Articles by Industry Expert

Looking Ahead in 2016

By Matt Patterson MD – With a new year just getting started, most realists recognize that for all intents and purposes ACA is here to stay. No matter what discourse has transpired or how the next presidential election turns out, we are down a path of value-based care with no turning back.

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Cybersecurity: An Essential Focal Point

By Matt Fisher – Every industry, whether it be healthcare, financial, or anything else, is under constant attack or threat to digital information. This is not news, especially in light of the numerous stories about breaches from Target to Hyatt Hotels to voter databases to health insurers and more.


A Primer on FHIR

By Paula Braun – Not long ago, health records were paper files locked away in cabinets. Thanks to advancements in technology and national incentives, these records are largely digitized and their roles have evolved beyond a means of documenting care. Now, people look to data captured in electronic health records (EHRs) to create a deeper understanding of wellness and diseases, identify threats to public health, and determine what interventions work best for whom.


Annual Reflections at the End of 2015

By William Hersh – As regular readers of this blog know, I traditionally end each year with a posting reflecting back on the past year. While this year has been another great success for myself and our informatics program at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), it has been somewhat of a transitional year for the informatics field. Many of the new and exciting initiatives in the informatics field from recent years are no longer novel, with some now settling into “midlife” and others being called out for retirement.


A Look Ahead at 2016: Top 3 Industry Predictions

By Eric Nilsson – Whether they were highlights or lowlights, healthcare stories dominated the news in 2015. The skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs, expanded medical coverage, the meltdown of blood-testing startup Theranos and the arrest of pharmaceutical industry entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, criticized for raising the price of life-saving drugs, were some of the stories that took center stage.



Is Becoming an ACO the Right Choice For You?

By Don Michaels PhD – One of the key concepts to rise out of the turbulent past decade in the healthcare industry is the Accountable Care Organization (ACO). In the ACO model, private and government payers offer the opportunity for financial incentives to groups of providers to encourage them to come together voluntarily to deliver high quality while keeping costs down.


Volume is Only One of the Four “V”s of Big Data, Especially for the Right Data

By William Hersh MD – One widely accepted definition of Big Data is that it entails four “V”s: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. In other words, Big Data is defined by there being a great deal of it (volume), coming at us rapidly and continuously (velocity), taking many different forms and types (variety), and originating from trustworthy sources (veracity).