The old adage “knowledge is power” may seem cliched, but it definitely still rings true in the life sciences industry. In fact, maybe more so than in any other industry, healthcare insights are being driven by a vast array of critically important data from scientific research, clinical trials, and patient profiling. Teams are continually asked to identify, prioritize and develop promising therapies which are not only safe but innovative, effective and based on the latest research.
To achieve
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Why Medicare Advantage Will Lead the Way on Healthcare Consumerism
For years, the healthcare industry has been abuzz with the concept of “consumerism” and the potential implications to insurance companies, providers and patients. Stakeholders from across the industry have opined on what it means create a healthcare system more focused on consumers, often with little impact to actual consumer experience or outcomes.
One spot of genuinely consumer-centric innovation and execution is in the Medicare Advantage (MA) space, where select health plans can offer
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4 Steps Healthcare Organizations Need to Take to Automate Their Data
According to IDC, all the data that’s being created and captured in healthcare is projected to grow by 36 percent (CAGR)—more than any other industry.
While managing growing volumes of data is a common challenge for many organizations across all sectors, healthcare is uniquely set apart by the sheer number of new data sources that’s being made available—with new sources being added all the time. This is driven in large part by advancements in telemedicine, personalized or precision medicine, as
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Why the Healthcare CIO Holds the Greatest Potential for Change
Consumers expect every brand interaction they have, whether at the doctor’s office or with their health insurer, to mirror the ones they have with companies like Amazon and Google: personalized, connected, and convenient. The healthcare industry, however, isn’t nearly ready to deliver on these connected experiences — not while data remains siloed across departments and organizations.
The need for interoperability — getting discrete systems and software applications to connect, exchange, and
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4 Areas Where Big Data is Transforming Healthcare Right Now
Leveraging technology in the right ways can make or break the future of healthcare. One of the ways that healthcare will become more efficient, more affordable, and save more lives is through the use of big data.
What is Big Data?
Big data refers to a large amount of information being digitized, consolidated, standardized, analyzed and modeled. In healthcare, big data uses specific statistics from a population or an individual to research new advancements, reduce costs, and even cure or prevent
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Why Healthcare Is Finally Moving To The Cloud
When I started in this industry, the idea that we would put patient information in the cloud was an absurdity. How on earth could anyone justify putting the most sensitive information in our personal lives somewhere other than a locked cupboard, in the safety of a hospital? We would never dream of letting paper patient charts leave the hospital or clinic, so why would we let them leave simply because they are electronic?
Historically, security was tied to proximity and direct control, nowhere
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Helping VA to Combat Infectious Disease Across the Full Continuum of Care
VA hospitals and clinicians face challenges not present in commercial hospitals, which is that they provide Veterans with 100 percent of care services throughout their lifetimes. With a focus on the full continuum of care, this includes specialty care at VA clinics for chronic conditions, acute hospital admissions and/or ER visits, all prescriptions filled at VA pharmacies, and end-of-life care in a VA community living centers/nursing homes. In VISN4, there are nine VA Medical Centers serving
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5 Steps to Achieving a Mature Enterprise-Class Quality Program
The game is changing faster than ever as more payer contracts and regulatory programs adopt risk-based models. To be successful, payer and provider organizations know they must increase quality scores and revenue while reducing avoidable medical costs. Yet, the providers who are critical to that success are burned out. According to a recent survey, nearly one-third of providers say their biggest frustration is constant “busy work,” such as electronic health record (EHR) data entry and prior
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How Will FY2020 IPPS Proposed Rule Affect Hospital CDI Programs?
In April, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the fiscal year (FY) 2020 inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) proposed rule. The proposed rule notably includes approximately 1,500 complications or comorbidities (CC)/major complications or comorbidities (MCC) designation changes and 324 changes to International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10-CM codes, along with several other updates. The designation changes are an effort to respond to the notion that the
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Are Your Clinical Leaders Empowered to Make Data-Driven Changes that Impact Labor Spend?
Using data to drive decisions seems like an obvious choice when managing labor. However, selecting the most appropriate data to analyze is easier said than done, as healthcare systems continue to collect more and more information throughout the patient stay.
Collecting, validating, and sharing actionable information is critical in supporting healthcare executives and department managers to make data-driven decisions that maximize labor savings opportunities without negatively impacting care at
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