IT in healthcare proven beneficial

The recently completed eHealth Impact project has conclusively demonstrated that there is over a 2:1 ratio between economic benefits and costs when it comes to using IT in healthcare, reports MBTEurope.

In other words, the benefits gained from implementing e-health systems are more than two times greater than the additional cost of implementing them.

Electronically enhanced healthcare has long been promoted as reducing costs, improving quality and efficiency, and treating more patients with the same resources. However, no reliable data had been available to support this claim. Now that data exists.

AIIM, a provider of enterprise content management, and ASTM International, a voluntary standards development organisation, are joining with other industry leaders to develop a Best Practices Guide for the use of the portable document format (PDF) in the healthcare industry.

The proposed new PDF/H (PDF-Healthcare) is a portable, secure, and universal healthcare data exchange container for personal health records and electronic health records.

PDF/H provides a format for exchanging and protecting healthcare information because it can contain a combination of text, graphics and images.

New York governor George E Pataki has announced the availability of $52 875 000 in grant funding to advance health IT (HIT) initiatives on a regional level, reports GovTech News.

Under the terms of a five year agreement negotiated by Pataki with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, additional federal funding will be made available to supplement the state funds announced by the governor.

The funding announced is part of the state's Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY).