Top Story

• Availability, finances biggest U.S. health care concerns
  A new Gallup survey of 1,000 adults found 55% believe access and financial challenges of the health care system are the most urgent health problems in the U.S. A similar survey 20 years ago found 68% of people said AIDS was the nation's biggest health care challenge and only 1% cited cost. In this year's survey, 2% of people cited diabetes, AIDS and heart disease, while 11% said cancer and 12% obesity. The Washington Times (12/2)

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Hospitals

• Clinical surveillance technology can save lives, money
  Six-hospital system Baptist Health is using Thomson Reuter's Clinical Xpert CareFocus software to increase clinical surveillance and save the system more than $1 million. The clinical surveillance tool has led to clinical interventions, resulting in increased efficiency, savings and patient safety. Healthcare IT News (12/5)

Providers

• SunTrust offers health care software line
  Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks is offering a health care revenue-cycle-management product line that uses software to ensure accuracy in health care transactions processing. Clients who use eClaim Revenue Gateway will be able to perform eligibility verification, claims submission and electronic remittance transactions. Health Data Management (12/5)

• Penn Medicine to create database of doctors' interests
  Penn Medicine, a program consisting of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and its health system, plans to offer a searchable Web site that allows patients to see the outside activities of the system's physicians and scientists. The database would allow the public to know if particular physicians are receiving payments from pharmaceutical companies while also receiving federal funding. The Philadelphia Inquirer (12/5)

Payors

• Insurer bases five-point reform plan on health IT
  Blue Cross Blue Shield of America has released a five-point plan for health care reform that features IT as the "super highway and the cornerstone for change," president and CEO Scott Serota said. The company's initiatives include best-practice research, pay-for-performance programs, consumer and provider empowerment, increased health awareness and public-private coverage solutions. Healthcare IT News (12/5)

• UHC offers free e-prescribing to Texas physicians
  Insurer United HealthCare is promoting e-prescribing in Texas by paying for 200 physicians to adopt e-prescribing software. Physicians will use software from Zix Corp. that offers a wireless network, PDAs and technology support. Health Data Management (12/5)

Technology Trends

• LLuminari offers expert-centered health Web site
  BeWell, a new Web site from health media company LLuminari, will link consumers to health professionals through a video library, specialized communities and section where users can ask experts for advice. The Web site will also offer advice for the experts, health resource guides and Web seminars. Health Data Management (12/5)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by eHealth SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Senators ask GAO to look at health care best practices (Modern Healthcare)

• New York promotes statewide HIE interoperability (Government Health IT magazine)

• St. Vincent plans all-digital, all-green IT infrastructure (Healthcare IT News)

• Physician champion crucial in IT implementation projects (American Medical News)

• Report: Personalized medicine needs integrated IT (Government Health IT magazine)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

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Regulatory/Legislative

• Obama announces inclusion of health care IT in stimulus package
  President-elect Barack Obama has added increasing health care IT infrastructure to the economic stimulus plan that currently is being prepared in Congress. During a Dec. 6 radio address, he announced that the U.S. needs to continue to be a leader in IT. "We will make sure that every doctor's office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year," Obama said. Government Health IT magazine (12/2008)

• Health care leaders consider consequences of IT in stimulus package: Senate health care leaders are considering including IT provisions in the economic stimulus package that is being prepared for President-elect Barack Obama's first few days in office. Health care leaders are divided about whether incentives for IT would be successful if included in the bill. "In theory it's a great idea," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said. "We would just have to make damn sure the system works before we do it." Government Health IT magazine (12/2008)

International

• Perot to expand VistA to Kingdom of Jordan
  Perot Systems Corp. will install and test a version of the Department of Veterans Affairs' VistA EHR system in Jordan's government-run health care system. Three health care sites in the Kingdom of Jordan will install VistA, a proprietary, open-source system developed by the VA. Modern Healthcare (free registration) (12/3)

Director, US Health Care Compliance, Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, NJ Healthcare IT Program Manager Vangent US-VA-Arlington Clinical Information Manager Adventist HealthCare, Inc. US-MD-Rockville Health Information Managment Coder NRI Healthcare Staffing US-MD-Columbia National Guard Psychological Health Consultant Ceridian US-DC-Washington Senior Associate/Scientist - Health Economist Abt Associates US-MD-Bethesda Health Care Analyst NCQA US-DC-Washington Senior Healthcare Consultant- Informatics Creative Computing Solutions Inc US-MD-Silver Spring Associate/Scientist - Health Systems Strengthening Advisor Abt Associates US-MD-Bethesda Assistant Director of Data Quality & Coding Adventist HealthCare, Inc. US-MD-Rockville Product/Market Senior Manager (CareFusion) Cardinal Health US-VA-Reston

SmartQuote

What great changes have not been ambitious?" --Melinda Gates, co-founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation