As the Ebola outbreak heightens after a Dallas nurse was diagnosed with the virus after caring for Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan before he died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital reveals a brewing public health concern. Currently, there is no specific ICD-9 code for Ebola and is classified as 078.89, Other specified diseases due to viruses. The lack of specificity in patient data limits the U.S.'s ability to immediately track and respond to the Ebola outbreak from a public health
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Philips Debuts Wearable Diagnostic Prototype for COPD Patients
Today at the Dreamforce 2014 conference in San Francisco, Royal Philips and Nijmegen NL-based Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc) announced the debut of a wearable diagnostic prototype to support patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The launch marks the start of joint explorations between Philips and Radboudumc to apply mobile, digital and cloud technologies to improve patient outcomes, care coordination and patient empowerment across the health continuum.
How
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VA Telehealth Visits Tops Over 2 Million in 2014
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that its national telehealth programs accounted for more than 2 million telehealth visits during fiscal year 2014. The total represents more than 690k veterans, accounting 12 percent of the overall veteran population.
With approximately 55 percent of veterans living in rural areas with limited access to VA healthcare services, telehealth is quickly become a viable option of healthcare. Currently, there are more than 44 clinical
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Report: 3 Key Barriers to Interoperability
Cost and technical challenges are key barriers to interoperability for healthcare organizations, according to the latest 2014 eHealth Initiative poll results on health data exchange. In its 11th annual survey 135 organizations including 74 community-based HIOs, 25 statewide efforts, 26 healthcare delivery organizations were polled on:
- Interoperability
- Data Use and Access
- Clinical and business motivators
Respondents identified the following top three challenges/barriers to
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U. of New Mexico Health Awarded $15M for Telehealth Project
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMS) has awarded the department of Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMH) $15,120,767 for a new telehealth project, AP reports. The project will provide 30 hospitals throughout the state with around the clock remote access to emergency neurological and neurosurgical consultations conducted by medical experts based at the UNM Medical Center in Albuquerque.
Each hospital will be provided with the
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Practice Fusion Expands Cloud EHR Platform to Puerto Rico With 3 New Partners
Practice Fusion, the nation’s largest cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) platform, today announced strategic partnerships with three of Puerto Rico’s premier health service companies, ASSERTUS Inc., Atlantic Pathology and HRP Labs. The partnerships are part of Practice Fusion’s effort to support the region’s doctors and their ability to participate in the healthcare ecosystem.
ASSERTUS Clearinghouse’s medical billing software ProClaim® is one of Puerto Rico’s largest medical billing
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The Average Health IT Salary is $89,879 in 2014
The average health IT salary is $89,879.43 with 30 percent also receiving an average bonus of $31,100.52, according to the new 2014 Health IT Salary report conducted by HeathITJobs.com. Project managers pulled in the highest salaries with an average of $111,648.73 last year.
The survey was sent out to over 8,000 health IT professionals and collected 697 responses during July and August of 2014. The infographic shown below illustrates the entire survey findings:
HealthITJobs.com is an
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Doctor On Demand and SeeChange Health Partner to Deliver Telemedicine to Employers
SeeChange Health, a leader in clinically driven health improvement as an enterprise service, announced that it is integrating Doctor On Demand, a healthcare service that provides Video Visits with board-certified physicians via smartphones, tablets or desktop computers, into its FlyWheel health improvement platform.
Employers will now easily be able to offer the convenient and affordable Doctor On Demand telemedicine service to their members with a single sign on through the FlyWheel portal.
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FitBit Has No Plans for HealthKit Integration
Despite the flood of health apps and devices rushing to integrate with Apple's HealthKit platform, FitBit has announced it currently has no plans for HealthKit integration, 9to5Mac first reports. In a response to a flurry of queries on their consumer forum section of their website, the fitness tracking developer replied:
“We do not currently have plans to integrate with HealthKit… It is an interesting new platform and we will watch as it matures, looking for opportunities to improve the
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Government: Is It The Best Venue for Reaching HIT Interoperability?
91% of providers said that interoperability was a primary driver for clinical outcomes, while 89% said the same about fiscal outcomes, according to a recent study by Smart Data pioneer peer60. The data gathered from VP’s of Quality, CNOs, CIO, and other key hospital leaders revealed more than 90 percent of healthcare leaders felt that interoperability will improve the overall experience of patients and clinicians. Leaders who worked closest to fiscal and clinical outcomes proved to be most
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