Healthcare IT professionals have long faced data challenges - from sorting out storage issues during the Big Data age to complying with HL7 standards to adapting infrastructure amidst a rapid shift to telehealth. While these advancements have all improved information sharing across the industry and ultimately the patient experience, it’s also created mountains of data. In fact, RBC Capital reports that the healthcare industry generates 30% of the world’s data with that number expected to grow to
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How the Pandemic Underscores the Importance of Health IT in Employee & Occupational Health
“I have received more recognition, interest and support in the last year than in the previous two plus decades of my occupational health career.” These were the words spoken to us recently by the medical director of a Fortune 500 corporation reflecting on the dramatically increased attention he was receiving from the C-suite of his organization following the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite the global turmoil that the COVID-19 pandemic has left in its wake, a revitalized focus on taking the best
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How Health IT is Helping Hospitals Achieve Faster Patient Transitions and Reduce Length of Stay
COVID-19 served as a brutal reminder that streamlining patient transitions from one care setting to another is critical – and even more so when hospital beds are at a premium. Even with less revenue flowing in, hospitals were still expected to quickly adapt as rising infections caused unexpected surges in hospitalizations. Better care coordination improves the patient experience and significantly lowers hospitals' costs by reducing the length of stay. In fact, one healthcare organization
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4 Strategies for Health IT Leaders to Streamline Their Work & Serve Patients
As a physician turned entrepreneur, I’ve learned many lessons in my journey from the patient bedside to the health IT boardroom. As a young physician practicing in my native Denmark, my eyes were opened to the administrative headaches and limited engagement that was a result of too much paperwork and not enough focus on the patient. Since launching one of the world’s first patient portals in 2001 and subsequently moving to the US and founding my current digital health company in 2015, I’ve
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HHS Establishes $80M Public Health IT Workforce Program
What You Should Know: - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today announced the establishment of an $80M Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program (PHIT Workforce Program) to strengthen U.S. public health informatics and data science. - The PHIT Workforce Program aims to train more than 4,000 individuals over a four-year period through an interdisciplinary approach
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CareCloud Acquires Health IT Consulting Firm MedMatica – M&A
What You Should Know: - CareCloud today announced it has acquired Santa Rosa Staffing, Inc. and the assets of MedMatica Consulting Associates, Inc., through the closing of an Asset and Stock Purchase Agreement. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. - The acquisition reflects CareCloud’s continued expansion into the hospital and health system market, through its acquisition of industry leading businesses that provide IT consulting, strategic advisory services and
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Talking about Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in Medical Devices Shouldn’t be Taboo
According to the National Vulnerability Database, 18,353 vulnerabilities were reported in 2020. That’s nearly three times the volume of vulnerabilities reported five years ago, and higher than any year in the previous two decades. Given the rise in connected devices, this increase is not entirely unexpected. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be seeing more vulnerability disclosures related to medical devices? The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
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Allscripts Launches ADP Empower to Amplify Diverse Voices in Health IT
What You Should Know: - Allscripts announced its team that leads the Allscripts Developer Program (ADP) has launched ADP Empower, a new program designed to amplify diverse voices in the healthcare technology industry and offer valuable resources to underrepresented entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and accelerate innovation. - The Allscripts Developer Program aims to build a culture of innovation by reducing barriers and risk associated with installing and using innovative healthcare
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What Will It Take for Hospitals to Survive the Pandemic?
On New Years Eve, just as the Covid-19 outbreak in Los Angeles was at its worst, all 451 of Olympia Medical Center’s exhausted employees learned they would soon lose their jobs. After 74 years, the hospital closed for good on March 31st, leaving residents of the surrounding community — poor and mostly people of color — without a place to see a doctor. And it isn’t the only hospital closing. At least 47 hospitals have closed or filed for bankruptcy in the last year, and there will
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Q1 2021 Health IT/Digital Health PC/VE, M&A, IPOs/ SPACs Activity
The first quarter of 2021 has been one of investor optimism as the vaccine rollout continues ahead of expectations and economic activity begins to accelerate in response. Within the Health IT industry, the already strong investment and M&A trends seen in 2020 have only accelerated. Over the course of the quarter, we observed $7 billion in private equity and venture capital investment across 158 companies. By comparison, Q1 of 2020 saw $3.2 billion and 127 investments. Health IT
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