In the dynamic world of healthcare, preference cards serve as crucial tools that capture a surgeon’s specific needs and preferences for each type of surgical procedure they perform. These cards typically outline the equipment, instruments, and supplies required for a particular procedure, providing a personalized roadmap for surgical teams to follow. By detailing these specifications, preference cards help streamline surgical planning, foster improved communication among the operating room (OR)
Read More
Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Automation Fills Gaps Left by Revenue Cycle Talent Shortage
Healthcare providers are feeling the industry’s talent shortage in their administrative functions as well as clinical areas. One case in point: revenue cycle management. In a recent study, 63% of healthcare providers reported an inability to fill key revenue management roles. Reduced revenues and cash reserves are almost inevitable when providers don’t have sufficient staff to follow up on claims, manage appeals and help patients understand their financial responsibilities and
Read More
Expectation vs. Reality: Improving the Patient Payment Experience
If you’ve ever worked behind the scenes at a provider organization, you likely gained a deep understanding of what makes medical practices tick, giving you the ability to make fairly accurate assumptions about how patients will probably behave in different scenarios. However, when it comes to the patient payment experience, inevitably some patients respond differently than expected.
Seasoned healthcare workers have likely experienced a number of common misconceptions about patients’
Read More
Will Healthcare Let AI Fix The Slow-Motion Crisis of Physician Burnout?
When I ask primary care physicians about their biggest problems today, they share the excruciating pain they experience as the American healthcare system pushes them towards administrative work rather than letting them focus on true patient care and clinical excellence.
Some doctors described themselves as "square pegs in a round hole" for bridling under the system’s bureaucratic constraints. Others feel stuck in a "transactional world" of recordkeeping. They yearn to spend more time
Read More
Making the Case for AI in Patient Experience and Education
As a physician, I’m captivated by artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential to revolutionize care, while simultaneously acknowledging the apprehensions that accompany such advancements — in particular the more topical large language models (LLMs) and generative AI.
Ready or not, there’s no question that AI will impact our industry; in fact, the market is expected to grow from $14.6 billion in 2023 to a staggering $102.7 billion in just five years.
An expanding array of use cases
In my
Read More
How Healthcare Organizations Can Defend Against Ransomware
There’s no denying it - the need for stronger cyber defense is urgent. More ransomware attacks targeted healthcare in 2022 than any other critical infrastructure sector, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). With attacks on healthcare negatively impacting patient care – including increased mortality rates - healthcare organizations must adopt proactive approaches to better protect their patients and sensitive information.
In the spring, the Multi-State Information
Read More
Will Value-Based Care Finally Fix EHRs Too?
In theory, electronic health records (EHRs) have the potential to transform the healthcare landscape. They were expected to provide a digital hub that would enable seamless communication and information sharing between providers, boost efficiency, improve the quality of care, and foster optimal patient and clinician experiences.
The reality, unfortunately, has not matched the possibilities.
While well-intentioned, the Federal Government’s 2011 Meaningful Use Mandate program—to
Read More
How Facial Blood Flow Patterns Can Usher a New Era of Health Vital Monitoring
Those of us old enough to recall the 1960s TV series “Star Trek” were fascinated by Dr. McCoy when he would simply point a scanner at his patients and analyze their condition. What was once science fiction has now become a reality and the potential future state of medical device technology for the coming decades. This future state has been made possible since the advent of “Transdermal Optical Imaging” or “TOITM”. This novel form of remote photoplethysmography was the first globally to
Read More
Chatbot Care Managers? Why ACOs Should Be Cautious in AI Adoption
Given Artificial Intelligence’s potential to improve patient care and reduce costs, it’s no surprise that AI applications are gaining momentum in health care. As your organization explores the benefits of AI in your journey towards Value-Based Care, however, you need to carefully assess the implications, for better and worse.
Evaluating AI implications can be tricky. Healthcare AI varies widely, with clinical technology paving the way for advancements in diagnostics and treatment. But
Read More
Anxiety Screening For Adults Under 65 – What About 65+?
The alarm bells sounded when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force ( USPSTF) put out guidance that all adults under age 65 be screened for anxiety, but not those over age 65.
So 15 million Americans will not be screened for a potentially devastating condition, left undiagnosed and overlooked for treatment with the effective tools currently available now – needlessly unable to live full, rich lives.
Similarly, in the future, they won’t sufficiently benefit from exciting
Read More
