Performance-Based Payment & Orthopedics: A Focus For The Medicare Program

Becker's Hospital CFO Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA In this informative article for Becker's CFO, Jill Rathbun covers the newly implemented CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement payment model. While the program began April 1, 2016, many of the hospitals were not, and are still not, prepared to participate. Read more to understand the basics of the model and how to be successful. …

Fujifilm Design Studio: Sonosite SII Wins Silver at International Design Excellence Awards

Sonosite SII Wins Silver at International Design Excellence Awards
Last year, Craig Chamberlain and his team of designers traveled around the world – over 101,964 miles, to be exact – meeting clinicians in hospitals and clinics to observe how they use point-of-care ultrasound. Chamberlain is the Director of Experience Design at FUJIFILM Sonosite, heading up a team of Industrial, Experience, and Human Factors designers, and this type of “user-oriented” observation is part of Sonosite’s unique design process. “We’re extremely excited to have won the Silver at IDEA 2016,” said Chamberlain. …

8 Ways to Avoid Central Line Placement Complications

Placing a central venous catheter using ultrasound guidance
Central line complications: they’re risky, costly, and all-around burden to healthcare. Whether it’s CLABSIs or iatrogenic pneumothoraces, CVC complications are not just terrifying for patients and unnerving for doctors; they are also costly for medical facilities. Fortunately, there are tested methods for Iatrogenic Pneumothorax Prevention with POCUS that can drastically reduce complication rates (and associated costs) for critically ill patients who require venous catheterization.  …

Ultrasound Technology Designed for MSK, Developing a Positive Image

Orthopedic Design & Technology Bill Medford, MSK Ultrasonographer In an article by FUJIFILM Sonosite's own Bill Medford, RDMS, RMSKS, Lead Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Specialist, he explains how as a clinical expert with over 17 years of experience, he sees the advances in ultrasound and in particular the X-Porte's significant contribution to the practice of musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine. With new breakthroughs in technology and the increasing interest in improving diagnostic capability at the point-of-care, the X-Porte's design and image qual …

Six Steps to Implement Bedside Ultrasonography in Critical Care

Health Management Magazine Nidhi Nikhanj, M.D. In this article for ​Health Management Magazine, Dr. Nidhi Nikhanj lays out the path for a system-wide implementation of point of care ultrasound to bring quality of care and enhanced patient safety to the bedside. See the six steps that a large health system used to successfully adopt ultrasound. Read Article …

New Increased Tax Deductions on Ultrasound!

Newly increased:  Deduct up to $500k on ultrasound through December 31! Increase quality of patient care by adding ultrasound to your practice by utilizing tax incentives and 0% financing available through December 2015. Newly increased tax deductions!  Take advantage of the Section 179 tax incentives through December 31:  Deduct $500k on all capital equipment investments up to $2M. Also, get 0% financing for 36 months on Sonosite ultrasound systems. …

Taking Ultrasound to Mongolia by Ingrid Yuile

mongolia-sonosite-blog
Ultrasound educator Ingrid Yuile took her training skills and Sonosite EDGE to the steppes of Mongolia and found a country of beauty and complexity.  This is her story… “In June 2015, I set off with 8 intrepid emergency physicians to teach emergency medicine to Mongolian doctors across a range disciplines. A strong relationship between Australian and Mongolian anaesthetists has been forged since 2001 when Dr David Pesod first represented Australia at an anaesthesia conference.  …

iViz in Kolkata India

  Dr. Gordon Johnson travels to India and Haiti regularly and finds point-of-care ultrasound to be essential for seeing his patients in resource limited settings. Dr. Johnson had his share of scanning and training with iViz during his most recent trip to India on December 2015, and reports back to us: …

FUJIFILM Sonosite goes to CES 2016 Digital Health Summit, with iViz!

