Monday, February 21, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

BURLINGTON, MASS.--Moving toward an integrated healthcare delivery system or accountable care organization (ACO) may decrease revenue, but also will improve the quality of care, increase patient satisfaction and improve service, said Craig Samitt, MD, CEO and president of Dean Health Systems in Madison, Wis., during a presentation at the HealthIT 2011 conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Feb. 4.

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, has signed a letter of intent to collaborate with McKesson Provider Technologies to offer an EHR to the Department of Defense. The EHR can be used by each branch of military service to maintain a centralized record for medical beneficiaries.

BURLINGTON, MASS.--While comparative effectiveness research is widespread, the information may not be all that straightforward for physicians to understand and obtain, and the research is often seen as a burden rather than a service, Michael A. Fischer, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said during a presentation at the 2011 HealthIT conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Feb. 4.

In response to the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), academic medical centers (AMCs) will need to address both financial and cultural barriers to the implementation of new care and payment models such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), according to a perspective article published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

AT&T and Acuo Technologies have formed an alliance to develop cloud-based medical imaging storage systems for healthcare providers and suppliers. Acuo of Bloomington, Minn., is the latest technology company to join the AT&T ForHealth lineup of mobile health, cloud-based and telehealth products.

At the Direct Connect press conference earlier this week, many of the speakers began their presentations by lauding David Blumenthal, MD, ONC chair. Here was the man who set in motion so much of what has happened, incredibly, in the past 18 months, said Farzad Mostashari, senior advisor for policy and programming at ONC, in introducing him during that event. Others just called him a rock star.

David Blumenthal, MD, will step down as the National Coordinator for Health IT later this spring to return to his academic post at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., according to a memo from Kathleen Sebelius, which was obtained by this publication.