In the first quarter of 2009, chief information officers experienced significant IT budget revisions, according to a survey by Gartner.
The IT research and advisory company’s survey of 900 CIOs was conducted March 1 to April 30, 2009, and sought to gauge the potential impact of macroeconomic concerns on IT budgets. The results were compared to results of the Gartner Executive Programs (a membership based organization of more than 3,600 CIOs worldwide) 2009 CIO Survey, conducted from September to December 2008, which had more than 1,500 responses.
CIOs in the original survey reported a flat budget with a minor increase of 0.16 percent. CIOs responding to the survey in the first quarter of this year now report a weighted average decline of 4.7 percent. More than 90 percent of firms changing their budgets made a reduction in the first quarter, with the average reduction being 7.2 percent. Fifty-four percent of respondents reported no change in their IT budget, with the remaining 4 percent reporting an increase in their IT budget.
via Survey: Healthcare saw budget increase in first quarter of 2009 | Healthcare IT News.
Even as the healthcare IT industry awaits the official definition of “meaningful use” from the federal government, a new report from KLAS examines which electronic medical record products should fit that description.
The report, “Meaningful Use Leading to Improved Outcomes,” assesses how well core clinical vendors are delivering solutions for CPOE, nursing automation, medication administration and other key areas.
Nine EMR vendors are profiled in the report: Cerner, CPSI, Eclipsys, Epic, GE, McKesson, Meditech, QuadraMed and Siemens.
via No vendor is perfect on ‘meaningful use,’ report concludes | Healthcare IT News.
THE only hurdle for creating a digital database of US medical records is the adoption of federal rules to guide the effort because the technology is already in place, Perot Systems Corp chief executive Peter Altabef said.
Perot Systems, founded by former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot, provides technology consulting to health care providers and other customers. The company is based in Plano, Texas.
Discussing why few hospitals and doctors had fully digital records, Mr Altabef, 49, said: “The kinks have been ironed out.
“This isnt really a technology question as much as a policy and standards question. From a technology standpoint, this is not putting a man on the moon, this is not creating a Manhattan Project. This technology in large part already exists. Its really just making sure people know what to do and have the funds to do it.”
via Policy holds up US medical records | Australian IT.
THE COST CONUNDRUM
What a Texas town can teach us about health care.
It is spring in McAllen, Texas. The morning sun is warm. The streets are lined with palm trees and pickup trucks. McAllen is in Hidalgo County, which has the lowest household income in the country, but it’s a border town, and a thriving foreign-trade zone has kept the unemployment rate below ten per cent. McAllen calls itself the Square Dance Capital of the World. “Lonesome Dove” was set around here.
McAllen has another distinction, too: it is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country. Only Miami—which has much higher labor and living costs—spends more per person on health care. In 2006, Medicare spent fifteen thousand dollars per enrollee here, almost twice the national average. The income per capita is twelve thousand dollars. In other words, Medicare spends three thousand dollars more per person here than the average person earns.
via Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker.
Experience fostering health IT in Virginia informs the new technology chief’s wide view of innovation
The Obama administration’s top technology official said he will actively support the efforts of Dr. David Blumenthal to advance the adoption of health information technology, one of the president’s priorities for health reform.
Aneesh Chopra said he would use his position in the White House as the country’s chief technology officer and assistant to the president to support Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, by concentrating on innovation, digital security and “pushing the levers of government.”
Before accepting the federal position, Chopra was secretary of technology for Virginia. The Senate approved his nomination in May.
via Chopra will use CTO position to advocate for health IT — Government Health IT.
As President Barack Obama prepared to meet with Congressional Democrats Tuesday to discuss healthcare reform, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report that highlights both the upside and the downside of technology.
On the plus side, healthcare IT could lead to high-value care by providing key information to providers rapidly. The the down side includes the overuse of diagnostic technology such as MRIs.
“For many types of medical conditions, a patient may have a choice of several methods or treatments, each having different benefits or risks,” the council noted. “Systematic examinations of the merits of different treatments and dissemination of the results of those examinations to patients and providers is one mechanism for promoting high-value care. Health information technology may play an important role in increasing the rate at which new information broadly diffuses to providers and is incorporated into practice behavior.”
via White House report highlights ups and downs of healthcare technology | Healthcare IT News.
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has published on its Web site the criteria and test scripts developed during 2009, along with a newly developed “Concise Guide to CCHIT Criteria.”
The guide maps the criteria to the characteristics of a qualified electronic health record as specified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and highlights the 2009 criteria changes. The commission is also planning to transition its certification program timelines to adapt to the new requirements of ARRA.
The criteria, released on May 29, pertain to ambulatory (office-based), inpatient (hospital-based), enterprise and emergency department electronic health records. CCHIT also published criteria for the new stand-alone electronic prescribing certification, the ambulatory add-on options in child health and cardiovascular medicine. The accompanying “Concise Guide to CCHIT Criteria” is specific to the ambulatory and inpatient criteria.
via CCHIT at work on new timelines, new programs | Healthcare IT News.
President Obama will meet with influential Senate Democrats on Tuesday to discuss overhauling health care, as the White House releases a report asserting that revamping the system would increase the income of a typical family of four by $2,600 in 2020, and by $10,000 in 2030.
The Democrats on two Senate committees that are drafting health legislation have been invited to the White House to meet with Mr. Obama, hours before he leaves for the Middle East and Europe. As part of a push to secure Congressional passage of a bill this year, the administration will also make the case on Tuesday that reforming health care is critical to fixing the economy.
“If we don’t do this we’re going to be facing a real mess 30 years from now,” Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters Monday on a conference call to discuss her new report, “The Economic Case for Health Care Reform.”
via Senators Set to Visit White House to Discuss Health Care Overhaul – NYTimes.com.
From the same engineers that designed Google Maps comes an online collaboration tool called Google Wave that attempts to answer the question: What would email look like if it was invented today, instead of some 40 years ago before the Internet even existed? Some have called Google’s answer to that question a Twitter-killer, but given the application’s status as an open-source project, it could have far greater implications.
via What happens when Google Wave hits Google Health? | mobihealthnews.