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E-Health Trend Watch

Concise reviews of new Web sites and Internet resources, summaries of content from Medicine on the Net magazine and Internet Healthcare Strategies, news and resources, and more.

2007 | 2006

E-Health Trend Watch

Issue 49, December 22, 2006

• HIMSS announces Davies Awards recipients

  The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Chicago announced the recipients of...

• South Dakota hospitals receive federal grant money

  The state of South Dakota has awarded $202,000 in federal grants to six rural hospitals for efforts...

• Ovid announces the journal archive

  Ovid Technologies in New York City will offer the Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Journal Legacy...

• ActiveHealth Management launches interactive PHR

  ActiveHealth Management in New York City has launched an interactive personal health record (PHR...

• Those looking for medical info online do not check sources

  Only 15% of the 113 million American adults who search the Internet for information on health...

Issue 48, December 15, 2006

• Michigan health system lists medical procedure charges on the Web

  Spectrum Health, a health system based in Grand Rapids, MI, will begin listing estimated charges...

• EHRs still not routine part of medical practice

  In the most comprehensive study to date to reliably measure the state of electronic health record...

• Northcentral Montana Healthcare Alliance receives $1 million grant

  A new consortium of 11 hospitals and long-term care facilities has received $1 million in grants...

• VirtualHealth Technologies, Inc., acquires Medical Office Software

  VirtualHealth Technologies of Lexington, KY, has acquired Medical Office Software, Inc., (MOS) of...

• Survey finds most physicians do not use widely accessible IT tools

  Most physicians do not use inexpensive, widely accessible information technology tools in their...

Issue 47, December 8, 2006

• Making MRI scans safer for pacemaker and defibrillator users

  Currently, hospitals do not allow pacemakers and defibrillators in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI...

• Medical centers receive grant to pool information about HIV therapies

  Using a $2.45 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the...

• Texas governor issues executive order to advance EMRs

  Texas governor Rick Perry recently signed an executive order and created the Texas Health Care...

• AHA surveys field on use of health IT

  The American Hospital Association (AHA) has sent a survey to community hospitals in an effort to...

• Hospitals on Kauai testing EHR system

  An 18-month research study is underway to integrate an open-source electronic health records (EHR...

Issue 46, December 1, 2006

• Nemours to monitor sick children remotely

  Two Florida organizations will launch a pilot project that will allow doctors to monitor sick...

• Insurer debuts ID technology

  UnitedHealthcare of Philadelphia will introduce an identification card that contains members...

• Telemedicine to link big island with Queen's trauma center

  The Queen's Medical Center, the only trauma center in Hawaii, will begin treating patients on the...

• Palmetto General launches high-tech operating room

  Palmetto General Hospital of Hialeah, FL, has equipped its Heart Institute with wireless operating...

• Indiana to publish error data

  Indiana will begin publishing hospital-specific data on 27 types of medical errors in 2007. The...

Issue 45, November 17, 2006

• Surgery tracker reduces delays and improves patient volumes

  Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) of Buffalo, NY, is using PathFinder, a tracking system created by...

• Hospital implements wireless x-ray technology

  Harris Methodist Fort Worth (TX) Hospital has implemented four wireless x-ray machines to improve...

• AMIA report shows PHI is transferred and sold

  The transfer and sale of personal health information (PHI) is proceeding unregulated despite...

• Healthcare IT market said to double by 2011

  The healthcare IT market will double by 2011, says a report from market analyst firm BCC Research...

• Minnesota group launches hospital pricing Web site

  The Minnesota Hospital Association has launched a site detailing prices at specific hospitals in...

Issue 44, November 10, 2006

• Florida Hospital Association launches consumer Web site

  The Florida Hospital Association in Orlando unveiled its consumer Web site, which consolidates...

Issue 43, November 10, 2006

• Gates Foundation donates $500 million

  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of Seattle has donated $500 million to the Global Fund to Fight...

• Former Cleveland Clinic worker and relative charged with fraud

  A federal grand jury in Miami indicted a former employee of the Cleveland Clinic and Health...

• McKesson to record a tax credit

  McKesson Corp. in San Francisco will record an $80 million tax credit because the Internal Revenue...

• Aetna posts cost, performance data on the Web

  Aetna in Hartford, CT, has launched a secure Web site containing cost and performance data for its...

Issue 42, November 3, 2006

• Group provides insurance debit cards that reveal health history

  Patients covered by Minneapolis-based United HealthGroup will soon receive patient identification...

