Health IT

Few hospital EHRs reach meaningful use (Morning Read)

The share of U.S. hospitals that adopted electronic health records rose modestly between 2008 and 2009, but only 2 percent of the hospitals had records that would meet the federal government's "meaningful use" criteria.

Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:

Meaningful use, anyone? The share of U.S. hospitals that adopted electronic health records rose modestly between 2008 and 2009, but only 2 percent of the hospitals had records that would meet the federal government’s “meaningful use” criteria, according to a study published in the Health Affairs blog. Of course, that was before the Obama administration set aside $20 billion to incent hospitals and doctors to adopt the records.

Synthetic cornea experiment. An experimental synthetic cornea implanted in 10 patients may be a potential alternative to cadaver corneas for curing vision loss from corneal inflammation and scarring, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Simple ventilator could save more newborns. Tom Hansen, CEO of Seattle Children’s Hospital, and his team have invented a prototype ventilator for newborn babies that uses technology so simple, it could sell for a fraction of the cost of existing machines, be easier to use and save thousands of newborns around the world from premature death, according to Xconomy.

Public, private, public again. Nashville, Tennessee, hospital chain HCA went private in 2006 for $33 billion and hopes to go public again this fall. Unlike other huge LBOs initiated in the prebust era, this one is likely to yield a handsome payout for investors, Forbes reports.

IPO market for genomics? Talk about IPOs, after years of being non-existent, recent activity suggests that the market may be opening up to genomics, according to GenomeWeb News (registration required).

Making liver cells from skin. Scientists at Cambridge University have used stem cell technology to convert skin from patients with metabolic diseases into liver cells, Financial Times is reporting.

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