Tampa Bay, FL, plans to launch a new effort to make health records completely paper-free, including digitizing every prescription and patient history written in the 10-county area surrounding Tampa and St. Petersburg. Over the next two years, Tampa's leaders plan to train every one of the 8,000 physicians in the area in electronic prescribing, with the goal of having at least 60% of all eligible prescriptions by Tampa Bay doctors written on a computer instead of a prescription pad.
More physician leaders are embracing technological advances such as electronic medical records, but most still consider them clunky and unresponsive to their needs, according to a survey by the American College of Physician Executives.
Government officials in Ghana plan to upgrade and further develop healthcare facilities to ultimately make the West Africa Sub Region a "medical center of excellence." To do so, new equipment will be brought in to the facilities, which will also help to ensure quality patient care. In addition, the region's Central Regional Hospital will be developed into a medical tourism center, extending services to neighboring countries and beyond.
Officials estimate that as many as 100,000 people will visit Costa Rica over the next five years for medical care. The medical tourism trend continues to grow there, as visitors take advantage of the lower costs for medical procedures—these include plastic surgery, dentistry, ophthalmology, orthopedics, obesity surgery, urology, and post-operative care. Direct revenue from medical tourism in Costa Rica is estimated at $60 million.
Several measures against the impact of global recession on the healthcare sector, proposed by Health Minister Daniela Filipiova, have been approved by the Czech government. The measures include an increased state payment to health insurance companies for children, students, and pensioners. Being called an anti-crisis plan, the Health Ministry expects it will help cope with health insurance revenue shortfalls.
Global Hospitals and Health City plans to establish a multi-speciality center at Perumbakkam. The facility will open with 325 beds, expanding to 1,000 beds within the next two years—100 of those will be dedicated to an intensive care unit. It will offer healthcare services across 25 departments, officials say, and a fleet of fully equipped ambulances will provide free services to patients throughout the region.