Featured Content

11. Beyond The Patient Portal: Drive Patient Engagement Through Data-Driven Point-Of-Care Technology 6/27/2017

    Despite industry emphasis on patient engagement in recent years and research showing its association with better outcomes and lower costs, engagement continues to be a challenge to many providers. In fact, a 2016 survey of healthcare executives found 54 percent of respondents believed less than a quarter of their patients were highly engaged. By Joe Guerriero, senior vice president of MDGuidelines at ReedGroup

12. Give Healthcare Teams What They Want In Data Analytics 4/12/2018

    Consumers today expect technology to be not only fast, but readily available and intuitive as well. With smart phones, tablets and other everyday technologies, we have become accustomed to searching for and finding what we need instantly. Healthcare informatics professionals are no different. Just 10 years ago, people accepted that software might take longer to answer a question, run calculations or even move to another screen.

13. The Pros And Cons Of EHRs In The Cloud 5/27/2015

    Patient health records – how secure are they? Fast on the heels of the Anthem breach, news of the Premera Blue Cross cyberattack overtook the headlines. According to a Redspin Report, more than 40 million Americans suffered a breach of their personal health information between 2009 and 2014. Of the PHI data breaches in 2014, more than 50 percent were due to hacking attacks; unauthorized access or disclosure was the cause of a third of the hacks. However, as many institutions prefer to avoid the liability, costs and damage to their reputation that result from disclosure and notification, many breaches go unreported, so that the actual numbers might be much higher. By Amit Cohen, CEO, FortyCloud

14. Intervention Care For The 'Rising-Risk,' Before It's Too Late 12/19/2016

    The first white paper in this population health management (PHM) series, Chronic Disease is Healthcare’s Rising Risk, reported on the health and financial burden associated with chronic diseases, specifically the ‘rising-risk’ and ‘high-risk’ clinically stratified population groups. The second paper, A Health Behavior Change Framework for Population Health Management, set out a coordinated clinical-community structure for delivering chronic disease intervention care. This is the third white paper in this PHM series that will discuss the advantages of setting process and evaluation standards for methodology and community-digital engagement to achieve and sustain health behavior change for self-management.

15. Optimizing Direct Spend Management For More Sustainable And Innovative Healthcare Systems 2/1/2019

    In the U.S., healthcare costs too much. It consumes 20 percent of GDP and costs twice what it does in other developed countries, despite the scale of the U.S. market. This is neither sustainable nor efficient – and we see the individual, collective, and political ramifications playing out every day in the headlines. We pay more than other countries for prescription medications, medical devices, and healthcare services. It goes without saying that the complexities of our healthcare and insurance systems are problematic in this regard, but much of the opportunity to cut costs lies at the source – literally. Smarter sourcing and procurement of direct materials should be addressed as a major strategic factor in reducing healthcare costs.

16. Keys To Building A Fortified Staffing Process Ahead Of The Nurse Retirement Surge 12/18/2015

    AMN Healthcare recently released its 2015 Survey of Registered Nurses. This research included input from nearly 9,000 RNs on topics ranging from retirement, education, and emerging roles. A number of the findings struck me, the following two especially:

    • 62 percent of RNs over 54 are thinking about retirement and most say they plan to retire within three years
    • RNs love their career choice, but have mixed feelings about their job, citing not having adequate time with their patients, feeling their job negatively affects their health, and so on

    That leaves us with the most experienced nurses nearing retirement and the majority of remaining nurses not feeling overjoyed with their jobs, although they love nursing. This points to an overwhelming need to improve conditions for care staff. Typically, the top dissatisfier for staff are staffing/scheduling issues, e.g., being short, having to float, having shifts cancelled, and being recruited constantly to pick up additional shifts. One of the solutions to this critical concern is a combination of technology and workforce strategies that can provide more certainty with staffing, greater work-life balance, and increased time with patients. By Chris Fox, president, Avantas

17. HIPAA 2015: Will You Be Ready? 2/4/2015

    The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is getting serious, and so should you. It’s time to move beyond just having a binder full of policies sitting on a shelf. You must educate your workforce so that each and every member, from top to bottom, understands the practical, day-to-day application of your security policies and can demonstrate compliance. The OCR has the ability to level fines, which start at a minimum of $10,000 (it goes up from there, based on severity), for what has been called “willful neglect of compliance.” By Jim Tufts, Health IT Consultant, ICE Technologies, Inc.

18. Case Study: Capital Projects Contract Audit 11/18/2009
    Our client, a premier healthcare institution, hired a general contractor to construct a research building and outpatient facility. Cost increases and schedule delays prompted management to take a closer look at the construction contracts.
19. Case Study: Enhancing The Patient Experience With Self-Service Technology 1/18/2011
    This case study highlights how The Medical Center of Central Georgia optimized staff productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced the overall patient experience by leveraging a kiosk self-registration solution.
20. Advancing Interoperability: The Need For Collaboration, Partnership, And Commitment 5/12/2017

    The past 10 years has seen a rapid evolution of healthcare information technology. In 2007, only a small fraction of hospitals and physician practices used EHRs; now they’re almost ubiquitous, used by more than 87 percent of doctors and more than 94 percent of hospitals. Although the capture of digital information in EHRs is nearly ubiquitous, there are still opportunities to improve health information sharing capabilities as organizations strive to advance population health and further participate in value-based care.