Fundação Instituto de Pesquisa e Estudo de Diagnóstico por Imagem (FIDI) in São Paulo, Brazil, has purchased a new electronic health record and PACS solution, aimed at improving quality of care at the facility.

Supporting a total of 300 physicians, FIDI is a non-profit organization that performs more than three million diagnostic imaging procedures each year. FIDI selected PACSGEAR’s PACS/EHR connectivity software, PacsSCAN, to complement its recent PACS and teleradiology installations.
 

The Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking study, conducted annually by Hospitals and Health Networks, has named the "Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems" for 2010. The survey included new questions about meaningful use.

Trace Devanny, former president of Kansas City, Mo.-based health IT company Cerner, takes the helm as CEO of The Trizetto Group on July 19.

Over the past 10 years, Devanney led Cerner's five-fold expansion in revenue, including creating the company's global presence and brand. He also launched new business segments, completed four key strategic acquisitions, rebuilt the company's sales and marketing processes, and led the development of a new client relationship model.

Verizon has announced a new health info exchange initiative, available via the cloud, to enable the sharing of patient information between healthcare systems on incompatible IT platforms.

As they work to consummate the merger between them first announced in June, Chicago-based Allscripts and Atlanta-based Eclipsys have announced investor meetings next month in their respective cities.

The electronic prescribing rate in upstate New York increased from 12 percent in 2009 to 17 percent in the first quarter of 2010, representing 3.6 million new and renewed prescriptions on an annual basis, according to a new report. The report suggests that this number will grow significantly as the result of the technology becoming more affordable, due in part to the government's incentives for health IT adoption. 

IBM announced plans Thursday to enlist some of its leading scientists and technologists to help medical practitioners and payers provide high-quality, evidence-based care to patients.

As part of the $100 million, three-year initiative, IBM is hiring doctors to work alongside its researchers to develop new technologies, scientific advancements and business processes for healthcare and insurance providers.

A new poll of 850 healthcare providers across the country shows most providers view certification of their electronic health record systems as critical, yet they remained uncertain of the requirements to qualify for government incentives.

The "2010 U.S. Ambulatory Electronic Health Records Certification Study" from research and consulting firm CapSite aims to assess the industry views on ambulatory EHR certification.

Philips has announced the offering of new healthcare consulting services to help increase financial and clinical performance, providing comprehensive strategic and operational services to help hospitals maximize their investments in medical and information technology.

On his first day on the job as chief of the country's Medicare and Medicaid programs, Harvard Medical School Professor Donald Berwick, MD, touted the value of electronic health records. On Wednesday, House and Senate Republicans clamored for their leaders to summon Berwick to the Hill for hearings on his nomination.

President Obama bypassed the hearing process by putting Berwick in charge during an official recess of Congress. Berwick was sworn in on July 12.

There's a sense relief across the industry that the just-unveiled meaningful use criteria are less stringent than many had feared, striking the right note between rules-based accountability and the freedom needed to foster wider implementation.

As Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO, John Halamka, MD, wrote on his blog, "it's a tricky balance to ensure there is enough specificity to test and certify EHRs and modules for interoperability while at the same time encouraging innovation."

Healthcare CIOs received the final rule on meaningful use July 13 mostly with a sigh of relief. They felt their concerns had been taken into account, they said, and they especially appreciated the rule's greater flexibility.

Federal officials released the long-awaited final rule on meaningful use Tuesday, with Wednesday morning showing most major organizations still wading through the more than 800 pages of regulations for an in-depth reaction. Initial response seemed to be cautiously optimistic, but the American Hospital Association expressed concerns.