Top Guest Posts of the Month
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 thought on the issues of today. We publish at least seven guest posts a week now, Monday through Thursday. In case you missed some, here are the top ten read and shared guest posts of the month. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
Why Healthcare IT Professionals Are Relying On Big Changes
By William McElmurry, Senior VP and Vertical Practice Leader at SoftServe, Inc.
With the ICD-10 compliance date now slated for next year, 2015 should be the year that U.S. healthcare industry begins to run more efficiently than ever before. By making faster and final transitions to the ICD-10 coding systems, the U.S. healthcare industry should run more efficiently than ever before. Individual healthcare systems, in turn, will integrate more smoothly, easing information sharing between organizations, and both provider and payer space should become easier. Continue reading…
Push vs Pull: Myths About Health Data Sharing
By Robert Rowley, MD, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Flow Health
Since the widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems by most hospitals and a majority of community physicians, the fragmented, siloed nature of a given patient’s health story has become evident. Continue reading…
Email, PHI and Direct
By Andy Nieto, IT Strategist at DataMotion
Email and clinical medicine have historically been kept apart. Privacy, security and accountability have all been in question when regular email is used to communicate clinical information. In 2008, the federal government made a very interesting statement about this when they said, “The Privacy Rule allows covered health care providers to communicate electronically, such as through e-mail, with their patients, provided they apply reasonable safeguards when doing so.” Continue reading…
Patient Engagement vs. Patient Education
By Jamie Verkamp, Managing Partner and Chief Speaking Officer at (e)Merge
Healthcare organizations often see attesting to the Measures included in Meaningful Use Stage 2 as a burdensome checklist which results in massive resource drain in exchange for inadequate financial compensation. MU Stage 2 Measure 7 is one such oft-maligned requirement for attestation. This Measure requires that online access to records is provided to 50% of patients and that 5% of patients execute the viewing, download, or transmission of their online health information. Organizations should not see Measures such as this, regarding patient engagement, as intimidating or inconvenient. Instead, Measures seeking to improve patient engagement should be seen as an opportunity to create more loyal, involved patients. By giving patients a channel to monitor and participate in their own healthcare, organizations can develop a more educated population. Continue reading…
HIPAA Myths Part 2
By Matt Fisher, Attorney and chair of the Health Law Group at Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP.
Last week I posted five common HIPAA myths, with the promise of more to follow. That promise is now being kept with more common myths to test your knowledge. Hopefully everyone is on top of their HIPAA game and will not be tricked by these issues. Now onto the myths, with numbering continuing from last week. Continue reading…
What Every Provider Needs to Know about Patient Engagement
By Zach Watson, Technology Advice
Patient engagement applications. Healthcare Analytics. Personal Health Records. With the influx of new healthcare IT options, it’s easy to forget what all this new technology is actually supposed to accomplish. In truth, it all centers on each point of the healthcare triangle: reducing costs, improving outcomes, and better engaging patients. The reality is that the first two are inherently tied to the third. Continue reading…
Mobile Medical Solutions
By Jared Jacobs, Global SEO Strategist & Consultant at Dell
Healthcare professionals tend to be mobile. The job often demands it. Whether they are treating patients in different parts of the hospital or working with people in remote locations, they need to have the freedom to work whenever and wherever their skills are in demand. Continue reading…
Cloud-based Solutions Can Provide Significant Value for HIPAA Compliance
By Ken Allen, Director of Product Marketing for Ipswitch File Transfer
Given the recent Omnibus ruling from September 2013, compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has never been more urgent. With security breaches occurring at an alarming rate, the push towards compliance has fueled businesses large and small to explore the necessary requirements – and options available – when it comes to achieving HIPAA compliance. Continue reading…
Prepare Your Practice for the Next Decade
By Edward Keiper, President and CEO of Velocity
The key to the future of medicine is collaboration. New smart technologies allow information sharing like never before. With government mandated laws such as Meaningful Use, medical practices are moving into the age of Big Data. There are four main areas that policy makers identify as goals for the next ten years: Continue reading…
HHS Publishes FDASIA Health IT Report
By Brian Ahier, Advanced Health Information Exchange Resources
HHS released a draft report that includes a proposed strategy and recommendations for a health information technology (health IT) framework, which promotes product innovation while maintaining appropriate patient protections and avoiding regulatory duplication. The congressionally mandated report was developed in consultation with health IT experts and consumer representatives and proposes to clarify oversight of health IT products based on a product’s function and the potential risk to patients who use it. Continue reading…