Over the next three years, SSM Healthcare-St. Louis will spend $330 million to connect all of its hospitals, physician clinics and patients through one information technology platform in an effort to ease administrative duties and improve patient safety. With the new system, physicians can access patients' information from home through a secure Web-based portal, through their office computers or in the hospital. Each hospital will choose the hardware nurses, doctors and other staff will use at the facility.
Medical information such as Social Security numbers, pharmacy records and other personal health data from about 130,000 WellPoint Inc. patients may have been accessed via the Internet. WellPoint said customers in several states had information exposed in the last year because two computer servers maintained by a third-party vendor "were not properly secured for a period of time." WellPoint has been notifying customers via letters.
Cerner Corp. will market a full suite of blood management software from Wyndgate Technologies along with its Millennium laboratory information system. Wyndgate is owned by Denver-based Global Med Technologies Inc., which offers several blood management products for hospitals and blood centers.
Joe D'Iorio, manager of healthcare services at Tandberg—a global provider of high-definition videoconferencing and mobile video—received the American Telemedicine Association Industry Council Award for Leadership in the Advancement of Telemedicine at the 13th Annual ATA Meeting & Exposition, held in Seattle, WA. The annual award recognized D'Iorio for his leadership in promoting telemedicine and e-health.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a $6,500 fine to radiology equipment maker Digirad Imaging Solutions for violations at the company's nuclear medicine centers. Digirad's first violation was for licensing an unauthorized doctor to operate nuclear imaging equipment, and the second violation was for failing to monitor radioactive materials while they were in storage.
A small group of Vermont lawmakers have challenged the need and fairness of a proposed fee on medical claims that would raise $33 million over 10 years to build a statewide health information network. Gov. Jim Douglas has voiced opposition to the proposed fee as a means to finance the development of an electronic network that would allow the exchange of medical information by doctors' offices and hospitals statewide.