Data management

During a recent Health IT Standards Committee meeting, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal denied allegations that a framework for the proposed national health information network would make it easier for data to be transmitted to government agencies, such as the CIA or Department of Justice.

Web-based billing software and services provider athenahealth has launched athenaCommunicator, a patient communication program that's fully integrated with the company’s physician practice management and EHR services. The suite of Web-based tools aims to free physicians from burdensome administrative tasks, improving practice operations and the quality of care delivered.

Montreal's McGill University Health Centre is developing a new Web tool that, among other things, will deliver medication reminders to patients via their iPhones and Blackberrys. The secure Internet program, known as Unani.ca, allows anyone to maintain a list of personal health conditions, medications, allergies and family medical history.

Thomson Reuters has launched its new Pharmacy Intervention solution for hospitals. Part of the Clinical Xpert suite, the software combines real-time clinical surveillance, mobile access to patient data, and Micromedex reference information. It is designed to help hospital pharmacists identify, perform, and document interventions at the point of care, prevent adverse drug events, and reduce medication costs.

Verizon Business has launched a new platform—the Verizon Medical Data Exchange—that  will enable more than 350,000 physicians to digitally share patient notes by the end of the summer.

Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania has seen significant results since it began an intravenous interoperability pilot study with Cerner in July 2008. Auto programming supported with bar code technology is generating a large amount of electronic data on patients, clinicians, drugs and warnings to analyze for quality improvement, according to a Health Data Management report. And analysis of the data is exposing data and pump programming practices that previously were concealed within the technology or by a lack of end-user awareness.

Needham, Mass.-based Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare (BIDHC) has selected MedAptus' Professional Intelligent Charge Capture technology for its hospitalist group. BIDHC, a network of primary care physicians, will roll-out the Web-based version of MedAptus' Inpatient Edition for the capture of inpatient charges originating at three area hospitals.

CDC has unveiled a new surveillance system to track adverse events in patients who receive blood transfusions.