Vision Facilities Management has started a new two-way communication interface with ECRI Institute to improve the ability of hospital staff to manage medical device safety alerts and recalls.

The debate over whether a smartphone is a medical device is something of a moot point. Granted, theres a lot of excitement and chatter about how docs are adopting smartphones, iPads, and the like, but in this discussion, one issue that has been largely overlooked is the information-overloaded environment that we work in now.

A personal health record (PHR) embedded in mobile communication devices--or mPHR--is the killer app that may change the game for providers, consumers and payors, according to an issue brief from consulting firm Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, based in Washington, D.C.

With EHR certification requirements in place, all are awaiting the arrival of ONC's Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCB), which will be announced soon, according to multiple sources at the ONC. Arguably, certification of systems is the actual starting point for meaningful use of EHRs once these ATCBs are approved.

While Agfa-Gevaert posted 8.7 percent increase in revenues in the 2010 second quarter compared with the previous years second quarter, its Agfa HealthCare unit only posted slightly higher revenues0.3 percentover the 2009 second quarter.

ViewRay has received $20 million in series C financing led by investor Siemens Venture Capital, joining the companys existing investors, Aisling Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, Kearny Venture Partners and OrbiMed Advisors.

Tim Thompson has been appointed CIO of BayCare Health System, a community-based healthcare system in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area, effective Sept. 7. Thompson joins BayCare from the Methodist Hospital System in Houston, where he served as CIO and senior vice president.

Center for Diagnostic Imaging, an outpatient radiology imaging service based in Minneapolis, has opened the Indy West Center, an outpatient medical imaging and image-guided procedure center in Avon, Ind.