Wal-Mart leaps into low-cost digital health records system market 
Wal-Mart plans to provide a low-cost way for physicians in small offices to use electronic health records (EHRs) by teaming its Sam’s Club warehouse stores with computer maker Dell and health software provider eClinicalWorks, beginning this spring. The plan calls for Dell to provide healthcare specialists with desktop or personal computers, while eClinicalWorks supplies the EHR and practice management software needed for Internet-based patient billing and registration. Wal-Mart expects its buying power to undercut rival health information technology suppliers by as much as half, according to Marcus Osborne, the company’s senior director for healthcare business. The set-up cost will be nearly $25,000 for the first physician in a practice and $10,000 for each additional doctor. After installation and training, a practice will pay an estimated $6,500 or less each year for maintenance and support, according to Osborne. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2204806/posts

Stimulus package might not be stimulating enough to encourage switch to EHRs
Not all physicians will be enticed into adopting health information technology, despite the $19 billion in health IT funding included in the recently enacted federal stimulus package, according to a study by Washington, D.C.-based advisory services firm Avalere Health. The health IT dollars are designed to reimburse physicians and hospitals that adopt electronic record systems between 2011 and 2015, and demonstrate “meaningful use” by using the systems to communicate with other providers and enter patient data. But the Avalere study found that it will cost a single physician or small practice $124,000 to switch to the new system, while incentives will only total $44,000. In addition, government-imposed penalties – which kick in after 2015 for practices that do not make the switch – amount to $5,100 annually, far less than the cost of installing and operating an electronic system, according to the report. http://www.avalerehealth.net/wm/show.php?c=1&id=808

India takes growing interest in telepresence thanks to economic downturn
Teleconferencing, known for everything from long-distance medical care to executive board meetings, is getting a boost in India during the current economic downturn, with major players in the market making efforts such as setting up public telepresence rooms and offering innovative financing options to grow the market. Health information technology giants such as Polycom and Cisco are taking a great interest in telepresence, as companies look for ways to cut costs but remain efficient, according to Minhaj Zia, national sales manager for Cisco India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. “Globally, health systems face the challenge of meeting increasing demand for services,” Zia said. “Shortages of trained personnel and specialists, combined with aging populations, result in ever-increasing health delivery costs that far outpace gross domestic product for many countries.” But the technology’s biggest obstacle is cost, which can range from $34,900 [USD] to $349,000 per system. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/...

New IBM, Nhumi Technologies software offers 3-D views of patient EMRs
A Danish hospital is experimenting with new IBM-based technology that gives medical staff a 3-D model of a human body for a quick, up-to-date overview of a patient’s electronic medical record. The technology, developed by IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory and tested at Thy-Mors Hospital in Northern Denmark, uses a computer to rotate the 3-D image of the human anatomy and zoom in and out to see needed detail, according to Thy-Mors Chief Surgeon Dr. Hardy Christoffersen. The 3-D tool also lets medical staff select different views, allowing a close inspection of organs or the circulatory, muscular, and nervous systems. IBM and business partner Nhumi Technologies, a software maker in Zurich, plan to collaborate on marketing the technology. http://www.informationweek.com/..

UI professor creates method where EMRs reduce operating room costs
University of Iowa physician has developed a way to use electronic medical data to help control costs in the operating room (OR) and the cost of anesthesia scheduling – two places that have been notoriously difficult to manage financially. The system helps OR managers better estimate how long a particular case will last, making it easier and more cost-efficient to schedule subsequent cases in the same room, according to Franklin Dexter, M.D., professor of anesthesia at UI’s Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, IA. The new system combines information about a patient’s vital signs in the OR with historical data about how long cases typically last, and applies statistical mathematics to provide realistic estimates of the remaining time needed for an ongoing OR case. Critically, this information is updated continuously as the case continues – a process that is currently done manually, according to Dexter. http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/march...

Fully functional New York health IT strategy may serve as national model
Health information technology programs in New York state were still active and functioning two years after implementation, making them potential models for new federal initiatives, according to a study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in New York City. Programs for 26 medical specialists who received a total of $53 million in grants through the state’s “Heal NY” project in 2005 were still fully functional and  implementing interoperable health IT systems in 2007, according to report lead researcher Dr. Lisa Kern, assistant professor of public health and medicine at WCMC. This is in sharp contrast to national trends, where one-fourth of regional health information organizations do not survive their first year. One-third of grantees had actual users for their systems, Kern added. “These successes could help shape the federal government’s approach to health IT,” Kern said. http://news.med.cornell.edu/wcmc/...

