Health IT News from Federal Agencies and Capitol Hill – Edited by Carolyn Bloch
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) commented on the main issues affecting medical innovation during her opening remarks at a recently held joint WHO, World Intellectual Property Organization, and World Trade Organization technical symposium. (more…)
The population with HIV in large cities often receives care in high volume HIV specialty clinics that employ co-located interdisciplinary care teams to provide specialized care. However, 18 percent of the 24,000 veterans being treated for HIV infection in the U.S. live in rural areas and have limited access to this form of healthcare. Seventy two percent of rural veterans with HIV live more than a one hour car ride from their site of care. (more…)
The Liver Bank financially supported by the University of Kansas Medical Center, and the University of Kansas Hospital is an outgrowth of the hospital’s active liver transplant practice. The Liver Bank serves as a multi-year repository for tissue specimens from excess surgical material in liver transplants, resections, and biopsies. The samples are categorized within a separate database housing extensive clinical and pathological data that is also maintained. (more…)
The growth of biomedical research data presents challenges to researchers in the field. One possible solution suggested would be to develop a “Cancer Genomics Cloud” to provide co-located storage and computational infrastructure pre-loaded with National Cancer Institute (NCI) public data. The Cancer Genomics Cloud would reduce the need for millions of dollars to be spent on equipment and staff to download the entire NCI public data. (more…)
CMS reports that 76 percent of hospital readmissions within 30 days are preventable. The potential savings associated with preventing readmissions is estimated to be $31 billion annually so that accountable care organizations and hospitals are looking at ways to cut costs. (more…)
The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking vendors to maintain and enhance the web-based New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS). The NYSIIS is a tool that is increasingly used to support the goals and objectives of not only programs within the Bureau of Immunizations, but also other programs throughout the NYSDOH. (more…)
The Delta Regional Authority and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) have initiated a new telehealth delivery and education center to increase access to affordable quality healthcare and expand medical training to providers across the state of Mississippi. (more…)