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A founding fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, Dr. Stead received the organization’s most prestigious honor last year when he was presented with the Morris F. Collen Award for lifetime achievement. |
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Physician Spotlight: William W. Stead, MD
William Wallace Stead, MD, spent most of his life on the Duke University campus … actually he spent his whole life there until moving to Nashville in 1991 to accept a position overseeing biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt.
CINDY SANDERS |
A Letter from the Publisher
For Nashville Medical News, continually enhancing our online offerings and functionality is key to maintaining the type of two-way relationship we want to have with our readers. Whether it’s nominating a deserving professional for one of our spotlight features or posting opinions on hot topics, we’re excited readers are using the “My Medical News” button to share ideas.
Pam Mark Hall, Publisher |
Dr. Paul Sternberg, Jr., professor and chairman of Vanderbilt’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, with a patient. |
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Local Researchers, Clinicians Make Inroads Understanding AMD
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe vision loss in Americans 60 years and older. Although the macula makes up only about 5 percent of the retina, it is the portion responsible for central vision including face recognition, reading, watching television and driving.
CINDY SANDERS |
Viruses, Worms and Horses … Oh My!
Storm worm, Prg, Pinch and Rbot. You may not know what these are, but they can bring a thriving medical practice to a screeching halt. They’re some of the most popular types of malware — malicious software-like viruses designed to infiltrate, damage or disrupt a computer system or network. Just like in medicine, some of these viruses can be deadly to their hosts.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
David Condra (right) accepting the Innovator of the Year award in San Jose from VON Magazine for the DCM (Dalcon Communications Manager) product. |
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Dalcon Rolls Out Healthcare Communications Solution
At the end of this month, Dalcon Communication Systems, Inc., will formally roll out a healthcare communications package designed to meet the needs of the industry to manage large call volumes in an efficient and affordable manner.
CINDY SANDERS |
Dr. Paul Sternberg Jr., director of the new Vanderbilt Eye Institute, and his wife, Gloria. |
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New VEI Integrates Ophthalmology Clinics
At the end of March, officials cut the ribbon on the new Vanderbilt Eye Institute, an $11 million patient care and research facility. In doing so, the rapidly growing program integrated its adult and pediatric clinics, greatly expanded clinical space, updated technology and improved the aesthetics of patient areas.
CINDY SANDERS |
U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee visited the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital to hold a Health Care Rountable. (L to R): Dr. Martin Sandler, Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nick Zeppos and Senator Bob Corker. |
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Senator Corker Initiates Statewide Healthcare Roundtable Discussions
Bob Corker, Tennessee’s freshman U.S. senator, knows something about the issues of the healthcare system and insurance coverage from his experiences as a businessman, mayor of Chattanooga and commissioner of finance and administration for Tennessee. But he wants to know more.
KELLY PRICE |
iForma patient-specific knee implant |
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Premier Orthopedics Offers Custom Alternative to Knee Replacement for Younger Patients
Let’s say you’re a patient in your early forties, suffering from moderate osteoarthritis of the knee. You need relief, but a total knee replacement would be the surgical equivalent of killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
Hendersonville orthopedic surgeon Gregg A. Motz, MD, is the first in Tennessee to offer a less-invasive alternative called the iForma knee interpositional device.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Dr. Bruce Taffel, Shared Health Chief Medical Officer |
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Shared Health Chalks Up Successes after First Three Years
Three years ago this month, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announced a health information technology initiative with the state of Tennessee that was, in many ways, unlike any other in the country.
Called Shared Health, the idea was to create a health record for patients across multiple providers, thus reducing medical errors, avoiding duplicate services and even detecting fraud and abuse.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Administrator’s Corner: Patricia A. Brown
Patsy Brown, administrator for the 16-physician Internal Medicine practice of Summit Medical Associates (SMA), is widely recognized as an industry leader. In addition to overseeing operations of the large practice, she is also responsible for the management duties of Summit Medical Center’s hospitalist program, which SMA staffs.
