Editor's Note: Neil Simon is Chief Operating Officer of Aprima Medical Software, a provider of electronic health record, practice management and revenue cycle management solutions for medical practices.Though the overwhelming majority of physicians use certified electronic health records (EHR), data sharing among clinicians is still relatively uncommon. A 2015 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey found that nearly 60% of all U.S. primary care providers were unable to
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
A Scientific Guide to Repeal & Replace Obamacare
“So how about it, Nash? You scared?” “Terrified... mortified... petrified... stupefied... by you.” (--A Beautiful Mind)Fear is now a sign that you are an intelligent, educated, open-minded and caring person. Being scared is incontestable proof that you have a beautiful heart. When it comes to your health, there is palpable terror that soon, very soon, the bad guys will take away Obamacare, which was the source of health care and life itself for many. And make no mistake the enemy is coming for
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FHIR: Summer is Coming
Editor's Note: Lori Mehen is the Co-founder of Medlio, a next-generation platform that empowers healthcare consumers to engage and manage their healthcare experience. “Let me give you some advice, bastard. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” - Tyrion Lannister, Game of ThronesTrust me. The irony is not lost on us.After years of toiling in obscurity on a set of problems repeatedly “negged” by investors and industry
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3 Things EHRs Can’t Do For You And Why
Editor's Note: Bryan Haardt is the Co-Founder and CEO of Decisio Health, Inc., an early-stage healthcare IT company behind the unique clinical intelligence platform that helps improve clinical outcomes with real-time, actionable patient information to care teams at the patient bedside.Electronic health records have been the bedrock of hospital systems for decades, providing crucial billing and patient management services. The downside is that these systems have largely remained unchanged, built
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Providers: Thinking of Buying More EHR Than You Can Afford? Think Carefully
There wasn’t just one cause of the 2008 Great Recession, but certainly a major factor was the creative lending instruments banks used to qualify prospective home buyers. As is now well known, massive mortgage defaults among those homeowners undermined the integrity of mortgage-backed securities and came within a hair’s breadth of tanking both the American and global economies.Leading up to 2008, people misunderstood what they were buying and didn’t see the potential for financial catastrophe. In
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The Viability of Rural Healthcare Relies On Evolution
Choice can be a double-edged sword—we all want more of it, but with too many choices paralysis can set in. Choosing a physician or hospital, for example, in an urban or suburban area without some kind of recommendation can truly be a daunting task.But it beats having few or no choices. Increasingly, that’s the situation rural Americans find themselves in as the number of hospitals decreases and specialists stay in the cities.While this may have been the trend in rural healthcare over the past 10
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It’s 2017. Do You Know Where Your Health IT Interoperability Is?
With January barely behind us and new occupants in the White House, perhaps it’s a good time to set aside what might change for a moment and focus on what must. Interoperability is a more urgent concern in 2017 due to goals established last year by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONCHIT) and the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, which legally requires healthcare IT interoperability by the end of the current calendar year.The Interoperability Standards Advisory for 2017, released by
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KLAS: Population Health Vendors Lack Robust Solutions, but Agree with Providers on Roadmap for Progress
Editor's Note: Bradley Hunter is the Research Director of Population Health at KLAS Research. As population health management goes mainstream, providers need robust, integrated software solutions to aggregate and analyze data, coordinate care, engage patients and clinicians, and provide full administrative and financial functionality. Providers report that vendors fall short of what they need, according to the recently published KLAS Research 2016 Population Health Management Perception Report.
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Best Practices on Achieving Patient Engagement & Having The Patience to Make It Work
When people in healthcare use the phrase ‘patient engagement,’ they mean involving patients more in their own care, perhaps urging them to be more responsible for their own health.From a costs perspective, this makes sense. No one argues that the healthcare system is not rife with waste and duplication, and much of the treatment would be unnecessary if patients paid attention to their health well before dramatic efforts are the only remaining option. Also unarguable is the impact healthcare has
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Why Telehealth is Poised to Revolutionize Dermatology
Editor's Note: Dr. Robert M. Colton, MD is the Chairman of ClearlyDerm, a Florida-based dermatology practice. Dr. Colton previously co-founded MDVIP, a successful concierge medical practice which was sold to Proctor and Gamble in 2009.With its potential to cut costs and improve overall access to care, telehealth may be the innovation dermatologists have been waiting for.Like so many other industries, healthcare has had to adapt to a consumer base that increasingly prefers web-based services to
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