Technology

Lighting darkens budgets

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The medical facility lighting systems market is expected to exceed $1.0 billion by 2010, according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Superior performance, ultra-modern lighting systems are being developed with advanced filter and reflection systems that provide excellent quality of light, which is free from thermal loading and eliminates falsified color illumination. They also help eliminate fatigue.

The United States, Europe, and Japan collectively account for an estimated 85% of global medical facility lighting systems market, as stated by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Surgical lighting has come to be regarded more as a visualization package than as mere lighting. In United States, the surgical lights market is estimated at $130.6 million for 2008. Within Europe, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK garner more than 65% share of the market. The general examination lights market in the region is projected to reach $21.6 million by 2010.

Emerging markets, including Asia-Pacific and Latin America, are projected to grow substantially in future years, with growth estimated at 5%-7% for the period 2000-2010. Dental Surgical Operating lights market in Asia-Pacific is estimated at $3.3 million for 2008. For more information, see www.strategyr.com/MCP-3340.asp

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Joint Commission proposes data framework

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. –The Joint Commission has proposed a framework for creating a data infrastructure to support performance measurement activities that improve the quality of American health care.  

The Commission’s public policy white paper, Development of a National Performance Measurement Data Strategy, focuses on creating a data infrastructure that addresses consumer expectations for data privacy, supports a data highway that allows for data sharing and linkages, and operates under an agreed-upon set of rules and governance structure. 

The white paper offers 22 principles for the development of a national performance measurement data strategy, and identifies the following three broad strategies to guide national performance measurement efforts:

• Create a framework for a national performance measurement system that meets the needs of all users and stakeholders. Gather performance data by standardizing measure definitions and data collection processes to produce comparable information. A national system for performance measurement data should be assured through sustainable funding from private and public-sector sources.
• Build a data highway to support the exchange of health information with interoperability to permit data exchange and aggregation. Information technology systems, such as electronic medical records, should support performance measurement activities and relieve registered nurses and other clinicians from the burden of manually paging through patient records to obtain needed data.
• Engage stakeholders and engender trust by addressing concerns over the privacy of personal health information. Rules and principles must effectively focus on data use, integrity, and reporting. It is important to educate patients on the options and risks inherent in data sharing and the value of performance measurement. 

The Joint Commission promotes effective use of performance measurement through its accreditation standards and requirements, public reporting of performance data for accredited hospitals on its Quality Check website, and participation in the Hospital Quality Alliance's Hospital Compare data reporting collaboration. Today, more than 90% of the data on Hospital Compare comes from the hospital data reported to The Joint Commission through accredited hospitals. A copy of the report is available at www.jointcommission.org

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Vendors implement interoperability standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thirty-six vendors in the healthcare information technology industry led efforts to implement the first set of interoperability standards identified by the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP).

Operating under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HITSP has been working since late 2005 to define the technical standards necessary to assure the interoperability of electronic health records in the United States. Priorities for the Panel’s work are established by the American Heath Information Community (AHIC).

The first set of recommended standards, known as Interoperability Specifications (IS), addresses the areas of Electronic Health Records (EHR) (e.g., the electronic delivery of lab results to providers of care), biosurveillance (e.g., data networks supporting the rapid alert to a disease outbreak), and consumer empowerment (e.g., giving patients the ability to manage and control access to their registration and medication histories).

Three additional sets of HITSP IS – Emergency Responder-Electronic Health Records; Consumer Access to Clinical Information; and Quality –– began implementation testing in January. A new IS on Medications Management is expected to be approved by the Panel shortly.

New work has also been launched to address interoperability needs in six additional areas: personalized health, transfer of care, remote monitoring, secure communications between patients and providers, public health case reporting, and immunizations and response.

HITSP is open to all stakeholder organizations with interest in the Panel’s work areas and in the interoperability of healthcare information technology. Members work together to define the necessary functional components and standards – as well as gaps in standards – which must be resolved to enable the interoperability of healthcare data. Public comments are considered as the Panel develops its recommendations. For more information, see www.ansi.org

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UL helps improve water quality

NORTHBROOK, Ill. – Underwriters Laboratories’s Water QualityCheck™ program that will better enable facilities managers of public or private facilities to identify and assess risks associated with drinking water quality.

