Here are eight recent health information technology vendor contracts and go-lives affecting healthcare organizations.

Including unique device identifiers on insurance claims may help determine whether certain types of implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers or joint implants, are working properly, according to Pew Research.

While technology has made significant advancements in healthcare, from EHRs to health sensory wearables, computers still have ample room for growth in helping improve the patient and clinician experience, according to Vanderbilt University Medical Center physician Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs' transition to a Cerner EHR system will allow the agency to move forward from cybersecurity issues it previously dealt with legacy IT systems, according to VA Chief Information Security Officer Paul Cunningham, Federal News Network reports.

Despite the billions invested in healthcare technology each year, actual tech adoption in hospitals and health systems has been disappointingly low: American healthcare professionals implement artificial intelligence and telehealth solutions, for example, at significantly lower rates than the global average, per a recent survey.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has updated and expanded its open-data Public Health Community Map to better illustrate fluctuations in the quality and accessibility of healthcare across the state.

Microsoft’s net income spiked 49 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019 to $13.2 billion, according to the company’s financial statement released July 18. 

Here’s a roundup of blockchain deals and launches in the past four weeks. 

Blockchain has the potential to reduce the cost and months-long process for clinical credentialing, according to a 2019 JPMorgan report on healthcare challenges and opportunities.   

Emanate Health, a nonprofit health system that serves 1 million residents in the San Gabriel Valley of California, has embraced robotic surgical technology to improve patient care. The health system also uses its robotic center as a recruitment tool.

Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System is outsourcing some of its IT jobs at health centers across the state through a partnership with Ciox, according to local news station WAOW. 

Cambridge, Mass.-based Mount Auburn Hospital lost power July 5 for nearly seven hours after both electric cables serving the hospital failed, according to Cambridge Day. 

Advancements in health sensory technology will pave the way for remote patient monitoring and telehealth to dominate the future of healthcare, according to former Apple CEO John Sculley, who shared his viewpoint in Fortune.

DEARhealth, a University of California Los Angeles spinout developing an artificial intelligence-powered care management platform, raised $6.8 million in a Series A funding round led by Philips' venture arm.

International Falls, Minn.-based Rainy Lake Medical Center partnered with Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota to gain access to the health system's Epic EHR, according to International Falls Journal.

Being a chief innovation officer at a critical access hospital comes with its challenges. However, Jake Dorst has faced those challenges head on to come up with innovative solutions at his hospital.

Enola, Pa.-based Post Acute Medical and Meridian Hospital Systems Corp., a healthcare software company, have filed lawsuits against one another for alleged theft, Pennsylvania Record reports.

St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, Pa., plans to launch a $382,000 mobile medical simulation center next month, WFMZ-TV reports.

Venture funding in healthcare technology companies in the first six months of 2019 was higher than in the first half of any other year, for a total of $5.1 billion.

Though American healthcare providers have embraced the use of EHRs at record-high rates, they lag behind the rest of the world in adopting other digital health technologies such as telehealth and artificial intelligence.