The global healthcare industry accounts for roughly 5% of greenhouse gas emissions. That is about the same as the cement and chemical industries combined, and more than that of the aviation and shipping industries together. In the United States, the number is even higher: roughly 8.5% of U.S. carbon emissions emerge from healthcare.
One might argue, from a carbon-intensity perspective, that is not too bad for an industry comprising nearly 20% of U.S. economic output. But then, one might also
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5 Factors to Consider When Developing a Health Data Platform
The conversation around whether a healthcare startup should build a data platform or buy one isn’t anything new. In fact, this has been a debate since cloud-based technologies rose to popularity—we’re just now seeing more startups enter the space and opt to build their platforms internally.
Startups choose to build their data platforms for several compelling reasons. For example, it could give them greater control over their data security and architecture or they feel they know their data
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Why Data Transparency Is the Most Important Metric for Healthcare Providers Right Now
Healthcare providers all over the world are battling with how to take patient information and patient care digital. How can we use the tools and technology at our fingertips to make treating patients easier and more effective, rather than more complicated? Converting data into useful information will be the key to making this transition successful.
Data is the currency, language, form, and function of digital transformation in healthcare. Having an easily accessible data warehouse and
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Drug Price Transparency: Planning for Change
Currently, some 22 states have enacted prescription drug transparency laws that require entities across the drug supply chain to report pricing information to state officials. Designed to shed light on the true cost of drugs and to ensure that consumers and insurers aren’t being gouged, drug pricing transparency laws seek to level the playing field by delivering greater visibility into drug costs. And given the fact that prescription drug prices continue to increase, the topic of drug price
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3 Questions Healthcare IT Leaders Should Ask Before Implementing AI in Their Operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are no longer nice-to-have technologies for healthcare providers. They are mission-critical tools for addressing significant challenges many health systems and hospitals face today — from volatile patient volumes to ballooning labor costs and staffing shortages to low operating margins. Many of these challenges are macro-level economic trends that will continue to prevail for the foreseeable future.
According to research from Kaufman Hall,
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Overcoming the Healthcare Staffing Shortage Through Back-Office Automation
Today’s healthcare staffing shortage, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic but years in the making, has left many hospitals and health systems scrambling.
To date, the shortage of front-line healthcare workers has received most of the attention, and for good reason: By 2025, the U.S. is likely to face a shortage of 446,300 home health aides; 95,000 nursing assistants; and 29,400 nurse practitioners, according to a report from consulting firm Mercer.
However, what is less appreciated
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How to Build Better Relationships with the Health Insurance & Payer Communities
Modern healthcare is an intricate dance between quality and quantity.
Payers and insurance providers want better patient outcomes due to the high cost of poor health, while health providers want to ensure their patients aren’t overlooked and are appropriately cared for.
To understand how we can satisfy the needs of both patients and payers, we’ll have to take a step back and look at the relationship between payer communities and telehealth services.
Behavioral
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How to Prevent a Healthcare Staffing Crisis
The Covid-19 pandemic scrambled the business models and labor-market dynamics for many industries, but probably none as dramatically and directly as healthcare. Incredible, sustained demand coupled with regional disparities, political complications, and cultural challenges have left the healthcare industry on life support, especially regarding staffing.
Healthcare workers are burned out and are quitting in huge numbers. Two-and-a-half years of relentless patient need, an inadequate workforce,
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Why The Stakes are Higher for Hospitals When It Comes to Data Loss & Inadequate Storage Infrastructure
According to the World Economic Forum, hospitals produce around 50 petabytes of data per year. And with 6,039 hospitals in the US alone, that amounts to a sizeable amount of data requiring secure storage. Data consists not only of confidential patient medical records but also of operational data retained by US hospitals such as personal and financial information.
This ever-increasing amount of patient data and growing risks associated with its loss, mean the stakes have therefore never been
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Apple Adds Medication Tracking to iPhone. How Will It Impact The Specialty Patient Journey?
Imagine visiting your doctor’s office. Instead of swiping a copay card and filling out a paper form by hand, the receptionist says, “We take Apple Health.” You wave your iPhone over a digital kiosk, instantly uploading your current medical record and insurance information. Your copay is then deducted from a health savings account. Voila! The doctor will see you now.
This scenario is no longer relegated to the distant future.
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