hhn news from FierceHealthIT

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, like virtually all of its peers, was eager to create an interoperable infrastructure linking up all patient care information. The project was huge. UPMC is an integrated health system with 19 hospitals, almost 5,000 physicians and nearly 400 outpatient sites. These various sites were supported by a patchwork of EMRs and other clinical systems, which, though best of breed, didn't communicate with each other. At first, the health system build more …

If you're a health IT leader, you already know that your work has a critical impact on how your organization operates. But did you know that the design of your health IT program can also have an impact on how the financial industry sees your institution? According to one expert, a director of Healthcare Ratings at Standard & Poor's in New York, credit rating agencies, banks, bond insurers and other financial institutions take a look at the soundness of a healthcare organization's IT …

A group of southern states including Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi are in the process of building a broad regional health information network, in an effort sparked in part by the hurricanes which so decimated parts of the Gulf region in 2005. The kickoff will be funded by $4.1 million in grants, including $3.7 million to fund digital record sharing and $400,000 to support the task force's efforts. The funds are piggybacking on a proposal submitted by Louisiana before the …