• FDA finds counterfeit drugs on some Web sites

  Testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed fake versions of Lipitor and other...

• CDC develops FluChip

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta have developed a microchip-based...

• VeriChip sells first baby protection system

  Delray Beach, FL-based VeriChip, the maker of human-implantable radio frequency identification...

• Videoconferencing used to seek input from stroke experts

  The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Passavant is using videoconferencing technology to seek...

Issue 41, October 27, 2006

• Hospital to use bar-coded sponges

  Workers at the Veterans' Administration West Los Angeles Health Care Center will begin using...

• CMS to post cost data

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will make public Medicare...

• Three AOL employees fired after privacy breach

  The chief technology officer of Dulles, VA-based America Online (AOL) has left the company, and two...

• Oregon doctors to build a shared EMR system

  A group of 600 doctors and other medical providers in Oregon announced that they are planning to...

• Report predicts growth in life sciences RFID market

  According to recent figures released by research group Health Industry Insights based in...

Issue 40, October 20, 2006

• Online health information program receives accreditation

  The University of Cincinnati's Health Information Management (HIM) degree program has been...

• Washington medical group warns patients about data theft

  Madrona Medical Group in Bellingham, WA, has asked thousands of patients to monitor their credit...

• Oregon system discloses death rates by procedure

  Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland is posting hospital death rates online for a...

• CareTech buys Web firm

  CareTech Solutions in Troy, MI, has purchased Troy-based Sabre Consulting, a Web development...

• Virtual surgery simulator in development

  Researchers from Troy, NY-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cambridge, MA-based Harvard...

Issue 39, October 13, 2006

• IBM enters medical record arena

  IBM Corporation in White Plains, NY, will be working on open-source software to help create a U.S...

• FDA wants input on ID system for medical devices

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will seek comment on the implications of an identification...

• New tool helps doctors and nurses make rapid diagnoses

  U.S. doctors and nurses are using a new tool in hospitals and clinics to diagnose patients.

Issue 38, October 6, 2006

• Americans having difficulty searching for online health information

  According to an article in the Washington Post, 95 million Americans- about 80% of online...

• Kaiser gives parents online access

  Oakland, CA-based Kaiser Permanente will offer members with children aged 12 and younger access to...

• Minnesota firms backing a technology bill for seniors

  Businesses in Minnesota are backing a bill in Congress to make it easier for them to develop...

• Perot Systems announces $80 million contract

  Perot Systems Corp. in Plano, TX, has entered into an $80 million, 10-year agreement with...

• IBM enters medical record arena

  IBM Corporation in White Plains, NY, will be working on open-source software to help create a U.S...

Issue 37, September 29, 2006

• Emergis acquires EHR provider Dinmar

  Emergis of Longueuil, Quebec, has acquired electronic health record (EHR) system developer and IT...

• WebMD plans to acquire Medsite

  WebMD Health Corp. of New York City has agreed to acquire the medical-education, promotion, and...

• CCHIT certifies two more EHR products

  The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology in Chicago has announced that...

• Ohio University fires two computer specialists

  Ohio University in Athens has fired two computer specialists in connection with a series of...

• Stolen computer compromises Kaiser Permanente information

  According to a Kaiser Permanente spokesperson, a recent computer theft from a secure office in...

Issue 36, September 22, 2006

• CDC says more physicians are using electronic medical records

  The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics...

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida launches calculation tool

  Jacksonville, FL-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has launched CareCalc. Patients can...

• Physicians' Foundations invests $2.6 million to support doctors

  Boston-based Physicians' Foundations for Health Systems Excellence announced a $2.6 million...

• VA firm predicts growth of health IT programs

  State and local healthcare and welfare IT programs are expected to grow from $7.6 billion in fiscal...

• McKesson inks Canadian contract

  The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will contract with San Francisco-based McKesson...

Issue 35, September 15, 2006

• RFID tags used to keep sponges out of surgery patients

  Eight patients participated in a recent study reported in the July Archives of Surgery. The...

• IOM: Avoid medical errors with electronic prescriptions

  An Institute of Medicine report recommends that all prescribers and pharmacies manage prescriptions...

• Minnesota health agency wins EHR grant

  The Minnesota Health Department has received a $1.3 million grant to implement and develop...