UL is starting with healthcare facilities because water quality is of such importance in this arena. By partnering with UL, facilities managers can be more proactive in assessing water quality risks such as Legionella, as well as other potential contaminants. UL plans to extend the Water QualityCheck program in the future to other facilities such as hotels, resorts, offices, and manufacturing plants.

The Water QualityCheck program specifically monitors and tests for biological and chemical contaminants in a facility's water supply that may have been previously overlooked. Currently, the Safe Water Drinking Act does not regulate for contaminants in a municipal water supply as it comes through a service line to a building and into the tap. UL's Water QualityCheck program will help facility owners better manage this water quality gap, fulfilling an unmet need in this area.
Water quality issues in buildings can arise from:

• Extreme temperatures
• Little or no disinfectant residual
• Areas of stagnation
• Cross connections and potential backflow events

Current maintenance practices at health care facilities may not be sufficient to prevent waterborne infections and illness. Health care facility managers may only discover a problem with their facility's water after a public health problem occurs. By partnering with UL, health care facilities can proactively identify and assess risks associated with their water quality and thereby increase patient and employee confidence in their water quality. For more information, see www.ul.com/newsroom/newsrel/nr041108.html

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ISO helps secure Internet prescriptions

GENEVA, Switzerland – Paper-based healthcare prescriptions are more and more being replaced by e-prescriptions, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Digital certificate technology provides a means to address this challenge with the help of international standards such as ISO 17090:2008, Health informatics – Public Key Infrastructure, a three-part standard. It addresses these challenges through use of public key cryptography to protect information in transit and digital certificates to confirm the identity of the person or the device that sent the information.

Digital certificate technology uses authentication, encryption, and digital signatures to facilitate confidential access to personal health records as well as secure movement of these records.

The three-part standard can help users who are primarily interested in a specific aspect of digital certificate use in healthcare. Senior administrators will find an informative general overview in Part I. Technical implementation teams will find detailed technical information in Part 2. Business analysts and administrative implementation teams will find a detailed policy framework and administrative requirements to support implementation in Part 3. For more information, see www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1115

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Alert to MRI dangers

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. – The Joint Commission has issued a Sentinel Event Alert that urges hospitals and ambulatory care centers to pay special attention to preventing accidents and injuries that can occur during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

More than 10 million MRI scans are performed each year in the United States and while most cause no harm, the inherent dangers of the process are not well known. The most common types of injuries are burns, while some of the more devastating accidents are caused by common objects that become missiles when brought into the MRI scanner’s magnetic field. The Sentinel Event Alert brings the reality of risks associated with MRIs to the attention of the nation’s accredited health care organizations, and offers practical solutions to avoiding injuries or deaths.

MRI is a diagnostic procedure that uses powerful magnet and radio waves to produce detailed images of a patient’s organs and structures, without the use of X-rays or other radiation.

According to the Alert, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received nearly 400 reports of MRI-related accidents over the past decade. More than 70% of accidents were burns, while 10% of injuries occurred when metal objects such as ink pens, cleaning equipment, and oxygen canisters have become “missiles” when pulled into the magnetic field of the scanner.

To reduce the risk for MRI injuries to patients, The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Alert newsletter recommends that health care organizations take the following steps:

• Restrict access to all MRI sites by creating safe zones recommended by the American College of Radiology (ACR);
• Use trained screeners to perform double checks of patients for items such as metal objects, implanted or other devices, drug delivery patches, and tattoos;
• Ensure that the MRI technologist has the patient’s complete and accurate medical history to ensure that the patient can be safely scanned;
• Have a specially trained staff person accompany any patients, visitors, and staff into the MRI suite at all times;
• Annually educate all medical and ancillary staff who may accompany patients into the MRI suite about the risk of accidents;
• Take precautions to prevent patient burns during scanning;
• Only use fire extinguishers, oxygen tanks, and other equipment that have been tested and approved for use during MRI scans (e.g., equipment that will not be attracted to the magnet);
• Manage critically ill patients who require monitoring and life-sustaining drugs to assure that their care needs are continuously met while in the MRI suite;
• Provide all MRI patients with ear plugs to diminish the loud “knocking” noise emanating from the equipment; and
• Never run a cardio-pulmonary arrest code or resuscitate a patient in the MRI room.

