Vishal Mehta, MD, a Chicago-area orthopedic surgeon, has developed and launched a new web-based tool designed to alert patients of physician office wait times, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A study of 326 short-term, acute-care California hospitals found that use of an electronic medical records system increased costs per discharge for medical-surgical cases by 6-10 percent, according to a report from American Medical News.

As Dallas-area hospitals and health systems complete installation of electronic medical record systems, there is a risk that patient data in EMRs could get into the wrong hands, according to a report by the Dallas Morning News.

Andrew VanZee has been appointed as Indiana's first coordinator for overseeing statewide efforts to convert state hospital and clinics from paper medical records to electronic ones, according to an Associated Press report in the Indianapolis Star.

Researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria found that single-use paraffin earplugs were successful in reducing intraoperative awareness recall in patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery, according to an article in Minerva Anesthesiologica.

Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 first outlined the incentives providers would be able to receive for "meaningful use" of certified electronic health record technology, hospitals, physicians and other healthcare organizations have been gearing up and trying…

To guide its work in healthcare information technology, the National Quality Forum announced it has formed a new Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC), according to a news release.

Issaquah, Wash.-based Spacelabs Healthcare has announced the release of its Ultraview DM3 dual-mode vital signs monitor, which recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a Spacelabs news release.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has launched an application for mobile devices that allows anesthesiologists and other clinicians to monitor patients, check vital signs, communicate with other providers and peer into operating rooms during surgeries all from the convenience of their…

North Shore-LIJ Health System, a 14-hospital system in New York, has launched an online tool to help patients determine the cost of medical services in advance and find out whether they are eligible for financial assistance, according to a system…