IBM and Nuance Communications have launched a research agreement to explore, develop and commercialize the Watson computing system's advanced analytics capabilities in the healthcare industry.

To accelerate adoption of EHRs and realize a timely return on investment in Canada, an e-health policy needs to be tightly aligned with the major strategic directions of healthcare reform, according to a recent study published Feb. 22 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

ORLANDO, Fla.--Sometimes it takes a health IT network overhaul to achieve EMR adoption and streamline storage, said Ken Kupetsky, CIO of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., during a Feb. 23 presentation at the 2011 Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) conference.

When researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., undertook phase one of a two-part National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIH/NIBIB) research project focused on cross-enterprise image sharing, they uncovered a nasty, universal truth. No one likes CDsthis includes physicians, patients and staff, says Yaorong Ge, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- In the last year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has gone from 38 employees to 138 due to the HITECH Act, said Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, director at the Office of Interoperability & Standards at the ONC before speaking to an audience on the agencys update to CONNECT and the Direct Project during the 2011 Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) conference.

ORLANDO, Fla.--Involving the IT team into enterprise-wide strategic planning can result in better alignment between operating and strategic planning, as well as better resource allocation and budgeting, according to an e-presentation by Mahammad L. Babur, MBA, an IT systems analyst at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., during the 2011 annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, Feb. 20 to 24.

ORLANDO, Fla.-- Theres a simple definition of security and privacy: As a patient or provider, you want no unexpected use of your data, said Eric Pupo, MBA, who serves as chief architect in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), during a Feb. 22 HIMSS11 educational session. 

ORLANDO, Fla.--Standards of interoperability are needed because whitepapers are not specifications, said Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, director at the Office of Interoperability & Standards at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Feb. 22 during the 2011 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference.