January 9, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
Speranza Avram, the CEO of CalHIPSO, the largest of the 62 federally designated regional extension centers, has spent three years helping physicians in small groups to achieve meaningful use. Going forward, being able to continue to help providers beyond the end of this year will mean developing new models of sustainability.
January 7, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
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.
December 26, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
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
blog
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 19, 2012 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), a Chicago-based nonprofit, has announced plans to develop an IT framework for accountable care organizations (ACOs). The framework will identify the health IT infrastructure components necessary for a provider organization to function effectively as an ACO and help identify any gaps that would prevent them from meeting their goals as an ACO.
December 18, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
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 Mark Hagland
article
More broadly, the shift towards a new population health-based focus, and towards authentic care management, is requiring not only bridges across the divide between care locations, but also intensive work to develop care delivery and management models healthcare system-wide. It goes without saying that this is difficult work; yet the leaders at many pioneering organizations are powering ahead, forging new paths without waiting for anyone to direct them to the new healthcare. And of course, they’re building new information systems and IT capabilities to support their innovations.
December 18, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Earlier this month, Jane Metzger, principal researcher in the Waltham, Mass.-based Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices within the Falls Church, Va.-based CSC, authored a new white paper, "Preparing for Accountable Care: Coordinated Care." With the healthcare delivery system facing unprecedented foundational challenges moving into the new environment of accountable, coordinated care, Metzger spoke recently with Mark Hagland about the reality of what providers face going forward.
December 12, 2012 John DeGaspari
news
The Washington, D.C.-based National Quality Forum (NQF) has elected new leadership across four of its member councils: the Consumers Council, the Health Plan Council, the Purchaser Council, and the Supplier-Industry Council.
December 3, 2012 John DeGaspari
article
With the rapid adoption of audiovisual technology into healthcare, healthcare CIOs and other healthcare IT leaders face the difficult decision of how to balance their organizations’ investment dollars against budgetary constraints, security, and selection of technology that is appropriate to the provider organization’s IT infrastructure. At a roundtable discussion, “Balancing Innovation, Budget Constraints, and Network Security,” part of the Technology Crossroads Conference that was put on by the National eHealth Collaborative in Washington, D.C., last week, expert panelists discussed wide-raging topics confronting provider organizations against the backdrop of the fast-changing technology landscape, including technology investments, cost pressures, health information exchange, network security, cloud computing, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
November 27, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Keith J. Dreyer, M .D. not only sees the future of automation-facilitated radiology practice; he has been instrumental in bringing clinical decision support tools to the radiologist masses nationwide. In a frank discussion with HCI's Mark Hagland, Dr. Dreyer shares his perspectives on where radiology practice is going, and what radiologists-and healthcare IT leaders-need to understand about the near future in healthcare.
November 20, 2012 John DeGaspari
news
Hearst has reached a deal to acquire clinical decision support solution vendor Care Guidelines