Healthcare IT Digital Community
Watson computer offers potential for healthcare decisions
February 29, 2012 -- Is it easy to harness the power of a supercomputer to make it useful, practical, and affordable for healthcare applications? Not really, attendees surmised after a presentation at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual meeting last week in Las Vegas.
HIMSS: No magic bullet for critical results communication
February 24, 2012 -- LAS VEGAS - Communication of critical radiology results is a vital issue, but there isn't a magic bullet that can prevent all communication errors, according to a presentation Thursday at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting.
CMS releases stage 2 meaningful use proposed rule -- with imaging
February 24, 2012 -- In a step that gives clarity to healthcare providers looking to capitalize on federal healthcare IT stimulus funding, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a proposed rule that provides the stage 2 requirements for the government's "meaningful use" program.
HIMSS: EHR, mobile device use catapult security threats
February 23, 2012 -- Mobile devices have become a part of imaging informatics delivery hardware -- and therefore need to be part of the security plan. A Wednesday presentation at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting covered this all-important topic of security breaches in healthcare.
HIMSS: Imaging included in stage 2 of meaningful use
February 22, 2012 -- LAS VEGAS - Viewing of images will be included in the proposed stage 2 requirements for achieving meaningful use under the U.S. government's healthcare IT stimulus program, according to an announcement on Wednesday at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting.
HIMSS: Cleveland Clinic takes enterprise view of imaging
February 22, 2012 -- LAS VEGAS - To provide enterprise-wide access to all forms of medical imaging, the Cleveland Clinic has embarked on an initiative to centralize management and access to all images generated in its healthcare system. Attendees learned about the effort at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting under way this week.
HIMSS survey: IT staffing, security challenge hospitals
February 21, 2012 -- Hospital IT departments are under escalating pressure to achieve stage 1 meaningful use of electronic health records and convert to the new ICD-10 medical reimbursement code, according to results of the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Leadership Survey.
Vining aims to change radiology's perspective with ViSion
 February 17, 2012 -- Dr. David Vining hopes that lightning can strike a third time. The radiologist who pioneered virtual colonoscopy and structured reporting is working on a new endeavor, called ViSion, that he hopes will take multimedia structured reporting to the next level, ultimately becoming radiology's version of Facebook.
Siemens, Dell form alliance for cloud-based archiving
February 16, 2012 -- Two industry heavyweights are joining forces in cloud-based archiving on the eve of next week's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting in Las Vegas. Siemens Healthcare and Dell plan to announce an alliance to jointly deliver a cloud-based, vendor-neutral image archiving and sharing service.
Clinician awareness key to reducing imaging radiation risk
February 13, 2012 -- Educating referring physicians about the cancer risks from imaging exams is key to reducing patient exposure to medical radiation, according to an article in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Other important elements of reducing exposure are more assertive radiologists and increased use of healthcare IT.
Brigham achieves near-total use of CPOE for radiology
February 2, 2012 -- Brigham and Women's Hospital pioneered the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) in a large hospital when it installed a system in 2000. Now, an analysis in the February Journal of the American College of Radiology shows that nearly all radiology studies performed at the hospital are being ordered with CPOE.
CT dose reporting challenged by current indicators
January 27, 2012 -- Capturing CT radiation dose information is a hot topic, but it's complicated by the incomplete methods used for measuring, determining, and calculating dose, said Anthony Seibert, PhD, of the University of California, Davis. Seibert discussed dose capture in a January 25 webinar hosted by the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.
Korean research, a first step toward Dr. Smartphone?
January 23, 2012 -- SEOUL (Reuters) - Tired of long waits at the hospital for medical tests? If Korean researchers have their way, your smartphone could one day eliminate that -- and perhaps even tell you that you have cancer.
Decision-support software reduces volume of CTPA exams
January 11, 2012 -- A combination of clinical decision-support software and a good rapport between emergency physicians and radiologists is credited for decreasing the number of CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) exams ordered to evaluate acute pulmonary embolism.
Can electronic health records erase disparities?
January 11, 2012 -- NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Switching to electronic health records might help close health gaps between black and white Americans, researchers suggest in a study published January 9 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Radiology dominates ECRI list of healthcare tech issues
January 6, 2012 -- Topics related to either diagnostic or therapeutic use of radiation dominated a top 10 list of important hospital technology topics for 2012, published this week by nonprofit technology research firm ECRI Institute.
Open-source tool enables vendor-neutral CT dose archiving
January 4, 2012 -- Researchers in Boston have developed an automated radiation-exposure monitoring system that extracts detailed CT exposure data from image repositories. Thanks to optical character recognition software, the open-source software scheme can gather data from virtually any CT scanner model.
Patients want to read, share their medical records
December 20, 2011 -- NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients want easy access to any notes their doctor has recorded about them, and they want the ability to give others the authority to view their medical information, according to a pair of studies.
Consensus is key when developing structured report templates
December 19, 2011 -- Is it possible to convert a large radiology department to using structured reports rather than free dictation, while at the same time winning the support of radiologists? Yes, it is. Cincinnati Children's Hospital explained how its effort succeeded in a presentation at the recent RSNA 2011 meeting.
Implementing meaningful use isn't a cakewalk yet
December 1, 2011 -- CHICAGO - From a radiology perspective, meaningful use guidelines are challenging, with a minefield of unknowns and pitfalls. It's perhaps unsurprising, then, that a panel discussion on how radiology practices are actually handling meaningful use attracted quite a crowd on Tuesday at RSNA 2011.
ACR's CT dose registry goes for quality, quantity
November 30, 2011 -- CHICAGO - The American College of Radiology's (ACR) Dose Index Registry pilot project has already amassed a critical number of studies, while developing ways to keep the data accurate despite wide variations in practice patterns and study nomenclature, according to a Wednesday presentation at RSNA 2011.
Data-mining tool identifies overexposed chest x-rays
November 30, 2011 -- CHICAGO - Taking a high-quality portable chest x-ray can be difficult, leading to an overexposed image when digital radiography equipment is used. One solution to reduce overexposures is a new data-mining tool, according to a Tuesday presentation at the RSNA 2011 meeting.
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