There are close to a quarter million primary care physicians in the U.S., more than any other individual specialty, and about half the total number of all specialists combined. Yet, somehow, primary care seems to lack the power and social influence necessary to chart its own professional course. As the availability and granularity of specialist physicians increased, the value proposition of a generalist primary care doctor seems to have become unclear to those who pay for medical services and to
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Inside The Secret Life of Your Healthcare Data
There’s a rising tide of healthcare data. It lifts many hopes for better healthcare, but also surfaces one troubling issue: reliability of data. Just how confident are you of the reliability of your data?
As a healthcare provider, you already know that data permeates your office workload. This impacts a critical feature of your operations: your workflow, a process you probably evolved over many years. Suddenly, you’re now doing “refreshes” to accommodate the new data volumes you’re
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The Uberization of Healthcare
Editor's Note: Stuart Karten is the principal of Karten Design, a product innovation consultancy creating positive experiences between people and products specializing in health technology. This post was adapted from a speech given at MD&M West on Feb. 12.
The Uber business model will soon come to healthcare.
Just as Uber changed transportation in positive—and sometimes controversial—ways, healthcare will be infiltrated by startups wanting to change the healthcare model from
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The Evolution of Enterprise Databases and EHR Interoperability
There are many parallels between the enterprise database sector and EHRs. Can the evolution of this database industry guide progress in the EHR front? I think there are a number of similarities and solutions which can address the proposed problems facing EHRs and the global healthcare system.
Oracle, the first commercially available database system, has been in existence for more than 35 years. As a company, Oracle has encountered numerous competitive, technologic and economic challenges
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Is Real Life Health IT Drama on Capitol Hill Like House of Cards?
In anticipation of House of Cards Season 4, and with all due respect to the show’s creators, I think real life is giving us a perfect plot line that includes politicians, corporate interests, their lobbyists and a big fat government contract. Maybe Francis and Claire have me seeing conspiracies everywhere, but it seems a chain of recent health IT events have created intrigue in what is historically our staid, conservative industry.
Follow the timeline with me and decide for yourself if I’m
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The “Cashification” of Healthcare
It’s understandable that so many people automatically assume that health insurance provides a benefit. After all, we’ve been conditioned for so long to think that insurance, through some arrangement with our employer, is actually picking up the tab. If that’s true, why not go with the steak instead of the chicken, and for that matter, why not throw in dessert?
For anyone who thinks we haven’t been acting like perfect healthcare consumers for the last 30 years, you may want a refresher on
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Is Universal Health Data Platforms the “Holy Grail” of Interoperability?
Health information exchange (the verb) has been the goal of health IT, now that we have moved into the “post-EHR adoption” era of healthcare. Published and private surveys have shown that about 80% of physician practices have implemented an EHR, and of those, about 90% have participated in meaningful use. The challenge before us now, then, is somehow connecting the fragmented places where health data resides, and bring them together into a unified health data layer that is current,
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3 Facts Proving The Future of Google Glass in Healthcare is Brighter Than Ever
There have been tons of recent reports and op-eds following recent announcements from Google about the changes to the Glass program. Unfortunately, much of the reporting has been misleading. Let's start by getting the facts straight, then consider what's next for Glass.
Facts:
1) Glass is “graduating” from Google[x], the company’s research division, and becoming a full-fledged business unit within Google proper.
2) The new business unit will be overseen by Tony Fadell, who led the iPod
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5 Key Steps to Reduce Outpatient Coding Denials
Assessing current outpatient coding procedures and creating a plan that aligns HIM, clinical documentation improvement, and revenue cycle will help reduce claim denials and improve the overall financial health of your organization.
Time is money. It’s a well-known phrase that applies to every industry whether you are repairing a broken pipe or scrolling through endless pages of physician dictation to find the specific detail needed for a code. Efficiency is a key component to keeping
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Can Life Sciences Companies Evolve to Accountable Care?
Healthcare providers continue to assume increasing amounts of risk in care delivery. This has major implications, not just for providers and patients, but also vendors in IT, diagnostics, therapeutics and devices. If providers assume risk, why shouldn't their vendors?
We're already seeing this to some extent in emerging health IT companies. Most health IT innovation discussions revolve around driving value through population health, big data analytics and patient engagement. But many of these
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