Google is partnering with Ethicon, a medical device company within Johnson & Johnson to create an innovative robotic-assisted surgical platform with the goal of improving health care delivery in the operating room. Under the strategic collaboration, Ethicon will work with Google's Life Sciences team known as Google X led by Andrew Conrad on advancing surgical robotics to benefit surgeons, patients and health care systems.
Robotic-assisted surgery is a type of minimally invasive surgery
Read More
Connected Fitness Trackers to Exceed $5B by 2019
Global revenues from connected fitness trackers is expected to increase from over $2 billion in 2014 to $5.4 billion by 2019, according to new report from market research firm Parks Associates. The report, Digitally Fit: Products and Services for Connected Consumers examines the current adoption and usage of connected health devices with analysis of multiple nationwide surveys of U.S. broadband households.
“Our latest data finds adoption of connected health devices increased from 24% of U.S.
Read More
Senator Proposes $50M Prize for Integrated DoD/VA EHR
Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) reintroduced a bill proposing a $50 million dollar prize to create an integrated EHR system between the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA). Roe's bill would establish a competition for non-governmental, American-based entities to develop an integrated EHR system for use by the DoD and VA to help streamline the coordination of care and benefits claims for those that have served.
The bill would create a temporary panel, chosen by the
Read More
CommonWell Health Alliance Appoints Jitin Asnaani Executive Director
CommonWell Health Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of health IT companies working together to create universal access to health care data, has appointed Jitin Asnaani its first-ever executive director. As the new executive director, Asnaani will build on the current CommonWell momentum in nationwide data exchange as the organization extends the availability of its services nationwide.
Asnaani comes to CommonWell Health Alliance with experience in both the public and private sector—equipping
Read More
Samsung, TeleHealth Services Unveil Smart TV Patient Engagement Solution
Today, TeleHealth Services, a provider of hospital televisions and interactive patient engagement solutions, announced through their partnership with Samsung, the completion of a new patient engagement solution called SmarTigr. The solution utilizes the Smart TV functionality of the Samsung healthcare televisions combined with the clinical features of TeleHealth’s iTigr patient engagement solution. With the upcoming announcement of the meaningful use stage 3 criteria, innovative hospitals are
Read More
Practice Fusion Partners with Wolters Kluwer Health to Integrate Medi-Span Drug Database
Practice Fusion, a cloud-based EHR for physicians and patients, announced that it is partnering with Wolters Kluwer Health to integrate the Medi-Span core drug database impacting more than 4 million e-prescriptions per month sent by Practice Fusion’s 112,00 active medical professionals.. The medical professionals that use the Practice Fusion EHR will now have access to the latest medication information and recommended dosages when they e-prescribe medications to patients.
Integration
Read More
Continuum Health Alliance Selects Caradigm for Population Health
Caradigm, a provider of enterprise population health, today announced that Continuum Health Alliance, a physician enablement company providing practice management, population health and community care services to provider groups, has selected Caradigm as part of its population health strategy.
Continuum provides a next-generation health platform, enabling independent physician organizations, hospital-based physician groups, commercial accountable care organizations (ACOs) and MSSP ACOs to
Read More
Infographic: The State of the Connected Patient in 2015
While traditional communication channels remain popular among older patients, the next generation of younger patients known as millennials are interested in utilizing more digital health tools to enhance their patient experience, according to a recent Salesforce report. The “State of the Connected Patient” report, which surveyed more than 1,700 Americans who have health insurance and a primary care doctor to examines how patients are currently connecting with their providers, as well as their
Read More
HHS Releases Proposed Rules for Meaningful Use Stage 3
On Friday afternoon, the HHS, CMS and the Office of the ONC announced the release of the proposed Meaningful Use Stage 3 rules for the Medicare and Medicaid EHRs Incentive Programs and 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria to support the path to nationwide interoperability.
The proposed rules are one part of a larger effort across HHS to support better care and lower costs in the health care system by working in three core areas:
- to improve the way providers are paid;
-
Read More
KLAS: 25% of Small Practices Feel Stuck With Their Current EMR
More than one-quarter of providers at small practices (1–10 physicians) feel stuck with or plan to leave their current EMR vendor, according to a recent KLAS study,"New Leaders in the Small-Practice Market: Ambulatory EMR Performance 2015 (1-10 Physicians)." Providers cited poor usability, missing functionality, and unreliable vendor support as their primary frustrations with their EMR solution.
For the report, KLAS spoke with more than 750 small practices (1-10 physicians) to understand
Read More
