Enterprise imaging, what to look for in a VNA

Phil Wasson is Healthcare Industry Manager and Consultant at Lexmark Enterprise Software and has been involved in health information technology since the 1990s. Over the past 15 years, he served as CIO and CEO at Tri- Rivers Health Partners, which provided IT support for Swedish American Health System in Rockford, IL and FHN, formerly Freeport Health Network in Freeport, IL. A year-and-a-half ago Mr. Wasson joined Lexmark to provide the Global Healthcare Industry Team with product marketing expertise to expand Lexmark’s understanding in the healthcare space to offer exceptional customer engagement, industry expertise, and deep technology capabilities through an extensive portfolio of product offerings in both enterprise imaging and healthcare content management.

News Roundup

Revived SIIM Annual meeting generates kudos by attendees

PARCA eNews – July 5, 2016 – The Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine Annual Meeting SIIM 2016 was held June 29 to July 1 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland Ore. Attendance was up, vendor exhibits were up, and lively presentations and discussions brought a renewed energy to the SIIM annual meeting.

PARCA Administrator Kirstin Leal’s first impressions

SIIM Conference Wrap-up

Administrator Kirstin Leal at PARCA booth SIIM 2016

This was my first time to attend and be a part of the SIIM Conference. It was held in Portland, Oregon from June 29 through July 1, 2016 at the Oregon Convention Center. Since it was my first time, I cannot speak to how well attended and busy the conference was compared to previous years, but comments from other attendees and exhibitors seemed to agree that it seemed to be busier than the previous year.

Ransomware: Your money or your data

HHS guidance

PARCA eNews – July 14, 2016 – The FBI has reported an increase in ransomware attacks and media have reported a number of ransomware attacks on hospitals. One of the biggest current threats to health information privacy are posed by the serious threats of malicious cyber-attacks on electronic health information systems, such as through ransomware. To help health care entities better understand and respond to the threat of ransomware, the HHS Office for Civil Rights has released new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidance on ransomware. The new guidance reinforces activities required by HIPAA that can help organizations prevent, detect, contain, and respond to threats.

Breached data offered for sale on dark web

Stolen data traced to healthcare databases

PARCA eNews – July 14, 2016 – As many as five databases that have been offered for sale on the dark web have been traced to healthcare organizations according to Databreaches.net*. Although the organizations whose data have been listed for sale have not come forward and confirmed that they are the victims, investigators at have traced at least one database to a Midwest orthopedic clinic and another to a Georgia clinic.

What is FHIR and how do I find the latest version?

Resource Link

PARCA eNews – July 20, 2016 – Healthcare records including imaging are increasingly becoming digitized and integrated into EMRs. As patients move around the healthcare ecosystem, their electronic health records must be available, discoverable, and understandable. Further, to support automated clinical decision support and other machine-based processing, the data must also be structured and standardized.

The Role of Standards in Preventing & Mitigating Health IT Patient Safety Risks

PARCA eNews – July 20, 2016 – ONC and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)  are hosting a health IT community technical workshop on September 7, 2016. 

Health IT standards are part of the foundation needed to deliver high quality, patient-centric care. The industry continues to gain a better understanding of the relationship between managing risk and providing quality care through the safe use of Health IT.

Measuring Interoperability: Listening and Learning

PARCA eNews – July 1, 2016 – Following feedback from the Health IT community, the Office of the National Coordinator has pledged to simplify measurements for interoperability.

Writing in the HealthITBuzz blog, Seth Pazinski / Director, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Analysis, and Talisha Searcy / Director of Research and Evaluation, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Analysis, ONC outlined their efforts to listen to stakeholders in Health IT in developing metrics for measuring interoperability.

Belgium-based Agfa HealthCare joins IBM Watson Health collaborative

PARCA eNews – July 18, 2016 – Agfa HealthCare has signed on with IBM’s Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, which includes 15 leading health systems, academic medical centers, radiology providers and imaging technology companies. 

In it’s June 22, 2016 announcement, Agfa said the effort aims to bring cognitive imaging into clinical practice by aiding doctors treating patients with breast, lung and other cancers, as well as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other diseases.