• Georgetown University shuts down e-prescribing pilot

  Georgetown University of Washington, DC, shut down an electronic-prescribing pilot project after...

• 3M earns RFID contract with the U.S. Army

  St. Paul, MN-based 3M announced that it has signed a three-year, $3.76 million contract with the...

Issue 34, September 8, 2006

• Certification Commission announces vendor certifications

  The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) in Chicago announced 20...

• Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to join RFID implant program

  A radio frequency identification device (RFID) will be implanted under the skin of patients with...

• IDC research firm releases reports on EHR market

  In a recent report published by IDC's Health Industry Insights of Framingham, MA, the research and...

• Milestone for Henry Ford Medical Group's e-scripts

  Henry Ford Medical Group of Detroit has filled more than 1 million prescriptions electronically...

• Florida to post outcome measures for pediatric care online

  Florida's state health agency has posted outcome measures for pediatric care on its Web site. The...

Issue 33, September 1, 2006

• Medical society selects eClinicalWorks

  The Westborough, MA-based eClinicalWorks is among four companies selected to provide electronic...

• University's technology chief quits after security problem

  Bill Sams, chief technology officer at Ohio University in Athens, has announced that he is leaving...

• Wired hospitals help consumers manage their healthcare

  The nation's 100 "Most Wired Hospitals" and health systems are helping consumers take charge of...

• West Virginia agencies seek to protect patient privacy on state network

  The West Virginia Health Care Authority and West Virginia Medical Institute will review existing...

• Mississippi will deliver disease information to healthcare professionals

  This fall, the state Health Department in Mississippi will begin delivering disease information to...

Issue 32, August 25, 2006

• Eclipsys buys firm with operations in India

  Eclipsys of Boca Raton, FL, has agreed to purchase Sysware Healthcare Systems of Baroda, India...

• Medco launches online savings advisor

  Medco Health Solutions, Inc. has launched an online program called Savings Advisor to help...

• Norton Healthcare investing $10.45 million in technology

  Norton Healthcare of Louisville, KY, is spending $10.45 million to enhance the electronic medical...

• Informatics group outlines decision-support road map

  Supportive policy and new financial incentives are needed to increase healthcare's adoption of...

• Aetna expands pricing transparency initiative

  Aetna of Hartford, CT, has announced an expansion of its pricing transparency initiative to the Las...

Issue 31, August 18, 2006

• Emergis signs deal to provide drug data system

  IT provider Emergis of Montreal has signed a deal with the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador...

Issue 29, August 4, 2006

• Updated guidelines expected for pharmaceutical industry’s adoption of RFID

  In early 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Counterfeit Drug Task Force issued a...

Issue 31, August 18, 2006

• Medicare posts hospital payment information

  In June, the Department of Health and Human Services, through its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

• MA Web site would let consumers compare costs

  A new healthcare reform law in Massachusetts is aimed at driving down the cost of healthcare by...

• McKesson acquires RelayHealth

  McKesson Corp. of San Francisco has acquired RelayHealth Corp. of Emeryville, CA, for undisclosed...

• IT bills introduced in Congress

  A half-dozen IT security bills have been introduced in Congress-four in the House of...

Issue 30, August 11, 2006

• Wrong fax number leads to information breach in Texas

  Confidential documents containing medical and financial information about people applying for Texas...

• Controlled-substance prescriptions tracked by Virginia database

  As of June, any Virginia pharmacy or physician holding a permit to sell controlled substances must...

• Los Angeles hospital expands telemedicine access

  Physicians at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles will be able to access the hospital's video...

• Study shows physician IT use growing

  According to a study by the Washington, DC-based Center for Studying Health System Change...

• Data missing after computer theft

  A computer stolen at the University of Alabama at Birmingham contained confidential information...

Issue 29, August 4, 2006

• Michigan to debut Web site to help consumers save money

  The Michigan Department of Community Health has debuted a Web site that allows consumers in the...

• Florida creates online system to help healthcare after storms

  Florida has set up an Internet-based system that allows hospitals, nursing homes, and other...

• TN Governor announces EMR advisory council

  Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen announced a 16-member advisory council on electronic medical...

• Computerized records help UNC doctors treat patients

  The Chapel Hill-based University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Care System has deployed a...

Issue 28, July 28, 2006

• Rhode Island physicians lead nation in e-prescribing

  SureScripts, an Alexandria, VA-based company that operates an electronic prescription network...

• Google feature helps find health-specific information

  A Google feature for finding health information is appearing in beta form on the Internet...

