Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MMT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 1 (February)
Routine use of electronic health records may improve the quality of care provided in community-based primary care practices more than other common strategies intended to raise the quality of medical care, according to a recent study by RAND Corp. researchers.
Studying 305 groups of primary care physicians in Massachusetts, researchers found that practices that used multifunctional electronic health records were more likely to deliver better care for diabetes and provide certain health screenings than those that did not.
While quality differences discovered in the study were modest in size, the study is one of the first to demonstrate a link between use of electronic health records in communitybased medical practices and higher quality care, RAND said. The findings are published in the October 6 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Overall, we were surprised by how few strategies to improve the quality of care were linked to measurably better performance,” said Dr. Mark W. Friedberg, the study’s lead author and an associate natural scientist at RAND. “The strategy that showed the most impact was use of advanced electronic health records.”
Electronic health record systems were linked to higher-quality care when the systems included advanced functions such as electronic reminders to physicians, and if the systems were used routinely by a medical practice.
New Contracts for Radiological Emergencies
The HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded nine contracts worth $35 million initially and up to $400 million over five years for the research and development of tests and devices for better determining how much radiation people may have absorbed following nuclear or radiological incidents.
The contract winners are Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.; Chromologic in Pasadena, Calif.; Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Meso Scale Diagnostics in Gaithersburg, Md.; Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems in Linthicum, Md.; SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif; Stanford University, Stanford, Calif; the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y., and Visca in Troy, Mich.
Each of the contract winners has already identified biomarkers, or particular physical or biological characteristics, that may indicate how much radiation a person has absorbed, and in the first year of the contract will study the accuracy of the biomarkers for determining absorbed radiation. Contract winners will also develop prototype portable devices for potential use in the field.
New Walter Reed on Track
Realignment of military medical facilities in the national capital region as ordered by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission is on track to meet the commission’s deadline, according to senior Defense Department officials.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is consolidating with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and a new hospital is under construction at Fort Belvoir, Va.
“I am pleased to report that we are on track to implement the BRAC recommendations by the statutory deadline of Sept. 15, 2011,” said Allen W. Middleton, acting principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, in recent testimony before the House Armed Services Committee’s joint readiness and military personnel subcommittees.
Middleton said that new construction at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the Bethesda campus is more than 60 percent complete. Meanwhile, the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital is more than 50 percent complete, and will provide a total replacement of the existing community hospital, he said.
In related news, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) won a $322.1 million contract to provide initial outfitting and transition services at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, as well as the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. GDIT will assist with hospital transitioning and activation, and install materiel, furniture, medical, non-medical and IT equipment. The company will also provide operational and maintenance training on the equipment and will move and reuse existing equipment and materiel.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
I just finished reading Joan Michel’s article “Battlefield Hospitals Reinvisioned” in the December 2009 issue of MMT and wanted to compliment her on providing readers a comprehensive perspective on modern military shelters. She did an in-depth job capturing the issues facing the shelter community in terms of force sustainment and protection, energy management, transportability and deployability and the technology programs currently underway to address these challenges.
Few people would use the words shelter and technology in the same sentence. Her article documented both the need for technology and more important, key tech transitions that are protecting warfighters worldwide. Finally, her story highlighted the many strategic partnerships between government, industry and academia and how the fusion of the combined efforts contributes to the shelter mission.
Frank E. Kostka
Director
Shelter Technology, Engineering and Fabrication
U.S. Army Natick Soldier RDEC
Natick, Mass.
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