News in brief - Nov. 13, 2006

HealthSouth returns to NYSE - More EMR products gain seal of approval - Hospital's laptop stolen; 28,000 patients affected

HealthSouth returns to NYSE

HealthSouth stock has been re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time since a massive accounting scandal was revealed at the rehabilitation hospital chain more than three years ago.

HealthSouth stock began trading under the ticker symbol "HLS" on Oct. 26, with an opening price of $24.45 per share. After an initial bump to $26, the stock traded for below $24 as of Oct. 30.

Federal regulators halted trading of HealthSouth stock in March 2003, soon after FBI agents raided the company's headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., in a fraud investigation.

Ultimately, more than a dozen HealthSouth executives pleaded guilty or were convicted of criminal charges in a scheme to artificially inflate the company's earnings by nearly $2.7 billion over several years.

More EMR products gain seal of approval

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology announced Oct. 23 that it certified an additional 11 ambulatory electronic medical records systems, boosting the number of EMRs that have met its 2006 criteria for EMR functionality, security and interoperability to 33.

CCHIT said that 17 vendors had applied for certification during its latest certification round but that six withdrew their applications, postponed inspection or failed the tests. The organization does not name vendors that fail to meet its criteria.

The complete list of certified products is available on the commission's Web site (www.cchit.org/certified/2006/).

Hospital's laptop stolen; 28,000 patients affected

In mid-October Allina Hospitals & Clinics notified about 28,000 patients in its obstetrics home care program that a laptop containing their personal information, including Social Security numbers, was stolen from a nurse's car.

The theft occurred Oct. 8 while a nurse was dropping off a specimen at a laboratory after completing a home visit, said David Kanihan, a spokesman for the Minneapolis-based health system.

So far, Allina is not aware that the data have been misused, he said, adding the thief would need to use two passwords to use the laptop and access the data stored in it. Allina is offering affected patients one year of free credit bureau monitoring.