Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives will hire more than 200 specialists across the country as part of a $1.5 billion program to enhance clinical information technology across its network of 72 hospitals in 18 states, according to a CHI news release.

Allscripts and Eclipsys, two major providers of electronic health records and other healthcare IT, announced plans to merge and create a universal EHR, according to a release from both companies.

Harbor Hospital in Baltimore has launched an advertising campaign contacting BlackBerry, iPhone, and other smartphone users about its ED services, according to a release from Harbor Hospital.

Proposed eligibility criteria for federal healthcare IT funding for hospitals and physicians are so strict that hardly anyone can meet them, not even technologically advanced Kaiser Permanente or Intermountain Healthcare, according to a report in the New York Times.

McKesson has announced the Connect-Rx software Release 7.1, which provides improved functionality for the company's AcuDose-Rx medication dispensing cabinets and Anesthesia-Rx medication carts and includes increases in charge capture, expanded restocking capabilities for pharmacies, improved medication availability for nursing and…

Metropolitan Medical Services of North Carolina and Spacelabs Healthcare have announced a distributorship that will allow MMS to sell the Spacelabs' BleaseSirius anesthesia delivery system in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and to certain accounts near Asheville, N.C., according to…

ChartWise Medical Systems is offering a personal edition of its ChartWise CDI software free of charge to clinical documentation specialists, according to a ChartWise news release.

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced the awarding of $83.9 in grants to help health centers adopt electronic health records and other health information technology systems.

AdvancedMD Software has announced significant performance improvements to its AdvancedMD medical practice optimization software platform, including the addition of Akamai's Web Application Accelerator service to speed access to its web-based solution, according to an AdvancedMD news release.

Minnesota-based American Medical Systems has won a U.S. patent for covering the surgical methodology for implanting the AMS AdVance Male Sling, including broad patent coverage on transobturator surgical procedures to treat male incontinence, according to an AMS news release.