Medicare to give away EPR software
Medicare, the largest US Federal payer of medical care, has announced that it is to help speed up the adoption of electronic health records by giving away proven electronic patient record software. In what could prove to be a watershed move Medicare – the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people […]
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Microsoft signs new software deal with NPfIT
Health minister John Hutton has announced a three-year software licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming savings for the NHS of up to £112m over the next three years. The Department of Health (DH) says that the NHS will save a whopping £330 million over the lifetime of the deal, thanks to tight negotiations led by the National […]
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Open source software could save NHS money
The Office of Government Commerce has made recommendations that public procurement of software should consider open source solutions, citing, amongst other case studies, the experience of a Dublin-based hospital that made significant savings in transferring all its software to open source. The report says that public sector bodies should “examine carefully the technical and business […]
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Electronic decision support for US veterans
The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to introduce a new computer system at all its 158 medical centres to help patients make more informed decisions about their care. VA’s ‘Electronic Support for Patient Decisions’ initiative will use customised software called iMedConsent to provide patients with information about treatment options and standardise procedures among clinicians. […]
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Sun awarded ‘tactical’ NHS desktop contract
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has concluded an evaluation project with Sun Microsystems over the potential use of Sun’s open-source Java Desktop System within the NHS as an alternative to Microsoft. E-Health Insider can exclusively reveal that NPfIT “has concluded that the Java Desktop System, which runs on the Linux operating system, represents a […]
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Government says open source not a ‘hype bubble’
The Office of the e-Envoy has issued an updated consultation paper on the use of open source software (OSS) by the UK Government, including the NHS. The update is the first in two years on the Government’s position on the use of open source. Significantly the consultation paper categorically states that OSS is not a […]
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Full Clinician Involvement Key to Success – Reader Comment
In response to the recent debate in E-Health Insider about whether PDAs or tablet PCs offer the best device to provide to front line clinicians, Sue Wilson head of IM&T (acute services) at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, stresses that it is not the choice of device but involvement of clinicians that counts: I agree […]
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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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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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Open Source: Tablet PCs Wrong for Doctors – Steve Garrington, CEO Torex Health
Last week hospital doctor, Andrew Harrison, shared his experience of testing a Tablet PC on the wards. Steve Garrington, chief executive of Torex Health, uses our Open Source column to respond and argues the case for PDAs rather than Tablet PCs for clinicians. I found Andrew Harrison’s piece on his testing of a Tablet PC […]
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