From HealthDayNews/Yahoo: A small, portable device can transmit patient vital signs from accident or disaster scenes to medical staff in hospitals or other central medical locations. The “Vital Dust” device measures heart rate and the percent of oxygen saturation in the blood, an important indicator of a patient’s cardiopulmonary status. The data is transmitted via radio to a wearable or handheld computer, where it’s displayed for a medical team.

From USA Today: A federal judge ordered the immediate closure last Thursday of a chain of stores that help U.S. residents purchase lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, saying the chain violates the law and cannot ensure the safety of the products customers purchase.
In a ruling expected to bolster government efforts to shut down similar firms, U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan in Tulsa issued a preliminary injunction against stores doing business as Rx Depot, whose owners say they operate 85 stores in 26 states

A new study from the Association for Health Center Affiliated Health Plans [AHCAHP], Promoting Disease Prevention in Health Plans: Information Systems & Technology Assessment, analyzes the impact of the use of information technology (IT) systems in delivering preventive care to the Medicaid population. Some key findings include AHCAHP plans’ use of IT for utilization management and disease management programs, as well as for the integration of data from several sources to improve preventive care. A comparison of how AHCAHP plans and the Alliance of Community Health Plans [ACHP] plans use IT found many similiarities in how IT can bolster preventive care.

From the Dayton Daily News: The Ohio Department of Health announced Friday a new computerized registry to connect willing donors who don’t match their loved ones, with other patients — people who also have loved ones who don’t match them.

The idea is to “exchange” your kidney—give it to a matching recipient—and someone else will give their kidney to your loved one.

From the Star-Ledger: New Jersey doctors can ditch their prescription pads and join the electronic age now that new state rules allow them to e-mail drug orders straight to the pharmacy.

E-mailed prescriptions can solve the problem of illegible handwriting and misplaced decimal points, and can also be quicker and more convenient for both doctors and patients.

New Jersey joins 37 states that allow electronic transmission of prescriptions. Seven states do not allow electronic prescriptions, and in six states the law is silent.

From Federal Computer Week: The House yesterday approved a bill that would provide grants, planning and coordination to local 911 call centers needing equipment upgrades, infrastructure and training.

Advocates have been pressing the federal government to accelerate implementation of better technology and training at 911 call centers, also known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). A growing problem has been accurately locating wireless callers, who now constitute more than half of the country’s 200 million 911 calls each year.

From the New York Times: Some budding entrepreneurs find inspiration in business classes, in how-to books or in larger-than-life chief executives. As strange as it may seem, Jeff Margolis, chief executive of the TriZetto Group, a company in Newport Beach, California, that provides information-technology software and services to health care organizations, found inspiration in a disorder that has afflicted him since he was 19.

From the Orlando Sentinel: Governor Jeb Bush and Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd have agreed to press legislators for a prescription-tracking system that one state official said could cut drug-related deaths in half.

Bush announced the breakthrough in the wake of an Orlando Sentinel report focusing on the problems of addiction and overdose deaths in Florida tied to the painkiller OxyContin.

From Health-IT World: For clinicians at Orilla Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH), located 90 miles north of Toronto, remote access to patient information was never a viable option. Faced with lengthy commutes and inclement weather, just getting to the rural hospital could be challenging. OSMH clinicians no longer need to overcome these obstacles to access patient information. They can now get it remotely through Canaveral iQ (CIQ), a Web-based application developed by New Moon Systems.

This week the General Accounting Office [GAO] released a report that looked at IT initiatives at ten health care providers across the nation and found improvement in care, as well as cost benefits from fewer medication errors, better communication, documentation and staffing, and other improvements. The report also includes examples of three insurers’ IT efforts and a community data network for exchanging health care information.

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ [HHS] Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] on November 3 published on its Website quality data for the approximately 7,000 home health agencies certified by Medicare, about 1,800 of which are hospital-based. On November 4, CMS published advertisements in 69 newspapers comparing quality data for select home health agencies in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. The new data can be found on the CMS Web site.

A new report released by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) highlights $2.48 billion in potential net savings for the state through the implementation of seven advanced health care technologies. The report was developed by MTC in partnership with the New England Healthcare Institute as well as major players in the Massachusetts health care system.

Eight of 10 hospitals in the U.S. has a Website, American Hospital Association [AHA] Annual Survey of Hospitals annual survey finds
October 31, 2003

The share of U.S. hospitals with Web addresses jumped to 81% in 2002 from roughly 68% the previous year. New England led all census regions with 92.9% of its facilities listing an Internet address. More than 73% of rural hospitals reported having a Web address this year.

With last week’s addition of information on doctors in eight states, Public Citizen’s Questionable Doctors database has information on more than 18,000 doctors in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Listed physicians have been disciplined by state boards or federal agencies for incompetence, misprescribing drugs, sexual misconduct, criminal convictions, ethical lapses and other offenses.

Data on doctors in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin were added last week.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) today launched its expanded patient information Web site to meet the needs of patients and families dealing with organ transplantation.

TransplantLiving offers transplant candidates and recipients practical and scientific resources relating to organ transplantation. An editorial board of patient representatives and transplant healthcare professionals — from a wide variety of specialties affiliated with different hospitals, schools of medicine and organizations — review all new content before it is posted.