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Shands HealthCare--a health systems in the southeast that includes nine hospitals and more than 80 affiliated physician practices--announced that it will roll out it's own Medicaid offering in an attempt to attract 80,000 possible enrollees in the Jacksonville, FL area. "We have essentially had to develop all the core functions of an insurance company--claims processing, provider relations, benefits plan design, utilization management, disease management," Doug Chaet, vice president of …

This is another noteworthy deal for Cerner, which as been the subject of rumors involving the massive NHS IT project in the U.K. The Kansas City-based maker of healthcare software appears to be making good on Neal Patterson's pledge to expand into new territory with the acquisition of Galt & Associates, a maker of drug safety and clinical data management systems. The Fairfax, VA-based company has 10 employees and recorded $9.5 million in revenue last year.

- see this article from the Business Journal of Kansas City

UnitedHealth subsidiary Ingenix has signed a deal to acquire NWH, a New York-based company specializing in "real-time Internet connections" between healthcare companies, for $52.4 million. NWH reported $18.9 million in revenue and net income of $942,000 last year. A UnitedHealth spokesman said the merger will increase efficiency, and allow the insurer to reimburse physicians more quickly. The move comes on the same week that a report listed the insurer as among the slowest to respond to …

Ohio State University is participating in a regional effort to build a major new data warehouse that will focus on personalized medicine, allowing researchers to compare clinical and therapeutic data with patient genetic histories to develop personalized treatment plans and assist research. The Institute for Personalized Medicine would be funded by cash from several companies, including Siemens. The project would pool data from regional hospitals and share it among doctors working at …

A $21 million Epic implementation at clinics in the Oregon Health and
Science University system will cause a 25 percent to 50 percent decline in productivity over the first six weeks of use, officials rather candidly admit. The gains afterward make the sacrifice worth it, they argue, even though it will take up to 10 years to break even. The problem of lost productivity during the "switch" period has been a major roadblock to the adoption of the EMR by docs in solo and small practices. …

A controversial physician-rating program sponsored by two insurers is leading to protests from some doctors. United Healthcare and Aetna are collaborating on the initiative, which sees doctors in some markets rated on quality of care and cost according to criteria set by the insurers. Doctors judged to be outstanding have stars placed next to their names in both the United and Aetna directories. Patients are able to access the ratings online. Doctors in Ohio, one of the markets where the …

Arizona launched an ambitious database project designed to provide the public with information about health, human services and emergency response information. The Arizona 211 website gives users access to listings for more than 17,000 entities offering services in the state. In phase 2 of the project, users will offer referrals to doctors and other healthcare providers.

- see this story from the Business Journal of Phoenix

The Portland (Oregon) Veteran's Affairs Medical Center is a pilot site for the government's new medical records project, which FierceHealthcare regulars will recall has been the object of some recent controversy. The My HealtheVet system allows patients at the facility to sign up to gain access to their own health records online. The system also allows patients to track key health metrics, such as their blood pressure, weight and blood sugar, over time. Access can be granted to …

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is turning to the international healthcare market. UPMC's latest move has it running oncology services at a new state of the art hospital in Whitfield, Ireland. Under the terms of the deal, UPMC Cancer Center will share the costs of operating the 150,000-sq.ft. facility and split revenues. UPMC also has plans in the works for similar agreements with hospitals in Dublin; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; and Palermo, Italy. In the US, UPMC …