I first grew interested in the possibilities and potential of integrated healthcare information systems when I heard a proposal for a Community Health Information Network (CHIN) in the late 1990s. Weve come a long way since those early efforts at interoperable health ITthere are currently approximately 190 regional health information organization (RHIO)/health information exchange (HIE) initiatives in various forms of development in the United States.

Although the entire healthcare IT universe is waiting on a final definition of meaningful use of electronic health records, the July draft circulated for public consumption gives plenty of clues as to what the rules ultimately will look like for the Medicare and Medicaid health IT subsidy program.

Clinicians are in data overload and the potential exists for this information excess to stall decision-making, thereby negatively impacting patient care. The solution is to provide the right information at the right time to the right caregiver. Advanced wireless technologies are at the forefront of helping physicians and allied staff better handle the enormous amount of continually flowing patient data, as well as to communicate throughout the enterprise with patients and staff.

Hospitals and health systems are beginning to more carefully craft care plans for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, depression, heart disease, lung disease and cancer that seek to engage the patient in his or her own care as well as readying themselves for pending changes in reimbursement that looks to tie the achievement of care goals to payment.

Theyre here, theyre there, theyre everywhere. Mobile workstations, or computers on wheels (COWs), provide access to data all over the hospital, including the ED, ICU and OR, and can be used to move, store and place items, and chart patient information more accurately.

Twelve-year-old James sits in his bedroom in Ann Arbor, Mich., on a cool spring day in 1924. He has been feeling a little under the weather over the last two days and his mother is worried he might be coming down with a cold. However, rather than having to bring him to the doctors office, today the familys new Radio Doctor will see the boy in his own bed, in his own home under the watchful eye of his loving mother, teasing brother and at the direction of his caring Dr. McMorris at the local University.

Cuero Community Hospital in Cuero, Texas, is now utilizing Philips Healthcare's Panorama high-field open-scanner MRI system.

Boston Scientific has reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) related to product advisories issued by its Guidant subsidiary in 2005. The company noted that the alleged conduct and product sales occurred prior to Boston Scientific's 2006 acquisition of Guidant.