For more information, see www.jointcommission.org

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Versus Technology to improve patient flow

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Versus Technology, Inc. will collaborate with Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urology and Kidney Institute to use Real-time Location Information System to enhance patient flow.

The collaboration will develop and document clinic best practices through increased efficiencies, automatic data capture, event automation, and systems integration. The efforts will include retooling basic processes and time-consuming, repetitive tasks to decrease or eliminate errors in data entry and delays.
For more information, see www.versustech.com

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MRI use on the rise

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment market is projected to reach $5.5 billion by 2010, according to Global Industry Analysts.

This increase is being driven by the introduction of high field systems and new techniques such as functional neuro imaging, Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), non-invasive colonoscopy, and breast MR.

The United States represents the largest market in both dollar and unit terms. The MRI equipment market in the United States is estimated at $1.9 billion for 2008, as stated by Global Industry Analysts. The Very High-Field MRI Systems market in the United States is projected to reach $968 million by the year 2010. Very High-Field Systems also represent the fastest growing segment, as hospitals and clinics upgrade old equipment with state-of-the-art systems.

Japan represents the second largest market for MRI equipment. The country holds the distinction of featuring the highest MRI scanners per million in the population. Closed MRI Systems market in Japan represents the largest product category, accounting for an estimated market share of 84% (in value terms) for 2008.
MRI industry is in its infancy in most regions of Asia-Pacific, and countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and China offer enormous potential for growth. Asia-Pacific is projected to register a CAGR of 11.6% over the period, 2005-2010. Open MRI systems market in Asia-Pacific is estimated at $81 million for 2008. For more information, see www.strategyr.com/MCP-3342.asp

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OSHA offers guidance

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Topic Page, www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/mrsa, offers recommendations for preventing the spread of MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcusaureus, in the workplace. The Topic Page provides practical information on good, basic health practices which workplaces can tailor for their individual needs.

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Guide directs Nurse Call Systems

ROSSLYN, Va.—The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published the reaffirmation of NEMA Installation Guide for Nurse Call Systems. These guidelines cover the proper physical installation of nurse call systems.

This publication, developed by the Health Care Communications Group of the Signaling, Protection, and Communications Section, provides technical information on basic nurse call systems and their installation.
According to Carl Cox, chairman of the Health Care Communications Group, the standard includes system types; basic theory of operation; use of ancillary devices; isolation of circuits; system environmental considerations; and installation, inspection, testing, maintenance, and service requirements.

The table of contents and scope of NEMA Installation Guide for Nurse Call Systems may be viewed at www.nema.org/stds/nursecallsyst.cfm

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Software aids in compliance

BOURNE, Mass. —Onset Computer Corporation, a supplier of battery-powered data loggers, has released HOBOware Pro data logger software, version 2.3, to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 21 CFR Part 11 regulations. These regulations relate to technical and procedural compliance for maintaining electronic records in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and other FDA-regulated industries.

The new HOBOware Pro 2.3 software helps ensure compliance by allowing quality assurance managers, shipping managers and others to detect when data files have been tampered with, and ensure that current data files match actual data originally recorded by HOBO data loggers.

HOBOware Pro 2.3 supports a broad range of HOBO data loggers, which can be used to measure and record temperature, relative humidity, and other environmental conditions in pharmaceutical production facilities, incubators, freezers, warehouses, and transport vehicles. It is available in both PC and Macintosh versions. For more information, see www.onsetcomp.com/information/pr/index.php5?view=&id=62

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