Routine use of EHRs may improve the quality of care provided in community-based primary care practices more than other common strategies intended to raise the quality of medical care, according to study findings published Oct. 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A defined framework for secondary data will need to be developed in order for more organizations to deploy health IT systems, according to a survey conducted between May and June and published by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Nuance Communications has acquired eCopy, a provider of solutions that integrates paper documents into business software applications, for approximately $54 million in Nuance common stock.

Patients given whole-brain radiotherapy are at greater risk of decline in learning and memory function; therefore, stereotactic radiosurgery plus close clinical monitoring should be the standard initial treatment, according to results of a clinical trial published online Oct. 3, before the November edition of Lancet Oncology.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has released a report on how the Columbia Basin Health Association has used health IT to transition paper based-charts into an EMR system, making it one of the first in the United States to fully complete the switchover to an EHR.

Healthcare software and services provider Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions saw revenues surge to $164.9 million in its fiscal first quarter (ending Aug. 31), up from $92.8 million reported in the same period a year ago.

After a nine-month period of deliberation and public comments, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided that the choice to reimburse an MRI exam for blood-flow determination should be left to the local Medicare contractor.

Boston Scientific will pay Cordis $716.3 million to resolve more than a dozen lawsuits over the Palmaz infringement suit relating to Boston Scientifics NIR stent and several other cardiology cases relating to patents in the Ding, Kastenhofer, Palmaz and Fontirroche patent families, and exchanging paid-up licenses for certain intellectual properties.