Ingested communications technology helps Arctic explorers stay in touch with home
An ingested temperature sensor is helping a team of polar explorers keep in touch with their headquarters in the United Kingdom while the researchers make a 560-mile trek across the Arctic. The Catlin Arctic Survey research team is gathering data to help scientists revise predictions on when Arctic ice will no longer exist year-round due to global warming. Meanwhile, a “core pill” inside each explorer will transmit internal temperature data to the team’s survey ship in the Arctic Ocean, and then to the team’s home base in Cambridge, England. The pill is part of a physiological monitoring system used by each explorer, developed by Cambridge-based Hidalgo. The other component – on the outside of the body – is a belt with high-tech sensors, worn around the chest. The belt measures ECG, heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and body orientation and physical impact. The team’s activities may be witnessed online at www.catlinarcticsurvey.com. and http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/news/2009/n903013.htm

One in four fewer patients physically visit Kaiser doctors due to new EHR program
Kaiser Permanente’s Hawaii division has experienced a 26 percent drop in patient visits since it began implementing electronic health records, secure e-mail and a Web portal, according to a recently released study from the healthcare provider. The study notes that physicians’ offices have become less crowded, giving doctors more time to address patient problems. Referrals to specialists also declined by up to 30 percent. “The level of change exceeded our expectations,” said Dr. Louise Liang, a Kaiser consultant and co-author of the report, which covered patient visits from 2004 to 2007. “There are many more efficient ways to provide healthcare at the same level of quality and service.” E-mails can only provide a certain level of care, such as adjusting medication, but “they add up,” Liang said. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/...

Telephone-based cross-coverage has unmet potential; needs updated regulation
Telephone-based healthcare is not reaching its potential due to outdated or non-existent regulation, according to a white paper released by three prominent telemedicine legal experts. “Regulatory Perspectives on Telephone-Based Cross-Coverage: Principals for Decision-makers” by Joseph P. McMenamin, M.D., J.D., a member of the Life Sciences Industry team at McGuireWoods, LLP; Stephen J. Schanz, J.D., LL.M, a Teaching Assistant Professor in the College of Management at North Carolina State University; and David D. Storey, J.D., a member of the Health & Life Sciences Group at Baker & Daniels, LLP, examines the legal issues impacting the delivery of telephone-based cross-coverage services, specifically by physician telephone consults. Telephone-based cross coverage allows physicians to continue serving patients after-hours, on weekends, or during vacation periods by providing information to a cross-covering physician, who cares for patients in their absence. The method has the potential of becoming the “de facto standard” for healthcare delivery, but laws governing cross-coverage “have not kept up,” according to McMenamin. http://www.telehealthreports.com/resources/...

Strong integration, persistence leads to wide acceptance of EHRs in Spain
The number of primary care institutions using electronic health records (EHRs) in Spain is expected to triple by the end of 2009, according to the director of clinical information technology at Galicia Health Services in Galicia, Spain. According to IT director Javier Quiles del Rio, all primary care institutions use the EHR network in some fashion, primarily for electronic prescriptions, but approximately 600 also use the EHR to register clinical information. The total should top 2,000 by the end of the year, he said. The increase reflects the high level of acceptance of the EHR network in Galicia, where 54 percent of all prescriptions issued in 2008 were electronic as of December 2008, and 2.6 million residents currently have an EHR. “Integration is the key,” del Rio said. “We are not using off-the-shelf information systems in our institutions. Both EHR and radiology information systems have been developed by us. We worked for more than half a year to ensure proper integration. This effort was certainly worth it.” http://www.healthtechwire.com/...

Healthcare costs not likely to decrease because of economic stimulus package
Nearly half of health information technology professionals believe the health IT provisions in the federal government’s new economic stimulus package will not reduce healthcare costs, according to a survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. More than one-third of the 331 professionals surveyed said the opposite, believing that the plan will reduce costs. Almost 1 in 5 said they did not know one way or the other. In addition, more than 4 in 10 survey respondents cited spending as the greatest barrier to optimal use of the package’s health IT funding. Another one-third of respondents said the greatest barrier was a lack of understanding about the plan.http://www.himss.org/content/...

Colorado doctor convicted of Stanford student’s e-prescription death
A Colorado doctor has been convicted of illegally prescribing anti-depressants over the Internet to a Stanford University student who later committed suicide. Christian Hageseth, 68, faces up to one year in county jail and three years probation after pleading no contest to one count of practicing medicine without a California medical license, according to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. The core of the four-year-old case was whether Hageseth broke the law by prescribing Prozac to a 19-year-old patient in California, a state where he was not licensed to practice medicine. He did have a license in Colorado but surrendered it in 2005 after the death of student John McKay, according to Hageseth’s attorney, Carleton Briggs. Briggs said the case “sets a dangerous precedent” for online pharmacies that send drugs across state lines. “Never before in the history of the English-speaking world has an out-of-state telemedicine provider been jailed for being unlicensed,” Briggs said. ”This means that California is purporting to control the Internet.” http://www.coloradoan.com/article/...