Content about Health informatics

NASHVILLE — Solantic, the largest operator of urgent care centers in Florida, announced earlier this year that it is changing its name to CareSpot Express Healthcare and now, according to a local news report, the new signs went up this week in time for the official name change on Sept. 25.

People go to doctor offices for a variety of reasons — for annual physicals, for checkups after previous appointments, to figure out why something is acting up or if they just feel sick. Whatever the reasons, most of them walk out of the office with a prescription in hand, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August.

A lot of people have quite a few things to say about healthcare reform, whether they favor or oppose it. But supporters of the law show an altruistic sensibility and an understanding of how the law would benefit other Americans, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Digitizing the medical records of 150 million patients means that nearly half of the entire population of the United States will have its records stored electronically next year. It's an ambitious goal, but more importantly, it's a major step toward the transformation of the healthcare system toward an electronic, digitized model.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — PureWellness has released continuity of care documents supported by HL7 standards for health information exchange between its online wellness system and CCD-supported electronic health records, the company said.

The new integration allows members and health coaches to synchronize and share lifestyle, behavior and risk information with care providers and their associated data networks. Most EHR systems and the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology have adopted CCD as the standard.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Big news for SoloHealth as the number of consumer interactions made at its health-and-wellness kiosks surpassed 2.5 million while the company works toward its goal of 2,500 retail kiosks by mid-2013. But it is perhaps even bigger news for the future of the overall U.S. healthcare system.

(THE NEWS: SoloHealth surpasses 2.5 million consumer interactions. For the full story, click here.)

Healthcare providers in today’s environment are committed to promoting patient safety while providing access to the most reliable and innovative treatments.

The Emdeon team always looks forward to the NCPDP Annual Conference. The 2012 version is coming up in early May at the Arizona Biltmore. As expected, NCPDP has done an excellent job in scheduling a large number of important and interesting topics. Emdeon’s Lathe Bigler will be discussing the impact of  health information exchanges (HIEs) and accountable care organizations (ACOs) on our industry, and I am scheduled to talk about the industry’s observations and lessons learned regarding the implementation of D.0.

How many times have we heard it said that one day in America there will be a nationwide health information network that will link patients, providers and payers seamlessly, efficiently and securely, across a universal standardized system? It’s been the dream of health information technology strategists and engineers for decades. And yet, when you take a look at the healthcare experience of the typical American consumer, you’d be hard-pressed to find evidence that we are any closer to achieving that dream today than we were in the days of the Carter administration.


PARSIPPANY, N.J. — U.S. spending on drugs grew 2.3% to $307.4 billion in 2010, according to a new report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, part of industry research firm IMS Health.

NEW ORLEANS — Moving, in its own words, “beyond e-prescribing,” paperless platform provider Surescripts has begun expanding its nationwide e-prescribing network to allow doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals to exchange all types of clinical information.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Shifting the nation’s sprawling and disconnected healthcare system to an integrated platform, based at last on health information technology and electronic health records, is a worthy and overdue undertaking.