United Healthcare settles on ‘fixed’ database claims
Two of the largest US health insurers have agreed deals to pay tens of millions of dollars to create independent claims rates databases, following an investigation into claims that databases had been rigged to manipulate payments. United Healthcare last week last week agreed to pay €221 ($350) million to settle three class-action lawsuits claiming the […]
News
IT templates for long term care plans
GPs and primary care staff will be expected to offer personalised care plans to almost 15m people living with a long term condition by 2010, according to latest guidance. An IT template, currently being piloted in Yorkshire for patients with diabetes, will be made available across England by the National Programme for IT in the […]
News
New Zealand looks for wrap around IT
Seven of New Zealand district health boards have formed a collaboration to procure an “individual-centric” health management system. The seven health boards, which serve around 27% of the population, have issued a request for information (RFI) and are looking to attract interest from software suppliers in the UK. The New Zealand/UK-based Simpl Group is managing […]
News
Fuji Film acquires Russian subsidiary
Fuji Film Corporation has acquired its Russian distributor of medical and imaging products. The acquisition, carried out through its European local corporation, Fuji Film Europe GmbH, will see the company buy Fuji Film-RU (herefater, Fujifilm Russia), a Russian independent distributor of its medical and imaging products, from Marubeni Corporation. The deal establishes a direct sale […]
News
Agfa-Gavaert receives €18.5 Canadian grant
Belgian imaging technology group Agfa-Gevaert says it has received a grant of €18.5 ($29.6m Canadian) from the Ontario government to aid the company’s Canadian R&D operations in Toronto and Waterloo (Canada). The grant will support a total of nearly €125m ($200m Canadian) investment by Agfa HealthCare in its Ontario operations, creating 100 new positions and […]
News
Kentucky Derby comes to Warwickshire
Children in Warwickshire are taking part in an online race in which school-buses full of horses are powered by the amount of exercise they do. Year six pupils at three junior schools in the county are piloting the Horse Power Challenge, which was developed by commissioning services provider Humana. The company is based in Louisville, […]
News
Paediatrics application system glitch
National software used by doctors to apply for specialist training posts in paediatrics has been suspended after faults were discovered with the system. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said it had experienced a technical problem with its online recruitment system and closed the application process temporarily. The RCPCH discovered that “in a […]
News
Interactive websites for Liverpool GPs
Liverpool Primary Care Trust has commissioned individual websites for ten PCT-run GP practices, as part of its commitment to providing information and online services to patients. North Mersey Health Informatics Service was asked to create the websites, which can be accessed through a single portal: www.liverpoolpctms.nhs.uk. Liverpool PCT said each website includes photographs of the […]
News
Heartlands rolls out JAC e-prescribing system
Birmingham’s Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust has started to roll out a JAC e-prescribing system across all three of its acute-care sites. The project, which JAC claims is the largest of its kind in the UK, will see company’s Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system deployed to cover 1,800 beds and all the […]
News
Study finds US PHR use remains low
Despite high levels of interest, the vast majority of US citizens have yet to use or create a personal health record (PHR) A new study by Manhatten Research estimates that seven million Americans accessed PHRs online in 2008, but says significant barriers still hinder wider adoption. The Cybercitizen Health v8.0 study says offerings from vendors […]
News