M.L. Baker

A new device allows BlackBerry handheld computers to read bar codes, a capability that should make them more popular among health care providers. The device, called LaserField, integrates data collection software from Vancouver-based Flowfinity Wireless Inc. and a bar-code reader from Infinite Peripherals, based in Irvine, Calif. Bar code-enabled BlackBerrys will help track inventory and […]

Information technology is far from being used optimally to protect patients. There is ample room for technology improvements: Systems are clumsy and can cost more time than they save. But technology is not the only area that could use improvement; an attitude adjustment among health care providers and payers is essential. This adjustment is coming, […]

Software developer ePeople Inc. will announce a new version of CTMail, its e-mail management system for clinical trials this week. According to a recent survey commissioned by ePeople, the highly-trained professionals who are managing clinical trials spend 70 percent of their time searching e-mail, cutting and pasting relevant information from old e-mails into new e-mails, […]

CMS (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare) this week announced its picks for companies to participate in 10 experimental programs to manage care of patients with chronic conditions. The hope is that keeping these patients healthier will improve their lives—and save the government money. Forty-three percent of Medicare spending goes to the 14 percent of beneficiaries […]

Although electronic health records promise to reduce medical errors and boost personalized care, their cost, inconvenience and uncertain benefits are keeping physicians away. Even physicians convinced that they should invest in the technology delay for fear of spending huge sums on the wrong technology. An overwhelming surfeit of options just boosts their confusion. Based on […]

The resignation of Tommy Thompson, head of the Department of Health and Human Services will probably have little effect on health IT, say industry insiders. In an interview conducted while Thompsons departure was still rumor, David Brailer, the national health IT coordinator, said health IT had a life of its own, implying that its momentum […]

A request for $50 million to fund health IT projects didnt make it into the spending bill passed by Congress late last month. Despite the praise heaped on David Brailer, the nations health IT czar, apparently no politician, including President Bush, saw fit to back the rhetoric with cash. While government funding for health IT […]

Nearly everyone agrees that done well, health IT will save both lives and money. But right now, the technology often costs doctors more than it saves. Insurance companies want more data about how programs save them money, and vendors are having trouble creating and supporting products at affordable rates. John Glaser is CIO of Partners […]

The year 2004 ushered in a taste of what is being called the “dot-gov” boom in health IT. Both Republicans and Democrats are eager to show their support. As Bush-appointed health IT czar David Brailer noted, “Theres a magic aura around this topic, because its really hard to figure out what to fight about.” Another […]

SAN FRANCISCO—While government will provide incentives and muscle, the private sector must ultimately make functional health information technology a widespread reality, national health IT coordinator David Brailer told a crowd of attendees at a health care IT conference Thursday. Health IT, particularly for EHRs (electronic health records), promises to make health care more effective and […]