Whitepapers

Clinician mobility demands seamless connectivity

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:42:34 -0400

Hospitals deploying EMR all-too-often devote too much time to software and not enough time to the mobility infrastructure needed for successful deployment.

Barry P. Chaiken MD, MPH, FHIMSS discusses the importance of reliable mobility for high adoption of EMR and other mission-critical point of care applications. Download FREE whitepaper.

Premerus Issues Study Addressing Medical Misdiagnosis in America 2008

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:09:57 -0500

Premerus, the nation’s only company dedicated to advancing clinical accuracy through diagnostic excellence, released a white paper which documents the problems of medical misdiagnosis, defines the specific challenges to health plans, benefits payers and consumers and offers solutions

Advances in Endpoint Data Security: New technology to meet security, operations, and compliance needs

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:24:02 -0500

Outdated encryption methods, such as full disk (FDE), require unwelcome compromises to IT operations, and the extent you can enforce data security. Security has evolved beyond merely encrypting "bits on disks". The paradigm must shift from Full Disk Encryption to Full Data Encryption to protect against insider threats and avoid significant manageability and usability issues. Companies need a data-centric, policy-based encryption solution that can be consistently enforced wherever the data resides, across all endpoints. Download
whitepaper.

The Challenge of Securing Hard to Patch Servers in Health Care Environments

Reene Grossman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:08:41 -0500

The healthcare industry has benefited from the breakneck pace of digitization - spanning everything from payments to patient records to X-ray film- but it has also been increasingly exposed to greater risk.

Download this whitepaper for an in-depth look at data security.

Enhancing Telecom Expense Management Through Enterprise Business Intelligence

Zachary Pentel — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:26:02 -0400

Telecom expenses are one of the largest IT costs on the general ledger and require deep dive analytical tools to drive consistent cost savings. Next generation telecom expense management (TEM) solutions now enable organizations the ability to conduct comprehensive analysis by incorporating business intelligence.

This white paper outlines how the processing of detailed electronic billing data supports these advanced analytical capabilities and can help the finance department receive more accurate information on telecom to create more accurate budgets and forecasts.

IM and Presence: Achieving Mission Critical Status in the Enterprise

Reene Grossman — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:50:39 -0400

This J.Gold Associates white paper provides an overview of instant messaging (IM) & presence, as well as trends which will impact mobile enterprise users. Companies that do not treat IM as strategic will find they have not taken advantage of an important tool to improve efficiency.

Benefits, Challenges and a Proposed Approach to Integrating CMS and FDA Information

Reene Grossman — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:26:03 -0400

This white paper focuses on the integration of various information stores of care delivery-related data through the activities of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, HIEs, and RHIOs. These activities have been critical in driving dialogue, sharing and standardization from an institutionally-centered perspective. The complexity and potential benefits of information sharing at the consumer and beneficiary level are equally significant.

Government agencies such as the FDA and CMS are increasing being asked to focus on quality, transparency and pricing challenges at a consumer or beneficiary level. These organizations face unique challenges pertaining to such key issues and can benefit tremendously through improved data sharing and integration.

HIPAA Security Provisions

Reene Grossman — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:17:55 -0400

If your company is subject to HIPAA, is it prepared to meet the requirements of the Security Rule? This paper explains how Tripwire configuration audit and control solutions can keep your IT systems from coming down with a bad case of HIPAA non-compliance.

Engaging Physicians in a Shared Quality Agenda

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:32:04 -0400

This white paper presents a framework on which hospital leaders might build a written plan for physician engagement in quality and safety. The paper includes tools to help hospital leaders assess organizational factors that will inform the degree of difficulty in engaging physicians, as well as to identify and prioritize initiatives for which physician engagement is essential. While the principal focus of the paper is on American hospitals and their organized medical staffs, the framework might also be applied to many other types of health care systems and in settings outside the United States.

Can a National Healthcare Information Network Work?

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:28:08 -0400

It’s been five years since scientists mapped the human genome — and nearly 40 years since doctors completed the first successful heart transplant — but in the realm of information technology, healthcare’s miracles are limited. Even as so many other industries have shown that handling information electronically is cheaper, faster, and more accurate than using written records, hospitals and doctors have stuck with their paper trails. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only 31 percent of hospital emergency departments, 29 percent of outpatient departments, and 17 percent of doctors’ offices use electronic medical records.

Addressing Regulatory Compliance in Healthcare

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:24:33 -0400

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) of 1996 is probably the first regulation that people
think of when considering healthcare in the United States.
However, organizations within the industry may be subject to
many additional regulations.
This paper is concerned with the organizations that provide
services to consumers within the United States Healthcare
industry and how existing regulations affect the management
of information technology resources within those
organizations. It also demonstrates how NetIQ can help
organizations comply with those regulations.

Building Teams in Primary Care: Lessons from 15 Case Studies

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:21:32 -0400

Much of the practice of medicine is predicated on teams of people working together. Not so in primary care. A busy primary care office handles such a wide array of patients that it is difficult to organize the staff around a routine. Given the challenges posed by rendering hundreds of diagnoses and the need to provide acute, chronic, and preventive care services, primary care is inherently chaotic.
How to solve the problem? Many practices have found the answer in the creation of high-functioning primary care teams with nonphysician team members taking on clinical tasks that physicians have insufficient time to perform, and that focus several people on each patient's problems. Some have also demonstrated that many primary care visits, especially for chronic disease, involve relatively simple matters that could be handled by nonphysician team members via protocols or standing orders.

This two-part report examines the approaches taken by 15 primary care practices across the United States. The case studies demonstrate that teams are a necessary and effective foundation upon which other innovations — such as the chronic care model, advanced access, group visits, and electronic encounters — can be pursued.

The introductory volume of the report summarizes some general issues regarding teams in primary care and points readers to the overall lessons provided by the case studies. The bulk of the report, presented as a separate volume, provides case studies of practices and clinics making considerable progress in forging primary care teams.