Health IT

Morning Read: Maine’s HIE takes a different approach with medical image archive

Current medical news from today including Maine pilots cloud-based medical image archive, medical device tax repeal passes house, and Eli Lilly shuns big deals.

Instead of including medical images in its health information exchange, Maine’s HIE has partnered with Dell to launch a separate, cloud-based medical image archive. It would give doctors across the state access to patients’ images without clogging up the HIE. Three healthcare organizations will pilot the program this summer, with the hope to expand the service statewide by next year. The state’s health exchange expects the program to save $6 million over seven years.

Well, the House of Representatives passed the bill that would repeal the medical device tax, but that might be as far as the good news goes on that front for the bill’s supporters. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, and a version of the bill may not even make it to a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

While small add-ons and partnerships are a possibility, Eli Lilly won’t be making any large deals in the near future, CEO John Lechleiter told the Wall Street Journal. Looks like he’s sticking to his confidence in the pharma’s pipeline — Lilly hasn’t made a deal worth over $1 billion since its 2008.

Get ready for fetal genetic testing to open up a whole new can of ethical worms. In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, University of Washington researchers explain how they noninvasively determined the whole-genome sequence of a human fetus.

Telemedicine can help ACOs be more efficient, cost-effective and focused on patient care. Here’s how, according to the founder and CEO of Consult a Doctor.

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