Medicaid programs in South Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky and Wisconsin will receive federal matching funds for state planning activities necessary to implement the EHR incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported Thursday.

Acute adverse reactions from gadolinium-based contrast agents used during MRI to help improve the information seen on the images rarely occur, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Besides funding, the most sought-after commodity in any healthcare setting is time. The get-it-done-yesterday environment in most facilities has CMIOs scrambling. The aggressive timelines proposed by the interim final rule and notice of proposed rule-making for meaningful use will further test health IT professionals.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System has been awarded the 2010 National Quality Forum (NQF) National Quality Healthcare Award for its commitment to providing data-driven quality, transparency and patient-centered healthcare.

St. Lukes Lakeside Hospital of the Woodlands in Texas--a new hospital within St. Luke's Episcopal Health System--has selected imaging equipment from diagnostic imaging systems and services provider Toshiba America Medical Systems for its new facility.

Anthem Blue Cross has partnered with Ideal Life to pilot the C.A.R.E. (Congestive Heart Failure Ambulatory Remote monitoring and Engagement) program to provide wireless body weight scales to in-home congestive heart failure patients for increased patient monitoring.

A partnership announced Tuesday between Philips Healthcare and Edwards Lifesciences will integrate Edwards' oximetry catheter and sensor technology with Philips IntelliVue patient monitors.

The everolimus-eluting stent is better than the second-generation paclitaxel-eluting stent (Taxus Liberte, Boston Scientific) in unselected patients undergoing PCI in terms of safety and efficacy, concluded the COMPARE trial that was published Jan. 7 in Lancet. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that paclitaxel-eluting stents should no longer be used in everyday clinical practice.