McKesson

The Michigan-based Trinity Health System says it is temporarily stopping its $315 million electronic medical records implementation. The effort, dubbed "Project Genesis," will eventually upgrade IT services at 23 Trinity-operated hospitals. No word on exactly what is going on, but Trinity says the pause is so the system can study the project's impact on "clinical processes for disease conditions." Says PR guy Kevin DiCola, "we'll be so much better with our implementation by taking a step …

HIMSS wraps up in San Diego Thursday morning as 23,500 healthcare tech geeks start to wander home. Most of the action was around the big vertical players like Cerner, Epic, and McKesson, but the tech giants are getting more and more serious about healthcare. Microsoft is introducing products to further collaboration (think instant messaging, plus video, plus Netmeetings) and is working on getting its employees to "eat their own dog food" with Web visits and messaging. Meanwhile, Cisco is …

> Humana shares fell on Friday after a prominent Credit Suisse analyst said the company's problems enrolling recipients into Medicare Part D may cause potential customers to move to other plans. Article

> The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a report that concludes that most of the top hospitals in the country are doing little anything about high levels of trans fat in the …

> Triad Hospitals and Perot Systems announce they've signed a Texas-sized health IT deal worth $1.3 billion. McKesson gets a piece of the action as well. Release

> Surprising the Street, shares of orthopedic implant maker Stryker jump after the company releases good quarterly numbers. Article

> Our favorite connectologist …

Cerner's shares continued to slip as Wall Street interpreted a report published on Tuesday questioning the company's accounting practices. By the end of trading Thursday, Cerner shares were down to $83.95, falling $9.13 in very heavy trading. They are in the same range midday Friday.

How real are the questions surrounding the company? The firms behind the allegations say there are warning flags that aggressive revenue recognition tactics are in use. Questionable (well actually, …

> The National Alliance for Health Information Technology continues to push for broader exemptions from federal anti-kickback laws that prevent hospitals from donating software and computers to physicians. Report

> Ten former Emdeon employees were indicted yesterday for their role in the Medical Manager accounting scandal.  …

> Magellan Health Services is expected to make a bid for National Imaging Associates, a specialist in controlling diagnostic imaging costs. Article (Wall Street Journal sub. req.)

> Market analyst Datamonitor puts the worth of healthcare outsourcing contracts at $800 million, with the market expected to grow to $1.1 billion by 2008. …

San Francisco-based pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson appears to be finally righting itself after a difficult five years following its disastrous purchase of IT vendor HBO. The company reported earnings of $167 million for the second quarter, about twice what it earned in the same period last year. Analysts say much of McKesson's recent success has come as a result of its core business: the distribution of prescription drugs to hospitals and pharmacies. Sales for the company's …

> Why do retailers appear to have extensive vaccine supplies while physicians are struggling to find shots for their patients? Article (Wall Street Journal sub. req.)

> The VA Health System will work with Initiate Systems for patient ID management. Article

> A physician-tracking …

> The Bush administration says it will veto a budget bill if Congress goes through with cuts that would impact funding for managed care providers. Article

> A pilot program at Lakeland Regional Medical Center gives doctors wireless PDA access to patient records. Article

> Could blogs be the next big …