• U.S. lags in adopting electronic medical records

  According to a study published on May 9 in the journal Health Affairs, the United States lags...

• Med3000 Group acquires iLIANT Corporation

  Med3000 Group, a privately held healthcare management and technology company based in Pittsburgh...

• Nevada Web site for Canadian drug imports launched

  A Web site that links Nevada residents to Canadian pharmacies authorized to sell them low-priced...

Issue 27, July 21, 2006

• Universities select CDW-G to deploy PDA programs

  Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and Ohio State University in Columbus have...

• Oregon hospital loses 5,000 X-rays

  St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, OR, announced that it lost more than 5,000 archived X-ray images...

• Nursing homes using PDAs

  Five of the 200-plus Good Samaritan Nursing Homes across the country have started using personal...

• First Data Healthcare and Medem announce partnership

  First Data Healthcare Services and Medem are partnering on a personal health service and debit...

• Nine states to participate in RHIO project

  The American Health Information Management Association's Foundation of Research and Education...

Issue 26, July 14, 2006

• Web site rates healthcare journalism

  HealthNewsReview.org has started reviewing newspaper and magazine health coverage online. The site...

• Louisiana Web site posts hospital prices

  The Louisiana Hospital Association has launched a Web site to help inform consumers about hospital...

• Study finds Medicare and insurers reluctant to pay for telehealth

  Remote monitoring equipment is too expensive, too hard to use, and doesn't integrate well with...

• MedicAlert Foundation and MyMedicalRecords.com enter agreement

  The MedicAlert Foundation, maker of medical bracelets, has become a provider of portable electronic...

• Rural hospitals share resources to advance IT use

  Although President Bush has directed the government to create a national health information network...

Issue 25, July 7, 2006

• MO bill criminalizes selling or obtaining people's medical records

  A bill making it a crime to sell or obtain people's medical records without consent has been...

• Jails computerize standard medical screening process for new inmates

  The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York has computerized the standard medical...

• WebMD to acquire wellness-information firm

  WebMD Health Corp. has agreed to buy Summex Health Management, developer of health risk-assessment...

• Avian flu portal available

  The Calverton, MD-based research firm ORC Macro has launched Avian Flu Search, a Web portal that...

Issue 24, June 30, 2006

• Dell offers employees access to health records online

  Dell is now offering its U.S. workforce online access to their personal health records.

• South Dakota consumers uninterested in charges posted online

  Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System in Sioux Falls, SD, posted online charges and...

• Insurers supporting online doctor visits

  Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield has joined ranks with other insurers that now support online...

• RHIO Wiki site launches

  The Center for Health Transformation (CHT), College of Healthcare Information Management Executives...

• Quicken to release healthcare products to help consumers

  Intuit, creator of Quicken products, will collaborate with healthcare companies to develop a series...

Issue 23, June 23, 2006

• MedsiteCME implements new CME features

  MedsiteCME has added features to its continuing medical education programs (CME).

• Pod2Mobile launches podcasting advertising program

  Pod2Mobile has developed a market-generating advertising program that incorporates advertising into...

• Web site links docs and social services

  A Web site created by Philadelphia pediatrician Daniel Taylor and Drexel faculty member Jervis...

• CIGNA launches physician webVisits

  CIGNA Healthcare and RelayHealth Corporation have announced that they will offer CIGNA members...

• The number of medical schools requiring PDAs increasing

  Brown University has joined the list of medical and nursing schools that require students to buy...

Issue 22, June 16, 2006

• Akron Children's Hospital offers surgical Webcasts

  Akron's Children's Hospital offers surgical Webcasts to raise awareness about treatment options...

• GAO finds HHS IT security weaknesses

  The Government Accountability Office has found that the Department of Health and Human Services...

• Harvard Business School Publishing launches online management support

  Harvard Business School Publishing has launched Harvard ManageMentor PLUS Health Care Services...

• Web site makes cancer data accessible to Asians

  Cancer prevention, screening, and treatment information has been translated into various Asian...

• MayoClinic.com adds symptom checker to online tools

  A newly added tool on MayoClinic.com lets users search for the most common causes of their...

Issue 21, June 9, 2006

• Brigham and Women's Hospital using ultrasound technology to track patients

  Hospital officials at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have started experimenting with using...

• Canadian province spending $116 million on EMRs

  Alberta is funding $116 million for an electronic medical record system that will allow doctors and...

