Despite falling from its prominent place in the headlines, America’s opioid crisis is still raging. Anxiety, stress, depression, and isolation caused by the pandemic have contributed to substance use disorders. At the same time, the Drug Enforcement Administration has loosened prescribing restrictions, including waiving the requirement for in-person visits and allowing clinicians to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine alone.
Given these conditions, it is not surprising that over
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
How Machine Learning Is Helping Consumers Take Action on Their Health
For years machine learning (ML) has been touted as a way for health plans to leverage the mounds of data they collect on their members, but practical use cases remain relatively uncommon. For some, the perception may be that ML is a futuristic and somewhat impersonal way to operate, but the exact opposite is true — ML is already being used and is here to stay, and when deployed correctly it actually creates a more personalized experience for members.
The first thought might be that ML and
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SDOH Strategies All Provider Organizations Should be Adopting Now
There is growing concern among many well-respected providers about the consequences of fewer preventive services over the past 1½ years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As patients slowly start to resume care throughout 2021 and into 2022, experts predict we will see a spike in the number of severe or late-stage diagnoses that normally would have been caught much earlier. As a result, we may face more complex situations and costlier treatments in terms of their economic, physical, and
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Hospital at Home: Aligning Provider Needs with Patient Wishes
2020 saw three factors combine to define the future of “Hospital at Home” care in a way that will become a new care reality over the coming years.
Changing Patient Attitudes
Patients became more reluctant and concerned about going to hospitals. The fear of contracting illnesses such as Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs), like sepsis, is a real and legitimate concern. While the number of patients has been declining, around 100,000 people die each year in the US from contracting an HAI in
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4 Best Practices to Deliver Virtual Palliative Care for Providers
More and more people are living with serious illnesses such as cancer, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and liver disease. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) reports that 60 percent of U.S. adults have a chronic disease, which is the leading cause of death and disability and the leading driver of healthcare costs.
Palliative care is well-positioned to meet the unique needs of seriously ill individuals by helping to deliver
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Why Moving Enterprise Data Management to the Health Cloud Is Worth The Investment
Accelerated digitalization is a boon for the healthcare industry. With electronic healthcare records (EHRs), provider organizations can more easily manage population health and meet the needs of stakeholders. However, the increased use of electronic records also means that providers need to adjust their data management strategies to meet patient expectations and ensure integrity, interoperability, and security while complying with policies and regulations. To do that, they need to move away from
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Healthcare Leaders: The Importance of Embracing Patient Engagement
We are incredibly lucky to live in a historically connected world. The internet, smartphones, and technology of all kinds have brought people together in ways unimaginable just a few decades ago. These massive communications paradigm shifts have also left their mark on medicine, although in an unpredictable way. One of the most positive impacts on healthcare hasn’t been a breakthrough treatment or therapy – but an increase in patient engagement and a deep understanding of its importance in
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RCM: The Art of Compassionate Billing—and Why You Should Put Patients First
A woman is charged $22,000 for stitches and scar repair after being bitten by a dog. A man gets hit with a $30,000 bill for ACL reconstruction surgery. People around the country receive Covid-19 test bills ranging from a few dollars to more than $1,000—and to make things worse, they aren’t supposed to receive a bill, anyway.
Surprise billing in healthcare is a nightmare, and it happens all the time. It takes a severe emotional toll, as well as a monetary one. Nearly 30 million Americans
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Leveraging Technology to Optimize Staffing Shortages Post-Pandemic
Chronic understaffing and nurse burnout are two of the greatest and long-standing challenges within the healthcare industry. As a result of the pandemic, these challenges were acknowledged more than ever before. Pre-pandemic research highlighted the fact that the nurse vacancy rate in the United States was 9% at the start of 2020, while the average turnover of bedside nurses was 17%. These trends have only accelerated during COVID-19 and during this period of transitioning into a new normal.
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Telehealth: Short-Term Fad or Key to Improving Access to Affordable Healthcare?
While telehealth offerings have always held great promise, prior to 2020, their success was sometimes hindered by provider hesitation to adopt the technology, consumer reluctance to using virtual care, and a reimbursement methodology that did not value the investments required by providers or the positive impact on patients.
That all changed practically overnight when COVID-19 struck.
Use of telehealth spiked to more than 32% of office and outpatient visits by April 2020, thanks in
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