One of the ways that Answers Media 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 June. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
Most Played Radio Episode in June
From Healthcare de Jure, host Matt Fisher’s guest is Brian Petersen, Chief Scientific Officer, Podimetrics. Background on diabetes and complex diabetes; rising prevalence of diabetes along with more undiagnosed patients; need for intervention to avert serious consequences; patient empowerment through shifting perception; enhancing care pathways.
Most Read Thought Leader Posts in June
Social Determinants of Health in Healthcare IT Standards
By David Pyke, Interoperability Subject Matter Expert, Audacious Inquiry
Twitter: @A_INQ
Twitter: @loftwyr
Social determinants of health, as defined by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Over the past few years, the role that social determinants of health (SDOH) plays in healthcare and health outcomes has become widely recognized throughout all aspects of the healthcare industry. Continue reading…
Using Predictive and Prescriptive Insights To Close Care Gaps
By Dr. John Sargent, Founder, BroadReach Group
Twitter: @broadreachinfo
Healthcare in the United States is often better at treating disease than preventing it. Chronic diseases are the leading causes of illness, disability, death and rising healthcare costs in the country. Lifestyle health issues like obesity, high blood pressure and blood sugar, poor diet, and smoking are linked to more than $730 Billion in healthcare spending in the U.S. As many as six in 10 U.S. adults live with a chronic disease. Continue reading…
Healthcare Is Now the Industry Most Targeted by Hackers, Here’s How Organizations Can Defend Themselves
By Ahsan Siddiqui, Director of Product Management, Arcserve
Twitter: @Arcserve
Healthcare data breaches reached a record high in 2021. Indeed, healthcare now sees more cyberattacks than any other industry. Fully one-third of all cyberattacks are aimed at healthcare institutions. Why? Because healthcare is a valuable and vulnerable target. Hackers go after healthcare because patient data and hospital systems are lucrative prey. Hackers know they can demand a high ransom if they compromise patient data or healthcare systems. Continue reading…
Opening the Digital Front Door
By Aan Chauhan, Chief Technology Officer, Mindtree
Twitter: @Mindtree_Ltd
For far too long, patients have struggled navigating the complexities of the healthcare industry. The complexity arises from the fact that care is delivered through an ecosystem of actors such as primary care providers, specialists, pharmacists, labs, and insurance providers, all of whom operate independently from one another, creating a web of obstacles to overcome in providing care. Continue reading…
13 Areas to Improve Electronic Prior Authorization
By Alex Baker and Michael Wittie, ONC
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
In January 2022, ONC issued a Request for Information that sought public input on the ONC Health IT Certification Program and how it could incorporate standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria related to electronic prior authorization. Shortly thereafter, ONC charged the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee with providing input and recommendations in response to this RFI. Continue reading…
Beyond Prior Authorization: 4 Ways to Control Specialty Drug Costs
By Matthew Hawley, Executive Vice President of Payment Integrity Operations and Jonathan Starr, PharmD, Senior Consultant, Cotiviti
Twitter: @Cotiviti
A patient receives automatic refills from a specialty pharmacy for a drug he no longer uses and ends up stockpiling $1 million worth of medication. A pharmacy miscalculates the number of units of a specialty drug prescribed for a patient, resulting in a claim that is $16,000 higher than necessary, yet the claim is paid for by insurance. These are just two examples of why specialty drugs are complex to manage and costly to cover—and why prior authorization alone is not enough to prevent overspending or fraud, waste and abuse. Continue reading…
Information Blocking and the President’s FY23 Budget for ONC
By Steven Posnack, M.S., M.H.S., Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT
Steven’s Twitter: @HealthIT_Policy
While the federal government’s budget planning processes may have a certain mystique to them, some interesting tidbits are always in federal agency budgets if you know where to look. Fear not, because this blog post highlights a new legislative proposal associated with information blocking that’s been put forward by the Biden-Harris Administration for HHS. Continue reading…
How to Engage Physicians for Cost Savings Success
By Lisa T. Miller, MHA, CEO, VIE Healthcare
Twitter: @viehealthcare
Twitter: @lisamillerVIE
Physician preference items or physician driven spend is a significant driver for hospitals. Hospitals should aim to work together with their physicians, not just work with them when the need arises. Three obstacles are observed when hospitals begin the initiative of engaging their physicians for cost savings. Hospitals should have a playbook they use to have positive engagements with physicians when reviewing cost analytics. Continue reading…
Social Determinants of Health: How to Drive Action From Data
By Jessica Scruton, BSN, RN, CCM-R, VP of Clinical Transformation, Lightbeam Health Solutions
Twitter: @LightbeamHealth
Social determinants of health are entering the healthcare conversation more often these days for a reason. According to the World Health Organization, numerous studies report that SDOH play a role in 30% – 55% of health outcomes. In fact, research has indicated that social determinants may be more important to an individual’s health than their lifestyle choices. Continue reading…
The 18 PHI (Protected Health Information) Identifiers
By Art Gross, President and CEO, HIPAA Secure Now!
Twitter: @HIPAASecureNow
HIPAA regulations are in place to ensure that you protect and secure the patient data that as a healthcare business, you have access to and collect. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has identified 18 patient identifier categories as it pertains to their guidance on satisfying the safe harbor method for de-identification per §164.514(b): Continue reading…