iSoft system leaves North Staffs unable to bill
University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, one of the most indebted trusts in the country, is facing a potential £16m risk due to severe problems with a new electronic patient record system from iSoft, which have left it unable to code activity and recover income. The new system has left the trust, which already […]
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North Staffs prepares for big bang
University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust is getting ready to go live with patient administration and clinical systems from iSoft some three years after it first signed the contract – and over two years late. April 30 marked the third anniversary of North Staffordshire NHS Trust signing a contract with iSoft for its iPM patient […]
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Divided opinions on clinical coding switch
Health information managers fear they may not have the resources to implement the new OPCS4.3 clinical coding system due to go live in April despite assurances from the NHS Connecting for Health project leads that the system is easy to learn and quick to use. A conference organised in London this week (28 February 2006) […]
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‘Upcoding’ a hazard as PbR pressure grows
Clinical coders are coming under pressure to ‘upcode’ to maximise income under Payment by Results, a conference heard last week. Sue Eve-Jones, director of the Professional Association of Clinical Coders, told a conference organised by the Health Service Journal in London: “I am being given direct evidence of the pressure on managers who are being […]
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Talking cure
Steve Tocker from Softech Global outlines how voice recognition and digital dictation can be used in the healthcare sector, and what issues users need to remember.
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Liverpool trust rejects delayed PACS
A leading NHS trust in the North West and West Midlands cluster has been forced to scrap its implementation of a Connecting for Health (CfH) Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), due to delays and technical problems with the system. Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust told E-Health Insider that it had taken […]
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Investment in clinical coding now critical
NHS trusts must urgently invest in the financial and performance management and supporting information systems, the Audit Commission says in its new report on the early lessons from Payment by Results (PbR). The report, ‘Early lessons from payment by results’, says it is vital that trusts have good quality information systems and data. "Good information systems […]
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Code red
Daloni Carlisle reports on how the often neglected discipline of clinical coding is becoming vital to the financial health of NHS trusts, and highlights the spread of ‘upcoding’.
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Computerised casualty ‘whiteboard’ for Bedford
Bedford Hospital’s accident and emergency unit has gone live with a new computer system developed by ExtraMed called A&E Whiteboard. The new system has begun to replace the traditional whiteboards and clipboards used to keep track of patients on their journey through the department. The new A&E Whiteboard (below) provides an ‘at a glance’ view of a […]
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Electronic records ‘a first step’ to knowledge-based care
Electronic records are just the first step in harnessing information and communication technology to improve clinical care – the real prize will come when clinicians can be provided with knowledge and the information tools to support their decisions. The huge challenge and potential gains of connecting clinical records with knowledge bases, was the theme taken […]
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