FUJIFILM Sonosite attends the Digital Health Summit at CES in Las Vegas last week, to listen to Digital Health experts, feel the remarkable Digital Health evolution, and present on key topics.     …

Ultrasound in MSK

Sonosite was recently graced with visiting doctors from around the country, one of which was Dr Byron Patterson who is a partner in Primary Care Sports Medicine in Tarzana California.  He made a wonderful presentation to more than 160 employees about ultrasound applications in sports medicine. …

Rotterdam, Netherlands ambulance paramedics trained to diagnose AAA condition in transport

Amsterdam, 19th of January 2016. [This is translated to English from the Netherland’s news paper] The ambulances in Rotterdam Netherlands during the coming 5 months are equipped with ultrasound imaging that could be life saving with people with an AAA. …

HIMSS15 Marks Major Changes in Health IT

The trend towards interoperability is palpable and what better way to underscore this positive movement than HIMSS 2015 conference which broke all time attendance records. FUJIFILM Sonosite is at the forefront of clinical workflow optimization and health IT interoperability. The need to connect modalities, especially Ultrasound, to EMRs and other Health IT systems is significant and FFSS is taking concrete steps to achieve this important goal. As evidenced by this direct quote, alignment amongst key industry stakeholders is the first step towards effective interoperability. …

How Technology is Shaping Medicine and Ultrasound

Dr J. Christian Fox, a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at UC Irvine, is a self-professed “Sono-Evangelist.” During a recent lecture at Newport Beach Central Library, Dr. Fox and three physicians from UC Irvine Health shared how technology is shaping their field of practice. With ultrasound machines getting smaller and smaller, Fox said, he envisions hand-held ultrasound machines in the pocket of every doctor’s white coat. …

Glimpse Episode 3: Liz Turner's Interview

Liz Turner
Dr. Liz Turner, Director of Bedside Ultrasound for the Dept. of Medicine at UCLA, puts bedside ultrasound under the microscope. …

Glimpse Episode 4: Dr. Francis Yamazaki, Discusses Anesthesia

Dr. Francis Yamazaki
Dr. Francis Yamazaki is a 30 year veteran in Anesthesiology. He is an Anesthesiologist with a cutting edge sports medicine group at Kerlan Jobe Surgery Center, LA. In this interview, he discusses the expectations of patients in the elite world of sports and the progression of anesthesia, particularly in the realm of nerve blocks. In particular how the progress of technology has improved safety for both patients and surgeons. …

Banner Health Case Study

Over the span of 13 years, BannerHealth has incrementally adopted PoCUS (Point-of-care ultrasonography) across the health system through organic growth, unintended disruption and  intended disruption. …

Dr. Bryan Matusic Study - Why be satisfied with any failed blocks when you can avoid them altogether?

Why be satisfied with any failed blocks when you can avoid them altogether? Dr. Bryan Matusic, DO, Director of Anesthesiology for Advanced Surgical Hospital, Washington, PA Growing Awareness When Dr. Matusic first started practicing, the block and neurostimulator alone were considered best practice and block success rates of 85% were the accepted norm. "I was using just my own senses and the stimulator," he says. …

Code Black Movie - View Local Showings!

Welcome to the Code Black Movie Page! We are all so thrilled to announce that new dates for CODE BLACK have been added across the country!  Check out the schedule below to see when CODE BLACK will reach your town. …

Ultrasound First -- Musculoskeletal Imaging (MSK)

Clinical evidence and research supports using ultrasound as the first diagnostic test for numerous musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Diagnostic ultrasound offers a number of important advantages compared to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in terms of safety and effectiveness. Diagnostic ultrasound is noninvasive and offers real-time imaging, allowing for examinations of structures at rest and in motion. …

Ultrasound First -- Renal Colic Detection

Renal colic affects nearly 1.2 million people each year and accounts for approximately 1 percent of hospital admissions.1 Diagnosing kidney stones in patients who present with renal colic is often performed with computed tomography (CT) and, less commonly, with intravenous urography (IVU).2 While CT and IVU are accurate diagnostic tests and define clearly the size, shape, and position of uric acid stones, they also present a number of factors that would discourage use,3 including the potential risks of exposing patients to repeated doses of ionizing radiation. …