Kanteron Systems blog

Thomson Reuters reported that the profit margin of U.S. hospitals was 3.1 % in the 3rd quarter of 2009, up from 0.17 % in the 3rd quarter of 2008. The increase in profit margin applied to all classes of hospitals, including small, medium and large community hospitals, as well as teaching hospitals and major academic medical centers.Total hospital margins improved in the 1st quarter, with about 30 % of hospitals operating in the red–a big improvement over the 50 % reported in the 3rd quarter. Source.

Source. Radiologists’ workloads grew substantially in the past few years, with procedures increasing 7 % and physician work relative value units (RVUs) increasing 10 % from 2002-2003 to 2006-2007, according to research published in this month’s Radiology by Mythreyi Bhargavan, PhD, from the research department at the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the department of radiology and radiological science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues.In 2006-2007, the researchers reported that the average annual workload per FTE radiologist was 14,900 procedures, an increase of 7 % since 2002-2003 and 34 % since 1991-1992. Annual RVUs per FTE radiologist were 10,200, an increase of 10 % since 2002-2003 and 70.3 % since 1991-1992.Bhargavan and colleagues found that academic practices performed about 1/3 fewer procedures per FTE radiologist than others. In most types of practice, radiologists in a 75th-percentile practice performed at least 65 % more procedures annually than radiologists in a 25th-percentile practice. The researchers said that their regression analysis showed that practices that used external off-hours teleradiology services performed 27 % more procedures than otherwise similar practices that did not use these services. Workload varied substantially among similar practices.The authors noted that radiologists have been able to increase their workload by such large amounts while keeping their annual work hours relatively fixed through the use of new technology, “whether that technology is embodied in equipment and software–for example, in PACS and 3D reconstruction–or in organizational arrangements, such as the use of external off-hours teleradiology services.”Kanteron Systems is an experienced Healthcare IT company supplying a broad range of software solutions, from PACS and 3D reconstruction workstations, to teleradiology.

Source. A recently-published report by Harald A. Deutsch, MD, and Fran Turisco of the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), an IT and business services company headquartered in Falls Church, Va. on EHR and health information exchange (HIE) initiatives suggests that the United States should look at similar efforts in Europe as a guide for its development of large-scale e-health systems.The report paints a bleak historical picture of U.S. e-health initiatives. According to the authors, a review of 145 HIEs implemented in the U.S. found that only 32 of them are still active, while just 20 of those have achieved some level of success. Although the Obama Administration has taken steps toward revamping state and regional e-health efforts with the enactment of the Health IT for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the authors warned that the complexity involved in eventually implementing a national health information network (NHIN) means it could take many years to accomplish.Europe has been dealing with these issues for more than a decade, and many European countries have been able to implement large-scale e-health initiatives. The European path to e-health system implementation has been varied and can provide some valuable lessons for future U.S. efforts, the authors noted.Kanteron Systems is a European Healthcare IT company with experience implementing EHR and HIE solutions.