Bulletin Board what’s happening in healthcare
Fujifilm Holdings will acquire hand-held
ultrasound manufacturer SonoSite.
Humana has acquired Anvita Health, a
vendor of clinical data aggregation and
analytics software.
General Electric will partner with Microsoft
in a joint venture to pool some existing
health technology products and develop a new technology platform and
clinical applications focused on health
management.
IBM signed a definitive agreement to
acquire Curam Software, an Irish company that provides software support
for social programs implemented by
government agencies.
Quality Systems in Irvine, CA, has
reached an agreement to acquire
Via Track Systems, a healthcare electronic
data interchange technology devel-
oper.
HHS Awards Grants for Safety Initiatives
In December the Department of
Health and Human Services awarded
$218 million to 26 state, regional, national, and hospital system organizations to help identify solutions already
working to reduce healthcare-acquired conditions and work to spread
them to other hospitals and healthcare providers.
The grants are a part of the Partnership for Patients initiative, a nationwide public-private collaboration to
improve the quality, safety, and af-fordability of healthcare for all Americans.
“At some point in our lives many of
us are going to need hospital care
and we need to be confident that no
matter where we live, we’re going to
get the best care in the world,” said
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in
a press release. “The Partnership for
Patients is helping the nation’s finest
health systems share their knowledge
and resources to make sure every
hospital knows how to provide all of
its patients with the highest quality
care.”
The hospital engagement networks
will be funded with $500 million from
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center, which
was established by the Affordable
Care Act. The networks will work to
develop learning collaboratives for
hospitals and provide a wide array
of initiatives and activities to improve
patient safety.
McKesson has received a government
contract to provide medical digital imaging and picture archiving and communication services to all branches of
the US armed forces.
The California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization finalized
an agreement with CDW Healthcare for
technology services and solutions in
support of EHR adoption in California.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has
awarded a $30.5-million contract to
Harris for the development and rollout
of a data repository.
Enterprise information technology
software company ASG Software Solutions has acquired Atempo, a Palo Alto,
CA-based provider of data protection
and backup management software.
Document imaging and management
vendor Streamline Health Solutions will
acquire data analytics and reporting
firm Interpoint Partners LLC.
Forerun, which sells clinical documentation software for emergency departments, has acquired Emergisoft, which
markets an emergency department
information system. ¢
Direct Used in First Interstate HIE
The first interstate exchange of live
health information has occurred using
Direct Project messaging protocol.
Ohio’s state-designated health information exchange, the Ohio Health
Information Partnership, exchanged
information with Mississippi’s state-designated health information exchange, the Mississippi Health Information Network, on December 1,
according to a blog posted on OHIP’s
Web site. Information was traded between a physician’s office in Lima,
Ohio, and another physician’s office
in Biloxi, Mississippi, through the two
HIEs using Direct protocol. OHIP has
also performed live exchanges using
Direct within the state.
The Direct Project was founded by
the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to develop a set of
standards, policies, and services that
enable simple and direct exchange of
health information using the Internet.
Direct can be used as a private and
secure e-mail exchange alternative to
fax or mail.
“We at ONC are excited to see this
first productive use of Direct protocols
for the exchange of health informa-
tion between two states,” said Farzad
Mostashari, MD, national coordinator
for health IT, in a press release. “This
is just one small step in our journey to
connect medical and healthcare pro-
fessionals across the nation, so that
all Americans can receive the best
healthcare possible.”
The exchange was the first use of
Direct between two states in a “pro-
duction instance,” which means the
exchange was live and physician of-
fice staff used Direct to exchange real
data, not test data. The success of the
exchange has prompted OHIP to begin
plans to deploy its Direct application to
all Ohio practices.
In other Direct news, a Texas HIE
is offering Direct-enabled exchange
to its participants. In December the
Greater Houston Information Exchange launched, with two providers
exchanging clinical messages using
Direct. ¢
