By John Halamka MD – On March 29th I read a New York Times article about a possible successor to Bitcoin called Ethereum, which provides a distributed database (no central repository) for the purpose of tracking financial transactions. I immediately thought of the challenge we have turning silos of medical information into a linked, complete, accurate, secure, lifetime medical record.
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By Matt Fisher – sits down with Mac McMillan, the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of CynergisTek, Inc., to discuss cybersecurity issues facing the healthcare industry. The discussion focused on ransomware, the role of data in healthcare, which includes where generated and how utilized, and how to manage access to data.
By Sara Rosenbaum – Kentucky Governor Matthew Bevin has proposed to end Kynect, his state’s highly popular health insurance marketplace, and replace it with the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov. HHS recently signaled that the federal government would decide whether the governor may proceed, and under what conditions, by June 1.
By Shefali Luthra – In a perfect world, patients with advance directives would be confident that their doctors and nurses, no matter where they receive care, could know in a split second their end-of-life wishes. But this ideal is still in the distance. Patients’ documents often go missing in maze-like files or are rendered unreadable by incompatible software.
By Celeste Daye – Leading healthcare organizations like Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, and Cleveland Clinic have dubbed 2016 the “year of integration” for revenue cycle. They see consolidating complex revenue systems as the best way to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and improve the patient experience.
By Bennett Lauber – Those that know me know that I’ve made numerous mentions of the analogies between the automotive industry and the (healthcare) software industry (see for example “Crash test dummies and the usability of HealthIT” or “What is Usability and User-centered Design?” )
By William Hersh MD – I recently led a Webinar hosted by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) on the eligibility that I am using as a segue here to provide another update, which may be my last one before the “grandfathering” period ends.
By Denise Basow MD – Clinical effectiveness is defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “the application of best knowledge, derived from research, clinical experience and patient preferences to achieve optimum processes and outcomes of care for patients.”
By Phil Galewitz – She didn’t want to spend the rest of her days seeing doctors, the 91-year-old woman confessed to Dr. Kevin Newfield as he treated a deep wound on her arm. “You don’t have to, but you have to tell me what you do want,” Newfield replied. “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of being 106,” she told the surgeon and her daughter, who was in the room with them.