Health IT roundup: Provider-vendor relationships an issue, group uses racial info to customize care

Health News Florida/Kaiser Health News: "A group of Broward County doctors looking to switch to electronic medical records say the result has been a massive headache: surprise charges, inadequate training and even blocked access to patient files." Meanwhile, a local health IT vendor says doctors have been late in paying for his services, even though their orders have been filled. The local row highlights a broader problem of "mismatched expectations" between vendors and doctors that could stall government efforts to promote health IT (Mack, 1/22).

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Republican Sen. Charles Grassley's, Iowa, letter requesting IT vendor contracts from hospitals earlier this week includes several Cleveland facilities and Kaiser Permanente. The request is for information about "gag orders" that would block hospitals from reporting medical errors caused by IT malfunctions. But, University Hospitals "said it was not aware as to why it received Grassley's letter. It does not have a 'gag order' or non-disclosure clauses with [IT vendor] Eclipsys and UH is not aware of any specific case of patient harm arising from electronic medical systems" (Tribble, 1/21).

Minnesota Star Tribune: HealthPartners Medical Group has become one of the first health providers "to use racial information about patients to customize their medical care." The group's electronic medical records will automatically generate messages advising black patients to receive colonoscopies at age 45, instead of age 50, the previous standard, the organization announced Thursday. The decision is based on the finding that blacks have a higher mortality rate from colon cancer than whites (Lerner, 1/21).

Omaha World-Herald: "Alegent Health and CoSentry cut the ribbon Thursday on their new $26 million data storage facility at Midlands Hospital in Papillion. … The facility will store Alegent's electronic medical records and also data and equipment that other companies hire CoSentry to store or manage" (Keenan, 1/22).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.