Inadequate capital, maintenance costs slow hospitals’ adoption of EHRs
American hospitals have been extremely slow in adopting electronic health records (EHRs), with only 1 in 50 having a fully implemented system, according to a study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts General Hospital and George Washington University. The study, the first to measure the prevalence of EHRs in hospitals on a national basis, also reveals that fewer than 1 in 13 facilities surveyed have a basic EHR in place. The biggest culprit is cost, both in purchase price and in maintaining a system, the report notes. But health technology funding in the federal stimulus package may improve matters a little, according to study author Ashish Jha, associate professor of health policy and management at HSPH. “The $19 billion in the stimulus bill is really just a down payment for getting us to a healthcare system that is fully electronic and can deliver the kind of care Americans deserve,” Jha said. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/us...

CCHIT moves up timetable on development of new certification programs
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) plans to accelerate development of advanced technology certification programs in order to complete them by 2010 instead of 2011 as previously announced. The programs – encompassing Clinical Decision Support, Interoperability, Quality and Security – are designed to give health IT buyers more options, according to Dr. Mark Leavitt, M.D., CCHIT chairperson. “We see evidence that the health IT programs under the Recovery Act will be implemented according to the ambitious schedules in the legislation,” Leavitt said. “For CCHIT to ensure that a robust selection of certification options will be available when the HIT Policy and Standards Committees make their decisions later this year, our own schedule must be equally ambitious. That’s why we have decided to develop all four of these advanced certification options at once.” http://www.cchit.org/about/news/releases/2009/...

Remote patient monitoring is vital tool in boosting patient outcomes in critically ill
Ninety-seven percent of healthcare organizations rely on remote patient monitoring to improve clinical outcomes for critically ill patients, according to an updated report by Menlo Park, CA-based market intelligence firm Spyglass Consulting Group (SCG). “Trends in Remote Patient Monitoring 2009,” a follow-up to SCG’s 2006 report on the same topic, also notes that 48 percent of healthcare organization investments in remote patient monitoring are self-funded. This is unlikely to change until the price point for such devices drops from several thousand dollars to less than $500 per unit, according to the study. And, healthcare payers remain resistant to providing reimbursement, choosing to “reward healthcare providers for the quality of the procedures performed rather than the quality of care delivered,” the study notes. http://www.spyglass-consulting.com/press_releases/...

Despite critics, Department of Defense’s EHR system well underway, agency claims
Critics say the Department of Defense’s venerable electronic health record (EHR) system, AHLTA, is “slow and inefficient,” but DoD officials maintain that the 20-year-old program can still get the job done when it comes to storing health records of medical personnel. Over the years, complaints about the system – currently undergoing an upgrade – have ranged from it having a poor graphic user interface to being clunky and expensive. But Capt. Michael Weiner, DoD chief medical officer and AHLTA’s acting deputy program director, said the agency is excited about where AHLTA is headed. “In the successful deployment of any large-scale software [program], there are often unplanned issues that arise no matter what the degree of planning,” Weiner said. “We have over 70,000 trained AHLTA users. We continually strive to meet – and ultimately exceed – the needs and requests of our valued user base.” http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=35&sid=1631317

Self-service patient kiosks poised to take precedence over hospital EMR systems
Patient self-service kiosks are being used with growing frequency in hospital ambulatory settings and emergency departments, in part due to their ease of implementation compared to electronic medical records, according to a report from the California HealthCare Foundation. According to the report, kiosks can increase patient satisfaction by reducing waiting times, and offering greater convenience and privacy. Many organizations also achieve significant operational benefits, including increased patient throughput and improved accuracy of demographic data in patient records. Fewer than 10 percent of health delivery organizations have implemented patient kiosks, but adoption “will continue until kiosks become a mainstream technology,” the report notes. http://www.chcf.org/documents/hospitals/...

California Public Employees’ Retirement System to launch e-prescribing pilot
In April, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is implementing an electronic prescribing pilot project to enhance patient safety and reduce costs, according to CalPERS Health Benefits Committee Chairperson Priya Mathur. Co-sponsored by health plan partners Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and Medco Health Solutions Inc., the pilot – the state’s largest such health initiative – will utilize selected physician groups to identify and reduce barriers to e-prescribing, and help encourage its use by pharmacists and doctors, according to Mathur. “The evidence shows that e-prescribing improves patient safety by ensuring that patients receive the right prescriptions, and reduces cost to the physician, the health plan, and the patient,” Mathur said. CalPERS provides benefits to 1.3 million public employees in California. The pilot is expected to continue through early 2010. http://www.calpers.ca.gov/index.jsp?bc=/about/...

