EMR/EHR

Electronic medical records (EMR) are a digital version of a patient’s chart that store their personal information, medical history and links to prior exams, texts and reports. The goal of these systems is to enable immediate access to the patient's data electronically, rather than needing to request paper file folders that might be stored in fragment files at numerous locations where a patient is seen or treated. EMRs (also called electronic health records, or EHR) improve clinician and health system efficiency by making all this data immediately available. This helps reduce repeat tests, repeat prescriptions and repeat imaging exams because reports, imaging or other patient data is not not immediately available. 

Report: Health IT could help reform U.S. primary care system

The New England Healthcare Institute on Tuesday released a report that identifies the challenges facing primary care and offers new approaches to improving care quality and outcomes.

IHS to spend $85M of stimulus on health IT

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is set to release $500 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including $85 million for IT enhancements in facilities throughout the U.S. that serve Native American and Alaska Native communities.

Axolotl appoints Scarbrough as director of IT operations

Axolotl, a health information exchange solutions and services company, has appointed Robert Scarbrough as director of IT operations.

Patient orientation may reduce x-ray radiation for the obese

Effective doses from radiographic exams in the extremely obese can exceed 100 mSv from only a small number of abdominal exams and should be minimized to the extent possible and monitored, according to study published online April 29 in Radiology.

Patients willing to forgo some health IT privacy for availability

A qualitative study conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston revealed that patients want full access to all of their medical records; are willing to make some privacy concessions in the interest of making their medical records completely transparent; and expect that computers may one day substitute for face-to-face doctor visits.

Digital mammo developer moves HQ

Bioptics, a digital mammography company, has moved to a new 22,000 square-foot facility in Tucson, Ariz.

Health IT players form EHR Stimulus Alliance for physician education

Allscripts, in conjunction with Nuance Communications, Cisco, Citrix, Dell, Intel and Intuit Microsoft, is co-launching the EHR Stimulus Alliance, aimed at educating 500,000 U.S. physicians about opportunities aligned with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by delivering virtual and physical education programs.

Calgary Scientific integrates advanced viz platform with Optimed EHR

Calgary Scientific has licensed its PureWeb and Resolution software to Optimed Software for integration into the latter's Accuro product line.

Around the web

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.

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