Electronic Medical Records News and Research

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e-health enables more personalized medicine; group fights for digital patient rights

Tonia Odom, a 35-year-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis, a sick father and a young son, each of whom has multiple health problems, has found some relief to the problems of managing her families' array of illnesses in at a Duke University clinic that's a model of the "medical home" approach to medicine, the New York Times reports.

23 Jun 2009

Medical insurers' billing claims can help researchers track patient complications

Billing claims from health insurance companies can provide insights on the long-term health of kidney transplant patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

18 Jun 2009

Health reform price tag has Democrats scrambling to lower cost

The up to $1.6 trillion price tag for one version of health care reform has left Democrats scrambling to find a way to rein in costs while not sacrificing the basic tenets of a plan they favor, The Washington Post reports.

18 Jun 2009

G.E. offers loans for e-health record purchases

"General Electric Co. said its GE Capital division will make no-interest loans to hospitals and health-care providers that purchase GE's health-care information technology," The Wall Street Journal reports.

17 Jun 2009

Physicians wait for health IT guidelines, officials want 'every doctor's office' online

Physicians are still waiting for clear cut rules for how they must use health information technology in order to be eligible for economic stimulus-funded incentives, American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association, reports.

15 Jun 2009

Doctors and hospitals look for ways to cut costs, improve quality

The "patient-centered" practices movement is growing in popularity, the New York Times reports. Primary care physicians in the practices "spend more time with patients, emphasize prevention and education" to keep patients healthy and "can handle many medical problems without referrals to specialists." Often, "this kind of care can reduce a patient's medical bills."

9 Jun 2009

Comparative effectiveness tested in diabetes study, VA records release

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found common surgical interventions and stents, the expensive medical devices used in bypass surgeries, are no more effective at preventing death, heart attacks and strokes in diabetic patients than less expensive drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study, which included 2,368 patients, is representative of new interest in head-to-head comparisons of treatments.

9 Jun 2009

Hackers going after medical records

Hackers raided a server at the University of California, Berkeley last fall, stealing everything from Social Security numbers to immunization records in an episode that highlights one danger of moving health information from file cabinets to cyberspace, Forbes reports in a first-person account by one of the 160,000 victims.

4 Jun 2009

Arizona jail could be ‘e-health’ test, but slow to take necessary steps

A troubled county jail, where hundreds of lawsuits have stemmed from mistakes in managing the inmates' health information, would be a perfect testing ground for electronic medical records, the Arizona Republic reports.

2 Jun 2009

New easier way to identify kids' high blood pressure

Pediatricians now have a new and simple way to diagnose a serious problem facing our nation's children - thanks to David Kaelber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., MetroHealth System pediatrician, internist, and chief medical informatics officer and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researcher and faculty member. Nearly 75% of cases of hypertension and 90% of cases of prehypertension in children and adolescents go undiagnosed.

26 May 2009

Genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk may be greatly underutilized

Although a test for gene mutations known to significantly increase the risk of hereditary breast or ovarian cancer has been available for more than a decade, a new study finds that few women with family histories of these cancers are even discussing genetic testing with their physicians or other health care providers.

22 May 2009

Patients want full access to all medical records - willing to make privacy concessions

As President Barack Obama calls for streamlining heath care by fully converting to electronic medical records and as Congress prepares to debate issues of patient privacy, one question has largely gone unasked: What do patients want?

18 May 2009

Unique electronic strategy alerts physicians to latest clinical information on H1N1 flu

History was made at 2:30 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, April 29, when more than 3,000 physicians in Indianapolis were sent a broadcast alert on swine flu (H1N1 virus) from the Marion County Health Department. The message was of critical importance to patient care; history was made in the way it was transmitted and received.

5 May 2009

IBM and Golden State Medical Supply create drug safety model to tackle counterfeiting

IBM and Golden State Medical Supply (GSMS) have announced the two companies have worked together to help drug companies comply with stringent prescription drug pedigree regulations in advance of state and federal mandates.

26 Apr 2009

GE Healthcare collaborates with CDC on electronic medical records

GE Healthcare has announced a collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Public Health Informatics.

6 Apr 2009

Getting the word out when the need for speed is critical to public health

When the need for speed is critical, how can a public health department communicate with doctors and hospitals, sending alerts to help prevent or stop a public health crisis? How can thousands of health-care providers be notified about disease outbreaks, illness from food borne contaminants or even a possible pandemic?

4 Apr 2009

Hospital-to-hospital health information exchange begins

LifeBridge Health has begun an electronic exchange of health information between its two hospitals, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and Northwest Hospital, and Saint Agnes Hospital, a community hospital with an overlapping service area.

1 Apr 2009

Many CT scans over lifetime may increase risk for cancer

Patients who undergo numerous CT scans over their lifetime may be at increased risk for cancer, according to a study published in the April issue of Radiology.

31 Mar 2009

Ownership of electronic health information must be addressed

The recently passed 'Stimulus' funding will create a huge amount of electronic medical information in the next few years, but legal uncertainty about who owns the information "presents a major obstacle to integrating and using" it to improve public health and health care, according to a national commentary co-authored by a Wake Forest University and a Duke University faculty member.

24 Mar 2009

Study tracks increasing use of CT on pregnant women

Researchers have found that over a 10-year period radiologic exams on pregnant women have more than doubled, according to a study published in the online edition of Radiology.

17 Mar 2009