Information Guidance on Shifting the Balance of Power
Guidance on maintaining or improving information flows and structures during the NHS’s Shifting the Balance of Power programme has been published by the Department of Health. Part of a steady flow of guidance from the DH aimed at smoothing the transition in April to the new NHS structure of strategic health authorities and primary care/hospital […]
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Mobile Health Alliance to Launch in Europe
European healthcare providers, clinicians and technology firms involved in developing mobile healthcare applications and technologies are to be invited to join a European Mobile Health Alliance to be launched in May. The new European body is to be established as the European arm of MoHCA (Mobile Healthcare Alliance), a non-for-profit association dedicated to promoting the […]
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US Healthcare IT Market Weathers Downturn
Despite the chill wind blowing through the technology market, the US health IT market proved resilient in 2001, largely avoiding the across the board declines seen in many other technology sectors. According to new data from analysts Frost & Sullivan the US technology market generated a total of $6 billion in revenues from IT services, […]
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Microsoft Launches NHS Integration Vision
Microsoft has launched a blueprint which it says will enable the NHS to integrate health legacy IT systems cost-effectively and deliver joined-up healthcare. The US software-giant describes its vision as EAI (Enterprise Application Integration), an approach grounded in Microsoft’s .NET suite of products to deliver joined-up, distributed web services. The emerging .NET strategy is based […]
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SNOMED International Introduces Clinical Terms First Release
SNOMED has announced the launch of SNOMED Clinical Terms (SNOMED(R) CT) First Release, the clinical coding terminology that the NHS has part funded and chosen as its preferred clinical terminology tool for coding electronic clinical data. The new terminology, developed by a division of the College of American Pathologists, is said to be the most comprehensive […]
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European Commission Proposes Health ID Card
The European Union has unveiled proposals to introduce a Europe-wide health card, which would make it easier for EU citizens to get medical treatment in all 15 member states. The European Commission wants to bring in the new electronic card by 2005. The Commission says the scheme would make it easier for people to work […]
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CHI Reports Emphasise Need to Align Strategy and Operations
Three new reports by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) provide a series of snapshots of how NHS trusts are tackling IM&T modernisation and harnessing information to support clinical governance. Common themes that emerge from the reports include: data quality problems, ensuring clinician involvement, aligning strategy and developments at the operational level, and implementation of […]
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Physicians Slow to Adopt Emerging Technology
A new report by consultants Deloitte & Touche and Fulcrum Analytics says the adoption of new technology by US family doctors is slow and will remain incremental until technology and associated applications are integrated at the point of care and deliver economic benefits. Less than a quarter of the 1,200 US physicians surveyed for the […]
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GPs Get Connected to NHSDirect
Patients registered with a group of practices in South West London have become some of the first to benefit from encrypted clinical messaging to link together out of hours services, NHS Direct and GP practices. The new system enables a record of the details of an NHS Direct out of hours consultation to be securely […]
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Electronic Prescriptions Project Schedule Under Threat
One of the key figures behind the development of electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) in the UK has publicly questioned whether the Department of Health (DH) can achieve its target of rolling out ETP nationally by 2006. Ewan Davis, chairman of PharMed, which is leading the Transcript consortium — one of three approved ETP pilots […]
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