In the era of health IT and meaningful use, many providers are looking for a one-stop shop to house all their cardiovascular reporting needs. However, in terms of the cardiovascular information system (CVIS), most users reported that their system was only 65 percent complete, and most are still looking for an all-in-one solution to meet their needs, according to an October KLAS report titled, Will the Complete CVIS Please Stand Up?

Two million neurons die per every minute that a stroke goes untreated, making rapid diagnosis and treatment crucial for the best outcomes. However, 45 percent of Americans live more than 60 minutes away from a primary stroke center. Enter telemedicine: telestroke networks have sprung up across the U.S., and are rapidly expanding, delivering revenue gains and improving patient outcomes.

The surge in imaging study volume and pursuit of quality has yielded both tremendous benefits and contentious repercussions for patients, providers and payors. But behind the scenes, IT leadership is working on a cardinal issuewhere to store the ballooning number of studies and allow quick recall when needed.

Data are growing in size and scope. Radiology departments and imaging centers face unprecedented bandwidth challenges that stem from the need to store exponentially growing datasets. With bandwidth costs increasing and servers consuming valuable square footage, radiology is on the lookout for a new solution. Cloud storage may fit the bill.

Cloud computing technology—a market that Merrill Lynch values at $95 billion over the next five years—has recently begun to move  into healthcare. However, questions remain about how facilities and departments, including radiology, will fully take advantage of these zero footprint solutions.

Wednesday, March 3, 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM Creating a common problem list from diverse EMRs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center raised challenges despite common terminology. The presenters will describe their solution to these challenges, which impact semantic interoperability.

In the current era of healthcare reform, spawned by the funding made available in the HITECH Act of February's stimulus package, there has been much discussion about producing transparent and quantifiable data on the performance of various departments.

A team of nanomaterial scientists, medical physicists and cancer biologists at the University of North Carolina has developed smaller, lower-cost x-ray tubes packed with sharp-tipped carbon nanotubes for cancer research and treatment. The technology was presented this week at the 2009 meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), in Anaheim, Calif.