April 15, 2013 Gabriel Perna
Becoming an accountable care organization (ACO), and transforming your method of delivering healthcare from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance is a long journey. It is the journey of getting your providers to deliver evidence-based medicine. As I found out recently in an interview with two different ACO leaders, it's one that comes with numerous roadblocks and challenges along the way.
April 3, 2013 Gabriel Perna
In the last few years, the related concepts of patient engagement and consumer eHealth movement have garnered a lot of interest from the government, private companies, provider organizations, and a variety of different stakeholders. However, not everyone is on board. As I was reminded this week, some don’t like the idea that patients are empowered consumers.
March 28, 2013 Gabriel Perna
In a lot of ways, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is an industry leader when it comes to healthcare information technology. Yet a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), paints a sharp, critical picture of how the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) have performed in providing returning veterans with evidence-based medicine upon their return home.
March 20, 2013 Gabriel Perna
Over the course of the past few months, the debate over EHRs and the meaningful use legislation has intensified, thanks to various mainstream media articles, reports, studies and surveys, and a backlash in some quarters--particularly among some physician end-users--against current EHR adoption. This seems to be more than just your typical, anti-government cynicism, reflecting a deeper dissatisfaction with the current policy and practice environment.
March 12, 2013 Gabriel Perna
After a week or so of great food, great hospitality, and pretty good (can’t go all the way on that one) weather in the Crescent City, most of us are back in our offices after another memorable HIMSS Conference. Here’s a personal look back at five memories from the event that stand out in the eyes of this editor.
March 6, 2013 Gabriel Perna
At events like HIMSS, Mac McMillan, co-founder and CEO of the consulting firm CynergisTek, and chair of the HIMSS Privacy & Security Policy Task Force, can truly be a breath of fresh air. While a good chunk of the people at this event are giving you a structured, manufactured set of thoughts on a particular topic in health IT, a guy like Mac is simply telling it like it is.
March 5, 2013 Gabriel Perna
One of the things I love about HIMSS is hearing people’s personal stories and how they relate to the transformative efforts that are happening across the healthcare industry. Beth Schindele, the director of the Delaware Regional Extension Center (REC), shared a nice story this week about her father and the use of the Blue Button.
March 3, 2013 Gabriel Perna
While near-field communication technology has helped people across the country buy a cup of coffee, check into an event, or purchase tickets to a concert or sporting event with the swipe of a smartphone, the emerging technology is still a relatively unknown quantity in healthcare, especially in the U.S. Having just sat in on the RFID pre-conference symposium at HIMSS13 in New Orleans, I’m thinking that may change in the near future.
February 27, 2013 Gabriel Perna
Those of us who have watched a loved one spend the last few years of their life in a nursing home know the pain and helplessness that comes from this experience. Studies have found communication breakdowns between staff can lead to lower quality-of-care. According to a University of Missouri researcher, the possible solution to this problem? Healthcare technology adoption
February 22, 2013 Gabriel Perna
Social media and healthcare, especially when you’re talking about hospitals, is most assuredly an awkward marriage. However, those in the industry who wish to dismiss social media, should look no further than a recent study from the Healthcare Innovation Technology Laboratory as potential proof of its value in assessing quality and patient satisfaction.
