January 18, 2013 David Raths
In its HIPAA final rue, HHS chose to drop the harm standard that a breach does not occur unless the disclosure poses "a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to an individual." Instead, a breach notification is necessary in all situations except those in which the provider demonstrates that there is a low probability that the protected health information has been compromised.
January 16, 2013 Mark Hagland
Visiting senior executives at the UPMC health system in Pittsburgh last week, some of the thoughts I’ve been having lately around what creates and advances a culture of innovation were validated and confirmed for me.
January 15, 2013 Tim Tolan
I have seen lots of really bad outreach messages over the years, but the ones that really stick with me are when a candidates are attempting to build a relationship with our firm and decide to take, well... let’s just say 'a different approach'. Using any of the following strategies will guarantee your chance of making that all-so-important good first impression is usually dead on arrival. In no particular order, these are some of my favorites.
January 14, 2013 Gabriel Perna
Can entrepreneurs, healthcare providers, payers, app developers, and other stakeholders figure out a way to turn people’s obsession with simplistic smartphone games like Angry Birds into the next health enterprise? If they can, I think you’ll be seeing it in a lot more places.
January 14, 2013 David Raths
One word sums up what winning a second term means to Obama administration government technology initiatives: continuity.
January 9, 2013 John DeGaspari
At a time of rancorous political divisions, it’s worth noting that most Americans are deeply concerned about the quality of healthcare—in particular, medical research. In a poll by Research!America, 72 percent of respondents say the new Congress and the President should take immediate action to expand medical research within the first hundred days of the 113th Congress. Their views are relevant as Congress considers funding cuts that could affect medical research, but it also suggests that healthcare issues in general are topmost on many people’s minds.
January 9, 2013 Joe Marion
Two recent press releases caught my attention and appear to be indicators of a shakeup coming in terms of healthcare data storage. A couple years ago I blogged about the “thunder in the cloud” as a wave of activity attempted to address data storage in the cloud. In a similar way, these recent announcements seem to be a bellwether for a similar revolution in terms of local data storage.
January 7, 2013 Mark Hagland
It's so easy to go straight to quotes from classic movies, isn't it? On the other hand, this one from Bette Davis just seems to fit perfectly, right now: "Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!" But the uncertainly in Washington shouldn’t delay healthcare IT leaders' work building the new healthcare.
January 6, 2013 David Raths
Are technological, social and economic forces chipping away at the hospital’s place in our healthcare system? Is the future of the community hospital uncertain? What might new models of care look like? Make suggestions during Institute for the Future's game to join the dialogue.
January 5, 2013 David Raths
Stage 2 of meaningful use raises the bar in terms of how and when hospitals and physician groups must make patient data available.
January 4, 2013 Gabriel Perna
For those in the healthcare industry, there are countless things that could be filed under, “New Year’s resolution.” Perhaps more than anything else, providers should look at ways of preventing data breaches, which have become a growing issue.
January 3, 2013 John DeGaspari
A large number of physicians are coming under scrutiny on physician-review websites. One problem, though, is that many of those sites rely on few patient reviews. In fact, according to a study of 500 urologists by Loyola University Medical Center, ratings are based on scores of only 2.4 patients on average.
January 2, 2013 David Raths
Last year I looked back through the news stories and blog items I’d written in 2011 and pulled out a few favorite quotes that seemed provocative or intriguing. I decided to do the same thing this year, because I think these quotes also provide something of a snapshot of where we are in the evolution of healthcare IT. Without further ado, then, here are my 10 favorite quotes from the stories I wrote in 2012.
December 26, 2012 Mark Hagland
A recent industry survey highlighted the possibilities and pitfalls in creating ACOs, and the potentially scope-limiting factor of any collaborative's information technology resources in moving forward on accountable care delivery and financing
December 21, 2012 Gabriel Perna
What an exciting year we had in health IT. It was my first complete one at Healthcare Informatics and I think I picked a good one. There was big-time policy news, a record-breaking HIMSS conference, and a plethora of interesting health IT leaders and cutting-edge projects, all helping push this industry into a new direction where quality is the standard. Looking back at the year that was, I think five moments stand out for me personally.
December 21, 2012 Joe Marion
I have been watching with interest the outcome of a recent announcement that the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE USA) (http://iheusa.org/) has contracted with ICSA Labs, a for-profit division of Verizon (https://www.icsalabs.com/) for certification of IHE profiles. On the surface, this sounds like a good thing, but dig deeper and it raises a number of interesting questions with respect to intent and motive.
December 20, 2012 Mark Hagland
The dramatic December 19 announcement by Allscripts that its CEO, Glen Tullman, had resigned, and that a replacement for Tullman had already been named, capped a year of drama, not only for the Chicago-based software vendor, but for all of healthcare and healthcare IT. A look back at a year of whirlwind developments.
December 19, 2012 John DeGaspari
A report released by the Commonwealth Fund last week that tracks state trends in employer health insurance coverage hit home just how fast insurance premiums are rising. The report, “Premiums and Deductions, 2003-2011: Eroding Protection and Rising Costs Underscore the Need for Action,” finds that health insurance costs rose far faster than incomes in all states. Average family premiums jumped 62 percent from 2003 to 2011, while median family incomes rose just 11 percent, as workers paid more out-of-pocket and deductibles have more than doubled.
December 18, 2012 Mark Hagland
As I write this, President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner are involved in complex, perhaps rather tense, negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff and what to do about federal taxes, revenues and programs. In the past couple of days, the news reports and rumors have changed almost hourly, with estimates of possible Medicare cuts to providers shifting quite frequently. Whatever the end result of this process, analytics-facilitated continuous clinical performance improvement will soon be crucial to provider survival.
December 18, 2012 Gabriel Perna
For advocates of rural health IT, last week was an interesting one to say the least. There was hope for the future, and a look at the reality of the current situation. While the FCC announced the creation of the Healthcare Connect Fund, the GAO reported on a digital divide when it comes to Medicaid EHR incentive payments.
