Health Information Infrastructure Act for US
A National Health Information Infrastructure Act has been introduced into the US Congress to support a national drive for interoperability between different healthcare IT systems. The Act will authorise a National Health Information Officer to work with public and private healthcare entities to develop a strategic plan to: • co-ordinate multiple public and private health […]
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Data Improvements Essential to Make GP Monitoring Work
Researchers at Imperial College London have devised a system for monitoring mortality rates which could help to alert authorities to crimes such as the murders committed by GP Harold Shipman and also provide useful feedback on the overall quality of care. However, they caution that data quality improvement is essential. The study, published in the […]
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Tablet PC Vs PDA – The Debate Continues (Part 3)
Over the past month E-Health Insider readers have debated the relative merits of PDAs and Tablet PCs in healthcare. This week we publish two further perspectives, in a debate that appears more timely than ever with the announcement of the merger between iSoft and Torex. Which device will the new merged health IT giant be […]
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Clinician Involvement Essential in IT Planning Says BMJ
The essential importance of involving frontline clinicians in the evolution of their workplace information systems is underlined this week in a British Medical Journal editorial. Writing about the evolution of the national data spine, Dr Nick Booth from the Centre for Health Services Research at Newcastle University, says: “So far the new team running the […]
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E-prescribing Arrives for Out-of-Hours GPs
A major step towards electronic prescribing for out-of-hours (OOH) doctors in England has been taken with the launch of new software supporting online prescribing by Adastra Software Ltd. Adastra, the provider of GP out-of-hours software to 80% of GP co-operatives, has incorporated e-prescribing tools into version three of its ‘OnLine Clinician’ software. Stockport and Nottingham […]
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Healthcare Interoperability Forum in ‘Abeyance’
The Health Care Interoperability Forum (HCIF), an industry group of leading system suppliers focused on developing common standards, has gone into ‘abeyance’ and has no further plans to meet. The decision to cease further work was taken at meeting of the group two weeks ago after it became apparent that much of the work planned […]
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US SNOMED Licence Raises Questions Over NHS Deal
A $32.4m contract signed by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the US National Library of Medicine will make English and Spanish versions of SNOMED clinical terms – developed in collaboration with the NHS – available free-of-charge in the US from 2004. It is unclear, however, whether the NHS, as major investors in and […]
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PDAs or Tablet PCs? – The debate continues…
Last week Dr Andrew Harrison wrote about his experience of using a Tablet PC on the wards – The Tablet PC on Test . In response Steve Garrington, CEO of Torex Health, argued the case in favour of PDAs as the best mobile devices for clinicians – Open Source – Tablet PCs wrong for Doctors […]
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Granger Tells NHS Boards to Take on IT
A sign of the times was provided last week when it was standing room only at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Glasgow to hear NHS IT Director Richard Granger give details of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS. Speaking at his third major conference in as many weeks Mr Granger said […]
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Open Source: PCTs Must Continue to Offer Choice of Systems
In the new slot for opinion and comment Dr Nilesh Jain of Torex Health takes up the question of GPs retaining choice over their IT now that PCTs pay for the systems. The new General Medical Services contract will lead to a revolutionary change in primary care computing. Effective IT is needed to underpin the […]
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