A recent article by Atul Gawande in The New Yorker describes the level of preparedness at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, as it encountered the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the U.S. The emergency department was as prepared as anyplace, and had rehearsed the scenarios, and reviewed the CDC checklist for Ebola preparedness. They had asked about fever in people who had traveled from the region of West Africa beset by Ebola, per the protocol. In fact, the triage nurse in the
Read More
Communication vs. Collaboration in Healthcare: What’s the Difference?
In healthcare, there has been much talk and much activity within health IT circles about communicating across institutional barriers. We are now in an era where a majority of physicians, and most hospitals, have moved from paper record keeping to Electronic Health Records (EHRs). By-and-large, these EHRs are implemented within healthcare institutions (hospitals, large delivery systems, and independent doctors’ offices), and the medical data about patients is confined to the institution that
Read More
The Role of Claims Data in HealthIT: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
As we move towards building a universal patient-centered data platform in health IT, several sources of data are useful. Data coming from transitions of care, clinical summary documents (C-CDAs) which can be shared between healthcare providers taking care of a patient, and claims data from insurance payers – these are all sources of data that can build the universal health record.
With all the focus in interoperability discussions around sharing data found in clinical Electronic Health Records
Read More
Push vs. Pull: 3 Myths about Health Data Sharing
Dr. Robert Rowley shares three myths about health data sharing.
Read More
Moving Clinical Data Aggregation Beyond Interoperability
In healthcare, having a complete picture of a patient’s health record is key to providing high-quality care. Yet that is seldom the case, even though a majority of physicians and almost all hospitals have implemented an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
Read More
What is the Future Role of EHRs in the Health IT Ecosystem?
What is the future role of EHRs? Dr. Robert Rowley shares his insights.
Some very interesting trends are occurring in the health IT arena, which raise the question of what role Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems will have in the future. A few years ago, the focus for health care professionals and hospitals was EHR acquisition and implementation, as well as qualification and access to federal incentive money from the EHR Incentive Program (Meaningful Use).
This year, as could be
Read More
When Do Physicians Behave Like Consumers?
When do physicians behave like consumers? Dr. Robert Rowley shares his insights.
We are seeing a flood of health IT tools come in to the market, some simple and some highly complex. The way that physicians approach the adoption of these tools has major implications for vendors.
Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems have been the centerpiece of health IT for a number of years, and now a majority of U.S. physicians and hospitals have adopted EHRs into their practice. Getting these systems
Read More
Value-Based Healthcare Payments – What Kind of Health IT Is Needed?
Dr. Robert Rowley identifies two main areas where modern health IT will be needed for the changes toward value-based healthcare reimbursement.
Read More
Patient Centered Data Is The Best Solution for “Meaningful Consent”
Dr. Robert Rowley discusses how a patient centered data approach to unified health data is emerging, and requires re-thinking health information exchange.
Read More
Taking A Patient-Centered Approach to Building Healthcare Data
Dr. Robert Rawley outlines the importance of moving from an organization-centric to a patient-centered approach to building healthcare data as the next stage in the evolution of healthcare.
Read More
