Precision Medicine

Also called personalized medicine, this evolving field makes use of an individual’s genes, lifestyle, environment and other factors to identify unique disease risks and guide treatment decision-making.

CMS creates new system of records for shared savings programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, is establishing a new system of records to support its shared savings programs, the first of which are the Medicare Shared Savings Program and Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model.

Remote monitoring market to grow 25% annually, tele-ICU to blossom

Healthcare market research firm Kalorama has reported a $7.1 billion market for remote patient monitoring in 2010 in the U.S., and expects an annual 25.4 percent growth rate, reaching $22.2 billion by 2015.

JAMIA: The woes of e-prescribing controlled substances

To better understand the barriers associated with adoption and use of e-prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), a practice recently established by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Cindy Parks Thomas, PhD, a professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and colleagues in a Sept. 21 article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, described their research on e-prescribing of controlled substances.

AJR: Speech recognition linked with errors in half of breast imaging reports

Breast imaging reports generated using speech recognition were eight times as likely as reports dictated with conventional transcription to contain major errors, according to a study published in the October issue of American Journal of Roentgenology. The researchers estimated that nearly 25 percent of the reports in the study contained a major error that could have affected understanding of the report or altered patient care.

ACR: Obamas debt reduction plan could raise imaging costs

Imaging cuts in the administrations deficit reduction proposal would restrict patient access to care and may actually raise costs, according to the American College of Radiology (ACR). The college has urged the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reject the Obama administrations imaging recommendations and work with the ACR and other imaging stakeholders to create policies that ensure safe, appropriate care, promote quality and protect patient access.

FDA to host MRI safety workshop

The FDA has scheduled a public workshop on MRI safety for Oct. 25 and 26. Sessions will cover strategies to minimize risk to patients and staff in the MRI environment, and touch on such topics as working with ferromagnetic detectors and scanning patients with MRI-compatible implants.

Survey: False positives don't scare women from breast screening

A nationwide U.S. survey found that women overwhelmingly want the option for additional screening tests to find cancer early, even when testing resulted in a false positive. Nine out of 10 women who required a biopsy to determine a false positive indicated that they would still opt for the additional screening the following year.

The growth of interoperability

Interoperability is expanding in many hospitals, but one cant clearly know exactly where to look to observe it in each stage of development as it matures, says James P. Keller Jr., vice president of health technology evaluation and safety at ECRI Institute in Plymouth Meeting, Pa, who presented at the Center for Business Innovations recent conference on medical device connectivity at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Around the web

HHS has thought through the ways AI can and should become an integral part of healthcare, human services and public health. Last Friday—possibly just days ahead of seating a new secretary—the agency released a detailed plan for getting there from here.

Philips is recalling the software associated with its Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry devices after certain high-risk ECG events were never routed to trained cardiology technicians as intended. The issue, which lasted for two years, has been linked to more than 100 injuries. 

Heart Rhythm Society President Kenneth A. Ellenbogen, MD, detailed a new advocacy group focused on improving EP reimbursements, patient care and access. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu," he said.