Business associates, those who handle private patient information for
healthcare organizations are largely unprepared to meet the new data breach related obligations
included in the HITECH Act.

Press Ganey Associates, Inc. released the 2009 Hospital Pulse
Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care. The report
examines patient satisfaction across the country; trends in overall
patient perceptions; and more

First DataBank, a leading provider of integrated drug databases for the
healthcare industry, announced on October 6, 2009, that it would join
PharmaSURVEYOR and a growing list of “Health 2.0 companies” as
participants in the Health 2.0 Accelerator, a consortium focused on
promoting integration of technology and the consumer experience to
advance consumer-centric health care.

Screaming matches in front of bewildered patients. Angry surgeons
hurling instruments across the operating room. Treachery and
backstabbing as physicians and nurses try to undermine one another.

 The Journal of Participatory Medicine was launched October 22 at the
Connected Health symposium in Boston. It is a free, online,
peer-reviewed journal dedicated to documenting how healthcare
encourages, supports, and expects active involvement by all parties,
and leads to improved outcomes.

The University of Akron’s College of Nursing has
been awarded a $1.063 million 3-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation for a pilot program that aims to improve the oral health of
low-income pregnant women, mothers, and children in Summit and Portage
counties.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has awarded the
Health Research & Educational Trust nearly $7 million to
support projects aimed at preventing healthcare-associated infections, such as central line-associated bloodstream infections
and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

Quantros, Inc., an industry leader in healthcare data management,
decision support analytics and prospective point of care data
surveillance solutions, today announced the acquisition of MediQual
from CareFusion Corporation.

AeroScout, the leading provider of Unified Asset Visibility for the healthcare industry, working with Dräger, announced that St. Trudo Hospital in Belgium is extending the use of its AeroScout Healthcare Visibility solution to include tracking the location of patients and Wi-Fi devices.

Planetree, a non-profit organization facilitating efforts to create
patient-centered care in healing environments, has entered into a new
strategic business alliance with the Case Management Society of America, the nation’s largest multi-disciplinary professional
association for case management.