Dell unveils Affiliated Physicians EMR

Dell is offering hospitals and their affiliated physicians an electronic medical information system that removes the barriers of complexity and cost from the equation, reports eWeek.

Dell's Affiliated Physicians EMR offering, a combination of hardware, software and support, will make it easier for hospitals to transition to electronic medical records. This not only holds the promise of lower costs and increasing efficiencies, but is also a key part of the health push in the US federal economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The ARRA has a goal of making electronic health records available to everyone in the US by 2014. Hospitals and doctors who implement EMR by 2011 are eligible for bonus payments under the programme.

Open-source medical software has been around for over 30 years, but unless one is in healthcare IT, chances are you've never even heard of it. But that's poised to change, writes Computerworld

With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also called the federal stimulus package, some $19 billion have been earmarked for Medicare and Medicaid technology incentives over the next five years.

This programme is known as Hitech, short for 'health information technology for economic and clinical health'. The programme will use carrots, in the form of several million dollars per hospital and up to $44 000 for individual doctors, and sticks, in the form of Medicare reimbursement cuts, to get hospitals and doctors to move to electronic health records.

Allviant has unveiled its social media philanthropy initiative to assist local and national non-profits and communities to best leverage the power of social media in their outreach to individuals, communities, donors and partners, says TMCnet.

"One of Allviant's core values is a commitment to improving people's quality of life and we have a special place in our hearts for children and teens," says Lilian Myers, Allviant's chief executive.

"We understand that by leveraging technology to ease communications, especially through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we can engage the greater community in a whole new way. This concept aligns with the vision for our CarePass technology as well, which allows consumers to quickly and easily manage the complexities of healthcare through mobile and other popular communication mediums."