This year’s HIMSS Conference offered some exciting insights and a renewed focus on data-sharing and interoperability. While the healthcare industry has been extolling the virtues of data interoperability for years until recently it has remained one of the biggest obstacles to providing quality healthcare today. Yet, the tides are turning. New government regulations, like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ interoperability rules and the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Is Telehealth Healthcare’s Biggest Cyber Threat?
It’s time to get used to seeing your doctor from a digital screen, as virtual care is projected to expand well into the future. And while telehealth technology has proven to be highly beneficial in supporting the shift to virtual healthcare, it has also introduced a host of new vulnerabilities and opportunities for security breaches. Cybercriminals have always preyed on the healthcare industry, but with this virtual transition, the substantial increase in connectivity and network exposure has
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Why On-Site Search Should Be A Priority for Healthcare
Healthcare websites are dependably complicated. From finding providers to searching for locations, customers are forced to dig around a growing bevy of care options. To simplify the customer experience, a modern approach to onsite search is needed.
The rigid search tools of old are just that – outdated. Customers expect to effortlessly find what they need. And establishing a connection with a customer – at the onset of a visit – starts with a
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Why Health Plans Must Have Next-Gen CAPS Technology for Digital Transformation
Core Administrative Processing Systems (CAPS) operate as the brains behind a health plan’s business. These systems are critical to the smooth functioning of a health plan. Today, many payers run on decades-old CAPS systems built on legacy technologies. This can be a serious drawback.
Legacy systems may have been efficient based on the technology and best practices of decades past, but have aged beyond their time. They often require an increasing number of workarounds and fixes to try to
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4 Patient Flow Challenges Contributing to Provider Burnout
There has been frequent reporting about the problem of provider workforce shortages within hospitals and health systems and the related burnout experienced when working in high-stress situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are pre-existing and contributing patient flow challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, which can lead to burnout, and therefore are worth discussing.
Exposing the Problem
The extent of provider burnout over the course of the pandemic is well
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Racist Events Can Have Spillover Effects, Triggering Mental, Physical Health Responses Beyond Immediate Victim
This article is excerpted from the Hurdle Health Research Report “Voices of a Collective Experience: Vicarious Racism and its Effects on Black Mental Health.”
In the Brooklyn mural, an American flag undulates behind him. The one in Gaza City, Palestine crowns him with two hands—one Black, one White—making the shape of
a heart. In Naples, Italy, he weeps blood, reminiscent of religious artwork of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Another, in Los Angeles, drapes red tape with the words “I
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Outdated Pain Models & The Rise of New Science on Chronic Pain
More than 50 million adults in the United States – more than 20% – suffer from chronic pain, and more than 19.6 million adults have pain that interferes with their lives more days than not. The estimated cost of chronic pain is $635 billion – more than heart disease and cancer combined – due to the number of days missed from work, treatment costs, and other factors. Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability, but the current pain treatment system isn’t working. This is because it hasn’t
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Is It Finally Time for Hospital-at-Home or is Time Up?
All the signs point to a bright and expansive future for hospital-at-home programs, which have been growing steadily since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) created the Acute Hospital at Home waiver program in November 2020. As of March, nearly 100 health systems and more than 200 hospitals in 34 states had been approved for the program. Meanwhile, Forrester predicts the number of hospitals delivering acute care at home will triple in 2022. The reasons why are compelling: a study
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Taking the Pulse on eCME – What’s Next for Continued Medical Education
Over the past two years, we’ve witnessed the massive digital disruption in healthcare that was spurred by the pandemic. The most frequent example tends to be in the rapid adoption of technology like telemedicine, but this disruption has touched even the most seemingly small pieces of the healthcare ecosystem and will have long lasting consequences.
Just consider the conferences that once used to draw large crowds of physicians seeking to attain their continuing medical education (CME)
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No Mask, No COVID-19 Pandemic, Right?
The end of the public transportation mask mandate, officially undone by federal Judge Kathryn Mizelle on April 18, may be recognized as the day the COVID-19 pandemic ended in America.
Except it hasn’t ended in any real sense. The virus continues to produce new variants of greater or lesser transmissibility and lethality; for now, comparatively small numbers of people continue to die of the virus daily and weekly; and the CDC continues to recommend that the elderly and immunocompromised take
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