HIMSS11s Interoperability Showcase will feature more exhibitors and a larger federal presence than ever before. CMIO recently discussed Direct, Connect and the Nationwide Health Information Network with Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, director of the Office of Interoperability and Standards at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and Arien Malec, ONCs coordinator of the Direct Project.

Casa Grande Regional Medical Center will offer Stat Health Services' STAT Doctors eHealth service to its 3,000 employees and covered dependents. CGRMC, a 187-bed community hospital that serves as a base station to more than 12 Pinal County, Ariz. emergency service providers, is making the eHealth suite available to aid its employees in maintaining health.

The Saint Francis Health System of Tulsa, Okla., has acknowledged a burglary and theft of a computer from a secured information systems room at the Saint Francis Broken Arrow facility in Broken Arrow, Okla. The theft was discovered a few weeks ago; and police were notified and the case is under investigation, according to the notice posted on the provider's website.

Interface issues crop up even when systems have been thoroughly mapped, tested and tweaked ahead of go-live. At Anne Arundel Medical Center, a 324-bed facility in Annapolis, Md., Interface Analyst Jay Marquez had his hands full getting discrete data from ventilators and hemodynamic monitors into the facilitys updated Epic EMR. Marquez talked about Anne Arundels device connectivity efforts in a recent CMIO interview.

The FDA has down-classified Medical Device Data Systems, including hardware and software used to display, transfer and store medical device data, making the devices low-risk products exempt from pre-market review.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation has begun to notify nearly 1.7 million patients and hospital staff, vendors, contractors and others about a recent reported theft of electronic files that contained their personal or protected health information. The reported theft affects those who were served by or provided services to Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital and their two affiliated health centers during the past 20 years.

Exceptions to recommended therapy in outpatient quality measures for coronary artery disease in EHRs occur infrequently and are usually valid. However, physicians frequently prescribed drugs even when exceptions were present, according to a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Nearly 35 percent of all imaging costs ordered for 2,068 orthopedic patient encounters in Pennsylvania were ordered for defensive purposes, according to a study presented Feb. 15 at the 2011 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in San Diego.