Information & Quality Healthcare

Stanford Hospital & Clinics is embarking on a seven-year connected health technology initiative to improve patient care and operational efficiency. The goal is to continue to advance Stanford's patient care platform, which connects the hospital and outpatient clinics to create a near-paperless electronic medical record.

Carestream Health has bolstered itself with a broad new portfolio of conventional and digital X-ray technologies, thanks to its acquisition Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based Quantum Medical Imaging, a privately-held manufacturer of X-ray systems used by hospitals, imaging centers and health clinics.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A healthcare IT company focused on reducing costly “never events” in hospitals by keeping track of used surgical sponges has raised $5 million to continue and expand its work.

ClearCount Medical Solutions, based in Pittsburgh, announced on Tuesday the close of its $5 million Series B financing round. Company officials say they’ll use the financing to drive market penetration and new research and development of their products, which make use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track used sponges in surgical areas of the hospital.

Mount Kisco Medical Group (MKMG) in New York, with 230 physicians representing 40 specialties and serving 250,000 patients a year, is about to give its digital ways a makeover.

The group, which serves 21 communities with its major campuses in Mount Kisco, Katonah, Carmel and Poughkeepsie, has selected technology from Horsham, Pa.-based NextGen, including an electronic health record system, a practice management system and a patient portal.

In a move designed to speed adoption of electronic health records in rural hospitals, UnitedHealth Group recently announced it will invest $10 million in California’s Critical Access Hospitals to help them beef up their IT systems and infrastructure.