Contributed by Michael Sandwith, Director of Business Development at ICA
The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) aims to change the way hospitals deliver care by changing the financial incentives. There are different payment structures than can be used to encourage hospitals to lower costs, improve quality, or both. Since the goal of an ACO should be to lower costs and improve quality, using an accountability payment structure – one in which costs and quality are linked–will be the most
Read More
Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) and MAC: Failure and Success in 2012
By Lori Brocato, Audit Product Manager, HealthPort Lori Brocato, Audit Product Manager, HealthPort writes about the failures and successes of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC)
The latest CMS figures report nearly $600 million was recouped from healthcare providers in the first quarter of 2012 alone. Added to earlier overpayments, providers have “given back” over $1B since the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program began.
The success of
Read More
Texting: A Do or Don’t for Doctors?
According a recent Johnson & Coker report, 80% of doctors use smartphones. In addition to making calls and using apps, docs are using their smartphones to take advantage of one of today’s most convenient forms of communication: the text message.
Unlike so much about healthcare – treatment plans, wait times, the reimbursement cycle – texting is quick. And for doctors, as for everyone with thumbs, texting offers a simple way to communicate that doesn’t require making a call, writing down a
Read More
E-Prescribing Controlled Substances: The Time is NOW!
Written by Irene Froehlich, Director of Marketing at DrFirst
The healthcare industry has been talking about the benefits of e-prescribing for years. By now, the advantages offered to your practice and your patients—through increased workflow efficiency and reduced medication errors—are obvious.
However,making e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS) available to physicians has proven to be more of a challenge. This has frustrated providers, patients, and loved ones of patients alike.
Read More
Could Technology Be Driving The High Cost of Healthcare?
Written by Ahmed Mori at Care Cloud:
You wouldn’t know it from the overwhelming amount of positive press it receives, but amplified use of technology in healthcare could be one of the driving factors behind the high cost of healthcare in the United States.
However, it’s not the technology that you’re thinking of.
Read More
7 Tips to Get Physicians On Board with ICD-10
Written by Deborah Robb, BSHA, CPC, Physician Management Consultant for TrustHCS:
The American Medical Association, not satisfied with HHS’s push-back of the ICD-10 deadline to October 1, 2014, has protested again. Perhaps one of the reasons for their continued dissent is lack of guidance and support.
While much has been published about the implementation of ICD-10 for hospitals,
Read More
5 Stages of Maturity in Care Coordination and Patient Collaboration
5 stages of maturity in care coordination and patient collaboration regarding health information exchanges w/ John Smith, Director of Communications at ICA
Care coordination is rapidly becoming the watch-word for improving outcomes and reducing costs. One in four Americans has multiple chronic conditions that require coordinated care in order for care to be effective. That number increases to 66% for patients over 65, a growing segment of the population as baby boomers reach maturity.
Read More
The Awkward Adolescence of Healthcare IT
No one can deny that healthcare is at a crossroads. Current thought leaders like Atul Gawande and Richard Baron have proposed that history will label our current time period as the “healthcare revolution”. The introduction and adoption of electronic medical records will have an impact no less powerful than the cotton gin had during the industrial revolution.
Read More
What is Data Governance? And Why Does it Matter?
Written by Rita Bowen MA, RHIA, CHPS, SSGB, Sr Vice President of HIM and Privacy Officer of HealthPort
The What
If you look up governance in the dictionary, it states that governance is the act of governing. Not very revealing, is it?
Read More
Are We on the Verge of a Primary Care Renaissance?
Written by Madelyn Young, Associate Content Writer at CareCloud.
Twitter’s power as an information-sharing tool has made it today’s strongest measuring stick for emerging trends. If you visit the
Read More
