Shelter-in-place orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic have exaggerated the social exclusion and loneliness of many elderly and vulnerable individuals, thereby increasing their chances of experiencing critical health complications. This trend—combined with societal shifts including reduced inter-generational living, greater geographical mobility, and less cohesive communities—has placed the elderly at heightened risk of being isolated and, consequently, in harm’s way.
Fortunately for senior
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
For Better Patient Care Coordination, We Need Seamless Digital Communications
A recent Advisory Board briefing examined the annual Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Readmission penalties. Of the 3,080 hospitals CMS evaluated, 83% received a penalty for payments to be made in 2021, based on expected outcomes for a wide variety of treated conditions. While CMS indicated that some of these penalties might be waived or delayed due to the impacts of the Covid pandemic on hospital procedure volumes and revenue, they are indicative of a much larger
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COVID-19 Exposed The True Vulnerability of Healthcare Infrastructure
In 2019, 41 million patient records breached in 572 reported incidents at an average cost of $1.8 million per breach. These statistics are far from surprising with healthcare records selling for a reported average of $45 on the dark web. Unfortunately, the year 2020 aggravated these issues as COVID-19 exposed the true vulnerability of the healthcare infrastructure. Organizations not only had to manage the medical and financial impacts of the pandemic but also the security risks inherent in the
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Why Some COVID-19 Testing Protocols Aren’t What You Think
While countries around the world continue to flounder with regards to COVID-19 testing, everyone is wondering how national governments could get things so horribly wrong. It’s true that governments have acted incompetently, leaders can make poor judgment calls, and optimistic testing targets are rarely achieved.
But the claims of various ambitious big pharma companies—about their ability to deliver on capacity and accuracy alike—have created a smokescreen for decision-makers, one that has
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Is Broadband Access The Missing Key to Improving Rural Healthcare?
The plain truth is that rural America has always had a market failure problem.
In the 1930s, the problem manifests as woefully inadequate telephone and electrical service. The spaces were just too wide open, the potential customers too few, for companies to invest in America’s in-between places.
In response to this market inefficiency, a federal government led by Franklin Roosevelt stepped in and created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). Within 20 years, phone
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Medical Device Design: 4 Ways Designers Can Create Medical Devices That Work for Everyone
Medical device design has been going through sweeping
changes over the last decade. Ten years ago,
medical device companies weren't concerned with delivering consumer-level
design: Devices that are both attractive and intuitively easy to use by a wide
variety of users. Then the Affordable Care
Act was passed, and adherence and healthy behavior change became a
regulatory requirement.
Our firm, which has been a long-time proponent of the
“consumerization” of medical
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Gleaning Insights for COVID-19: Why Claims and Clinical Data Matter
Healthcare organizations continue to rely heavily on data analytics to try to improve COVID-19 outcomes and public health. Since the novel coronavirus became widespread in the U.S., healthcare data scientists have leveraged clinical and claims data to pinpoint which underlying conditions put patients at higher risk of complications from COVID-19. Health systems are mining clinical data to predict surges in COVID-19 cases and looking at key factors—including increases in hospital website traffic,
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As Telehealth Surges, Are Seniors Being Left Behind?
A global health crisis has thrust us into a scenario in which lives quite literally depend on the ability to virtually connect. Telehealth has rapidly emerged as a vital tool, enabling continuity of care, allowing vulnerable individuals to access their physician from home, and freeing up resources for providers to treat the most critical patients. The acceptance of telehealth and expansion of covered services for the senior population demonstrate that this technology will endure long after
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Despite COVID-19: Providers Should Not Lose Sight of MIPS Compliance
When 2020 began, no one anticipated that complying with the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)—the flagship payment model of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP)—would look so different halfway through the year. Like many other things, the COVID-19 crisis has delayed, diverted, or derailed many organizations’ reporting efforts and capabilities. Lower procedure volumes, new remote work scenarios, and shifting priorities have taken attention
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Billions in Federal Provider Relief Funds Have Been Distributed. Now Come Auditing and Compliance.
Of the $175 billion in federal Provider Relief Funds (PRF) allocated to healthcare providers, $125 billion has been accepted by hospitals and healthcare providers. The cash infusion was designed to cover costs related to COVID-19 related care. These targeted payments were earmarked for preventing, preparing for, and responding to the Coronavirus, solely for reimbursement of healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue directly attributable to COVID-19.
Early on, providers who received PRF
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