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 14, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
According to a recent research report from Deloitte, over the next 10 years, mobile health (mHealth) devices will save the healthcare industry $305 billion in increased productivity due to "reduced travel time, better logistics, faster decision-making, and improved communications." Remote home monitoring, authors of the report say, will save the industry nearly $205 billion in the same time period.
January 11, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
In part 1 of this two-part podcast series, Healthcare Informatics Associate Editor Gabriel Perna speaks with Dave deBronkart, better known by his moniker e-Patient Dave, an industry leading expert on the subject of patient engagement. He discusses the upcoming patient engagement-related challenges this year in the industry, while mentioning the problems with a lot of patient portals’ user interface.
January 10, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
At a recent webinar, hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Denni McColm, CIO of Citizens Memorial Healthcare, the rural-based healthcare network out of Bolivar, Mo., spoke of the four strategies her organization undertakes when it comes to engaging patients. Those strategies have helped Citizens Memorial, which has a 76-bed acute care hospital and 22 physician clinics, become an industry leading organization.
January 9, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has announced the former owners of a Marblehead, Mass.-based medical billing practice and four pathology groups have agreed to pay $140,000 to pay possible HIPAA violations. According to the press release, the confidential billing information for approximately 67,000 Massachusetts-based patients was improperly disposed of at a public dump.
January 9, 2013 Joe Marion
blog
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 8, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
There is no question that certain kinds of patients, especially those with chronic diseases, can cost a significant amount of dollars to a healthcare provider. At Summa Health, a large integrated provider out of Akron, Ohio, leaders are using a centralized data repository and an automated phone calling service to improve outcomes for diabetes patients.
January 7, 2013 John DeGaspari
news
The relationship between a physician practice's adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and quality improvements in patient care remains unclear. However, a new study published in the January issue of Health Affairs by Weill Cornell Medical College and the Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) of the New York City Health Department shows evidence that EHR implementation can improve patient care in small physician practices in New York City when combined with sustained high-intensity technical assistance.
January 4, 2013 Gabriel Perna
blog
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 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) said that failure to delay the new medical device excise tax, along with Medicare cuts for imaging and radiation therapy services passed by Congress as part of the “fiscal cliff” package, will hinder patients’ access to early disease detection and therapy services and threaten American medical technology jobs.
January 2, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
Indiana’s Gibson General Hospital has mailed letters to approximately 29,000 patients informing them of the theft of a hospital laptop containing personal health information.
January 2, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
According to a recent study from Orem, Utah-based KLAS Research, convenience and the ease of integration that comes from having an established relationship with an electronic medical record (EMR) vendor are the primary factors providers use to choose a patient portal.