November 26, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the first three participants in a new data sharing initiative aimed at getting more information to consumers to improve healthcare quality. The organizations in the Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement program are Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium (serving the Greater Kansas City area in Missouri and Kansas), and Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation.
November 21, 2012 John DeGaspari
news
Patients with online access to their medical records and secure email communication with clinicians have increased use of clinical services, including office visits and telephone encounters, compared to patients who do not have online access.
November 6, 2012 Pete Rivera
blog
Information Technology (IT) is always one of those things that are often taken for granted during mergers. From an operational view, it’s all just “computers,” right?
November 1, 2012
news
A Kaiser Health News analysis of the latest federal data on the nation’s nearly 1,200 community health centers showed wide variation in the quality of care delivered by the private, nonprofit clinics that are expected to play an important role under federal healthcare reform.
October 27, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Ronald N. Riner, M.D., chief medical officer of Health Management Associates, a hospital management company that manages smaller community hospitals and physician practices in 15 states, reflects on the challenges and opportunities inherent in moving forward on practice management and EHRs across a widely diffuse nationwide health system
October 25, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA-ACMPE) has revealed a ‘Patient Satisfaction Benchmarking Tool,’ with the San Diego-based patient satisfaction consultant and software vendor, SullivanLuallinGroup. MGMA, which revealed the tool at its annual conference this week, says the tool will aim to help medical group practices put together an accurate assessment of their current patient satisfaction and look for ways to improve on it.
October 24, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
As Medicare reimbursement issues create gloom for physicians nationwide, medical group leaders nationwide are facing profound 'chicken-or-egg' questions around how and even whether to invest in the critical IT investments, especially clinical ones, that will be needed to forge the new healthcare.
October 23, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
At the MGMA Annual Conference, speakers embedded an implicit acknowledgement of the critical role of healthcare information technology and analytics into their discussions of everything from ACO development to HIE participation.
October 22, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to a new research data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the “better-performing medical practices” are the ones that have focused specifically on patient satisfaction, profitability and cost management; productivity, capacity and staffing; and accounts receivable (A/R) and collections. The report, Performance and Practices of Successful Medical Groups: 2012 Report Based on 2011 Data, looked at data from 348 better-performing groups that responded to the MGMA 2012 Cost Survey.
October 19, 2012 Gabriel Perna
blog
In the past, I’ve written about how many CIOs from major hospital and healthcare systems are expressing doubts about how cloud computing can be used to provide better care while saving money. While a level of pessimism is definitely there, people like Robert Kaufmann, M.D., from the Kaufmann Clinic, are making me realize the path to that $5.4 billion may be paved with smaller providers, more willing to take a leap into the cloud.
October 17, 2012 Mark Hagland
article
Health information exchange leaders from both coasts describe groundbreaking progress on numerous fronts, at the CHIME12 Fall CIO Forum in Palm Springs. Standards and the CCD are big areas of focus.
October 11, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
We at Healthcare Informatics are passionately committed to bringing forward the exciting case studies of the teams and organizations in healthcare that are showing the way forward to the new healthcare. Does your healthcare organization have a team that should be recognized for its achievements? If so, it's time for that team to submit a nomination to our Innovator Awards program.