Partners HealthCare is the first acute care network in the country to mandate that all its admitting physicians adopt EMR technology. But how can an acute care organization essentially turn into a vendor, supporting hundreds of ambulatory EMR installations? Check out our cover story, “In or Out?” page 42, to discover how.
Today, more than ever, healthcare professionals need to stay on top of IT trends. This month, we feature our annual roundup of the top trends facing healthcare CIOs. Read “Top Tech Trends,” page 48, to learn about the nine most important issues for CIOs as they try and move their organizations ever further into the digital age. It's a roadmap produced after much deliberation and research — and a desktop companion for the entire year.
What happens at the annual RSNA conference inevitably causes ripples across the industry. This year, RSNA turned the city of Chicago into a beehive of radiologist activity — but what was the angle for CIOs? Healthcare Informatics reporters were on the show floor to find out the latest trends in PACS upgrades, integration and network-capacity issues. Read “RIS Rocks at RSNA,” page 34, to find out which two buzzwords were on everyone's lips this year.
Hospitals are continually being bombarded with release of information (ROI) requests from patients, lawyers and courts. Processing these requests can be a nice little revenue stream for healthcare systems, but only if they're done in an organized, efficient, and cost-effective way. In “The Other ROI,” page 24, find out how IT can help free up staff, save money and relieve the headaches of these seemingly endless requests. And see how one CIO found a way to let other people do the heavy lifting — and still maintain control over the process.