• ECGs transmitted wirelessly

  Emergency medical technicians can transmit electrocardiograms (ECG) to a cardiologist's handheld...

• Insurers use IT to influence physicians and patients

  A report entitled "Health Plan Predictions" by First Consulting Group predicts that health insurers...

• Colorectal cancer screening available via Internet

  DNA Direct has developed a non-invasive colon cancer detection test. According to the San...

Issue 20, June 2, 2006

• Report: Open-source software will reduce IT costs

  A report released by the California Health Care Foundation concludes that open-source software will...

• SureScripts agreement will allow physicians to send e-prescriptions

  An agreement between SureScripts' (www.surescripts.com), GE Centricity, and NextGen will allow...

• ASHP launches continuing education podcast series

  The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is offering pharmacy continuing education...

• ASHP launches continuing education podcast series

  The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is offering pharmacy continuing education...

• Henry Ford Health sets aside $40 million for IT

  Henry Ford Health System plans to renovate and expand its hospital in Detroit. The system has set...

• Artificial disc education Web site launches

  LDR Spine has launched a Web site providing patients and surgeons with information on artificial...

Issue 19, May 26, 2006

• GE launches marketing campaign to transform healthcare delivery

  GE launched a marketing campaign called "Healthcare Re-Imagined." The campaign highlights GE's...

• Aetna gives nonparticipating healthcare providers access to site

  Healthcare providers who do not participate in Aetna's network can now register to use the...

• Misys Healthcare Systems partners with InstantDx to offer e-prescribing solution

  Misys Healthcare Systems has partnered with InstantDx to provide a secure way to write electronic...

• Go Red for Women launches interactive tool

  The American Heart Association has launched a new online interactive tool as part of its Go Red for...

• Health2 Resources publishes report to understand how employers use IT

  Health2 Resources has published a 60-plus-page report entitled How Employers are Using the Internet...

Issue 18, May 19, 2006

• Study finds quality report data faulty

  According to a study by RAND Corp., quality report cards based on payment or administrative data...

• Study unable to determine whether CPOE systems prevent med errors

  A federal study by researchers with the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality has concluded...

• WebMD to operate private-access sites

  WebMD has signed contracts with health insurers and employers to operate private-access sites on...

• Allscripts to buy back part of GE's stake in company

  Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, a Chicago-based healthcare information technology vendor...

• Grant to help doctors computerize records

  Primary care physicians in small practices have the opportunity to begin shifting to computerized...

Issue 17, May 12, 2006

• Ovid Technologies receives certification from BenchmarkPortal

  The North and South American Technical Services team at Ovid Technologies has received...

• Web users spend as much time online as watching TV

  A JupiterResearch study found that average online consumers spend 14 hours per week online, which...

• Massachusetts posts surgeons' volume statistics online

  The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services has added volume information for 10...

• Site lists hearing aid tips for consumers

  HearingPlanet.com lists key tips consumers should consider when shopping for hearing aids.

• ACP urges reimbursement for e-medicine and IT

  The American College of Physicians is proposing that the federal government change the payment...

Issue 16, May 5, 2006

• Virtual doctor visits for inmates

  Inmates in Kentucky jails and prisons will receive doctor visits electronically in a program...

• Achieve secures grant to pilot e-prescribing software

  Achieve Healthcare Technologies was awarded a $1 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare...

• Zix Corp. to participate in HHS e-prescribing grant

  Zix Corporation announced that it will participate in an initiative created by SureScripts to help...

• WebMD acquires eMedicine.com

  Web portal WebMD Health Corp. has acquired eMedicine.com, an online medical reference publisher.

• New Web site aims to be a medical search engine

  Healthline Networks has launched a new Web site called www.healthline.com.

Issue 15, April 28, 2006

• HHS announces appointment of four new directors

  Department of Health and Human Services National Coordinator David Brailer announced the...

• Missouri creates health IT task force

  Missouri Governor Matt Blunt created a healthcare technology task to address how the state can...

• Allscripts to acquire EMR firm

  Allscripts of Chicago announced a $272 million deal to acquire privately held A4 Health Systems of...

• HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announces e-prescribing pilot

  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt announced that HHS would pay...

• CPOE adoption remains slow

  According to the latest counts of two key information technology market watchers, the number of...

Issue 14, April 21, 2006

• Bill includes funds for telehealth

  A bill signed by President Bush includes a provision that would increase the overall budget for the...

