Build a best practices-based healthcare IT platform, get results, including a solid ROI, says a recent McKinsey Quarterly analysis.Healthcare providers that create such an IT platform to house and share medical records, manage hospital resources more transparently, and define precise guidelines for authorized tests and procedures can generate significant operating efficiencies.

Mediware Information Systems is expanding the integration between its HCLL blood transfusion management software and Epic Systems' EMR software for acute care hospitals.

Like many facilities, New Yorks Beth Israel Medical Center is trying to improve care while stretching resources. Weve become very creative in being cost-effective, said Brian Koll, MD, Medical Director and Chief of Infection Prevention at Beth Israel Medical Center.

Stent implantation for aortic coarctation achieved intermediate procedural success of 86 percent and a long-term success rate of 77 percent, but researchers said that future studies are still needed to confirm these data, according to a study published in the October issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.

Can a cost-capture tool improve the quality of patient care? Yes, says Alistair Erskine, MD, Associate Dean of Medical Informatics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine, and Chief of Clinical Informatics of VCU Health System (VCUHS), which is based in Richmond, Va., and includes the 779-bed Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, a 600-physician faculty group practice and several outpatient clinics.

Merge has released the latest version of its revenue cycle management offering, Merge Financials 6.0.

Valley Radiology Imaging, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based outpatient imaging service RadNet, has selected Hitachi Medical Systems America for its high-field open MRI.

eClinicalWorks, a developer of ambulatory clinical systems located in Westborough, Mass., is now using Array Networks AppVelocity (APV) server load balancer and application delivery controller to support its medical record and management programs for healthcare providers.