Patients need assurance on online health records
Patients need to be convinced that electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are safe and will benefit them, a group of leading academics have warned. The academics argue that although ePHRs, such as the UK’s HealthSpace, have huge potential patients have not yet been convinced and the business case is still to be established. They say […]
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Border control
Neil Versel finds out what barriers still need to be overcome before electronic health record sharing becomes common between European countries.
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Talking pill bottles read out their own labels
Pharmacies in Northern California have started to stock talking prescription bottles which aim to help elderly or partially sighted patients by reading out label information at the touch of a button. The bottles, which go by the name ‘Rex’, contain a voice chip, battery and a speaker. When dispensing, the pharmacist inserts the bottle into the recording dock, which connects […]
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Lessons for NPfIT from ‘wild ride’ to US failure
A study of the ‘wild ride’ towards a failed implementation of a new electronic medical record system found a ‘transient climate of conflict’ associated with the adoption of the new way of working. The qualitative study, reported in the British Medical Journal, was completed during an implementation by Kaiser Permanente, the US’ largest non-profit healthcare […]
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Patients need reminders for online depression self-help
Websites that only offer self-help for people suffering from depression can be effective as those that also offer external clinical guidance, as long as patients are reminded to use them, according to a new study published this week. Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research studied a group of 250 people with self-diagnosed […]
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Kaiser to end ‘wobbly’ medicine
Doctors working without computerised systems are working in the “operational dark ages”, according to George Halvorson, chief executive officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals. Speaking at the World Health Care Congress in Chantilly, France, he outlined his organisation’s $3 billion project to create a fully computerised information tool kit including an automated patient […]
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EMRs reduce visits for primary and specialist care
The introduction of electronic medical records (EMRs) reduced visits to primary and specialist outpatient care in two regions covered by the US health maintenance organisation Kaiser Permanente, according to a new study. Both regions – Colorado with 367,795 Kaiser Permanente members and Northwest with 449,728 – experienced significant decreases in use of services over the two […]
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NHS deals just the start, say Forrester
The NHS’s deals on clinical applications are just a prelude to a much wider adoption these technologies according to US analysts, Forrester Research. In a list of the top 10 healthcare predictions for 2004, Forrester forecasts that 2004 will mark the shift of IT attention from back office to the clinical examination room in a […]
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Major Study of Healthcare IT Benefits Announced
A leading US policy think tank is to conduct a study to determine how much patient care could improve and how much money could be saved if healthcare professionals increased their use of information technology. The RAND Health study will focus on electronic records systems, clinical information sharing and clinical decision support tools. Richard Hillestad, […]
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Kaiser Permanente Aims for E-Health within Three Years
Kaiser Permanente, the second biggest integrated health delivery organisation in the US, has announced that it will invest $1.8 billion in advanced ICT systems including electronic medical records, electronic appointment booking, electronic prescription refills and referral requests. The programme represents one of the largest and most ambitious implementations of electronic medical records yet seen, in […]
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