General Electric (GE) has reported that its healthcare unit saw a 5 percent increase in revenues and a double-digit increase in earnings in the first quarter of 2012, compared with the first quarter of 2011.

Effective use of EHRs goes far beyond implementation. Facilities can and should plan ahead for optimization of these significant investments.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a sole source contract for RIS to Carestream Health.

Of the more than 9,000 estimated urgent care centers, many reported plans to increase in size or location in the next 12 months. Of those, many need an EMR and are finding that their options include ambulatory EMRs, ED systems and best-of-breed urgent care EMRs, according to a report published by market researcher KLAS.

Dell, to assist implementing an EMR system, is providing Dell Clinical Service Deskone continual point of contact for support.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the full set of clinical quality measures included in the proposed rule for Stage 2 of meaningful use (MU) of EMRs on its website.

The internet has made instant, at-home access to entertainment, information and shopping a reality for years. Now, as more providers begin to offer online patient portals, a survey of adult outpatients has shown that online access to radiologic reports either immediately or within a period of a few days is often preferable to waiting for a consultation with a primary care physician, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has commended the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) for its recent inclusion of proposed use requirements for medical imaging information in Certified EHR Technology as an objective of Stage Two Meaningful Use Criteria.