Inefficient communication costs the average U.S. hospital $1.75 million a year, according to the Ponemon Institute. But how can hospitals enhance communication efficiency while ensuring the safety of protected health information (PHI)?

CLEAR IN HIS AIM to reframe substance abuse as a public health crisis that can’t be solved by law enforcement alone, Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday detailed a suite of options to reverse the trend of opioid addiction that last year claimed the lives of over 1,000 residents across the state.

Thanks to leadership at NYU Langone Medical Center, trees will be able to sleep a little easier. Clipboards on the other hand? Not so much.

The Manhattan-based academic medical center is on a mission to become completely paperless, says CIO Nader Mherabi.

2012 is nearing its end, but 2013 will present new challenges for healthcare IT security officers and IT managers. HealthITSecurity.com had a chance to speak with Keith Ashpole, Security Specialist at Via Christi Health in Kansas and Joel Loflin, IT Director – Clinical Applications at Via Christi, to hear about some new healthcare IT security initiatives at Via Christi and what’s important to them heading into 2013.

Hospitals have long relied on the trusty pager to alert doctors to an emergency. But the technology now looks embarrassingly primitive in the age of the multimedia smartphone.

So some healthcare start-ups are looking at ways to improve how doctors and nurses communicate, care for patients and manage treatments.