News Clips

Study: VA gets high yield from HIT investment

Peter Buxbaum | Government Health IT | April 29, 2010

The Department of Veterans Affairs has spent proportionally more than the private sector on health IT and has achieved higher levels of IT adoption and quality of care as a result.

Those were the key conclusions reached in a comparative study undertaken by researchers from the Center for Information Technology Leadership and published in the April issue of Health Affairs, a healthcare policy journal. CITL is part of the Boston-based, nonprofit Partners HealthCare System. Read More »

Nationally Recognized Psychiatric Hospital Selects Medsphere's Open Source Electronic Health Record to Transform Clinical Care

Press Release | Medsphere, Silver Hill Hospital | April 29, 2010

Silver Hill Hospital Chooses OpenVista to Improve Efficiency and Patient Care

Medsphere Systems Corporation, the leading provider of open source healthcare IT solutions, today announced a five-year contract with Connecticut's Silver Hill Hospital for implementation, training and support of the company's OpenVista electronic health record (EHR) solution. Read More »

Open Source: A Do-It-Yourself Movement to Change Education from the Bottom Up

Elana Leoni | Edutopia | April 28, 2010

On day two of DrupalCon, I listened to Tim O'Reilly, a web 2.0 guru, as he stated that not only has open source continued to drive our society's capacity to act together and collaborate effectively, it has also sprouted the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) movement.Recently, I had the pleasure of attending 

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Mil Health IT: Port of Call, Hampton Roads

Peter Buxbaum | Government Health IT | April 27, 2010

In Hampton Roads, Va., the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are staging the most far-reaching military health information mash-up ever attempted.

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Medsphere Applauds Senator Rockefeller's Call for Universal Adoption of Open Source Electronic Health Records

Press Release | Medsphere | April 24, 2010

Health Information Technology Public Utility Act of 2009 to Make Health IT More Accessible, Especially in Rural Areas

Today, Medsphere Systems Corporation applauds West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Healthcare, for introducing The Health Information Technology Public Utility Act of 2009. This landmark legislation will ensure Americans receive the best possible care when doctors and nurses are able to communicate and work together for the benefit of each individual patient. Read More »

Cancer Research Faces Changes With Health Care Reform

Katherine Harmon | Scientific American | April 21, 2010

Many doctors and medical researchers applauded a new federal focus on comparative effectiveness research that was boosted through the 2009 stimulus package and codified with the signing of the health care reform bill in March. The changing policies, however, present "a conundrum" for cancer work. Read More »

Social Security Taps New Senior Health IT Official

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | April 20, 2010

The Social Security Administration named James Winn, executive counselor to the commissioner, as special advisor for health IT.

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Winners and Losers Under the NHIN Direct Project

Alice Lipowicz | Federal Computer Week | April 20, 2010

Although the Health and Human Services Department’s new “NHIN Direct” project might kill a possible revenue stream for some state health information exchanges, those exchanges should be able to make up the revenue in other ways, an HHS official said today. Read More »

Open Source TB Megaproject Yields First Fruits

M. Sreelata | SciDev.Net | April 16, 2010

A unique effort by scientists to pull together scattered genetic information about the tuberculosis (TB) bug, with the goal of developing new remedies, has identified its first candidate molecule.

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Experts Available to Discuss Study: VA’s Computer Systems Cost Billions, but Have Big Payback

Press Release | Medsphere | April 16, 2010

“WE CONSERVATIVELY ESTIMATE THAT THE VA’S INVESTMENTS IN THE FOUR HEALTH IT SYSTEMS STUDIED YIELDED $3.09 BILLION IN CUMULATIVE BENEFITS NET OF INVESTMENT COSTS BY 2007.”
 

TOPIC:
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a reputation as an early adopter of electronic medical systems. Now, says a Wall Street Journal blog post, a study in Health Affairs tries to quantify the benefit of VISTA, or Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture. Read More »

How the Young Brigade Mapped the TB Genome

R. Prasad | The Hindu | April 15, 2010

When nearly 400 motivated students, with the help of a few faculty and scientists, get together voluntarily and work single-mindedly, solving any complex problem can turn out to be child's play.

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The Value From Investments In Health Information Technology At The U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs

Colene M. Byrne, et. al. | Health Affairs | April 15, 2010

We compare health information technology (IT) in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to norms in the private sector, and we estimate the costs and benefits of selected VA health IT systems. The VA spent proportionately more on IT than the private health care sector spent, but it achieved higher levels of IT adoption and quality of care. The potential value of the VA’s health IT investments is estimated at $3.09 billion in cumulative benefits net of investment costs. Read More »

VA Health IT Generates $3 Billion Savings

Nicole Lewis | InformationWeek | April 8, 2010

During the decade 1997 to 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $4 billion on health IT investments and saved more than $7 billion over the same period, a new study finds.

The study reported that the VA's use of technology lowered costs by a net of $3.09 billion, while improving quality, safety, and patient satisfaction. It was conducted by members of the Center for Information Technology Leadership, a Charlestown, Mass. academic research organization that assesses the impact of health information technologies. Read More »

Open-source Software Increases Colon Polyp Conspicuity

Eric Barnes | AuntMinnieEurope.com | April 6, 2010

Visibility of colon polyps is increased and sensitivity improved with the use of threshold-based color-coding software in virtual colonoscopy (also known as CT colonography or CTC), according to a new study from Italy. Even flat lesions were more often visible with use of the open-source 2D-based interpretation software. Read More »

Collaborating Globally to Address Breast Cancer in Latin America

Nancy G. Brinker | NCI Cancer Bulletin | April 6, 2010

It’s increasingly apparent that the most successful global health efforts require not just the best minds, but the best minds working collaboratively, to make a difference on the world stage. Read More »