Nuance Communications has extended its previously announced offer to purchase all of the outstanding common shares of Zi Corporation approximately $20 million to Jan. 16, unless withdrawn or further extended by Nuance.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has published for public review updated drafts of its certification criteria and the first draft of its test scripts for the 2009 certification year.

The coming year promises to be challenging for healthcare IT. On the positive side, the U.S. government appears to firmly back IT deployment as a means to deliver efficient and effective patient care. On the negative side of the ledger, much work remains before this vision can become reality.

The growing computerization, exchange and analysis of patient data offer the potential to improve the quality of care and reduce costs and medical errors, but those benefits will not be fully realized until privacy concerns are effectively addressed, according to a keynote address by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt on Monday.

Approximately 40 percent of U.S. office-based physicians use full or partial EMRs and many report systems they use are minimally functional, according to results of a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Services (NCHS), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

NEC Display Solutions of America launched the 20-inch, 5 megapixel (MP) MultiSync MD205MG flat-panel monitor at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, Nov. 30 through Dec. 4.

Medrad demonstrated its P3T Cardiac CT Injection Software, shared results of a recent study of personalized patient injection protocols and showed potential advances of its P3T products at the 94th Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago.

Wide highlighted its line of medical imaging displays, including advanced surgical color displays: 2, 3 and 5 megapixel (MP) PACS displays and a 10 MP work-in-progress display at the 94th RSNA annual meeting in Chicago.