

) November 10, 2008 -- Use of radiology imaging tests has soared in the past decade with a significant increase in newer technologies, according to a new study that is the first to track imaging patterns in a managed care setting over a substantial time period.

Study results are reported in the November/December 2008 issue of the journal "Health Affairs," which focuses on the pros and cons of the medical technology boom, the biggest driver of increasing healthcare costs.

) April 8, 2009 -- MedTouch, the leading provider of interactive, web-based solutions for healthcare organizations, announced its recent partnership with Exeter Health Services to enhance their web presence and to implement its proprietary enterprise content management solution, ContentBridge.

"Exeter chose both our services and our software to take them to the next level of patient interactivity," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of MedTouch. "Our core competency is to serve healthcare organizations who understand that the success of integrated marketing campaigns depends on a strategic web presence to fully serve their constituencies, both in health and in crises."
   

) May 12, 2009 -- New policies, people and programs highlight the administration’s current emphasis on healthcare transformation and the focus of the upcoming 2009 Government Health IT Conference & Exhibition. With the theme of Healthcare Transformation through Government Health IT, this conference, now presented by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, returns to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on June 4-5 in Washington, DC.

) March 1, 2009 -- Unitiv, a professional provider of business IT solutions, recently announced that they will be exhibiting at the annual HIMSS tradeshow. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare.

The show will be held in Chicago, IL at McCormick Place, April 4-8, 2009.

Unitiv, a gold level HIMSS Corporate member, will be featuring their most cost-effective solutions including Multi-Vendor Support (MVS) and Network Performance Improvement. Their booth will also feature prominent experts for each of these categories, including:

) April 6, 2009 -- Orion Health, Inc., a market leader in providing clinical workflow and integration technology for eHealth, today announces that hospitals are using Concerto Whiteboard to improve the level of patient care and streamline workflow for more efficient management in emergency room and wards. The company makes this announcement from the 2009 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition at McCormick Place in Chicago, where they are exhibiting at booth number 2468.

Concerto Whiteboard

) May 5, 2009 -- Alice Stollenwerk Petrulis, MD, FACP, Chief Medical Officer for the Keystone Peer Review Organizations, Inc. (KePRO), an integrated care management and quality improvement organization, will be a featured speaker at the 15th Annual MEDecision User Conference to be held in Philadelphia May 6-8, 2009. Dr. Petrulis will be presenting two of KePRO's recent innovations that set them apart in the competitive care management industry.

) January 12, 2009 -- Allen Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of interactive communication and education patient television systems, announced today that Saint John's Health Center has finalized a contractual agreement to deploy Vigo for its 255-bed facility in Santa Monica, California. Saint John's selected Allen Technologies to continue its tradition of providing outstanding personal care as one of the premier community hospitals in the nation.

) August 13, 2009 -- Atlanta Women’s Specialists, the long-term Ob/Gyn practice affiliated with Northside Hospital, is leading the way as one of the first physicians’ offices in Georgia to provide patients with online access to personal medical records, a new but growing trend in practices across the United States. The practice also allows patients direct e-mail contact with their physician. This inclusive approach to care strengthens communication between doctors and patients and encourages patients’ participation in their own care.

) May 12, 2009 -- A new Webinar slated for May 28, 2009, makes the vital connection between health care information technology and the leading model for health care transformation: the patient centered medical home.

) January 16, 2009 -- According to data from the HIMSS Analytics Database, 85 percent of hospitals in the contracting phase of an IT acquisition have signed with a CCHIT Certified vendor since November 2007, when CCHIT released its first acute care or inpatient certified products.

) October 21, 2008 -- The Fall Collaborative Communications Summit: Transforming Health Care through Health Information Technology announces that Saint Luke's Health System will present a case study on the future of e-ICU at the fall summit this October 27-28, 2008 at the Sofitel Los Angeles. http://www.ccsexpo.com/fallccs.html

The case study entitled "The e-ICU: A Model for the Future" will take place Monday, October 27th at 4:00 p.m. and be presented by Jennifer Ball, RN, BSN, MBA eICU Operations Director & Director, Nursing Informatics, Saint Luke's Health System

) March 10, 2009 -- Orion Health http://www.orionhealth.com a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for eHealth, introduces a new program to ensure high-quality service is maintained to improve communication and customer-driven development.

