Last week Partners HealthCare System was hit by a computer worm
that also impacted computers world wide. The malicious code hit
computers in 4 of their 5 hospitals. Fortunately, patient care and
safety was not compromised. Partners has about 55,000 computerized
devices connected to their network, only 800 computers were infected.
Responding to an alert of a vulnerability last week […]
Dispensing with the usual wands, the new CONTAK RENEWAL 3 RF defib/pacemaker and ZOOM LATITUDE programmer from Guidant
uses a wireless radio link for device-to-programmer communications. In
addition to the usual capabilities, the ZOOM LATTIUDE programmer also
includes a remote monitoring capability. The wireless radio link
provides three times faster device interrogation. The only real benefit
here is the faster […]
Be sure to check out this week's installment of Grand Rounds at straightfromthedoc.
Physician Kevin provides a sharp and concise listing of the best health
care blog posts from the past week. You're sure to find something
interesting there…
Picis is on track for a record-breaking 2005 with a surge in hospital
signings for its Ibex PulseCheck emergency department information
system (EDIS) during the first two quarters.
It seems their acquisition of Ibex was right on.
[Hat tip: Biohealthmatics.com News]
Last week I received a newsy dispatch from John Pantano of Radianse.
Much of what he included in his update email was news to me, so I'm
sharing it with you. (BTW, I'd be glad to share news from anyone else
who'd like to send me updates.)
Let's start with iHealthBeat's item on a story in the Boston […]
Entrepreneur Larry Augustin, who lead the spectacular boom and bust of VA Linux Systems, has taken the helm at Medsphere. Medsphere's product, OpenVista,
is based on the open source version of Vista, developed by the VA over
the past 25 years. Co-founder and chief technology officer Steve
Shreeve obtained the
software from the government through a Freedom of Information […]
Regular visitor Tracey B. was kind enough to alert me to HarmonizeIT,
a patient flow software application. From the description on their web
site, this app provides bed management and process control with the
objective of improving patient throughput. HarmonizeIT has three main
modules:
HarmonyControl is the basic bed management module. Bed board displays
are supported on plasma screens, PCs and […]
With continued operating pressures on intensive care units, this study
(full text $7) shows no impact in outcomes with intensivist ratios
between 1:7.5 and 1:15. Not surprisingly, the study found that higher
ratios increased ICU LOS (length of stay).
Brush up on the basics of risk analysis and risk management with the latest installment (pdf file) of CMS' HIPAA Security Series.
Seven papers are planned, with the final paper to address
implementation for the small provider. Here are the topics of the
previous Security Series papers:
Security 101 for Covered Entities
Security Standards - Administrative Safeguards
Security Standards - Physical […]
The notice in the Federal Register
describes a formal structure for ONC, which will consist of five components:
1. The Immediate Office of the
National Coordinator
2. The Office of Health
Information Technology Adoption
3. The Office of
Interoperability and Standards
4. The Office of Programs and
Coordination
5. The Office of Policy and
Research
