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HIMSS News


Nursing Informatics Groups Form Alliance through HIMSS and AMIA to Provide Unified Structure"

Eighteen national and regional nursing informatics groups have established the Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI). The boards of directors for both the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) have agreed to provide ongoing support, coordination and leadership for the Alliance.

The Alliance represents more than 2,000 nurses and brings together 18 distinct nursing informatics groups in the United States that function separately at local, regional, national and international levels and have established programs, publications and organizational structures for their members. The ANI Steering Team will consist of representatives of organizational groups that have a nursing informatics focus and will guide the strategic goals and activities of the Alliance throughout the year.


HIMSS Announces New Vendor Advisory Council to Provide Input to Certification Commission for HIT

To offer an open forum for vendors interested in certification of electronic health record (EHR) products, HIMSS has formed the Health Information Technology Certification Commission Vendor Advisory Council. The advisory council, open to HIMSS member and non-member companies, will provide input to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) from the vendor/consultant perspective and serve as a forum for receiving information from the certification commission.

2004 HIMSS Compensation Survey Reports Salary Increases for Health IT Professionals

Results indicated that 75% of respondents received a salary increase in 2003.

Seventy-five percent of US healthcare information technology (IT) professionals received raises in 2003 that averaged 4.8%, according to respondents of the 2004 Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Compensation Survey. The average salary for survey respondents was $96,568, an increase of just over $5,000 from the average salary of $91,268 reported in the 2002 survey.

Other key findings from the 2004 HIMSS Compensation Survey follow; all reported figures are as of Jan. 1, 2004:

  • Men received higher raises (at 5.1%) than women (at 4.4%) who responded to the survey. Raises among respondents at consulting firms (at 7.4%) and for senior managers (at 6.0%) topped the demographic categories of organization and position respectively.
  • Respondents expected to receive their next raise in 12 months.
  • Almost half of the respondents received a bonus in 2003.
  • Respondents working for managed care and vendor/consulting organizations are most likely to receive bonuses, while those individuals employed by either a stand-alone or multi-hospital systems are least likely to report receiving a bonus.
  • Almost all respondents, or 98%, indicated that they received some level of benefits from their employer with a 401(k) or 403(b) retirement savings plan (94.5%), medical insurance (93.7%) and dental insurance (88.5%) ranked as the top three benefits.

Survey results were based on 1,352 responses. The survey reported the average salary among respondents based on six demographic variables: gender, professional level, number of years in current position, annual net revenue of the organization, facility type and geographic region. Results appear in each of these categories separately, but combining the variables will more accurately assess an individual's compensation package.

Gender: The average salary for male respondents was about $23,000 higher than for female respondents to the survey with salaries averaging $106,587 for men and $83,346 for women.

Professional level: Senior management professionals in the survey received the highest average salary in 2004 at $137,705 with chief executive officers (CEOs) averaging almost $200,000 in compensation. At the other end of the salary scale, programmer analysts and systems administrators each have average salaries of less than $60,000.

Number of years in current position: Respondents who have held the same position for 15 to 19 years earn an average salary of $101,785, compared to a $101,560 average salary for those who have held the same position for more than 20 years. This equates to a gap of little more than $200.

Annual net revenue of organization: Individuals who work for organizations with larger, versus smaller, annual net revenues earn higher average salaries, in general. However, the survey results indicated that those in the under $5 million annual net revenue category make substantially more on average than some other groups.

Facility type: Consulting firms rank in the top spot, according to survey results, for an average salary of $116,696, followed by software/hardware firm at $103,702 and managed care/health insurance at $103,634. The lowest average salary reported in this category was the ambulatory care physician office at $74,386.

Geographic region: New England reported the highest average salary at $105,176, followed by the Mid-Atlantic at $103,393 and Pacific at $100,507. Healthcare IT professionals residing in the mountain region of the US reported the lowest in the category at $89,856.


HIMSS Analytics Focuses on Data Transformation for Clients to Reach Underserved Healthcare IT Audience

With the acquisition of DORENFEST IHDS+ DATABASE™, HIMSS Analytics has presented further details of its database offerings and services, emphasizing that the company plans to distinguish itself in the marketplace with its thought leadership and emphasis on interpreting, rather than only collecting, data. HIMSS Analytics will emphasize data transformation for its customers, a point of difference that is designed to reach an underserved audience in the healthcare information technology (IT) arena.

