This month brings, of course, a wealth of reports from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual convention. Journal studies also noted several developments on the advanced visualization front. 

For many healthcare facilities, its website is a patient’s first contact so designing an informative, user-friendly, navigatable site is crucial to establishing a good relationship. Two facilities discussed their website redesign efforts during a Dec. 11 webinar hosted by web development company Bridgeline Digital.

Meeting Meaningful Use requirements and a desire to improve patient experiences drove practice transformation and standardization at the Emory Clinic, said its CMO and Chief Quality Officer Penny Z. Castellano, MD, during a Dec. 11 webinar hosted by the Institute for Health Technology Transformation.

AFrame Digital has received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its flagship MobileCare Monitor system as a Class II device. Since 2009, MobileCare Monitor has been cleared as a Class I device.

The health information exchange (HIE) is a critical next step in the digital transformation of health care. With the government’s meaningful use (MU) program driving electronic health record (EHR) adoption, health systems are now challenged to create a network that connects providers together to maintain continuity of care for patients. Motivated

Venture capital (VC) funding in the life sciences sector gained in the third quarter but remains down for the year. Venture capitalists invested $1.7 billion in 181 life sciences deals during the third quarter of 2012, according to a new report, "Biotech bounce," that includes data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association's MoneyTree Report, based on data from Thomson Reuters. The life sciences includes the biotechnology and medical device industries.

Overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) put patients’ lives at risk, increasing the likelihood of inpatient mortality by 5 percent, according to research published December by the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

This week brought some interesting information about the state of privacy and security in the U.S. healthcare industry.  Since 2009, the industry has experienced 495 breaches involving 21 million records at an estimated cost of $4 billion, according to the Health Information Trust Alliance's (HITRUST) analysis of healthcare data breaches since 2009.