Research and Development (R&D)

Thomson Reuters has released its annual study identifying the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall organizational performance. The 10 areas measured, such as adherence to clinical standards and patient safety, are boosted by the use of information technology.

A pilot project at the Cleveland Clinic has found that patients with chronic diseases manage them more effectively when they use medical devices to regularly send health information to physicians.

Newfangled social media and evolving business models have completely changed job recruitment, according to Dan DeMaioNewton, director of strategy and business development at Monster Worldwide. Getting the best healthcare IT talent in the 21st century will force employers to adapt to a completely new talent landscape.

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.

Jeffrey Shuren, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, says health IT malfunctions have been linked to several cases of patient harm and some deaths. Shuren is expected to testify about health IT-related adverse events during a government hearing on Thursday.

Revolution Health's exodus doesn't necessarily mean the PHR market is ready for life support, but it probably does mean the world isn't yet ready for a do-it-yourself version for consumers, according to industry observers.

A Harvard University study published today in the American Journal of Medicine finds that EHR systems have not dramatically reduced administrative costs in U.S. hospitals.

Mobile health monitoring ranks fifth among the top 10 consumer mobile applications for 2012 identified by Gartner as likely to have an impact on consumers and industry players. Analysts weighed revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value and estimated market penetration in developing their list.