One of the ways that HealthIT 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 eight guest posts a week now, so 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
From The Incrementalist, host Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick talks to Deanna Parker, RN and Assistant VP of Emergency Services Hardin Memorial discuss communication and the value of Vocera but dive into their challenges on the front line, PPE shortages, and the way everything has changed with COVID-19.
Most Read Thought Leader Posts in April
Calling all COVID-19 Health IT Projects
By Steven Posnack, M.S., M.H.S. Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
Steven’s Twitter: @HealthIT_Policy
Just over four years ago, I announced the launch of the Interoperability Proving Ground (IPG), an open, community platform where you can share, learn, and be inspired by interoperability projects taking place across the nation. If you’re working on a COVID-19 interoperability project, you will have the ability to share it with your colleagues through the IPG and tag it “COVID-19.” Continue reading…
Realizing the Power of Clinical Natural Language Processing to Improve the Bottom Line
By Chris Funk, Ph.D., Senior Medical Informaticist, Wolters Kluwer, Health Language
Twitter: @wkhealth
Today’s healthcare leaders would be hard-pressed to design forward-thinking IT strategies without considering advances in artificial intelligence (AI). A term that is taking healthcare by storm, AI represents a wide range of technologies that draw from existing data to learn, reason and adapt—ultimately helping users and their organizations answer mission-critical questions and improve decision-making. Continue reading…
Why Data Interoperability is Critical in the Fight Against the Pandemic
By Daniel Cidon, CTO of NextGate
Twitter: @NextGate
Twitter: @dcidon
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the need for longitudinal health data and interoperability have never been greater. Providers need access to the full picture of every patient they treat, and epidemiologists need to consolidate data from multiple sources to track the spread of the disease and determine where more aggressive containment strategies need to be employed. Continue reading…
Thinking About the “New Normal”
By Katherine Capps, Co-Founder and Executive Director, GTMRx Institute
Twitter: @GTMRxInstitute
Just what is this “new normal” everyone is talking about? Is it something temporary that will gradually disappear once we subdue COVID-19? Or is it something more lasting—a true new normal, not a temporary normal? The answer is yes—to both questions. Yes, it’s temporary. Eventually, we will be back in our offices and gyms and houses of worship. Continue reading…
4 Communications Lessons to Learn from the Pandemic
By Bruce Kennedy, VP of Provider Development, MobileSmith Health
Twitter: @TheMobileSmith
Although the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic seems never-ending, normal times will return. Savvy healthcare leaders will be keeping a list of lessons learned and things the health system or hospital could do better next time. Any such list should include communications strategies that could be improved for staff, patients and the community at large. Continue reading…
Healthcare Finance Leaders Come Together to Learn and Share COVID-19 Challenges, Strategies
By Kermit S. Randa, Chief Executive Officer, & Jay Spence, VP of Healthcare Product Management and Strategy, Kaufman Hall Software
Twitter: @KaufmanHall
Twitter: @kermit_randa
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact hundreds of thousands of lives and the connected global economy in virtually every business sector. Healthcare leaders have an especially unique challenge — as the rest of the world hunkers down, they’re working tirelessly to manage through tremendous uncertainty and risk. Continue reading…
More HIPAA and Telehealth
By Matt Fisher, Attorney and chair of the Health Law Group at Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP.
Twitter: @matt_r_fisher
As the telehealth flood gates are being opened, privacy and security considerations still remain. HIPAA will continue to lurk in the background even with the Office for Civil Rights pre-announcing the exercise of discretion to not enforce telehealth related violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discretion to permit the use of non-compliant services (such as FaceTime, Skype, or Facebook Messenger) is leaving many questions. Continue reading…
How To Become a Telemedicine Provider
By Joel Barthelemy, Founder, Chief Executive and Operating Officer, GlobalMed
Twitter: @GlobalMed_USA
From medical emergencies to ordinary exams, telemedicine is shattering healthcare barriers all over the world. In addition to reducing costs and improving outcomes, virtual health can bring advanced care to underserved patients while relieving overworked providers. Yet for some clinicians, telemedicine is still shrouded in mystery – often because they’re not sure how to get started. Continue reading…
COVID-19 Bonanza: Stimulus Hands Health Industry Billions Not Directly Related To Pandemic
By Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News
Twitter: @KHNews
Twitter: @fredschulte
The coronavirus stimulus package Congress rushed out last week to help the nation’s hospitals and health care networks hands the industry billions of dollars in windfall subsidies and other spending that has little to do with defeating the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading…
Accelerated Expansion of Telemedicine Needs Strong Governance and Change Management
By Peyman Zand, Vice President, CereCore
Twitter: @CereCore
The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures has ensured that telemedicine is here to stay. Hospitals and clinics are enabling telehealth visits to their providers as quickly as possible. Some systems through expanding their existing telemedicine implementations to new sites and groups – others are moving telemedicine implementation to the number one priority. Continue reading…