Case Studies

Despite its immense institutional know-how and its pure heft—11 hospitals, 5,000 medical staffers, $4 billion in net revenues—the Hospital Corporation of America’s multi-state, Denver-based Continental Division still found itself sending CDs and printouts via, among other low-tech image-sharing options, the chests of patients in ambulances and helicopters.

Clinical Innovation + Technology was on hand at HIMSS14 to cover healthcare IT trends. We stopped in the Vital Images booth to learn more about images and the EMR.

Nowhere more than in health care are the stakes higher for quality. That said, neither is there a magic bullet that will make health-care providers more effective, according to Kelly Court, the chief quality officer for the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA).

Many feel that the EMR is central to the health of the enterprise and promises to meet many needs. However, as stakeholders drill down into individual departments, there are areas where the EMR may fail to address the specific workflow of the caregivers in those specialties.

At a roundtable discussion during the June CMIO Summit in Boston, four physician IT leaders brainstormed on how to improve healthcare quality, create usable data and engage patients in their own care. Sponsored by an educational grant from Oracle

Filling the gap for EMR systems and optimizing PACS performance