Government regulations require specific industries, such as healthcare and financial services, comply with data privacy regulations. These compliance requirements serve to protect private, confidential, and sensitive information from unwanted intruders that could attempt to intercept files in transit. Though organizations can take measures to ensure that their email solutions are agreeable to these demands, an email message will typically pass through multiple servers before it reaches the final
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Changing the Future of Healthcare Data with Blockchain
The blockchain is getting a lot of attention these days. Much of the attention is misguided—pitching blockchain as if it will magically solve all security and privacy issues—and makes it challenging to understand what blockchain is and the value it can provide. When you cut through the blockchain technology marketing hype, however, blockchain does offer a variety of potential benefits when it comes to maintaining the integrity of data and transactions. And one arena in which blockchain could
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Why Are Hospitals Still Using CDs to Exchange Medical Images with Patients?
For nearly two decades, CDs have been the primary medium for medical image exchanges between providers and patients. In the mid-1990’s, CDs provided a solution to the point-of-care and transportation issues of bulky, static film and reports. Recent years have brought a widespread adoption of electronic methods for storing and sharing information in the healthcare sector---namely EMR and now interoperability. Despite the rapid (and necessary) adoption of HIT, CDs remain the primary means of
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Why Healthcare Marketers Should Care about the Patient Financial Experience
What comes to mind when you think of health system marketing? For most people, it’s dynamic content on the organization’s latest clinical advancements, philanthropic efforts, wellness management and relationship-building efforts within the community it serves. It’s also understanding patients and their motivations, using consumer research and analysis, focus groups, surveys, and other tools. You probably don’t think about the healthcare billing experience.It’s understandable. Frank discussions
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How Cloud Connectivity is Driving Medical Device Innovation in 2018 & Beyond
The healthcare industry is facing numerous global challenges in 2018, with ballooning costs, changing payment models and new legislation that routinely changes the relationship between patients, regulators, health care providers and health insurance carriers. With an aging global population and worldwide healthcare spending expected to grow from $7.1 trillion to $8.7 trillion by 2020, new technologies, products, and services in the healthcare space must demonstrate cost-effectiveness while
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Is Behavioral Economics in Healthcare The Key to Future Patient Compliance?
In 2009, mostly to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the U.S. government increased the tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to a $1.01. What followed was a demonstration of what we now commonly call behavioral economics.When taxes drove the price of cigarettes up, teenage smoking rates fell 10 percent, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and overall smoking dropped more than 8 percent, the most significant dip in smoking since 1932. The increase-taxes approach to
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MGT Act Gives Pause to Reconsider the Mainframe for Government-Run Healthcare Organizations
IT consultants working with government-run healthcare organizations are getting many questions right now about the newly passed MGT Act, which carves out funds for government agencies to modernize their technologies. These agencies have just started applying for this funding, and as they ponder where to begin, many are looking squarely at the figurehead of so-called legacy technologies, the mainframe. Mainframe systems have been used by government agencies for years to support large databases
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Virtual Reality: 4 Ways Mixed Reality Helps Pediatric Patients
Hospitals can be depressing, scary or boring, making people feel isolated and out of the loop. But this experience is several times more challenging for children, especially those in need of prolonged treatment. There can be unpleasant tests and procedures, strict visiting rules, and not so many available activities to entertain or distract young patients.Thankfully, technology is ready to alleviate hospital stay for the youngest patients, as mixed reality gradually integrates with pediatric
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HMS’ Jennifer Forster Talks Leveraging Social Determinants of Health to Improve Population Health Outcomes
HMS’ Jennifer Forster explains how payers can cut costs and improve population health outcomes by incorporating social determinants of health (SDoH) into the mix.While the future of precision medicine is often associated with advances in genomics, there is more to consider when it comes to developing personalized treatment and PHM efforts. In fact, considering social determinants of health (SDoH), a recent and growing trend in predictive analytics, is gaining traction.A new study in Population
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Can Bots Take the Patient Experience to the Next Level?
In today’s mobile-first environment, it’s somewhat surprising that nearly 30 percent of healthcare providers still use phone calls — and only phone calls — to ensure patients make it into their scheduled appointments. While fewer Americans tend to answer their phone calls, they do use their phones for text messaging. In healthcare, the benefits of text message appointment reminders are increasingly recognized and on the rise, but this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to providing a
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