Weekend MFP Industry Notes Newsletter
3-13-2011
- Hewlett Packard officials are refuting a story being published in Asian newspapers that claims that the company is going to sell its hardware business to Samsung or Lenovo. HP executive, Bill Wohl said; “irresponsible reporting and should be dismissed as market rumor and speculation”
- A California judge ruled that HP may keep shielded from the public documents related to its summary judgement motion in a long-running class action suit over an alleged display screen defect in its Pavillion notebook computers.
- IDC reports that the worldwide printer and copier market grew by 7% in last quarter of 2010.
- ProSource, a Konica Minolta dealer in Cincinnati, Ohio, announced it acquired docuVision, a local document management systems dealer.
- ECi, which makes software used by copier dealers to run their business (OMD, LaCrosse, NexGen, etc.) announced it has acquired FM Audit, which makes managed print services software. Purchase price not announced.
- Thomas Reprographics, NRI and CallPrint have formed LINK Document Services Group, which will be a joint venture to provide managed print services to customers in the U.S. LINK’s first action was to acquire Sepialine, Inc. and its Argos software platform.
- Toshiba announced it will invest to expand its plant in Houston, Texas which makes electric motors for hybrid automobiles.
- Lexmark is preparing itself to be sold, according to Frank Voisin, of iStockAnalysis. The company has taken following recent actions that are common when a company wants to sell:
o amended its employment agreements
o ensuring continued employment and benefits for senior executives in case of change in control
o providing bonus if terminated without good cause following change in control
- Police in Gainesville, FL arrested Douglas Brian Osborne after he attempted to use fake $20 bills at a local Stubby’s restaurant that he made using a color copier.
- Police in Texas are searching the Alamo area for people who are using fake $20 bills made on a color copier to buy products from local Kmart, Walgreens and Lowes stores.
- Nuance announced the availability of a Macintosh version of its PDF Converter software.
- Xerox announced following product print system sales:
o Xerox Color 800 Press production color system to Mailway Printers of South Dakota
o DocuColor 7002 to Mortons Print of Lincolnshire, England
o Nuvera 144MX to Tall Security Print of Cheshire, England
o Xerox Color 1000 Press to Imatech Limited of Mauritania, Africa
- Kodak announced it has borrowed $250 million via a private placement of senior secured notes due in 2019. $50 million of these funds will be used to refinance a previous loan that was due in 2013.
- MGI, which sells a digital color press called Meteor DP60 (using Konica Minolta engine), claims it now has 40 units installed worldwide.
- According to recent survey, the first-year cost for EHR software system in a 5 physician family practice averages $46,659 per doctor.
- Medsphere announced it won EHR contract from Hoboken University Medical Center of New Jersey.
- Epic announced it won contract to implement its MyChart EHR app for smartphones from University of Utah Health Care System.
- NextGen announced it won EHR contract from Grace Community Health Center of Kentucky.
- The average cost of a HIPAA data breach has risen to $345 per record in 2010 from $301 in 2009.
- Sage announced it won an EHR contract from COSSMA, a medical center in Puerto Rico.
- IDC reports that healthcare professionals spend as much as 70% of their time dealing directly with documents, nearly twice that of other vertical markets.
- Beebe Medical Center of Delaware reported a HIPAA data breach involving records of 113 patients. Apparently they were stolen from luggage of a hospital employee who mistakenly took the records to Disney World during a recent vacation.
- A recent survey says use of EHR software increases wait times in emergency rooms. The Australian Medical Association stated that the install of Cerner FirstNet slows down admin in 2/3’s of hospitals, delaying treatment.
- According to Austin Merritt, in Software Advice magazine, Microsoft is considering buying an EHR software company, like Athena or Allscripts.
- 76% of office-based physicians could quality for HITECH stimulus funds according to research published in Health Affairs magazine. Of those, 47% could qualify for Medicaid funds, and 14% could qualify for Medicare funds.
- The University of Massachusetts Health Services announced that their network was infected with a malicious software program that may have exposed patient’s names, health insurance info, medical record numbers and prescription info.
- Senator Max Baucus announced that the U.S. Senate will not confirm Dr. Donald Berwick as the administrator of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
- Eastland Memorial Hospital of Texas awarded EHR contract to Prognosis.
- Epic awarded EHR contract from RiverView Health of Minnesota.
- 49% of patients believe that EHR software will have a negative impact on privacy of their medical records according to survey conducted by CDW.
- The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has started its roadshow to go across the country and train State Attorneys General how to enforce HIPAA laws.
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