If we broke off the rear-view mirror, took a meaningful look at what data and functions physicians really need from an EMR to provide actionable patient information for swift, comprehensive, interactive diagnosis and treatment monitoringwhat kind of system would we create?

Wal-Mart plans to shake-up the U.S. healthcare sector by selling less expensive electronic health records (EHRs) to physicians working in small practices.

The Louisville Health Information Exchange (LouHIE) has selected 3M Health Information Systems to provide the EHR banking system and interoperability solution to enable a health information exchange across the greater Louisville area.

Although the consensus is that EHRs have the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. healthcare providers, less than 2 percent of acute-care hospitals have implemented a comprehensive EHR; further, less than 8 percent have a basic EHR in place, according to a study published online March 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine that is scheduled for publication in the April 16 print edition.

Health Level Seven (HL7) has joined the new Standards Development Organization (SDO)Charter Organization (SCO) to increase coordination and collaboration on healthcare informatics standards development.

aycan, together with its partner Xerox, has launched its aycan xray-print solution in Hungary, with its first install at St. Janos Hospital in Budapest.

X-ray mammography procedures in the United States saw a 2 percent dip last year, from 37.3 million procedures in 2007 to 36.7 million procedures in 2008, according to a report published by healthcare marketing research company IMV Medical Information Division.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created the Office of Recovery Act Coordination, to help ensure the timely, organized and transparent distribution of an estimated $137 billion in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funds under its management.