As DICOM-compliant devices proliferate across a healthcare information system, their installation and monitoring becomes problematic for PACS administrators. This is because these devices are often located outside the radiology department, and in some cases are dispersed beyond the physical boundaries of the administrator's institution. DICOM devices also often require time-consuming, multi-vendor coordination and require a complex network of inter-dependency among the technologies, according to Harshad N. Puppalwar, a solutions architect and domain specialist at Sarasota, FL-based CitiusTech. Puppalwar has proposed a solution that collects data from currently available technologies and healthcare standards to achieve its goals.
Keane announced that it has signed a $1.5 million, five-year contract with Golden Living, a network of long-term care facilities that includes 331 skilled nursing facilities and 19 assisted living facilities in 22 states. As part of the agreement, Keane will install eCharting and ePrescribing components of its NetSolutions clinical application. The technology will give physicians at Golden Living access to patient information using a secure, browser-based connection at the point of service.
Despite HIPAA regulations, the push for more fungible and liquid health information is on, according to the the Center for Democracy and Technology. The CDT claims that medical and health data needs to flow freely if advances in research and development, as well as treatment, are to be realized. "CDT is urging Congress to hold hearings on a broad range of privacy and security issues in health IT, and we plan to informally gather together a group of diverse health IT stakeholders over the next several months to identify the issues that need to be addressed and possibly come up with some consensus solutions," said Deven McGraw, director of the Health Privacy Project that is under the auspices of the CDT.
An editorial published in the Washington Times recently urges adoption of health IT. The editorial cites the Rand study, which claims the industry can save $81 billion in healthcare costs by implementing clinical IT. The federal government can help support IT by establishing standards for the technology so systems can communicate with each other, providing incentives for health IT use, and using advanced technologies in its own health programs, the editorial states.
A community hospital in Colorado deploys a robot to simulate childbirth and train staff in delivering babies. The birth training using "Noelle" is videotaped so participants can later analyze their performance and discuss improvements. The robot is especially helpful to prepare for more rare problems that hospital staff won't often see in real life, and the simulation can also help promote teamwork, hospital officials said.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have trained a group of monkeys to feed themselves marshmallows using a robot arm controlled by sensors implanted in their brains. The feat could one day help paralyzed people operate prosthetic limbs on their own, researchers said. Researchers added that they believe it won’t be long before the technology is tested in humans, but they predict it will be longer before the devices are used in actual patients with disabilities.