JCR's Call for Proposals
The Joint Commission Resources (JCR) (Oak Brook, Ill.) is now accepting proposals for presentations for the 2008 Annual Infection Control Conference.
This marks the first time that JCR, a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission, has issued a call for presentations for its annual infection control conference, says the company.
According to JCR, presentations at the September 2008 conference will focus on practitioner-based “best practices” to prevent health care-associated infections that result in an estimated 90,000 deaths annually, and add $4.5 to $5.7 billion per year to patient care costs.
Report Says Telehealth on the Rise
A report, by independent market analyst Datamonitor (New York), predicts the homecare telehealth market will grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56 percent compared to 9.9 percent in the clinical market, and that the overall global telehealth market will exceed US$8 billion by 2012.
Telehealth is the use of a digital network to provide automated monitoring and treatment delivery to a patient who is in a different physical location than the medical expert providing treatment.
Key findings of the report, entitled “Telehealth's Increasing Role in Healthcare,” include:
The road to widespread telehealth adoption has a number of speed bumps
The telehealth market is increasing rapidly despite its current limited focus
Telehealth solutions must meet the needs of a diverse set of end users
Survey Outlines EMRs' Impact on Malpractice
The current status of EMRs and their impact on malpractice risk has been outlined in a recent joint survey conducted by Medical Records Institute Inc. (Boston, Mass.) and Professional Risk Associates Inc. (Midlothian, Va.).
According to both companies, key findings of the survey include:
Of the 62 percent of respondents with EMR systems, over two-thirds have stand-alone systems.
Nearly two-thirds of physicians indicated their providers use an EMR system.
Approximately a quarter of those who have EMR systems complained the system does not have the functions they need, and a similar percentage stated they did not receive adequate training.
Nearly 20 percent of respondents stated their malpractice insurer offers a discount for having an EMR System, and 45 percent believe EMRs will make them less vulnerable to malpractice cases.
Amongst the one-fifth of respondents that have had a malpractice case in which documentation was based on the EMR, 55 percent said the EMR was helpful.
Sidebar
To see more news like this, check out our daily news updates on http://www.healthcare-informatics.com.
