Healthcare workers face more injuries than those in any other sector, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. But many of these incidents – whether due to employee negligence, improper training or an institutional lapse in adherence to workplace protocol – are easily avoidable through strict compliance with OSHA standards and a robust culture of safety across the industry. Healthcare facilities can dramatically improve safety for workers and patients by prioritizing compliance and employing
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SMART on FHIR: Is it Worth the Investment or Just Another Burden for Health IT Departments?
As the healthcare industry continues to shift from fee-for-service to value-based care, data interoperability is increasingly becoming a key concern for providers trying to better engage with patients, improve clinical workflow, and ultimately drive better health outcomes. In fact, more than 70 percent of healthcare financial executives say that data interoperability must improve within the next three years to ensure the success of value-based care.The good news? The potential for secure,
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How Longitudinal Data Mining Can Help Payers Achieve the Triple Aim
Investing in longitudinal data mining can help payers achieve the triple aim of lowering costs and drive healthier outcomes for its members. Overpayment of healthcare providers has always been an area of concern for health payers. But it has never held the urgency it does today. Rising costs and the ever-increasing complexity of the healthcare delivery and payment system can cause overpayment losses to health plans in the millions of dollars. Payers are then forced to raise premiums to the point
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Artificial Intelligence at RSNA18 Shows Signs of Maturity, But a Long Way to Go
AI was once again the hot topic at this year’s RSNA. With close to 60 AI start-ups in the Machine Learning Showcase and most of the incumbent modality and imaging IT vendors marketing AI to varying degrees, the technology was hard to ignore at this year’s meeting. Cutting through the inevitable hype, it was clear that vendors are making progress with bringing AI solutions into the daily workflows of radiologists and other imaging specialists. From our discussions with radiologists and from the
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Betterment Through Automated Benchmarking in the Era of Value-based Care
In the era of value-based care provision, automated benchmarking technology in hospitals enables real-world, reliable data insights for understanding, improving and promoting provider performance.Value-based healthcare is here to stay. Hospitals across the U.S. are on a quest to deliver successful outcomes at the lowest overall cost, improving care delivery and patient wellness. Nationwide, 34 percent of total healthcare payments were tied to alternative payment models in 2017, a steady
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When Will Health IT Become Part of the Solution (Rather than the Problem) for Physicians?
I began practicing medicine in the 1990s as a hospitalist. On an average day, I’d see 10 to 12 patients. I would spend any downtime on notes and billing. More importantly, I had time to revisit interesting cases, converse with colleagues and chat with patients and their families.In 2018, that’s no longer what a day in the life of a physician looks like. I’m required to see more patients per shift, and my administrative tasks are much more time-consuming, due to a combination of regulations
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Why Healthcare’s Spike in Cloud Adoption Raises Questions for Hospitals & Security Practitioners
It might come as a surprise, being in one of the most highly-regulated industries around, that the healthcare sector has made significant strides when it comes to embracing the public cloud and the myriad cloud applications that exist today. Messaging apps like Slack enable rapid communication while file sync and share apps like Box enable instant collaboration. A good example of a cloud app that has become essential in large enterprises is Microsoft’s Office 365. Adoption in the healthcare
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Utilizing Blockchain in Healthcare: 3 Lessons Learned from Abroad
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, America is suffering from a serious trust issue, and one of the areas which Americans seem to have the least faith in is their healthcare system. According to a recent New York Times article, in 1966, more than three-fourths of Americans had great confidence in medical practitioners, compared to as little as 34 percent today.Many argue that the US healthcare system is deeply flawed and is designed to benefit medical providers and insurance carriers
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Digital Innovation & the First Mover Advantage for Health Systems
It’s no secret that healthcare has long lagged other industries when it comes to the adoption of digital technology. Large, complex organizations like health systems are notoriously slow to change, but healthcare industry trends – particularly the rise of consumerism – are driving a clear urgency around digital competence. In fact, 64% of hospital and health system leaders in the latest Kaufman Hall consumerism survey identified the need to use digital tools to engage consumers as a high
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Why Hospitals Are the Ideal “Garage” for MedTech Startups
In 1796, when smallpox was truly a world epidemic, Dr. Edward Jenner inoculated his gardener’s son with a vaccine derived from another patient’s cowpox blister. At the time, the disease was killing 10 percent of the population. While other treatments for smallpox existed, it was Jenner’s that could be easily replicated around the world. And in hindsight, we know that a key factor in Jenner’s development of the vaccine was his access to patients, his scientific knowledge and his passion to heal.
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