Better communication is more than simply a matter of putting all necessary information together in one place. Im reminded of that every time I come to work at the VA facility in Tampa, where everythings there, in the VistA EMR, but theres so much there that its impossible in a one-hour outpatient visitnever mind the usual allotted 20 minutes of outpatient clinic timeto complete a review of whats happened since the physician last saw the patient.

Quality Systems, the parent of NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, has reported the positive financial results for its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter and year, which ended March 31.

Ocean Medical Imaging Center (OMIC), developed through a partnership with Lake Forest, Calif.-based InSight Health Services Holdings, has acquired X-Ray Associates in Toms River, N.J., from the Sonix Medical Resources bankruptcy proceeding in New York.

Telemedicine faces its share of hurdles, but CMS is getting ready to lower one of the regulatory stumbling blocks. And none too soon: As we wrote in the cover story of the May issue of CMIO, because physicians are licensed and credentialed by state, it can be difficult for them to practice across state linesas telemedicine requires in many areas.

A team of Georgia Tech College of Computing graduate students took the top three awards in the recent NHIN CONNECT Code-a-Thon Challenge in Miami.

A wireless monitoring system for people with debilitating conditions, such as Parkinson's disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), could allow healthcare workers to assess a patient's health and the development of their disease without hindering their movements, according to an article in the May edition of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.

In vivo 3T MRI can detect features of vulnerable plaques in an animal model of controlled atherothrombosis and MRI may be used as a noninvasive modality for the identification of plaques that are prone to disruption, according to a study published in the May issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.

Diagnostic imaging systems provider Toshiba America Medical Systems has installed its Vantage Titan open-bore MR system at Bellevue, Wash.-based Overlake Hospital.