If you’re a skilled health IT worker looking for opportunities, perhapsyou should consider heading north. CNC Global, a recruitment firm basedin Toronto, claims it has had its second strongest quarter in its25-year history due primarily to competition for workers in Canada’s ITlabor market.

Progress towards a national healthcare network is slow in comingbecause more effort is needed to improve regional cooperation, as wellas information sharing, said John Loonsk, MD, director ofinteroperability and standards for the Office of the NationalCoordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), at last week’sIHE 2007 Connectathon in Chicago.

The annual IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) Connectathonthis week lived up to its mission of bringing together vendors toensure interoperability and connectivity. For sure, the 2007Connectathon which was substantially larger than previous events,demonstrated that IHE is gaining momentum in the industry.

Siemens Medical Solutions this week announced it is buying Gesellschaftfür Systemforschung und Dienstleistungen im Gesundheitswesen mbH (GSD),headquartered in Berlin.

The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other nation, but thisdoesn’t necessarily equate to the best care. The best solution to thisproblem is providing universal healthcare coverage, according to 33percent of respondents.

Healthvision, a health IT provider, announced a seventh applicationpartner with their e-Health Interoperability Exchange PartnershipProgram, with the addition of eClinicalWorks' Electronic Medical Record(EMR) solution.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has announced a program called the Ambulatory Safety and Quality Grant Initiative that will provide as much as $25.8 million via grants for health information technology (HIT) projects.

You don’t have to search too long or hard to find stories about failedspeech recognition implementations. However, the tide continues to turntoward the technology. Make a new year’s resolution to focus onadequate preparation, your expectations and the service you need, andthe technology can offer dramatically improved turnaround time, betterpatient care and more satisfied clinicians.