News From Around the Web
> In State College, Pa., Mount Nittany Medical Center recently rolled out two telemedicine programs focusing on treating burn victims and stroke patients. Brian Joho, burn program coordinator at the center, said the former program continues to grow because "health providers in rural areas typically do not see a wide range of burns that could include complications," the Centre County Gazette reports. Article
> A new study published this week by Availity finds that most payers want information sharing with providers to be automated in real time. Availity provides Web-based connectivity between providers and payers. "With such a strong focus on payment reform in this country, we felt it was important to study how the health plan community was progressing and what connectivity barriers may be delaying or preventing their ability to transition to value-based models," Russ Thomas, Availity CEO, said in a statement. Announcement
Mobile Healthcare News
> A year-long evaluation of text4baby, a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health through text messaging, has found the program to be effective, according to an announcement of the results. The findings are based on a survey developed by researchers from the National Latino Research Center (NLRC) at California State University San Marcos and the University of California San Diego, with support from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation, which was administered to 631 unique text4baby users in San Diego. Article
Provider News
> As the Catholic Health Association and the Obama administration make progress on the contraceptive coverage controversy, a surge of proposed and completed mergers of Catholic and secular healthcare systems is muddying the waters even further. More secular hospitals are joining forces with Catholic counterparts due to financial reasons, but the move is raising the likelihood that healthcare administrators can go where politicians cannot and restrict access to abortion. Article
And Finally... Who uses 57 cans of whipped cream in one night? Article