February 12, 2013 Joe Marion
blog
A lot is being written on Interoperability lately. Achieving it depends not only on vendor cooperation but also on facility insistence.
February 11, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
In a blog post, the director of federal health architecture at the Office for the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC), Lauren Thompson, announced the arrival of version 4.0 of the government's CONNECT software. CONNECT, which is an open source health information exchange (HIE) platform, has been a joint effort between ONC, the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
February 3, 2013 Mark Hagland
blog
CIOs, CMIOs and other healthcare leaders have a real opportunity to help shape community-wide healthcare delivery performance improvement initiatives: just ask Jane Brock, M.D., of the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, that state's QIO.
January 19, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
David Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., CEO of the Northern New England Accountable Care Collaborative, a Portland, Maine-based collaborative organization founded by four integrated health systems in New England, shares his perspectives on the challenges and opportunities involved in laying the IT foundations for accountable care
January 16, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
The folks at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) Consumer eHealth team aren’t about to slow down when it comes to its Blue Button initiative. They recently announced the arrival of Blue Button Plus, which will aim to make the initiative consumer friendly through the implementation of interoperable standards.
January 14, 2013 Gabriel Perna
blog
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 13, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
As the vast UPMC health system in Pittsburgh moves forward on its big-data journey, senior vice president and CIO Dan Drawbaugh shares his perspectives on that journey exclusively with HCI’s Mark Hagland. Among the top learnings so far: the level of collaboration between and among senior clinician, administrative, and IT leaders required to achieve big-data breakthroughs will be exceptional.
January 5, 2013 Mark Hagland
article
When Tina Buop transitioned from her role as the CIO of a very successful multispecialty medical group in the East Bay region in the San Francisco Bay area to becoming the deputy CIO and CTO of a federally qualified health center, she knew that she was making a huge leap professionally and personally. She shares what she’s learned so far in her new position, and insights around resources and leadership.
December 21, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
Glen Tullman’s resignation as CEO of EHR vendor Allscripts (Chicago) was not a complete shock to Jason Hess, the executive vice president of research at the Orem, Utah-based KLAS, who notes the EHR vendor has seen an increasing amount of negative feedback from customers. Hess, in an exclusive interview with Healthcare Informatics, said customers are disappointed Allscripts hasn’t delivered on its expectations when it comes to integrating its ambulatory and inpatient EHR products.
December 19, 2012 John DeGaspari
blog
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 Gabriel Perna
news
The Commonwealth Fund, a New York City-based nonprofit, has released a report that examines how prepared collaborative, hospital-based organizations were when transitioning to accountable care. The report, Measuring Progress Toward Accountable Care, found that overall these organizations were “modestly” ready for this transition, and those who succeeded best were patient-centered, had full ownership of a health plan, and were adept at various health-related technologies that go beyond EHR deployment.
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.
