The expansion of Medicaid and insurance subsidies through the ACA meant 20.4 million more people had health insurance in 2016 than in 2010. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, somewhere just north of 20 million Americans would lose health insurance in the various repeal-and-replace scenarios that have been floated of late and rejected, for now. That number jumps to 30 million-plus if Obamacare is simply repealed.What all proposed ACA-repeal legislation has in common is
Read More
Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Why The Opioid Epidemic Makes EHRs Essential To Public Health
When public health is threatened by an outbreak of SARS or Zika or avian influenza, widely disseminated information becomes a crucial tool used to curtail the spread of disease.But transmittable diseases are not the lone threats to public health. Other metaphorically pathogenic events—the current opioid epidemic, for example—are more effectively managed by making sure doctors have complete information when evaluating patients and, especially, writing prescriptions.Even if you know what the
Read More
Mobile Messaging vs. Online Patient Portals: Streamlining the Patient Intake Process
The waiting room is full, there is a line forming in front of the scheduling desk, new patient information has to be collected, patients’ records must be updated, and appointments need to be rescheduled. The patient intake process, particularly for new patients, can be time-consuming and arduous for administrative staff.One of the most effective ways to reduce staff’s workload, while speeding up the patient intake process, is with automated mobile-first messaging strategies. This approach
Read More
4 Ways Augmented Reality Will Transform the Medical World
Looking to the near and distant future of medical technology, augmented reality (AR) will be central to innovation. The medical field will be enhanced dramatically via the rise of augmented reality products emerging in the market. In just a few years, the entire healthcare experience will look entirely different from the medical environment today. How so?By overlapping valuable medical information with the real world – whether it be making visible patient information, mapping an individual’s
Read More
Why Data Governance Is The Backbone to Artificial Intelligence’s Potential
A recent contributor to HIT Consultant made a bold, yet not too far fetched statement about the data analytics space. He noted that applied artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, and that the more common form of healthcare analytics will slowly but surely be replaced. For a quick IT lesson, applied AI refers to the intersection of artificial intelligence and machine learning, where the best of human intelligence is brought together with the best of computing capabilities.Related: Why
Read More
Healthcare in the Gigabit Society: Improving Care by Improving Connectivity
Today’s technologies are expected to offer tremendous potential for innovation in the healthcare industry. In fact, the digital health market is expected to surpass $379 billion by 2024.The reasons behind this expected growth is two-fold; the current infrastructure in healthcare is already outdated, and the world around us continues to innovate.As communities become more connected and technology continues to be ingrained in almost every part of our life, healthcare needs to keep pace. Current
Read More
Healthcare Cybersecurity: 10 Tips for Keeping Private Health Data Secure
Healthcare data is some of the most sensitive personal information that exists today. It is also one of the most sought after – and most frequently breached – data types. For organizations across the healthcare industry, protecting health data is proving to be increasingly challenging.Healthcare providers and their business partners must balance protecting patient privacy while delivering quality patient care and meeting the strict regulatory requirements set forth by HIPAA and other
Read More
Can Telemedicine Transform the Mental Health Care Delivery Model?
People who suffer from mental illness not only struggle with their condition, but oftentimes struggle to get care. This is especially concerning when you consider that mental illness affects 1 in 5 people or 43 million in the US and that number is growing.1 These individuals stand to benefit from behavioral health counseling and support, but unfortunately their need is met with a shortage of mental health professionals. In fact, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services
Read More
5 Common Mistakes Providers Make With Healthcare Analytics
It’s a brave new world of big data analytics, but what does that mean for healthcare systems? Healthcare data is crucial to enhancing patient care and outcomes. However, the uncertainty of where to start and what tools to use can be overwhelming. On top of that, how to meaningfully use analytics to take action is another concern. There are five common mistakes providers make with healthcare analytics that can be easily avoided when you better understand the questions you need to answer and how
Read More
Digitization beyond the Doc
Healthcare IT has a long way to go before it delivers truly transformative benefits to providers and patients across the healthcare continuum. However, the incremental steps that already have been taken should not be discounted. While a complete digital transformation in healthcare is going to take some time, creativity, and even a few missteps before we get it right, current health IT capabilities are adding value to care delivery.Take EHRs, for example. For all of their well-publicized
Read More
