Brian T. Horowitz

Drchrono, a health care software as a service (SaaS) developer for Apple iOS, announced that it has added payment processing to its electronic health record (EHR) app on the iPhone and instant insurance-eligibility checking on the iPad. Patients can check insurance eligibility through Drchrono’s EHR software and through the OnPatient check-in app. Drchrono introduced OnPatient […]

Workers that rely on push-to-talk devices to collaborate on the job have a new 3G option. Sprint has introduced Kyocera Communications’ DuraXT phone to allow first responders and military personnel to maintain push-to-talk connectivity on the company’s 3G CDMA network in harsh working conditions. The DuraXT is suitable for users in industries such as construction, […]

Dell has announced it will host Agfa Healthcare’s medical imaging archive in the cloud. The cloud will provide the storage capacity and processing power as doctors look for ways to make medical images compatible with electronic health records (EHRs). Cloud computing will be an essential factor in this effort, especially when IT budgets are tight, […]

IBM will provide the technology backbone for a new virtual community from Premier, a health care performance-improvement alliance of 2,500 hospitals and 84,000 other health care facilities. PremierConnect, the new platform the alliance launched on June 7, allows doctors to collaborate and share insight on data and strategies for treating patients. Hospitals, physician offices and […]

Kidney donor matching has gotten a speed boost with the help of cloud computing. The National Kidney Registry announced that by transferring its matching database to Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform, its matching capacity has increased by 400 percent. The National Kidney Registry is a nonprofit organization that facilitates transplant exchanges. Windows Azure provides a […]

New York State announced June 6 that its health information exchange (HIE) will expand by adding three local networks from across the downstate region. The Statewide Health Information Network of New York, or SHIN-NY, took shape as three regional health information organizations (RHIOs) joined the data-sharing network, including Brooklyn Health Information Exchange, e-Health Network of […]

Asthmatics who need to monitor their breathing have a new mobile tool. Medical technology company iSonea has unveiled an app called AsthmaSense for Apple iOS and Google Android to allow people with asthma to monitor their breathing and keep track of their medication routines. An estimated 25 million Americans suffer from asthma, according to the […]

Verizon Communications has announced it will acquire Hughes Telematics, a connected-services company that offers telematics for the automotive and fleet industries. The purchase price for the acquisition, announced June 1, was $612 million. Verizon plans to take Hughes’ telematics technology beyond cars and trucks to grow its machine-to-machine (M2M) capabilities in mobile health. M2M allows […]

Government financial incentives, cloud computing and mobility will encourage 80 percent of health care organizations to adopt electronic health records by 2016, according to a new report by IDC Health Insights. Released May 30, “IDC MarketScape: U.S. Ambulatory EMR/EHR for Small Practices 2012 Vendor Assessment” gives providers guidance on which EHR vendors to choose. MarketScape […]

The touch-screen sensors of the Apple iPad have inspired the creation of a system that tracks the level of a physician’s hand hygiene. Dr. Richard Deutsch, director of Healthquest Technologies and a retired chiropractor, has received a patent for the Safe-Hands Hygiene Monitoring System, a tool that detects whether a doctor has used a hand […]

South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Mass., has agreed to a $750,000 settlement for a 2010 data breach involving lost backup files containing health information for 800,000 individuals. The hospital informed the Massachusetts attorney general’s office of a breach in July 2010 and the state filed a lawsuit May 21, 2012. The grounds for the […]

As the health care industry looks to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and take advantage of ‘meaningful-use’ incentives, one position often overlooked but growing in importance is the chief nursing informatics officer (CNIO). The CNIO helps to bridge the role of clinicians and the implementation of health care IT systems, Toni Hebda, a professor in […]