• KCI launches new Web site

  Kinetic Concepts, Inc., announced the launch of its new Web site. The site provides physicians...

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield dispenses pocket PCs to physicians

  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is providing free pocket computers to 1,000 physicians...

• Ovid launches online point-of-care tool

  Ovid Technologies has launched a new online point-of-care tool called ClinicalResources@Ovid.

• Blue Cross starts e-prescription pilot

  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Philadelphia will provide 500 physicians with electronic prescribing...

Issue 13, April 14, 2006

• Voluntary reporting rates vary

  A study by researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston claims that voluntary...

• EHR adoption may take 10 years

  According to a report in the January Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, the...

• Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center becomes fully integrated digital hospital

  Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center has replaced paper-based physician orders with 100% direct...

• ALS Association to offer free online healthcare information

  ZivaContinuum, parent company of the Web-based resource ZivaGuide, has signed an agreement with The...

• PEI launches electronic health information system

  A new electronic health record system was launched in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Issue 12, April 7, 2006

• WIRED News names Cyberkinetics' system one of 2005’s biggest discoveries

  WIRED News ranked Cyberkinetics' BrainGate Neural Interface System as one of the top five...

• Regional Center at Memphis managing patient data using Dell technology

  Tennessee's oldest hospital, the Regional Center at Memphis, is using Dell technology to...

• New Mexico to adopt SumTotal learning management system

  New Mexico's health department plans to use a statewide Internet-based learning management system...

• RHIO to solve physician-access problem for medically underserved patients

  A regional health information organization in the Denver area has formed the Integrated Physician...

Issue 11, March 31, 2006

• Texas RHIO working with Allscripts

  Access Medica of Tyler, TX, has entered a $1.4 million agreement with Allscripts to automate and...

• BlueCross BlueShield portal to store personal health data

  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has developed "BluePrint for Health wellness center."

• Safety.BLR.com offers tips for battling workplace colds and flu

  Connecticut-based BLR has launched Safety.BLR.com. The site has tips that employees can take to...

• GE Healthcare acquires IDX Systems Corporation

  GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, has completed its acquisition of IDX Systems...

• Johnson & Johnson receives corporate leadership award

  Johnson & Johnson received the Ron Brown Award for corporate leadership. The award honors the...

Issue 10, March 24, 2006

• HealthEast Care System to deploy TouchWorks and IDX Flocast

  HealthEast Care System will deploy both the TouchWorks Electronic Health Record from Allscripts and...

• Technology helps quadriplegic use thoughts to control prosthetic hand

  Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. has announced that its first clinical trial...

• Virtual nurse visits grow as healthcare costs rise

  Healthcare providers are using video monitoring to check in on patients as a way to deal with the...

• New office to focus on IT and community health

  The Health Resources and Services Administration, a branch of the Department of Health and Human...

• IT improves diabetic patient care

  An article slated for future publication in the Journal of General Internal Medicine states that...

Issue 9, March 17, 2006

• Mount Sinai Hospital patients to receive patient smart cards

  Patients discharged from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York will receive a wallet-sized medical card...

• AmerisourceBergen and Allscripts to provide e-prescribing solutions

  AmerisourceBergen Corporation (www.amerisourcebergen.com) and Allscripts (www.allscripts.com) will...

• Report shows rapid adoption of wireless technology in 2005

  Wireless Data in the Healthcare Arena, a report by The FocalPoint Group, revealed that wireless...

• The National Institute for Medical Informatics deploys clinical information

  The National Institute for Medical Informatics has designed, built, and deployed a real-time...

• Alaska's governor proposes electronic immunization registry

  Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski has proposed spending $7.2 million on current and newly created...

Issue 8, March 10, 2006

• CARxE volunteer network launched to help seniors choose drug plans

  The Coalition to Advance Prescription Drug Education (CARxE) announced that the CARxE Benefit...

• TouchWorks Electronic Health Record receives first place award

  Allscripts announced that the TouchWorks Electronic Health Record was awarded first place in the...

• JCAHO: IT key part of surge capacity

  Information technology plays a key role in the development of the hospital surge capacity...

• New .md domain suffix provides country with import revenue

  Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is capitalizing on the .md domain suffix.

• eXerciseFriends.com ranked in top five health and fitness Web sites

  Alexa.com has ranked eXerciseFriends.com as the fifth most popular health and fitness Web sites on...

