Read more →
 
 

Industry executives: In today's healthcare landscape, the patient comes first

That’s especially true of the nation’s doctors, who’ve been at the center of the healthcare landscape and are now dealing with a healthcare system that’s putting the patient first. In this reform-minded era, they’re turning to telemedicine and mobile health to make those connections and carve out a better and more efficient business. A panel of telemedicine industry executives took on that question Monday afternoon at the American Telemedicine Association’s18th [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Mobile workflow solution for healthcare professionals launches in Scotland

Jamie Thompson is the Web Producer for Healthcare IT News, Healthcare Finance News, Government Health IT and Healthcare Payer News. Jamie oversees daily e-newsletter production and homepage content layout, and facilitates relationships with our contributing bloggers. Scottish healthcare professionals will be able to update patient information at the point of care with the launch of TotalMobile Ltd’s workflow solution, TotalMobile App Platform. The solution collects information from multiple systems to [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Healthcare device acquisitions trending upward, financial expert says

The latest trend in the healthcare industry is that big players – from Covidien to Medtronic to Boston Scientific – are increasingly acquisitive when it comes to new medical device technologies, both on the treatment and the diagnostic front, according to Paul Teitelbaum, managing director with Chicago-based Mesirow Financial’s Investment Banking Practice. “We saw a number of the large cap medical device companies making a number of acquisitions last year, [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Clinton urges IT pros to help healthcare

Bernie Monegain is the Editor of Healthcare IT News. Bernie covers hospitals and IDNs, industry trends and is responsible for overall coverage decisions. Former President Bill Clinton’s talk Wednesday at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition encompassed politics, economics, history, climate change, childhood obesity, health information technology, of course, and even the art of the deal. Over the course of the keynote, he enumerated many problems with the healthcare [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

CMS to focus on healthcare interoperability in 2013, stay new regs

NEW ORLEANS — In an address at HIMSS 2013, Acting Administrator of CMS Marilyn Tavenner said regulators will not issue any new health IT-related regulations or proposals this year. But this does not mean the federal government is backing off plans to encourage implementation of EHRs and other technology throughout the industry.In her first appearance at a HIMSS event, Tavenner unveiled a new 2013 CMS agenda, including what she called [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

A healthcare system in recovery

Richard Pizzi is Editorial Director at MedTech Media. He oversees management of all MedTech editorial brands, ensuring that all staff editors continue to practice high-quality, ethical B2B journalism. According to Karen DeSalvo, Commissioner of Health for the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana is generally viewed as a healthcare backwater. And that was before Hurricane Katrina. The eye of the 2005 hurricane did not make landfall in New [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Healthcare Experience Design show plans patient engagement strategies

Amy Cueva, founder and health care principal for experience design firm Mad*Pow, wants to improve health care through the application of design. Her company sponsors a one-day conference in Boston, Healthcare Experience Design (HxD); this year’s edition takes place March 25. HxD has a decidedly health IT focus, as well as a patient engagement strategies segment. Jamie Heywood, co-founder of PatientsLikeMe.com, will headline this year’s HxD, as will Walking Gallery [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Healthcare data breaches on the rise, with potential $7B price tag

A new report shedding light on the challenges data breaches pose for the healthcare industry finds that the annual number of breaches continues to trend upward, and also could come with a nearly $7 billion price tag. Conducted by privacy research firm Ponemon Institute, the third annual “Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security,” examines the fiscal and economic consequences of data breaches in conjunction with up-and-coming security trends, [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

HHS announces healthcare innovation fellows

WASHINGTON – Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday the first group of the HHS External Innovation Fellows, who – over the next year – will be working on projects focused on solving critical healthcare problems. Selected from an applicant pool of more than 100 innovators, the six External Fellows selected have backgrounds ranging from business and technology executives to lifelong entrepreneurs. Organizations represented include: Microsoft Corporation, [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Infographic: Healthcare execs pay big campaign money

(Click on image to enlarge)This November election had much at stake – particularly for the healthcare industry. Reelecting President Obama assured the continuance of controversial policies, most notably the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A Romney presidency meant the end of the ACA.After Healthcare IT News analyzed the personal political contributions (from the 2011-2012 election cycle) of more than 200 top executives at some of the nation’s largest hospitals and healthcare [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

WellStar aims to retool Gingrich's healthcare think tank

MARIETTA, GA – With the intention of forming a collaborative network of 20 non-competing, not-for-profit health systems in the Southeast, WellStar Health System has acquired the trade name, trademark and other assets of the bankrupt Center for Health Transformation (CHT), a for-profit think-tank founded by Newt Gingrich. WellStar announced the deal on Nov. 14. Originally based in Washington, D.C., CHT offices will be relocated to WellStar’s home state of Georgia [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Is the iPad mini right for healthcare?

It’s been about a week now since the iPad Mini was made available to the public, and while the early reviews have been mixed, the healthcare industry is reacting favorably to the new tablet. “The key is the size,” says Marianne Braunstein, vice president of product management for Epocrates, who notes that one-third of physicians who responded to a survey prior to the iPad Mini’s release indicated they were going [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Post-election healthcare issues will be local, say Frist and Daschle

WASHINGTON – Now that the election is over and the Affordable Care Act has been made permanent by the Supreme Court’s decision, governors who have been sitting on healthcare decisions have “a lot of pent up energy” for moving forward, said former Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at a post-election healthcare meeting held in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.The meeting, hosted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) at the [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

After Sandy, help for healthcare infrastructure

MERRITT ISLAND, FL – In the crippling aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NH-ISAC) has activated a 24/7 emergency response system to support healthcare-critical infrastructure protection, mitigation and recovery. Officials say the National Healthcare and Public Health Cyber Response System will improve situational awareness, information sharing and incident response support working in coordination with federal, state and private sector organizations. NH-ISAC response protocols support [...]

 

Read more →
 
 

Healthcare materials wise up

Research at University of Pittsburgh and Harvard points to a future of “smart” materials at the point of carePITTSBURGH  –  Seems like everything is “smart” nowadays. Smartphones. Smart TVs. Smart cars. For something to simply exist and perform its intended purpose is no longer enough; now everything must be technologically-advanced enough to all but think for itself.Smart materials  -  which are capable of reacting and changing in response to stimuli [...]