CINDY SANDERS |
Christopher Parks (left) and Robert Hendricks, co-founders of change:healthcare. |
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Healthcare Enterprise: change:healthcare
With consumers making more of their own healthcare decisions and footing more of the bill, information transparency is critical. That simple premise was the catalyst for change:healthcare, a Williamson County company founded “to help consumers follow their healthcare dollar,” said Robert Hendrick, one of change:healthcare’s co-founders.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Prescriptions and Shared Health
Ask any physician to name one of the major pains of daily office management, and he or she will tell you it’s patients calling in for prescription refills. Since its inception, Shared Health has helped participating physicians with that problem.
Bruce Taffel, MD, Shared Health’s chief medical officer, estimated that more than 10,000 electronic prescriptions have been issued by physicians through Shared Health’s network just since the beginning of 2008.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Connect-the-Dots
State’s eHealth Network Will Connect All 95 Counties
By Executive Order 35 on April 6, 2006, Governor Phil Bredesen created the eHealth Advisory Council to oversee the state’s efforts to allow providers to securely share information in an attempt to reduce medical errors, quickly transfer important medical data in an emergency situation, extend the reach of healthcare to rural areas through telemedicine, limit duplicative diagnostics by providing all partners with access to results from previous tests, improve communication, set up a safe way to ePrescribe, and ultimately, to improve access to quality healthcare.
CINDY SANDERS |
Integrated Technology Driving the Business of Healthcare to Allow More Patient Focus
Hospitals, physician practices and other ancillary providers are continually challenged to find a balance between quality of care and long-term financial viability. Neither can be accomplished without the other, and mounting economic pressures like the increasing number of uninsured patients and decreasing reimbursements from CMS are making it more difficult than ever to collect payment for services.
JEFF DRAKE, PASSPORT HEALTH |
Closing the Science-to-Service Gap with Technology
Technology is revolutionizing nearly every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate with our families and friends to how we deliver healthcare.
Technological breakthroughs in medicine have significantly enhanced our capacity to combat disease and improve quality of life in ways that were not imagined even 25 years ago. In addition, research has accelerated at a dizzying pace, increasing our understanding of the body and promoting the development of new drugs and other therapies to prevent and cure illness.
TOM DOUB |
NAHIT Defines Six Most Important HIT Terms
Do you know the difference between an electronic health record and an electronic medical record? Well, apparently neither do a lot of other people. That’s what prompted the National Alliance for Health Information Technology to spearhead a project resulting in six definitions that the alliance hopes will become industry standards and eventually eliminate some ambiguity and confusion.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Best Practices: Head and Neck Cancers
A 29-year-old patient presents with complaints of sore throat especially with swallowing. Examination reveals only some moderately enlarged lymph nodes. Strep throat? Mononucleosis? Allergy? Viral upper respiratory infection?
Head and neck cancer probably isn’t at the top of your list. Perhaps it should be.
Dr. Wendell Yarbrough |
Combating Blindness
Two recent discoveries from the University of Utah School of Medicine and the affiliated John A. Moran Eye Center, in collaboration with researchers from other locations, are providing new hope to those suffering from age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
CINDY SANDERS |
HIT Reforms Healthcare
The business of healthcare at the physician/patient level is 10 to 20 years behind in technology. All patient records are recorded on paper. Comparing lab results and the diagnosis of your physician is a manual operation that takes several days to process. The insurance company charging premiums gets a claim that has been handled by not less than four pairs of hands who each stake a claim to the financial outcome of your office visit. Combine all this inefficiency, and it’s no wonder physicians collect 63 cents on the dollar and are satisfied. This is unacceptable to every other business in the United States. Why do we accept it in healthcare?
MARK TUMBLIN |
NHCC Looks at Strategic Issues
Despite the downturn in the economy, private equity and venture capital funding in the healthcare market remain healthy, especially for information technology and consumer-directed companies focused on prevention, quality improvement and reduced costs, according to members of a Nashville Health Care Council (NHCC) panel moderated by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD.
KELLY PRICE |
Vital Signs
Disease manager Healthways continues to pop up in the headlines as more and more plaintiff firms add to the class-action dog pile that has been building over the last month.
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