Podcast

This is the second part of a two-part podcast series with James Rountree, senior consultant at Aspen Advisors, on data breaches in healthcare. Every week we’re seeing providers, payers, and government agencies, of all shapes and sizes, fall victim to a data breach. In the most recent issue of HCI, Associate Editor Gabriel Perna wrote an industry-wide report that attempts to look at this growing issue in a larger scope and found that data breaches are costing the healthcare industry an average of $6.5 billion on an annual basis.

Organizations are working on a multitude of initiatives to prepare for greater contractual risk for population management, while also moving toward value-based care initiatives. In this post-ACA (Affordable Care Act) era of healthcare, a new role, the chief integration officer, is beginning to emerge, says Amanda Berra, practice manager, research and insights at The Advisory Board Company.

This two-part podcast interview with the CEO of the National eHealth Collaborative, Kate Berry, explores the rising prominence of patient engagement in healthcare. In part 1, Berry and HCI Associate Editor Gabriel Perna discuss why providers and other healthcare entities are suddenly paying attention to patient engagement, and why deploying it effectively remains a mystery to many. She also talks about NeHC’s recent patient engagement summit.

Even as the last of the federal funds earmarked for public health information exchanges (HIEs) run dry this year, rapid growth and evolution continues to define the nascent HIE market, according to a report released by Chilmark Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based analyst firm focusing solely on the healthcare IT market. The report, "2012 HIE Market Report: Analysis and Trends," uncovers a market that is making a significant shift to serving healthcare organizations of all sizes.

On the heels of Healthcare Informatics releasing the HCI 100, Fran Turisco, a Boston-based director at the Pittsburgh-based consulting firm, Aspen Advisors, joins HCI Associate Editor Gabriel Perna on a podcast to talk about the current health IT vendor market. Turisco, who was also recently named a member of the Healthcare Informatics Editorial Board, talked about the lack of movement at the top of the list and why it seems like there is a small list of dominant players in terms of EHR/EMR vendors. She also talked about what smaller vendors have to do differentiate themselves, and where the industry headed within the next few years.