M.L. Baker

Edward Fotsch wants to take clipboards out of doctors offices. The CEO of Medem, a company providing Internet-based services to doctors, this week reached out to patients with the chance to create their own online, password-protected personal health records. That way, doctors can grab relevant information from the Internet instead of from scattered slips of […]

When a patients heart begins to fail, blood loses its forward thrust. Fluid builds up in the lungs, abdomen and lower limbs, causing dry cough and sudden weight gain. Catching and addressing these signs quickly can avert a crisis—trips to the emergency room, hospitalization and worse. Hoping to catch the process in its earliest stages—to […]

On Tuesday, IBM launched an effort to build a prototype infrastructure for health information exchange, complete with speeches by the nations health IT czar. On Wednesday, IBM said it would acquire HealthLink Inc., a highly regarded health IT consulting company with over 500 consultants. And on Thursday, IBM announced a $400 million deal with the […]

A few months after the nations health IT czar asked for input on how to create a national health information network, IBM on Monday announced plans to build a prototype of sorts. By building a test system to move data from one place to another, IBM Research aims to show that easy electronic sharing of […]

A small raft of health care payers and their partners have launched new campaigns to encourage physicians to write electronic prescriptions. This time, they are offering support along with free equipment, software and other incentives. On Friday, a collaborative of three automakers sent letters to over 6,000 physicians asking them to participate in a new […]

Most health care providers are mostly compliant with the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but fewer than half of them are fully compliant, according to a survey released Monday by the American Health Information Management Association. The deadline for compliance passed about two years ago. At a public teleconference Wednesday, […]

Health care payers and providers have two weeks until security rules protecting electronic health information kick in. Accordingly, trade and government groups have released an array of tools to help them make sure they are complying with the law. The deadline of April 20 is set by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and […]

Californias new online registry for organ donors has already signed up more people than expected. As of Friday morning, more than 17,500 people had registered, easily beating the goal of 15,000 hoped for by the end of the week. After plans for the registry were stymied by state budget shortfalls, the four federally designated organ- […]

In a move that drew praise from the nations health IT czar Monday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has promised $50 million to implement electronic health records so data can be shared among nursing homes, hospitals and outpatient clinics in three communities in the state. The pledge is one of the largest investments, if […]

Eclipsys Corp. Thursday launched Sunrise 4.0XA, the latest release of its suite of clinical information technology applications, with more than 450 new features in 16 functional areas. John Gomez, the companys chief technology officer, said the new rollout includes faster and more powerful physician documentation, allowing orders for drugs and procedures to be linked and […]