Stacy Lawrence

Early this week, IBM announced it is launching clinical data exchange software for hospitals and health care agencies. Known as WebSphere Business Integration for the Healthcare Collaborative Network, the solution is intended to help health care providers and agencies improve information integration and analysis by providing data to key stakeholders from a system, community, enterprise […]

Health services and health information technology garnered about 11 percent of venture capital investment last year, or $687 million, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute. Thats up 43 percent from 2003, a much faster rate of growth than other, larger life sciences segments such as biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Despite the […]

After a sustained pause in federal government momentum around health IT, President George W. Bush firmly took up the cause again after showing some lack of fiscal commitment late last year to the concept he had earlier championed. In the federal appropriations bill that Congress passed in November, the nine-month-old Office of the National Coordinator […]

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies carry an unusually heavy regulatory burden. Not only are they challenged by increasing financial regulation from the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as Sarbanes Oxley, but these companies also face compliance with the industry-specific HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations. An additional industry pressure is on to meet evolving […]

To date, the health care industry has had relatively little use for investment in database and management tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). But thats all slated to start changing in the next year or so, according to a newly released report from market research firm Datamonitor. The […]

Hospitals are expected to increase their capital expenditures on health IT for the coming year by anywhere from 6 percent to 10 percent. That means a big step up in terms of the operating budget; it is expected to swell to 3.5 percent, from 2.5 percent last year, according to figures from the health care […]

On the heels of concerns about the nations food supply raised recently by Tommy Thompson, the outgoing secretary of health and human services, a new research deal has been announced that could make it easier to automatically detect biological agents in the water supply. Sandia National Laboratories, a research unit operated by Lockheed Martin for […]

Perhaps a bit more practical than the implantable RFID chip with patient information approved by the FDA a few months ago, this tag—dubbed the SurgiChip—aims to provide health care workers with accurate surgical information and possibly prevent errors such as the performance of surgery on the incorrect body part or the execution of the wrong […]

One of the most profitable subsidiaries of the German conglomerate Siemans AG, Siemans Medical Solutions, was awarded top honors for its health IT products and services. It was selected by Frost & Sullivan for leveraging its dominance in the areas of imaging and diagnostics to create a high-functioning clinical information system. Siemens Medical Solutions offers […]

The RFID chip from Applied Digital Solutions that links patients to their medical records has kicked up a media furor over potential privacy concerns after the Food & Drug Administration approved it earlier this week. But so far, analysts remain largely skeptical that the technology will have any substantial impact yet for patients. Rather than […]