Stacy Lawrence

To date, the health care industry has had relatively little use for investment in database and management tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). But thats all slated to start changing in the next year or so, according to a newly released report from market research firm Datamonitor. The […]

Hospitals are expected to increase their capital expenditures on health IT for the coming year by anywhere from 6 percent to 10 percent. That means a big step up in terms of the operating budget; it is expected to swell to 3.5 percent, from 2.5 percent last year, according to figures from the health care […]

On the heels of concerns about the nations food supply raised recently by Tommy Thompson, the outgoing secretary of health and human services, a new research deal has been announced that could make it easier to automatically detect biological agents in the water supply. Sandia National Laboratories, a research unit operated by Lockheed Martin for […]

Perhaps a bit more practical than the implantable RFID chip with patient information approved by the FDA a few months ago, this tag—dubbed the SurgiChip—aims to provide health care workers with accurate surgical information and possibly prevent errors such as the performance of surgery on the incorrect body part or the execution of the wrong […]

One of the most profitable subsidiaries of the German conglomerate Siemans AG, Siemans Medical Solutions, was awarded top honors for its health IT products and services. It was selected by Frost & Sullivan for leveraging its dominance in the areas of imaging and diagnostics to create a high-functioning clinical information system. Siemens Medical Solutions offers […]

The RFID chip from Applied Digital Solutions that links patients to their medical records has kicked up a media furor over potential privacy concerns after the Food & Drug Administration approved it earlier this week. But so far, analysts remain largely skeptical that the technology will have any substantial impact yet for patients. Rather than […]

Nurse managers traditionally have used agencies to find qualified nurses and other hourly staff to fill in on their wards. But with the nursing shortage of the past several years, temporary staffing needs and the costs associated with filling them have skyrocketed. A hospital developed a site in 2000 to help nurse managers more effectively […]

Urged on by clients—mostly large health care provider organizations such as Childrens Hospital of Orange County and the Phoenix Childrens Hospital—consultant firm Capgemini recently released a white paper analyzing the next steps toward instituting EHRs (electronic health records). Provider organizations are wondering, How do I do this? said Lewis Redd, national practice leader for Capgemini […]

As co-founder of Renaissance Health, an innovative prototype of a small physician practice affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Pranav Kothari has set about trying improve patients treatment. “Health care today doesnt serve patients as well as it could,” he said. “Revolutionizing the art of personal health care” is the tagline for Arlington, Mass.-based Renaissance […]

The largest private funder of research on Alzheimers disease, the Alzheimers Association, has partnered with Intel Corp. to award grants to researchers working to use everyday technologies to meet the daily needs of people with the disease and their caretakers. Of the 4.5 million Americans living with Alzheimers disease today, 70 percent of them live […]

The health IT market in the United States is expected to stagnate this year with a slight decline in spending, according to recently released figures from market research analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. Oddly enough, the drain of institutional resources away from commercial IT solutions toward training and staff to ensure compliance with HIPAA (the […]

A study released this week in the journal Cancer Research announced strides in the fight against early-stage ovarian cancer with the discovery of biomarkers and the development of tools to detect it. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine performed the study in collaboration with diagnostic company Ciphergens Biomarker Discovery Center. Researchers discovered three novel proteins associated […]