Kaiser Daily Health Report: Highlights Recent Health IT News

The New York Times on Monday examined how some U.S. hospitals have begun to install “Internet systems, complete with dedicated shopping channels, to help patients pick up goods they will need for their recuperation.” According to the Times, the “idea is that patients and visitors who are busy shopping and browsing the Web will be happier, less prone to bother nurses, and more likely to arm themselves with health care information that can help smooth the patient’s recovery.” The systems also can help hospitals attract more patients. However, only a “small fraction of the nation’s roughly 6,000 community hospitals now have bedside Internet systems, perhaps because the costs can be considerable,” the Times reports (Tedeschi, New York Times, 3/17).