Cerner news from FierceHealthcare

> With claims falling, medical malpractice insurer The Doctors Co. is paying out more than $100 million in dividends to doctors in several states. Article

> It's just another step in the unholy dance that is trauma coverage in the U.S. This time, two of Georgia's trauma hospitals are considering either cutting back spending or dropping their Level I trauma centers entirely. …

> A new study by researchers at Boston University claims that Massachusetts has the most expensive health care system in the world. Article

> Neil Versel reports in Health IT World that Care New England Health System in Providence, RI has been using software from Core Security Technologies to protect its network as it goes live with Cerner and PHRs. …

Britain's National Audit Office released a report warning that delays in the implementation of the country's massive health IT project may "hurt public confidence in the project." Meanwhile, the behind-the-scenes jostling between Cerner and GE Healthcare for control of the London phase of the project is continuing. Report (.pdf)

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

British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has been asked to block an attempt by BT to oust GE Healthcare as the provider of electronic medical record software for the London region and replace the company with rival Cerner. BT officials are reportedly unhappy with the slow pace of GE's implementation effort on the project. Last year, Fujitsu made waves when it dumped IDX for Cerner in the U.K.'s southern region. Of course, any change will have major implications for both GE Healthcare and …

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced legislation that would encourage the formation of a national health information network by creating non-profit cooperative banks where medical records would be stored. Supporters say the Independent Health Record Bank Act would make healthcare more efficient by centralizing records and also introduce a needed element of neutrality. Under Brownback's legislation, consumers would have the final say over what is done with their medical records. The …

E-Health may be a buzzword in Washington and a much discussed goal in healthcare circles, but so far the executives that lead the companies at the forefront of health IT are making a lot less money than their colleagues in other areas of healthcare. AIS Health released its 2005 executive compensation survey this week. Topping the list is Cerner CEO Neal Patterson - who takes home $1.69 million. Not far behind is Emdeon's Martin Wygood, who is making $1.63 million. The study does not …

The debate over the national patient identifier (NPI) is reappearing. A Modern Healthcare article recounts the saga that began with the 1996 HIPAA legislation and was put on hold in 1998. Most vendors are using some type of probabilistic matching to identify patients--a technique using names, birth-dates, zip codes, etc. But several vendors don't think that solution works. Neal Patterson of Cerner has been outspoken about the need for a real NPI. Now RAND, which has done work on …

Cerner is giving an indication of the direction it thinks things are moving in healthcare IT. CEO Neal Patterson told shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Friday that he believes the time has come for Cerner to expand in four key areas after years of focusing its energies on the automation of care in the physician and hospital market. That means that Cerner will become more involved in research, eventually becoming a provider of aggregate data collected by health information …

Cerner shareholders gathered to discuss the company's fortunes this morning and Wall Street is nervous. Cerner shares are up slightly this morning after an up and down week. Analysts have rated the company a strong buy because of its relatively dominant position in the healthcare IT market at a time when interest in the sector is growing. Skeptics wonder if competition may erode that advantage. Meanwhile, Business 2.0 has named the company to its list of the top 100 fastest growing companies. Article