One of the ways that HITECH Answers is different from other media sites is the sense of community. The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. We publish at least eleven guest posts a week now, on our three sites. In case you missed some, here are the top ten read and shared guest posts in the month of April. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
Most Played Radio Episode in April
Healthcare de Jure with host Matt Fisher chats with Jared Johnson, Founder Ultera Digital (@ulteradigital), about the use of social media in healthcare and providers use of digital health.
Most Read Thought Leader Posts in April
How Blockchain Will Transform the Healthcare Industry
By Cara Sloman, Executive Vice President, Nadel Phelan, Inc.
Twitter: @NadelPhelanInc
Twitter: @Cara_Sloman
While blockchain technology was initially developed to support the exchange of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, its decentralized, distributed ledger of digital events also offers many appealing possibilities to the healthcare industry. A recent report by Deloitte notes that blockchain has significant potential to improve data interoperability, security and privacy. The technology is able to address multiple industry pain points, including the need for health information exchanges, varying data standards and inconsistent rules and permissions. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Choosing an EHR for its Usability
By Bennett Lauber, Chief Experience Officer, The Usability People
Twitter: @UsabilityPeople
The usability of the system is probably the most important factor in making an informed choice of which EHR to use for your practice. Most every bit of software says that it is easy to use, but how can you choose an EHR that is actually usable? We recommend choosing an EHR that is ONC certified. The MU2 certification program required that EHR vendors have a user-centered design approach, and submit a summative usability evaluation as part of their §170.314(g)(3) Safety-enhanced design certification submission. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Facebook, Health Data Privacy and the Need for a New Business Model
By Kurt Long, CEO and founder, FairWarning, Inc.
Twitter: @FairWarningInc
Twitter: @KurtJamesLong
According to CNBC, Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data. Facebook was also in talks with top hospitals and other medical groups as recently as last month regarding a proposal to match patient data with their user data. The idea was to build profiles based on these matches that would include medical conditions and prescriptions issued, as well as social and economic factors pulled from Facebook. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
You Received a Letter from OCR, Now What?
By Matt Fisher, Esq
Twitter: @matt_r_fisher
Host of Healthcare de Jure – #HCdeJure
At some point in time most group practices, hospitals or other provider organizations will receive a letter from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The letter will state that OCR received a complaint from a patient, employee or some other party with knowledge or information as to alleged acts at the healthcare organization. The letter will further state that the complaint alleges the organization is not in compliance with some aspect of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, Breach Notification Rule, or some combination of those rules. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Response to NIH RFI for Input on Draft Strategic Plan for Data Science
By William Hersh, MD, Professor and Chair, OHSU
Blog: Informatics Professor
Twitter: @williamhersh
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the premiere biomedical research organization in the US (and the world), has issued a Request for Information (RFI) that solicits input for their draft Strategic Plan for Data Science. As I did with the request for public input to the now-published Strategic Plan for the National Library of Medicine (NLM), I am posting my comments in this blog as well as submitting them through the formal collection process. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
Will Vertical Integration Kill the Primary Care Practice?
By David Harlow, JD MPH, Principal, The Harlow Group LLC
Twitter: @healthblawg
Host: Harlow on Healthcare
Once the federales blocked the health insurance company mega-mergers, it was only a matter of time before alternative approaches to rearranging the three-dimensional chessboard of the healthcare-industrial complex would emerge. The approach du jour is the vertical merger. Horizontal combinations trigger the familiar antitrust reviews of market share and the orthodoxy of antitrust enforcement dictates that two insurers, selling the same product or service into the same market or markets, cannot merge if they will reduce competition as a result. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Scoping Out EHR Projects
By David Kushan, Founder, Healthcare IS
Twitter: @HealthcareIS
It’s very difficult to hit a moving target; even more so if that target isn’t easy to spot. If you dive into an EHR project without a clear sense of where you want to go and what it’s going to take to get there, you’re flying blind. Your budgeting is unlikely to be meaningful, and your target roll-out date might come and go while you work to get things back on track. Continue reading on HITECHAnswers.net…
OIG Report: CMS Paid Practitioners for Telehealth Services That Did Not Meet Medicare Requirements
By Nathaniel M. Lacktman, Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP
Twitter: @Lacktman
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) just published a new report on OIG’s review of Medicare payments for telehealth services. The objective of the OIG review was to determine whether or not CMS paid practitioners for telehealth services that met Medicare requirements. The report concluded that, of the sampled claims reviewed by OIG, 31% did not meet the Medicare conditions for payment for telehealth services. Continue reading on RCMAnswers.net…
Cellular Connectivity & Healthcare: A New Echelon of Innovation
By Waqaas Al-Siddiq, CEO and Founder of Biotricity Inc.
Twitter: @biotricity_inc
Today’s technology landscape is defined by the convergence of the Cloud, Big Data, new software platforms, and smart devices. Together, they form a web of connections that determine the amount of data that we collect and the way we use it. For healthcare, this web of connections requires a sophisticated operating system to maximize its output, namely, cellular connectivity. According to Market Watch, global investment in Internet of Things (IoT) from the medical industry should reach $410 billion by 2022, and much of this investment will come directly from cellular IoT markets. Continue reading on HealthDataAnswers.net…
Why Telehealth Will Continue to Consolidate Its Positions in Healthcare
By Olga Moskalenko, Technical Journalist, SoftVelopers Corp.
Twitter: @Softvelopers
Twitter: @OlgaMoskalenko_
The healthcare industry has been maintaining the upper hand in adoption of latest innovations so far. Today, we have instant messaging tools, video-conferencing platforms, smartphones with high-resolution cameras and high-speed Internet, wearable and connected med devices, bedside cameras, medical education systems, and many more. There are so many directions for telehealth to further evolve. Continue reading on HealthDataAnswers.net…
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