Technology

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.