Back in the day – the late 1960s, when social norms and the face of America was rapidly changing – a familiar public service announcement began preceding the nightly newscast. “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” Today, as the healthcare landscape changes rapidly with a seismic shift from the fee-for-service payment model to value-based care models, there’s a similar but new clarion call for quality healthcare: “It’s 2018. Do you know where your data is?”Compliance with the
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The Impact of Digitization on Patient Experience is Here
Hospitals, and medical clinics in general, have complex and ever-changing environments. However, one thing that never changes is the overall commitment to put patients first and ensure that they’re provided with the best possible experience. First and foremost, that experience is about health and making sure patients are treated as quickly as possible with no complications. To that end, everything from bedside manner to wait times are closely monitored in an effort to provide patients with the
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Patient Engagement: 9 Ways to Engage Patients on Their Own Terms
Prioritizing measurable clinical outcomes, defining an evidence-based, codified patient journey, and incenting strict adherence to treatment plans have been the base for many patient engagement initiatives. These seem to be logical ways to improve outcomes, reduce costs and encourage patients to follow post-care plans mapped to a journey designed to yield specific clinical measures. Yet despite the industry’s focus on patient centricity, the healthcare industry is still struggling to realize the
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Future of Medicine: Why Everyone in Healthcare is Looking at Your Wrist
When you look at your wrist, you’re looking at the future of medicine. Wrists offer the potential that nothing else in the health technology world can offer: round-the-clock, non-intrusive contact. For people enduring chronic illness and doctors treating it, this can mean, in the near future, a seamless, two-way flow of information about medication use and the circumstances where health events, such as asthma attacks, or hypoglycemic events occur.Children with asthma, for instance, using a smart
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What The Patient Engagement Metrics Aren’t Telling You
The tech industry loves to tout high-level metrics to garner attention for apps: the success of an app is often demonstrated by quoting staggering numbers of subscribers, weekly views, in-app session length, number of downloads, monthly average users, etc. And these statistics are not irrelevant -- they are useful for gauging product performance and often correlate to a successful product. For apps driven by ad-revenue, they are sometimes the most important metrics.But as I address elsewhere,
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Optimizing Revenue Cycle Management – What Will It Take to Get There?
The U.S. healthcare system is undergoing a major transformation, from many freestanding hospitals and individual practices to fewer large, integrated healthcare systems. One motivating factor is the promise of greater efficiencies when it comes to delivering more holistic patient care and improving core operational processes.Revenue cycle management is one process that’s primed for improvement. Poor billing practices can cost hospitals millions of dollars due to lost reimbursement or the
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Does the Fax Machine Still Have A Place in Modern Healthcare?
Fax machines have been a common fixture in medical practices across the country since they reached peak popularity in the late 1980s; the convenience, reliability, and security of faxing meant it was, and still is, the communication medium of choice for the majority of healthcare organizations. But, technology has come a very long way in past 30 or so years, and expectations have changed - what was deemed to be convenient, reliable, or secure two or three decades ago, might not be anymore. So,
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How to Successfully Manage the Staffing Costs of Migrating to a New EHR
Few decisions are as important or as daunting as the one that leads to the implementation of a new EHR. When replacing best-of-breed clinical applications with an integrated EHR, a successful transition involves managing, not just technology but, equally as important, employees across multiple teams. The best and brightest in your organization are asked to focus on this initiative, but this new assignment leaves a gap in the maintenance and management of a healthcare organization’s legacy
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Why The Retailization of Healthcare Begins with Women
The face of consumerism is rapidly changing in the age of technology. Convenience, personalization, and long-term benefits are of paramount concern to developers as consumers increasingly prioritize experience over possessions. The five-star rating format and other consumer-friendly features of sites like Amazon, Yelp, and TripAdvisor have been shaping consumer behavior and expectations for more than a decade. Direct-to-consumer brands like BirchBox, ThirdLove, and StitchFix are revolutionizing
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Bullshit Metrics: Is Patient Engagement Real?
Whether it’s stock trading with a few clicks on a smartphone, streaming new music before the vinyl hit the shelves, or receiving a wardrobe from a personal stylist without ever stepping into a store, technology’s potential to revolutionize the consumer experience is ubiquitous across industries. The healthcare sphere is no exception to this, and in recent years a rash of digital health tools and connected devices have flooded the marketplace, promising cheaper care and better outcomes, all while
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