March 11, 2008 | Doctors at Nagoya University Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, are now using the Mobetron, IntraOp Medical’s mobile, self-shielding linear accelerator, to deliver intraoperative electron-beam radiation therapy (IOERT) to breast cancer patients. The Mobetron allows Nagoya University Hospital to employ the groundbreaking single-dose technique, a treatment that offers substantial physiological and psychological benefits to breast cancer patients. Nagoya University Hospital acquired the Mobetron in October, 2006. Nagoya University has had a long and distinguished history of using IOERT through patient transportation, particularly for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. They are the first hospital in Japan to provide IOERT in a standard operating room. Led by chairman and professor of surgery, Akimasa Nakao, Nagoya University Hospital doctors have not only continued to use the Mobetron to treat pancreatic cancer, but they are also pioneering the use of IOERT for their breast cancer patients.

Ergotron has introduced all new powered and non-powered point-of-care computing carts, StyleView 31 and StyleView 32. StyleView 31 and 32 carts bring forward today’s most essential functionality features in a lightweight, highly maneuverable form factor. Most importantly, StyleView 31 and 32 were designed to bring new levels of affordability to the budget-challenged health care market. Health care IT professionals understand the relationship between information technology applications and improved patient care, but struggle to find ways to fund complex, system-wide applications, such as Electronic Medical Record (EMR) initiatives. Point-of-care computing cart usage is predominantly driven by EMR deployments, which are expected to deeply penetrate more than 30% of US hospitals by 2010. The new StyleView carts will be available in the second quarter of 2008.

Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) and Microsoft Corp. announced the winners of the 11th annual MS-HUG Healthcare Innovation Awards 2008. For more than a decade, the honors have been awarded to health care organizations, software vendors, and system integrators that have demonstrated significant advancements, innovation and success using Microsoft technology in the health care industry, ultimately helping to improve health around the world.

Winner for Best Use of Clinical Records — Inpatient

Winner for Best Use of Clinical Records — Ambulatory

Winner for Best Use of Delivery Transformation

Winner for Best Use of Disease Surveillance

Winner for Best Use of Interoperability

Winner for Best Use of Outcomes Reporting

Dell unveiled its first fully ruggedized laptop, the Latitude XFR D630. The system is one of the only in its class to simplify IT with seamless integration into existing infrastructure and deliver extreme durability without compromising performance. The rugged laptop, intended for government and commercial customers, is available today in the U.S. and starts at $3,899. Visit www.dell.com/xfr for more details.

IBM debuted its newest island in Second Life: IBM Virtual Healthcare Island. The island is a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today’s health care industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global health care-delivery to meet patient needs. The island supports the strategic health care vision that IBM released in October 2006, entitled, Healthcare 2015: Win-Win or Lose-Lose, A Portrait and a Path to Successful Transformation. The paper paints a picture of a health care industry in crisis — of health systems in the United States and many other countries that will become unsustainable by the year 2015. To avoid “lose-lose” scenarios in which global health care systems “hit the wall” and require immediate and forced restructuring, IBM calls for what it defines as a “win-win” option: new levels of accountability, tough decisions, hard work and focus on the consumer.

Health-IT companies announce executive appointments. ReachMD, a communications company providing advanced health care information and education for medical professionals, announced that Andy Reid, former InfoMedics Vice President of U.S. Pharma Sales, joins the company as Vice President of Sales and Business Development.

PeerPoint Medical Education Institute recently announced that Janine A. Scotti, MBA has been promoted to Director of Educational Services. In her new position, she will be responsible for overseeing the company’s accreditation department, project management and will be instrumental in helping to forge the company’s new path into quality improvement.

Health Level Seven (HL7) has announced key initiatives for 2008 to guide the development and adoption of health care IT standards in the U.S. and worldwide. The 2008 initiatives are part of HL7’s roadmap, which will define the organization’s plans for the next 18 to 36 months and report to HL7’s stakeholder community including end-users, implementers, and other standards development organizations on its progress. HL7’s Roadmap will lead to more cost-effective solution development, more manageable implementation timelines and the development of educational programs worldwide. Key initiatives include driving the evolution of electronic health records systems; laying the groundwork for personal health records; supporting clinicians with advanced electronic health record functionality; continuing development of HL7 version 2 and v3 messaging standards; and expanding CDA implementations.

Merge Healthcare has announced that its Merge Teleradiology division has introduced Merge TeleRead, an application that greatly simplifies teleradiology workflow through automation. Merge TeleRead is a software package that integrates seamlessly with Merge's Fusion RIS/PACS and Fusion RIS/PACS MX solutions, and enables radiologists to place studies in a dedicated teleradiology worklist, from which they can be manually or automatically transmitted to an offshore reading center. Tight integration allows not just images to be sent, but also any prior reports, prior image studies, scanned documents and all relevant patient demographics — facilitating detailed interpretation by reading center radiologists.

Artromick has announced an exclusive referral agreement with McKesson Automation, a division of McKesson. Artromick, a leading developer of medication management and health care technology solutions for the long-term and acute care markets, is now McKesson’s vendor of choice for hospitals that need effective, easy-to-use, point-of-care mobile computing solutions to deliver its CarePoint Connect software. Hospitals can choose from among Artromick’s extensive line of mobile computing solutions, including its latest workstation, the new NX10 Mobile Computing Workstation. This point-of-care computing cart is a flexible, light-weight and cost-effective solution that helps hospitals achieve their patient safety goals.