Issue 7, March 3, 2006

• Kidney group invests in electronic patient record system

  The San Antonio Kidney Disease Center Physicians Group agreed to buy Misys Healthcare Systems...

• Smart Document Solutions launches medical records tracking platform

  Smart Document Solutions (SDS) has partnered with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide...

• Los Angeles County starts online STD e-mail alert

  Los Angeles County health officials have announced a controversial tool to fight the spread of HIV...

• Georgia's hospitals to coordinate their communications during health emergencies

  Starting in January, Georgia's hospitals were wired to coordinate their communications during...

Issue 6, February 24, 2006

• BlueCross BlueShield launches Medicare Part D Web portal

  The BlueCross BlueShield Association launched a one-stop Web portal to provide information about...

• Smoking cessation support site aimed at helping adults keep resolutions

  According to statistics, if smokers try to quit cold turkey, their chances of success are slim, but...

• Consumer awareness biggest obstacle to use of personal health records

  According to a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society survey of 440 health...

• Ekahau deploys Wi-Fi location technology for emergency management

  Ekahau, Inc. has developed a location tracking solution that can be used during emergencies such as...

• New Jersey physicians' organization to use e-prescribing service

  Zix Corporation, a provider of e-messaging and e-prescribing services, announced that...

Issue 5, February 17, 2006

• Panel urges update of e-prescribing standards

  The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics advisory panel is urging the U.S. Department...

• Florida heart hospital wired for paperless records

  The Pepin Heart Hospital & Dr. Kiran C. Patel Research Institute hospital of University Community...

• Army equips Baghdad embassy with e-health system

  The Army has equipped the clinic at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, with laptop computers.

• Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative names board members

  The Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative has announced the names of individuals who will serve on its...

• Consumers urged to look for VIPPS Seal when buying prescriptions online

  Drugstore.com, Inc., a retailer of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products, urges consumers...

Issue 4, February 10, 2006

• Web site earns platinum eHealthcare leadership award

  The Web site for CaliforniaChoice, the state's site for employee choice healthcare, received the...

• Web site launched containing information on HIV treatment advances

  Gilead Sciences, Inc. has launched a new Web site containing information about advances in HIV...

• A.D.A.M. to provide health info for Baylor Health site

  Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System has contracted with A.D.A.M. to provide health information...

Issue 3, January 27, 2006

• Publishers and authors sue Google over its Book Search program

  Publishers and authors are suing Google over its Book Search program formerly called Google Print.

• Microsoft scans British library

  Microsoft will scan and put online about 100,000 books in the British Library, according to BBC...

• Program provides wireless access to drug data, lists, and e-prescribing

  Informed Decisions, LLC, and Mississippi Medicaid have started rolling out the eMPOWERx wireless...

• The Borenstein Group wins best eHealthcare interactive Web site

  The Borenstein Group has won a platinum medal for best interactive Web site in the category of...

• Children's Hospital Boston using Skyscape Mobile

  Clinicians at Children's Hospital Boston are replacing charts, index cards, and books with 6.5-oz...

• World digital library project announced

  The United States Library of Congress has announced the creation of the World Digital Library...

• Infinite Health Resources launches online health Web site

  Infinite Health Resources announced the launch of its Web site. The site provides online health...

• Medicare fixes problem on Web site

  Medicare fixed a problem that listed incorrect prices for two drug plans on its Web site used by...

• Aetna launches Medicare answer center at WebMD.com

  On November 22, 2005, Aetna announced that it has launched the "Aetna Answer Center" on WebMD...

• BJC HealthCare offers secure online health record to employees

  BJC Healthcare is offering employees an online health record system called myHealthFolders.com.

• Online doctor visit piloted to Microsoft employees

  Virginia Mason Medical Center and Premera Blue Cross are collaborating on the first pilot program...

• Web site reminds Hispanic parents to talk to their kids about not smoking

  Philip Morris USA has launched an online Parent Resource Center in Spanish to provide Hispanic...

Issue 2, January 20, 2006

• Surgeon General urges Americans to know their family health history

  U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, released an updated version of "My Family Health...

• Pennsylvania physicians offered financial aid for e-prescribing

  Physicians in western and central Pennsylvania may receive as much as $7,000 each to help pay for...

• Clinic to implement electronic health record from Allscripts

  Allscripts announced that West End Orthopaedic Clinic of Virginia will implement its TouchWorks...