healthcare services news from FierceHealthIT

Medical IT giant Cerner has launched a new card which will make health savings account (HSA) money immediately accessible at the point of care. Known as a "Healthe," the card will not only serve as a health plan ID, but will also allow consumers to debit HSAs. Healthe cards will also offer consumers the option of linking the card to a line of credit. Cerner is launching the Healthe card in partnership with Greenwood Village, CO-based First Data Healthcare Services and Kansas City-based …

If you're an emerging health IT vendor, you'll like this news. During 2006, angel investors got really excited about health IT, plowing a good chunk of the $25.6 billion they spent into medical device and healthcare services startups, according to a new report released by the Center for Venture Research. In fact, medical device and healthcare services startups captured 21 percent of total investments last year, the group reported. What types of investments are the hottest? …

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just unveiled a test program that will subsidize statewide and regional broadband networks for the delivery of healthcare services--with an emphasis on telemedicine--in rural parts of the country. The two-year program, which could eclipse $60 million a year, is an outgrowth of the FCC's rural health care funding program, which is financed by the Universal Service Fee that long-distance telephone companies pay to help defray residential basic …