Patient matching, cited as a frequent and serious patient safety and privacy issue, was the focus of discussion today at a town hall meeting that was part of  the American Health Information Management Association's (AHIMA) 85(th) Annual Convention and Exhibit in Atlanta.

San Diego Regional Health Information Exchange (SDRHIE) has a new name and two new major participants. The federally funded HIE has evolved into an independent, community-supported organization, San Diego Health Connect, which today announced that Scripps Health and Sharp HealthCare have signed agreements to participate in directing the exchange.

The increasing use of patient portals has the potential to provide consumers with a faster and more convenient way to access their personal health information. Portals also present privacy and security challenges for the healthcare industry that health information management (HIM) professionals can help solve.

With more than 7,000 children’s health professionals in attendance at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition, Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) and HealthFusion, Inc. unveiled their new electronic health record system, P.E.D.S. EHR Office Edition. Dr. Jacques Orces, MCH’s chief medical information officer, and Dr. Sol Lizerbram, chairman and co-founder of HealthFusion, made the announcement at a private event last evening with a mix of reporters, physicians and healthcare executives in attendance.

ICUcare's newly released My eMHR is ONC-ATB and HIPAA certified and interfaces with other medical records based systems technologies (EHR/EMR/HIS), a term within the industry referred to as providing “interoperability.”

Abiomed Inc. (Nasdaq:ABMD), a leading provider of breakthrough heart support technologies, notes that there will be over 25 potential Impella presentations in the scientific sessions at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's (CRF) annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2013 scientific meeting, scheduled from October 27 -- November 1, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of custom high voltage power conversion products, introduces X-Ray sub-systems, featuring its industry leading XRV high voltage generators, available in unipolar and bipolar, 160 to 450kV, 1.8-6kW.

Affinity Health Plan (Affinity), an independent, not-for-profit organization offering quality healthcare coverage to New York area residents, has selected Dell Services and ikaSystems, a premier provider of enterprise, cloud-based business process and automation solutions for health plans, to connect to the New York State of Health – Health Plan Marketplace and assist in the administration of the new Exchange business line. The services and solution will automate and streamline Affinity’s administrative processes on the Health Plan Marketplace to enable the plan to successfully participate in the Exchange.