SUPPLIER NEWS


ALARIS Medical Systems® Products Is Awarded Breakthrough Technology Agreement by Consorta

ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc. has announced that Consorta, Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill, which provides resource management solutions to shareholders and their facilities, has entered into a three-year dual source agreement for IV Smart Pump and Smart Systems including the Medley™ Medication Safety System, Signature Edition® Gold Infusion System with the Guardrails® Safety Software and related pump sets. A specific criteria to evaluate new pump technologies was developed by Consorta's Clinical Committee, and after review of all technologies, ALARIS Medical Systems' Medley™ Medication Safety System and Signature Edition® Gold Infusion System were among the technologies selected for a Consorta award.

ALARIS Medical Systems and Pitt County Memorial Enter Five-Year Contract

ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc. has announced that Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C. has entered into a five-year contract for the Medley™ Medication Safety System with the Guardrails® Safety Software. The hospital will soon be one of over 100 customers using the Medley™ Medication Safety System to date. The company's proprietary Medley™ System offers coverage for all infusions on one platform, including PCA, large volume delivery patient monitoring and syringe delivery. Having these multiple devices across the same platform with a common user interface supported by the Guardrails® Software simplifies caregiver training, allows for communications with the different types of devices and reduces the complexity and sheer number of devices at the bedside while helping to protect patients.

Agfa Launches Practice Management Systems

Agfa has launched a Practice Management System (PMS) to address the large and rapidly growing imaging centre market in both the US and Canada. Tailored to meet the specific needs of North American imaging centres, the PMS comprises a complete solution with scheduling, reporting, workflow management, work list integration, billing and practice business analysis, as well as seamless integration with IMPAX, Agfa's PACS solution. This comprehensive offering allows imaging centres to move swiftly from analogue to digital technology, optimizing their workflow efficiency.

Agfa Wins US Government Award

The US government has awarded Agfa its DIN-PACS II (Digital Imaging Network/Picture Archiving and Communications System) contract. The contract initially runs for one year with an additional four option years, each potentially worth $45 million US. This demonstrates the US government's confidence in Agfa as its primary supplier of image acquisition and archive solutions.

TSIG Awarded the 2003 CLA/3M Canada Award for Achievement in Technical Services to Library and Archive Canada

The Technical Services Interest Group (TSIG) of CLA has awarded the 2003 CLA/3M Canada Award for Achievement in Technical Services to Library and Archive Canada in recognition of its leadership role in establishing a Metadata Service to improve the process of Web resource collection management and metadata creation for both description and resource discovery.

The CLA/3M Canada Award is awarded annually to recognize new and improved methods, techniques or routines to solving a problem or meeting a need in any aspect of technical service.

Library and Archive Canada established a Metadata Service in March 2002 in response to increased demand from external partners, primarily other government departments for assistance in describing Web resources for Internet portals.


McKesson Canada Acquires MEDES Inc.

McKesson Canada has announced the recent acquisition of Montréal-based MEDES Inc. by McKesson. This acquisition gives McKesson Canada the exclusive rights to distribute PACMED, a high-speed medication packager for both retail and institutional applications. This automation product allows the customers to automate their practice even further.

Bloomington Hospital and Healthcare System Selects McKesson to Build EHR

Bloomington Hospital and Healthcare System (BHHS), an integrated delivery network serving nine counties in South Central Indiana, has selected a broad range of healthcare IT solutions from McKesson Corporation to digitize its operations and move toward a paperless environment. Over the next seven years, BHHS will invest approximately $30 million to implement an electronic health record (EHR) and automate healthcare delivery for safer care, greater efficiency and better service to its community. To achieve those goals, BHHS will deploy a wide range of solutions, including McKesson's STAR 2000™ healthcare information system and the Horizon Clinicals™ suite.

Cerner: e-Records for Diabetic Kids

Cerner Corp. will offer a free electronic personal health record to every child in the US with Type 1 diabetes. The Kansas City, Mo.-based vendor of clinical information systems has committed to spending up to $25 million during the 10-year initiative. Type 1 diabetes - which requires insulin shots to control - usually occurs during childhood or adolescence. The American Diabetes Association estimates 850,000 to 1.7 million people in the nation are Type 1 diabetics.

Ergotron, Inc. and Constant Force Technology, LLC to Merge

Ergotron, Inc. and Constant Force Technology, LLC are expected to complete their merger by January 1, 2005. The newly merged company will retain the Ergotron name.

Both companies were founded by Harry C. Sweere; Ergotron, Inc. in 1982, and Constant Force Technology, LLC (CFT) was founded in 2000. Currently they share technologies in both computer monitor mounting and lift technology.

Ergotron sells primarily to end users in the healthcare, industrial, financial, office, and government markets. CFT has concentrated on the OEM marketplace. The newly merged company is positioned for significant growth, with an added focus on retail and the consumer market.