By Sarianne Gruber – How much impact could medical device interoperability have on improving safety? A West Health IDEA series hosted care experts to address this question in an open forum titled “Missed Connections, Costly Medicine: Frontline Views on Interoperability and Improved Patient Care”.
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By Matt Gretczko. Meaningful use – it’s a huge buzz word, and rightfully so. Whether you agree or disagree with the manner in which it has been “implemented” (and the intricacies of the guidelines), it has been a driving factor in pushing healthcare organizations towards greater technology adoption. Money, especially in Healthcare, remains a rather significant momentum driver for many organizations.
By Angela Dangelo – Understanding your organization’s workflows and knowing what educational methods work for your staff can guide the creation of a tailored training program that will transform your entire team into advocates for patient portal use.
By William Hersh, MD – Like many in academic informatics, my career has benefitted greatly from the support of National Library of Medicine (NLM), the institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that has been devoted to, among other things, support for research and training in biomedical and health informatics.
By Kelli Cochrane – “What is the definition of Transitions of Care?” It’s mentioned in the Meaningful Use requirements and is accepted as one of the key areas of risk for patients along the entire care continuum. However, do we as clinicians really have the same idea as to what “Transitions of Care” means?
By John Halamka, MD – CIOs are at a challenging crossroads in their careers. Regulatory burdens, security threats, and changing reimbursement models have led to a demand for change that seems overwhelming. As workflow pressures increase, it’s easy to declare IT the rate limiting step. Given that many CIOs are ready to raise the white flag of defeat in desperation, finding time for innovation amidst the swirl of must do projects can be a challenge.
This lyric from Bob Seger’s song Against the Wind sums up a basic dilemma debated at the February 11th U. S. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the implementation of ICD-10.
By Eric Venn-Watson – Over the past year, the perception of mobile technology in healthcare has changed dramatically. mHealth is now being recognized as a tool that can help address the challenges our healthcare system is facing, including a shortage of caregivers, an influx of newly insured patients, decreased reimbursements and readmission penalties.
By William Hyman – There has been much discussion about EHRs not meeting user’s needs. This often involves complaints of cumbersome data entry and/or data extraction, even within a single product and before ever getting to information exchange.