Lawrence General Hospital (LGH), an independent community hospital in Lawrence, Mass., aims to install an all-new integrated hospital-wide information system to streamline patient care. We have been maintaining 30 to 40 interfaces trying to keep our data flowing, said Neil Meehan, DO, the newly minted CMIO at LGH.

Without a basic IT infrastructure, public health laboratories will be unable to effectively manage their laboratory data or electronically message laboratory test results, according to an article in Public Health Reports.

The government needs to play a stronger role in establishing a firm foundation for meaningful use for commercial interests to flourish, according to John D. Halamka, MD, CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, in an opinion article in the April edition of Health Affairs.

The RHIO Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York has signed a multi-year agreement with Axolotl to deploy its Elysium Exchange suite to build a clinical health information exchange network to connect central New Yorks healthcare providers.

GE Healthcare has upgraded its Centricity EMR platform at Providence Health & Services to link to three Oregon-based clinics for the exchange of medication and allergy data.

Hospitals and health systems leaders need to identify and understand the aspects of the healthcare reform legislation that will not only have immediate, significant impact but also long-term effects on their business, said Ed Giniat, KPMG's U.S. leader for healthcare and pharmaceuticals, during a webinar April 9 hosted by KPMG Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals.

The Rochester RHIO, which connects healthcare providers across nine counties in New York, has added six emergency departments, which are using Rochester RHIO to view patient information from data providers in the N.Y. region.

The Methodist Hospital of Houston has selected Eclipsys' HealthXchange to connect its affiliated physician offices.