As part of the growing awareness about chronic disease, it’s important to understand the relationship between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), an asymptomatic condition characterized by elevated levels of fat in the liver, and diabetes. As a common complication of Type 2 diabetes and obesity, NAFLD can be overlooked comorbidity.
Diabetes is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. One in 10 Americans have diabetes – more than 30 million people – and
Read More
Why COVID-19 is Prompting Device OEMs to Partner with Software Developers
As COVID-19 continues to sicken thousands across the U.S., hospital staffs deserve every bit of praise they’re receiving for their service. Yet there’s another segment of the medical community on the front lines of the pandemic: medical device manufacturers.
While some forms of medical equipment have been marginalized or sidelined altogether, manufacturers of essential devices are working around the clock. According to an April 2020 Fortune Business Insights report, those with significant
Read More
Applying Social Determinants of Health to Improve Care Coordination
In today’s era of value-based care, providers must focus more than ever on ensuring that patients get the care they need, when they need it, across the entire care continuum, including in non-traditional health care settings. This is important not only as it relates to patient outcomes, but also to providers’ bottom lines.
However, when patients lack access to basic care-centric needs like proper housing, food, transportation, and a support system, they’re unable to get the right type of care
Read More
AI Can Identify Unseen Sufferers of COVID-19 & Enable Proactive Care
As the nation’s eyes focus on COVID-19, another healthcare crisis is unfolding out of sight. Hidden from view, millions of Americans who don’t have COVID-19 are suffering healthcare crises in their homes. These unseen individuals are facing major challenges, on multiple levels: acute, chronic, and preventive. Patients are waiting longer at home before coming to the hospital for acute illnesses like appendicitis, stroke, or heart attack. Patients with chronic diseases are not receiving
Read More
Digital Strategies Health IT Must Prioritize During COVID-19
COVID-19 is introducing new weaknesses to an already strained healthcare system. As healthcare providers battle an increasing influx of patients and dwindling inventory – including critical personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies like masks, ventilators, and hospital beds – they are relying more heavily on their digital tools and applications than ever before.
This is an unprecedented opportunity for health IT professionals to contribute their skills and ingenuity to the COVID-19 fight.
Read More
RCM: 4 Must-Haves of a Revenue Integrity Solution
For multiple years in a row, chief executive officers (CEOs) participating in the American College of Healthcare Executives’ annual survey ranked financial challenges as the number one issue facing hospitals. With sound revenue cycle management and, in turn, revenue integrity is essential to survival, the decision to buy, build or replace a revenue integrity solution is one of the most important a hospital can make.
Crucial differences separate revenue integrity solutions from one another.
Read More
RCM Myth: Healthcare Billing Is Just A Back-Office Job
Historically, there was a belief in healthcare that revenue cycle management (RCM) was only a job for the back office. But today, medical practices are well-aware all staff members are critical to the revenue cycle. This responsibility extends through every aspect of a practice, from the front office to back office with the clinical staff in between.
The front office, for example, plays a role in generating revenue, because they can optimize scheduling and collect patient and insurance
Read More
Why Now’s the Time to Use Connected Health Devices for Diabetes Prevention
It’s no secret that chronic disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, taking up 90 percent of healthcare spending in the United States. For the last several years, there has been a rise in discussions and research around the promise of connected health devices helping manage and prevent chronic conditions as well as healthcare spending. However, today a number of factors are coming together to make that promise a reality. This includes the improvement of real-world data insights
Read More
Coronavirus Pandemic Reveals the Need for a Broader Digital Front Door
Healthcare facilities and providers around the country are experiencing COVID-19 differently. Many medical facilities treating COVID-19 patients have been overwhelmed, with some even resorting to creating pop-up hospitals to support the unexpected influx. Meanwhile, other providers have seen a sharp decline in their waiting rooms as patients have shied away from in-person appointments or had elective procedures postponed. Even patients with serious conditions are avoiding hospitals due to
Read More
Machine Learning Will Transform Medicine, but Only if We Use it Right
World chess champion Garry Kasparov made headlines all over the world in 1997 for something that he probably wasn’t very excited about. He lost a chess match. To a computer.
It was an IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue and its victory in that New York City match marked the first time a reigning world chess champion had been defeated by a computer under tournament conditions. It was also a symbolically significant event, the first sign that artificial intelligence could become equal to or even
Read More
