Cardiovascular Business News asked Sean Benson, co-founder and vice president of consulting with ProVation Medical, of Wolters Kluwer Health, to discuss the specific EHR needs of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that specialize in cardiology.

The Public Citizens Health Research Group has released a report calculating the rate of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 doctors in each state, finding that the rate of serious actions per 1,000 physicians in 2009 was slightly higher than the rate in 2008, though it continues to be significantly lower than the peak for the past ten years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has revoked its May 2008 lipid modification guidelines (CG67) that promoted the use of the Framingham Risk Score as a tool to assess cardiovascular risks.

In a simulated model, researchers found that five screening strategies for type 2 diabetes proved cost effective, but the strategy that proved most clinically beneficial and cost effective was screening that began at age 45 and was repeated every five years, according to a study published online March 30 in the Lancet.

Creating hospital-specific outcome measures can often be challenging and comparing between hospital rates during this process is difficult and often wrongheaded, particularly when assessing 30-day mortality, said Sharon-Lise T. Normand, PhD, of the Harvard Medical School in Boston at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific sessions in Atlanta on March 15.

First introduced at ACC09, Amicas announced that 90 of its web-based structured reporting modules, Amicas Vericis clinical knowledge bases have been sold in the U.S. at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual conference in Atlanta.

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems highlighted its financing options that can help customers defray some of the upfront costs associated with implementing an EHR, at ACC.10 in March in Atlanta.

The materials management department, like other parts of the healthcare system, is feeling the pinch to become leaner and more efficient. The process to drive down costs and streamline communication includes consolidating materials management information systems, automating the requisition process and holding regular meetings with strategic personnel to ensure that everyone is happy with the inventory on hand and that compliance for contracted items is high.