By Eric Nilsson – Whether they were highlights or lowlights, healthcare stories dominated the news in 2015. The skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs, expanded medical coverage, the meltdown of blood-testing startup Theranos and the arrest of pharmaceutical industry entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, criticized for raising the price of life-saving drugs, were some of the stories that took center stage.
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Last month Congress passed a cybersecurity bill as part of the 2016 Omnibus budget. The bill formalizes the information sharing process among industry and government and recognizes the importance of a healthcare industry specific cybersecurity approach.
By Don Michaels PhD – One of the key concepts to rise out of the turbulent past decade in the healthcare industry is the Accountable Care Organization (ACO). In the ACO model, private and government payers offer the opportunity for financial incentives to groups of providers to encourage them to come together voluntarily to deliver high quality while keeping costs down.
By William Hersh MD – One widely accepted definition of Big Data is that it entails four “V”s: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. In other words, Big Data is defined by there being a great deal of it (volume), coming at us rapidly and continuously (velocity), taking many different forms and types (variety), and originating from trustworthy sources (veracity).
By William Hersh MD – One of the most important documents for a US-based biomedical researcher is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biosketch. This short document summarizes the accomplishments of a scientist than applies for an NIH grant. The NIH Biosketch is also often used as a summary of one’s larger curriculum vitae (CV).
By John Halamka MD – ONC recently released the 2016 Standards Advisory. I think this document is more important than Meaningful Use or Certification in accelerating interoperability. Why? Many view Meaningful Use as no longer aligned with the work we need to do for population health, care management, and alternative payment models.
By Rod Baird – This post analyzes how regulatory changes embodied in the 2016 Fee Schedule affect LTPAC Medical Groups. The post’s title is an accurate synopsis. Only those who believe suffering builds character will find comfort in 2016.
By William Hersh MD – One of my major projects over the last couple years has been a systematic review of the research that has been conducted on health information exchange (HIE). I wrote about this project when it first started and when our protocol for the review was posted for public comment.
By John Halamka MD – As the year ends and we archive the accomplishments and challenges of 2015, it’s time to think about the year ahead. Will innovative products and services be social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC)? Will wearables take off? Will clinicians be replaced by Watson? Here are my predictions: