By Susannah Fox – You might be wondering why a Chief Technology Officer would be part of a conference on aging. Isn’t tech a young person’s game? First of all, I love Alan Kay’s definition: Technology is anything invented after you were born.
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By Phil McNulty – Care teams within skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) know intimately how readmissions affect the patients they care for, with risks including challenging their already fragile condition while potentially increasing the potential of infection, polypharmacy, and discomfort and stress for the resident and family.
By John Halamka MD – At the moment in our society, there tends to be a general proclivity to be a criticizer rather than a doer, to tear down rather than build up, and to have hearings instead of taking individual action. Everyone talks about what has not been done instead of examining the progress made.
By Bennett Lauber – One of the great things about living near a “destination city” such as Washington DC is that friends and relatives often come to visit. This past Fourth of July week was a perfect example, as my sister-in-law and niece came to visit and to celebrate our country’s birthday in it’s capital city.
By Tim Cannon – During transitions of care, prescriptions get lost or mixed up, collaboration and communication between providers is weak, and many patients fall off the grid. Although EMR systems have the capability to solve these issues in theory, in practice many hospitals are falling behind on Stage 2 meaningful use standards in this area.
By Edgar Wilson – Achieving interoperability is not just a technical hurdle: it is a challenge to the thinking of medical professionals. With all the current burdens how to get an already overburdened professional class to provide more collaborative care?
By William Hersh MD – I am increasingly asked to describe the difference between data science and biomedical informatics. Distinguishing these disciplines takes on added importance with the recent publication of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director, National Library of Medicine (NLM) Working Group, report on the future of the NLM, which calls for NLM to become a leader in data science at NIH.
By Justin Barnes – The transition to value-based care is not an easy one. Organizations will face numerous challenges on their journey towards population health management. We believe there are five key elements and best practices to consider when transitioning from volume to value-based care:
By Matt Fisher – A recent settlement announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) highlights the need to evaluate web-based applications and storage solutions. Web-based or cloud solutions are viable options and tools for healthcare entities to utilize, but those tools need to evaluated for compliance with HIPAA security requirements.