DailyMed provides high quality information about marketed drugs
This Web site provides health information providers and the public with a standard, comprehensive, up-to-date, look-up and download resource of medication content and labeling as found in FDA-approved medication package inserts. At the present time this Web site does not contain a complete listing of labels for approved prescription drugs. Currently this Web site contains 521 approved prescription drugs.

Randomized controlled trial of an informatics-based intervention to increase statin prescription for secondary prevention of coronary disease
Physicians received a single e-mail per intervention patient. E-mails were visit independent, provided decision support, and facilitated "one-click" order writing. A greater proportion of intervention patients had prescription changes at 1 month (15.3% vs 2%, P=.001) and 1 year (24.6% vs 17.1%, P=.14). The median interval to first medication adjustment occurred earlier among intervention patients (0 vs 7.1 months, P=.005). Among patients with baseline LDLs >130 mg/dL, the first postintervention LDLs were substantially lower in the intervention group (119.0 vs 138.0 mg/dL, P=.04). Physician processing time was under 60 seconds per e-mail. (Source: J Gen Intern Med. 2006 Jan;21(1):22-9)

OHSU releases its own hospital “report cards” information
Oregon Health & Science University supports easy access for healthcare consumers to current hospital information. Our commitment is to accurately report about the safety, quality and level of patient satisfaction related to the care we provide in our hospitals and clinics. This Web site provides access to online resources and explanations about the data that is provided.

Multiple doctors cut off from records by Dr. Notes
Some doctors who use Dr. Notes' electronic medical records software say they have been denied access to the program and their patients' medical records because they refused to pay increased technical support fees. Dr. Notes was originally charging $1,200 a year but the company increased it to $5,000 a year. When doctors refused to pay, the company didn't give them an updated password needed to access the program and view records. (Ed. Something I warned could happen back in the September 2000 issue of TIR!)

Navigating the New Safe Harbors for E-Health Records and E-Prescribing
CMS and the HHS Office of Inspector General announced final rules today defining the circumstance under which healthcare providers may accept free information technology in support of electronic health records and electronic prescribing. The new rules, which will be published in Federal Register in the next few days, provide "safe harbors" from prosecution under current prohibitions governing physician self-referrals and kickbacks from others in the health industry. The regulations may be good news for the industry, but they are complicated because the federal government is extremely concerned about the possibility of abuse. To explain what to expect from the new safe harbors and how to take full advantage of the new rules, tune-in to a 90-minute audio seminar on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006 presented by John R. Christiansen, Esq., a principal in Christiansen IT Law, and TIR Editorial advisory board member!

CalRHIO taps former astronaut as CEO
Donald Holmquest, M.D., a Texas native and former astronaut in the Apollo and Skylab programs, took the helm of the California Regional Health Information Organization Aug 1, 2006. (Ed. And they said Informatics was not "Rocket Science".)

Her life was an open file
In what has been called a "truly regrettable situation," a patient admitted to the Ottawa Hospital, who made a request to prohibit her estranged husband and his new girlfriend, a nurse there, from having any information about it, had the exact opposite occur. She used her maiden name to register and repeated her concern to admitting staff as well as to her physician and nursing staff both at the hospital and the Heart Institute. The complainant questioned the adequacy of the VIP flag as a means of preventing unauthorized access. "Obviously a better solution is now urgently required."