Healthcare information systems outsourcing.

Abstract Information systems (IS) outsourcing is a major decision for health care organizations. Analysis of outsourcing costs and benefits have to be made for the departmental or function-specific application of each system. Limited empirical studies have examined healthcare information managers preferences for IS outsourcing. In this paper we report findings from a national survey of more than 16,000 healthcare information managers in the United States, assessing preferences for outsourcing information systems. This included measures of: (1) IS functions most likely to be outsourced, (2) level of satisfaction with performance of healthcare information management (HIM) tasks, (3) factors influencing IS outsourcing decisions, (4) how a healthcare organization's degree of computerized patient record adoption affects the preference for IS outsourcing, and (5) regional differences in outsourcing policies. Six factors were found to influence managers IS outsourcing decisions, including improved patient care, cost savings, regulations, competition, trained staff availability and space considerations. Implications of the findings for healthcare information management outsourcing are discussed.

What is cost-efficient phenotyping? Optimizing costs for different scenarios

Progress in remote sensing and robotic technologies decreases the hardware costs of phenotyping. Here, we first review cost-effective imaging devices and environmental sensors, and present a trade-off between investment and manpower costs. We then discuss the structure of costs in various real-world scenarios. Hand-held low-cost sensors are suitable for quick and infrequent plant diagnostic measurements. In experiments for genetic or agronomic analyses, (i) major costs arise from plant handling and manpower; (ii) the total costs per plant/microplot are similar in robotized platform or field experiments with drones, hand-held or robotized ground vehicles; (iii) the cost of vehicles carrying sensors represents only 5–26% of the total costs. These conclusions depend on the context, in particular for labor cost, the quantitative demand of phenotyping and the number of days available for phenotypic measurements due to climatic constraints. Data analysis represents 10–20% of total cost if pipelines have already been developed. A trade-off exists between the initial high cost of pipeline development and labor cost of manual operations. Overall, depending on the context and objsectives, “cost-effective” phenotyping may involve either low investment (“affordable phenotyping”), or initial high investments in sensors, vehicles and pipelines that result in higher quality and lower operational costs

Assessment of Preferences for Classification Detail in Medical Information: Is Uniformity Better?

The growing acceptance of evidence-based decision making in healthcare organizations has resulted in recognition of information classification and retrieval as a key area of both strategic and operational management. In the emerging information-intensive healthcare environment, healthcare managers are beginning to understand the increased need for formal, continuous information classification and coding in health services, creating a need for enhanced information retrieval, delivery of services and quality management. Variation in classification preferences across practice settings poses healthcare quality management problems for evidence-based medicine in such an environment. This paper reports results from a major national study into the perceived variation reported by health information managers related to the relevance-efficiency trade-offs of information classification across regions and practice settings. This study provides: (1) a benchmark of the degree of such variation, examining how classification preferences vary across organization types, regions, and management indicators, and (2) the extent to which managers prefer more descriptive classification systems, despite nationwide mandates to adopt greater non-descriptive categorization of information. Findings suggest that due to major regional variation, stringent national information standards may be counterproductive for some healthcare practice settings and geographic locations. Implications for healthcare information classification and retrieval are further examined and discussed

Web searching for sexual information: An exploratory study

Sexuality on the Internet takes many forms and channels, including chat rooms discussions, accessing Websites or searching Web search engines for sexual materials. The study of Web sexual queries provides insight into sexual-related information-seeking behavior, of value to Web users and providers alike. We qualitatively analyzed 58,027 queries from a log of 1,025,910 Excite Web user queries from 1999. We found that sexual and non-sexual-related queries exhibited differences in session duration, query outcomes, and search term choices. Implications for sexual information seeking and Web systems are discussed

Sommera cusucoana, a new species of Rubiaceae from Honduras

Sommera cusucoana Lorence, D. Kelly & A. Dietzsch, sp. nov., (Rubiaceae), a new species from Honduras, differs from the other Mesoamerican Sommera species by the combination of large, obovate leaves with long red petioles, glabrous or glabrate intervenal areas, red stipules, lax, sparsely pubescent inflorescences with red axes, flowers with red hypanthium and calyx, long fruiting pedicels, and dark red mature fruits. It is known only from the type locality in Cusuco National Park