Industry Watch – June 2015

The record was achieved using a new advanced prototype tape developed by FUJIFILM of Japan. This is the fourth time in less than 10 years that IBM scientists in collaboration with FUJIFILM have achieved a new feat in data storage capacity. IBM says that the new density record makes the format an ideal technology for migrating back-up and archival data in the cloud for decades to come.Scientists at IBM have managed to store 123 billion bits of uncompressed data per square inch in areal data density (220 terabytes on a full tape cartridge) on low-cost linear magnetic particulate tape. The effort represents an 88-fold improvement over an LTO6 cartridge, the latest industry-standard magnetic tape product, and a 22-fold improvement over IBM’s latest enterprise-class tape product.

EHRs

One in five hospitals stuck with less-than-par EHR

Nearly one in five hospital IT managers (19 percent), including CIOs, feel that the EHR system they selected and currently operate is not the best system for their organization, according to Black Book Market Research’s annual comprehensive hospital EHR user poll. Five thousand hospital EHR technology staff and 14,000 nursing users were surveyed by Black Book in several polls conducted from August 2014 to February 2015.

“Hospitals and their network affiliates find themselves trapped with an EHR system that does not and/or will not meet their foreseeable needs,” says Doug Brown, Managing Partner of Black Book.

According to the surveys, the top three reasons hospital tech managers feel stuck include their vendor overselling system capabilities or mismatching functionalities to the hospital situation (65 percent of those “stuck”), the EHR vendor cannot or will not flex to meet the hospital’s interoperability goals (81 percent), and the vendor is considerably more draining to the hospital bottom line than anticipated with unexpected cost overruns and add-ons (90 percent).

Black Book Market Research conducted its annual sweeping hospital EHR user poll to determine the highest-ranked inpatient electronic health and medical record vendors for 2015. The final sample represented 702 hospitals total. Learn more about the survey results atblackbookmarketresearch.com.

FUTURE WATCH: RADIOLOGY

Melding high-end imaging techniques is a first

Using mathematics and pixel mapping, researchers at Vanderbilt University have fused mass spectrometry and microscopy images – a marked technical achievement that has created a “molecular microscope” that could improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer dramatically.

Microscopy can yield high-resolution images of tissues. Mass spectrometry provides a precise accounting of the proteins, lipids, and other molecules in a given tissue sample. Combining the best features of both modalities allows scientists to see the molecular makeup of tissues in high resolution.

Richard Caprioli, Ph.D., senior author of a paper about the technique published in March in the journal Nature Methods, said the capability could one day redefine the surgical “margin,” the critical line between cancer cells and normal cells where the scalpel goes to remove the tumor.

Source: Vanderbilt University

SERVICES

Optum expands hospital IT services, partners with Cisco for Internet of Things

If you are looking to upgrade your hardware and software infrastructure, Optum wants to talk to you. The healthcare technology specialist is also offering several new ways to make information more accessible to key decision-makers and facilitate easier, more effective analysis. Patient communications are also on their radar.

The company recently introduced:

1. Optum Analytics Data Warehouse Services, which integrate a hospital’s clinical, financial and supply chain data and drive analytics that support data-driven decisions about care delivery and spending. This offering also helps hospitals identify trends affecting patient care, cost, and quality.
2. Optum IT Infrastructure Services, which are scalable resources for system management that aim to centralize and standardize operations processes, and improve service levels across the entire organization.
3. Optum Smart Connection Solutions, which use Cisco technologies to help hospitals strengthen their relationships with patients before, during, and after their care with simple, unified applications and services accessible via personal mobile devices and technologies within healthcare facilities.

“Optum will be Cisco’s partner in bringing Internet of Everything concepts to the health system,” says Randy Pond, Senior Vice President of Operations, Cisco.
Source: Optum

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE

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