The newly formed Client Services team will ensure an additional level of partnership with customers for the speedy resolution of post implementation questions and to focus on increasing alignment between clients' business needs and Orion Health solutions.

Paul Viskovich President Orion Health North America and EMEA, describes the Client Services role as a trusted advisor and advocate for the customer.

) July 22, 2009 -- To inspire a new generation of students to think about the benefits of healthcare software, Claricode is starting the Claricode Medical Software Essay Scholarship program which will award a total of $5000 in scholarships this year.    Five industry experts have generously donated their time to review the essay finalists:

Claricode

) January 30, 2009 -- With e-prescribing recognized as a vital component to improving the delivery of healthcare, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) launched the HIMSS E-Prescribing wiki. The work of the HIMSS e-Prescribing Task Force, the wiki's development was led by volunteer Chairperson Patricia Hale, MD, PhD, FACP Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College and Deputy Director of the Office of Health Information Technology Transformation, New York State Department of Health.

The Fall Collaborative Communications Summit: Transforming Health Care through Health Information Technology announces that Alameda County Medical Center, Pfizer, Wellspan Health, El Centro Regional Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente will take part in a panel discussion addressing the latest uses of health IT data at the fall summit this October 27-28, 2008 at the Sofitel Los Angeles. (PRWeb Oct 8, 2008)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/10/prweb1437544.htm

) June 16, 2009 -- Today, HealthCare California announces it is the first home health agency in California to implement an industry leading, online service that answers the call from national leaders to utilize technology to improve health care. The home health software service, Agency Manager™, provides HealthCare California with a suite of online services that equips all nursing and administrative staff with real-time access to information at the point of care, reduces costs, improves efficiency and enhances communication across the continuum of care.

) June 28, 2009 -- California eHealth Collaborative announced today that five community-based health information exchange (HIE) projects in California successfully tested the exchange of clinical health information to improve patient care. Taking advantage of recently released Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) Connect software, Kaiser Permanente, Long Beach Network for Health, ER Connect- Orange County, Redwood MedNet and Santa Cruz HIE verified the ability to share patient clinical information among regional networks across the state. The public test demonstrated how clinicians might treat a patient within an emergency room care or other clinical settings by obtaining critical clinical information from the patient's medical record in another location.

) October 1, 2008 -- Broadlane is pleased to recognize the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM) National Healthcare Resource and Materials Management Week October 5-11. This week is dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating resource and materials management professionals for their outstanding contributions to healthcare and the overall success of the healthcare supply chain.

) June 25, 2009 -- Nemours, one of the nation's leading children's health systems, began construction in June on the Nemours Children's Hospital in Lake Nona's medical city. The 630,000-square-foot children's hospital will include 95 beds and serve as the core of a 60-acre pediatric health campus featuring a children's clinic, emergency department, diagnostic and ambulatory programs along with education and research centers. Nemours plans to open the $380 million hospital in 2012.

Rendering of the future Nemours Children's Hospital

) September 16, 2008 -- The Fall Collaborative Communications Summit: Transforming Health Care through Health Information Technology announces that the Avera Health System Chief Information Officer and Director of Telehealth will present a case study that will take place at the fall summit this October 27-28, 2008 at the Sofitel Los Angeles. http://www.ccsexpo.com/fallccs.html

The session entitled "Avera Health - IT and the Greater Vision" will take place Monday October 27th at 10:45am and be presented by Jim Veline, SVP & CIO of Avera Health. The session's co-presenter will be Mary DeVany, Avera Health's Director of Telehealth.

) December 4, 2008 -- iHealthSpot was honored with a Distinction eHealthcare Leadership Award for best ebusiness site for South Palm Orthopedics during the Twelfth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference.

Only 235 healthcare organizations were recognized with over 1,100 entries vying for the prestigious awards. The website features that made South Palm Orthopedics (www.SouthPalmOrthopedics.com) shine among the competition were the interactive online patient registration and health history forms, physician referral forms, online appointment requests, Interactive patient education with 3D animations, online newsletter sign up, and online prescription requests.

) July 1, 2009 -- Carefx announced today Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center, a nationally recognized non-profit provider of integrated health services, has chosen the Fusionfx Solution Suite to deliver interoperability between its multiple information systems. The Fusionfx Solution Suite synchronizes patient data across existing systems, departments and facilities and provides Virginia Mason staff and clinicians with an easier, more efficient way to schedule patients across the medical center.

Carefx Logo

) October 21, 2008 -- OnSight’s message of, “bringing health care to you,” truly embodies its main objective. Its doctors and staff have been specifically trained to provide a comprehensive scope of professional vision, podiatry, and dental services. OnSight’s ability to provide remote health care to nursing homes, long term care and short term rehabilitation facilities is an invaluable service to those in need.

) December 4, 2008 -- HealthCare.com, Inc., the leader in local healthcare provider search and health insurance information search, announced today that it has launched a network of websites to expand the reach of HealthCare.com's proprietary Care Provider Search™.

September 2, 2008 --
Saint John, N.B. – July 29, 2008 – When the Canadian government set up the not-for-profit Canada Health Infoway to lead the development of electronic health records across the country, the provinces jumped at the chance to get involved.
The idea was to support a safer, more efficient healthcare system, one that would reduce wait times, increase patient participation in health care, better manage chronic diseases, and improve access to care in remote and rural communities. The not-for-profit, federally funded organization jointly invests with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health record projects in Canada .

) November 1, 2009 -- Winston-Salem, N.C (PRWEB) November 1, 2009 -- Rural and small, suburban hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia can now provide a higher level of emergency stroke and critical neurology care, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as part of a new teleneurology medicine program announced today by Forsyth Medical Center (FMC).

) January 6, 2009 -- Orion Health http://www.orionhealth.com has just signed an agreement, which will see Japan's Trinity Design Corporation Ltd, http://www.trinity-design.jp becoming a reseller and distributor of Orion Health's Rhapsody Integration Engine.

Rhapsody is now running at the Kobe Circulation Clinic and all the tests have been completed successfully. The customer is very satisfied with the performance of Rhapsody

) July 1, 2009 - To improve the quality of home care services for older persons, the Center for Home Care Policy & Research is expanding its CHAMP Program web site (http://www.champ-program.org) with new online community features, best practice information, and a redesigned look-and-feel to further its establishment of a national Community of Practice for geriatric home care excellence. The initiative is based on the nation's first evidence-based recommendations specific to geriatric homecare - the Framework.

) December 29, 2008 -- Patient Placement Systems announced today that healthcare provider Park Avenue Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Arlington, Mass., has signed on to use the Web-based Referral Management System long-term care software to manage inbound patient referrals.

) December 3, 2008 -- The newly-redesigned web site for Scripps Health (www.scripps.org) received a Gold award in the Best Site Design category of the 2008 eHealthcare Leadership Awards. The site also received a distinction in the Best Newsroom category.

The patient's needs were always at the forefront of our minds when redeveloping Scripps.org. We wanted to make sure that the information important to them was easy to find and presented in a way that made sense to them

) August 20, 2009 -- Florida spine surgeon Alfred Bonati, M.D. announced the results of a nonpartisan national poll commissioned by the American Society of Medical Doctors (ASMD) that shows physicians are unwilling to accept new patients covered by a government-run health care plan. Dr. Bonati announced the poll results at a press conference earlier today in Washington, DC.

The poll conducted on August 7, 2009 by WRS Opinion Research on behalf of the ASMD shows that:

) December 17, 2008 -- Axsium Group, North America's premier Workforce Management consulting firm, today announced the successful deployment of Infor Workforce Management (formerly Workbrain) for Visiting Nurse Service of New York's (VNSNY). With over 10,000 highly skilled providers, VNSNY is the largest not-for-profit home health care agency in the nation. Serving an average of 30,000 patients a day, VNSNY required a comprehensive WFM solution to effectively track and manage its workforce while improving the overall quality of care provided.

) February 10, 2009 -- Orion Health http://www.orionhealth.com congratulates the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection of Balearic Islands (Ib-Salut) for its 2007 Quality Award from the Spanish Ministry of Health.

) July 23, 2009 -- With almost 20 billion dollars recently earmarked to encourage the adoption of the Electronic Health Record (EHR), The Health Story Project defined "meaningful use of the Certified (EHR)" in its testimony to the National Committee on Vital Health and Statistics' (NCVHS) public hearing in May. The key message; for the creation and exchange of standards-based clinical documentation "meaningful use" must encompass dictation and the detailed narrative. The outcome of this hearing will be submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), along with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).