By Tatsiana Levdikova – Nowadays medical devices supporting and implementing the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard are made use of in almost every medical institution (e.g. in hospitals), and one hospital may have up to ten such devices or even more.
Read More
By Jordan Rau – The federal government released its first overall hospital quality rating recently, slapping average or below average scores on many of the nation’s best-known hospitals while awarding top scores to dozens of unheralded ones. CMS rated 3,617 hospitals on a one- to five-star scale, angering the hospital industry.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect2Health Task Force launched the Mapping Broadband Health in America tool, a web-based mapping tool that will enable and inform more efficient, data-driven decision making at the intersection of broadband and health.
CMS issued a final rule to update fiscal year 2017 Medicare payment policies and rates under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System. The final rule, which would apply to approximately 3,330 acute care hospitals and approximately 430 LTCHs, would affect discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2016.
By Terry Edwards – At Becker’s Hospital Review Annual CIO/HIT + Revenue Cycle Summit I discussed the elements needed to truly secure clinical communications with some of the best minds in the healthcare world. With the recent high profile news stories on ransomware attacks in hospitals and health systems, security and the ability to secure clinical information is top of mind for many.
By Mordy Pelleg – A few weeks ago, I offered up 10 best practices for successful revenue cycle management. Any practice that implements these regular behaviors will be on a more stable financial foundation. Things are changing rapidly in healthcare, which is news to exactly no one.
By John Halamka MD – As reimbursement evolves from fee for service to alternative payment models, incentives will shift from treating sickness to keeping the population healthy. New investments will be made in technologies that reach into the home and enhance care team communication. 2016 saw an acceleration of telemedicine/telehealth. 2017 will see exponential growth.
72% of hospitals with limited or no Patient-Reported Outcomes Tracking say they will implement it within 1-3 years. CMS recently began using a new yardstick to calculate how much providers should be paid: a patient’s own view of their health. First incorporated into a new CMS program designed to lower the cost of knee and hip replacements, patient-reported outcomes, or PROs, may soon become far more widespread.
ZeOmega solution passes rigorous testing to become part of the largest health data exchange in the US. The Sequoia Project, an independent advocate for the implementation of a secure, interoperable, nationwide health information exchange (HIE), has validated Jiva HIE Connect 6.0.2 from ZeOmega Inc. for use with the eHealth Exchange.