Health Systems News and Research

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Quality Systems enters into agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions

Quality Systems, Inc. (“QSI”), a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced that QSI has entered into an agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

11 Feb 2010

Altarum Institute re-vamps Health Policy Forum “blog” for 2010

Altarum Institute, a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization, has re-vamped its Health Policy Forum “blog” for 2010. With a fresh look and new content, the blog is now tailored to the interests of journalists and health policy experts looking for thought-provoking commentary and analysis of the most pressing issues in health care today.

11 Feb 2010

Allscripts clinical and practice management IT solutions to be implemented at NuHealth

Allscripts announced today that NuHealth will implement Allscripts clinical and practice management IT solutions across its network of hospitals and employed physicians, enhancing the quality of care, improving patient communications, and better managing the cost of care delivery. The agreement, valued in excess of $5 million, is the central component of NuHealth's connected healthcare strategy, enabling health information exchange and collaboration among all the members of a patient's care team, inside and outside the health system.

10 Feb 2010

As health overhaul stalls, hospitals face rising cost of uncompensated care

For American hospitals, "the cost of doing nothing in Washington translates into tens of billions of dollars each year in medical bills that go unpaid by patients with little or no insurance," The New York Times reports.

9 Feb 2010

Orlando Health implements MedeAnalytics’ QCA solution

MedeAnalytics, a leading provider of healthcare performance management solutions, announced that Orlando Health has added Quality and Compliance Analytics (QCA) to their suite of MedeAnalytics solutions.

9 Feb 2010

Coventry Health Care reports revenues of $3.4 billion for fourth-quarter 2009

Coventry Health Care, Inc. today reported consolidated operating results for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Operating revenues totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter with net earnings of $109.1 million, or $0.74 earnings per diluted share (EPS). For the year ended December 31, 2009, total revenues from continuing operations were $13.9 billion with net earnings from continuing operations of $315.3 million, or $2.14 per diluted share.

9 Feb 2010

Analysts: If health reform fails, expect more industry mergers

BusinessWeek: "With Congress' sweeping overhaul of the health system stalled, industry will seek its own answers to a push by government and the private sector to rein in costs, said Curtis Lane, senior managing director at MTS Health Partners, a New York-based equity fund."

9 Feb 2010

AmerisourceBergen offers rapid implementation methodology for meaningful use of EHRs

AmerisourceBergen announced a unique offering designed to help hospitals and health systems achieve meaningful use readiness for electronic health records (EHR), regardless of the technology they are using.

8 Feb 2010

AMIA members lead authorship of articles on global e-health

Five articles, whose lead or senior authors are nationally known informatics leaders and members of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), appear in the Feb. 2010 issue of Health Affairs and provide a glimpse into the future of health care delivery in an increasingly information-driven era of health care in the developing world.

6 Feb 2010

N.J., Tenn. and Florida battling growing Medicaid costs; need for health care for parolees in Calif.

Medicaid costs in many states are expanding deficits while lawmakers and the public struggle to keep up with the growth in health costs.

6 Feb 2010

More than 175 organizations support comprehensive health reform efforts

More than 175 organizations issued a letter of support today to the President, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to strongly support comprehensive health reform efforts, emphasizing the need to modernize and increase funding for disease prevention, wellness, and public health in the United States.

5 Feb 2010

New ICD-9-CM database provides FDA-approved and off-label uses for therapeutic drugs

A recently released Drug Diagnosis Coding database from RJ Health Systems provides accurate FDA-approved and Compendia-listed off-label uses for therapeutic classes such as Oncology, Anti-Emetics, Erythropoietin Stimulating Agents and Multiple Sclerosis Agents. The

5 Feb 2010

Medicity's agent-grid technology for health information exchange awarded U.S. patent

Medicity—the leading provider of health information exchange (HIE) solutions that empower physicians, hospitals and communities to improve care coordination, collaboration and achieve meaningful use of health information technology—today announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company Patent No. 7,653,634 for its agent-grid technology for health information exchange. This patented technology, which is at the core of Medicity’s Novo Grid, has become the industry standard for seamless electronic health record (EHR) integration and community-wide health information exchange.

5 Feb 2010

NIH awards CYCORE project for cancer research $2.6M

Nearly four decades after President Richard Nixon declared a "War on Cancer," the disease still claims the lives of 560,000 Americans every year, despite an annual expenditure of $5 billion by the U.S. government on research to battle it.

4 Feb 2010

New program to help the U.S. health care sector switch to cleaner, renewable energy sources

In recent months, three U.S. hospitals signed energy contracts that will save over $1.7 million in energy costs, provide them with up to 10 percent clean energy. The green energy will avoid 11,829 metric tons of CO2 being released to our atmosphere, which is equivalent to taking 2,052 cars off the road or not burning 56 railcars' worth of coal.

4 Feb 2010

Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems selects CardiacAssist's TandemHeart System

CardiacAssist Inc. announced today that Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems, Colorado Springs, Colo., has adopted the company’s TandemHeart® System.

4 Feb 2010

IBM announces definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems

IBM today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems, a market leader in data integrity software for information sharing among healthcare and government organizations. Initiate's software helps healthcare clients work more intelligently and efficiently with timely access to patient and clinical data. It also enables governments to share information across multiple agencies to better serve citizens.

3 Feb 2010

Cognosante and Fox Systems announce merger

Fox Systems, a leader in Medicaid and HIPAA, and Cognosante, a leader in health information interoperability, today announced that the two companies have merged effective January 1, 2010. The combined company will be known as Cognosante, LLC, with Fox Systems operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cognosante.

3 Feb 2010

Hospital mergers may rise

Business Week/Bloomberg: "Failure to pass the health-care overhaul may accelerate a push by Community Health Systems Inc., Health Management Associates Inc. and LifePoint Hospitals Inc. to acquire facilities weakened by the recession.

2 Feb 2010

HHS appoints new members to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today the appointment of 24 new members to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). The PACHA’s chair, Dr. Helene Gayle, was appointed in August 2009.

2 Feb 2010