Alexa is surging. An upgraded Siri and Samsung’s upcoming Bixby may soon compete in the home. Google is successfully catching up.Today’s virtual assistants make it feel like Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more pervasive than ever. And it is – with some substantial caveats. These agents are all powered by a combination of machine learning software and behavioral algorithms. Their “learning” is based on finding patterns in data, then (a) adjusting themselves by applying lessons learned to newly
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Health IT | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Healthcare M&A Analysis: Why Did Philips Acquire PHM Vendor VitalHealth?
Editor's Note: Alex Green is the Director and Principal Analyst at Signify Research, a UK-based market research firm focusing on health IT, digital health, and medical imaging. Alex is responsible for leading Signify Research’s Digital Health market intelligence portfolio, initially developing its coverage of the patient engagement platforms and portals marketPhilips announced on December 8th that it had acquired Dutch population health management (PHM) and eHealth platform provider VitalHealth
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Looking Ahead: 4 Healthcare Cybersecurity Predictions for 2018
Fortified Health Security, a provider of healthcare-focused information security, compliance and managed services recently released its annual Horizon Healthcare Cybersecurity Report. The Horizon Report reviews Fortified’s predictions for 2017 and how they fared against reality, while providing a summary of lessons learned during the past year.2017 TrendsIn 2017, Fortified conducted a security risk analysis, OCR mock audits, HITRUST certifications and strategic security planning for the majority
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10 Trends You Can Expect from Healthcare in 2018
With 2017 almost in the rear-view mirror, it is time to look forward to 2018 and how healthcare will evolve in this year. The last year has been an eventful one for healthcare, from the uproar in healthcare regulations to potential mega-mergers. Needless to say, it’s a time of transition, and healthcare is in a very fluid state- evolving and expanding. There are certainly going to be new ways to keep healthcare providers and health IT pros stay engaged and excited, and here are our top 10
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UnitedHealth Group Makes $2.8B Bid to Acquire South American Provider to Expand Operations
Minnetonka-based health insurer UnitedHealth Group has launched a tender offer as an initial step towards acquiring Empresas Banmédica, a leading healthcare provider and insurer serving Chile, Colombia and Per for nearly six million people across more than 40 hospitals. The $2.8B bid would expand UnitedHealth Group's operations in South America, where the largest health insurer in the United States already is a large healthcare provider and insurer in Brazil. The announcement comes on the heels
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4 Leading Health IT Trends That Will Continue in 2018
Several notable trends from 2017 will continue to impact the health information technology (HIT) industry in the new year. Ransomware tops the list, particularly after this May’s WannaCry worldwide cyberattack, followed closely by increased awareness of electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) as an “upstream solution” to battling the nation’s mounting opioid abuse crisis. Beyond the ongoing development of these two leading trends, HIT experts are also asking two key questions as
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5 Healthcare Marketing Trends for Providers To Watch in 2018
PatientPop, the leader in practice growth technology for healthcare providers has announced the release of their 2018 Healthcare Marketing Trends for Providers. The whitepaper outlines healthcare marketing trends providers can leverage in the new year to attract more patients and offer the best patient experience. “Healthcare providers want to know what they can do to make sure next year is better than the last,” says Luke Kervin, PatientPop co-founder and co-CEO in a statement. “Revamping
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USF Taps Kyruus to Optimize Patient-Provider Matching
Kyruus announced today that USF Health at the University of South Florida has selected the company’s ProviderMatch solutions to improve patient access and optimize patient-provider matching to deliver an enhanced patient and provider satisfaction. As USF Health is a growing academic medical center, Kyruus’ technology will help streamline access center operations and ensure patients are being matched to the most clinically appropriate provider based on their unique preferences. Situated in an
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Can A Moneyball Approach Bring Change to Evidence-based Medicine?
In the early 2000s, in preparation to write his bestseller, Moneyball, author Michael Lewis was trying to figure out how the Oakland Athletics could possibly be successful. A small-market team hemmed in by financial limitations, the A’s were regularly competitive even though their budget was dwarfed by that of teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.“… part of the answer was, the experts in judging baseball talent—the baseball scouts—made a lot of mistakes,” Lewis explained. The
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Practice Fusion EHR Achieves Quality Assurance (NCQA) Certification
Practice Fusion, the web-based EHR company, has achieved Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) pre-validation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for NCQA’s PCMH 2017 Program. This status brings Practice Fusion’s customers one step closer to achieving PCMH recognition through the streamlined identification of potential health IT solutions. Practices that are able to attain PCMH Recognition reap a number of measurable benefits as well as maintaining and improving upon the
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