Three out of five healthcare IT professionals believe that government mandates are having a negative effect on their industry, according to a study conducted by Peak 10, a national information technology (IT) infrastructure and cloud services provider. The majority (94 percent) also noted that complying with regulations influences IT strategy and decision-making. With rare exception, respondents claimed they lack the expertise necessary to navigate the maze of government regulations.

At the SPIE Medical Imaging Conference, ContextVision exhibited results from research conducted in collaboration with Texas Instruments and High Performance Consulting on 3-D adaptive filtering for improved image quality on portable medical devices. Björn Norell, research scientist at ContextVision, presented the findings.

Looking to “bypass the ordinary,” during last week’s episode titled: “The Bed's Too Big Without You,” the Grey’s Anatomy team at Seattle Grace Hospital was challenged with treating a radical tumor in the chest. After printing a 3-D model of the surgical area, Dr. Alex Karev commented that the best course of action to access the chest and successfully remove the mass would involve “the McGinn technique.”

The spirit of collaboration to improve health with information technology came to Cleveland, Ohio, when the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) North American Connectathon 2015 opened in January 2015. Almost 100 organizations and 555 engineers attended this annual testing event.

Micell Technologies, Inc. announced the commercial availability of the MiStent Sirolimus Eluting Absorbable Polymer Coronary Stent System (MiStent SES) in Europe. Stentys, Micell’s distribution partner in Paris, plans a controlled launch in Western Europe followed by a full commercial launch for the second half of 2015 in selected countries within Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.