Arkansas to link public universities to ultra-broadband network by end of year
An ultra-broadband network designed for academic researchers is expected to link all 10 of Arkansas’ four-year public universities and its medical school before the end of the year, according to project officials. The Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network (ARE-ON) is a next-generation Internet infrastructure that will allow university researchers to send large, complex data files, 3-D images and video using at least 2,000 times the bandwidth available on a standard broadband Internet connection, according to ARE-ON Executive Director Mike Abbiatti. Colleges will also share access to the various schools’ supercomputers. The earliest connections should be made in late summer, with the remaining schools online by Thanksgiving. The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is thus far the only college linked to ARE-ON, having been tied on to the system in December 2006. Linking order for the other nine colleges and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock will be based on construction requirements, Abbiatti said.  http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/255450/print/

Philippine government allocates $2.1 million for islands-wide telehealth system
Lawmakers in the Philippines have allocated $2.1 million [USD] to deploy a telehealth system designed to deliver improved medical care to remote villages on various islands. Included as part of the nation’s 2009 General Appropriations Act, the funding will create a telehealth program consisting of an e-records system, an e-learning training component for health center personnel, and an e-medicine leg, where physicians may use their cell phones to view and transmit patient medical data, according to Dr. Alvin Marcelo, director of the UP Manila National Telehealth Center. UP Manila plans to deploy 100 remote telehealth facilities, each of which will have at least one of the three components available, he added. No timeline has been set.  http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p090325.htm&no=84

Questioned ownership of electronic health information could hinder data’s use
Although electronic medical information is expected to be abundant over the next few years, legal uncertainty over who owns the information poses a major obstacle to the data’s use, according to a national commentary by faculty members at Wake Forest and Duke universities. Clarifying legal rights of patient control over electronic health records could be the key to making best use of the potentially valuable information, according to the commentary. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 calls for electronic health information to be created for each person in the United States by 2014, but no clear ownership laws or regulations exist for that form of data, according to Mark A. Hall, J.D., professor of law and public health sciences at Wake Forest. “This impending legal issue must be addressed very soon if we are to both protect patients’ interests in their medical information and ensure that new information systems are put to their best uses,” said Hall, who co-authored the commentary with Prof. Kevin A. Schulman, M.D. at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. The commentary appears in the March 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). http://www1.wfubmc.edu/news/NewsArticle.htm?ArticleID=2582

GlobalMedia offers assistance in grant applications for ARRA funds  
Telemedicine services provider GlobalMedia is offering free assistance to healthcare community members that need help applying for grants available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The Scottsdale, AZ firm is offering free consultations to organizations in “maneuvering through the grant writing and application process” necessary for applying for grant money and economic stimulus funds to provide or improve telemedicine and telehealth services. For more information, visit www.globalmedia.com/economic-stimulus.html or call (480) 922-0044. http://www.globalmedia.com/economic-stimulus.html

Office of National Coordinator for Health IT posts NHIN materials online
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (NCHIT) has posted information on its Web site designed to encourage organizations to participate in the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The materials, the result of trial implementations of core NHIN components in 2008, include technical specifications, data content, use case specifications, testing materials and trust information. The data can be accessed from www.hhs.gov/healthit. NHIN is being developed to “provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and others involved in supporting health and healthcare,” NCHIT notes.   http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/...

OKI develops ultra high-speed optical data transmission system for telemedicine
OKI Electric Industry has developed the world’s first 160Gbps ultra high-speed optical system designed to allow high-definition, high-quality video service for movie distribution and telemedicine, the Tokyo-based company announced. The product, the NGA Asymmetric PON system, has 128 times greater capacity than the GE-PON systems currently used in Japan and 64 times more capacity than the G-PON units in the United States and Europe, according to Takeshi Kamijoh, general manager of OKI’s corporate research and development center. Those optical access systems are limited to data transmission speeds of 78 to 156Mbps with 16 users online, compared to 10Gbps with NGA A-PON, he said. http://www.oki.com/en/press/...