Health IT Issues that Deserve a Second Read – January 2020

Top10-200One of the ways that HealthIT Answers 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 January. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.

Most Played Radio Episode in January

From PopHealth Week, hosts Fred Goldstein and Gregg Masters, MPH welcome special guest Jeffrey Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer, Cloud Fax, J2 Global, Inc. Jeffrey is responsible for all technology and product development for the unit. He has over 25 years of experience growing small- to mid-sized companies that fuel their success with the innovative use of technology. His past 15+ years have been spent as a C-level executive (CIO, COO, CTO) in fast-growth e-commerce SaaS and ERP companies in the real estate, financial services, and healthcare industries.

Most Read Thought Leader Posts in January

2020 Vision – The Potential for a Cyberwar is Upsetting the Risk Equation
By Clyde Hewitt, Executive Advisor, CynergisTek
Twitter: @cynergistek

2020 has clearly started with a bang, not a whimper. Currently, we face a highly volatile international political situation that could include a cyber warfare component. Most healthcare organizations have never planned for this type of attack, so prior risk conversations never prepared healthcare organizations to accurately plan for the potential adverse impacts. Continue reading…

Three Reasons Why AI in Healthcare Will Either Flourish or Fail
By Matthew A. Michela, President & CEO, Life Image
Twitter: @lifeimageinc

It seems everyone has jumped on the AI bandwagon in healthcare these days. Behind the hype are fundamental structural and cultural considerations that will either make these efforts successful or doom this nascent effort into being another industry fad until a later time. While some may argue which elements should be on the list, I’m offering three that aren’t typically discussed. Continue reading…

HIPAA Year in Review
By Matt Fisher, Attorney and chair of the Health Law Group at Mirick, O’Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, LLP.
Twitter: @matt_r_fisher

HIPAA experienced yet another year of attention, questioning, and enforcement. The issues around in 2019 were not necessarily new, though arguably approaches are beginning to change. Getting a handle on the issues may provide a means for better adherence to privacy and security principles contained in HIPAA and improving all overall operations. Continue reading…

Tackling the Epidemic of Chronic Illness
By Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick, Host of Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist
Twitter: @drnic1

On this episode I spoke to Prof. Arik Eisenkraft, MD, MHA, the Chief Medical Officer for BioBeats – a new step in continuous monitoring for blood pressure with a wearable device (watch or patch) that does not use an inflatable cuff for measuring your blood pressure. Continue reading…

3 Healthcare Initiatives Driving Patient Identification in 2020
By Vince Vitali, VP of Strategy and Business Development, NextGate
Twitter: @NextGate

The challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2020 and beyond are unprecedented in scope and complexity. Institutions must evolve and innovate to remain competitive, maximize performance, and generate revenue. With value-based care in motion, the coming year will see increased emphasis on consumerism, analytics and social determinants, as well as dependence on data sharing and greater collaboration among all healthcare players—from patient to health system to payer. Continue reading…

EHR Usability: It is NOT A Training Issue
By Bennett Lauber, Chief Experience Officer, The Usability People
Twitter: @UsabilityPeople

In a recent blog post by John Lynn, he discusses the irony of the following two statements: EHR Training Improves EHR Satisfaction and Physicians Don’t Want to Make Time for EHR Training. Many, many times in our usability evaluation and design career when a development team isn’t really interested in making enhancements to fix specific issues that we’ve identified, we’ve heard something like the phrase, “There is nothing wrong with the user interface, it is a training issue.” Continue reading…

Improving Revenue Cycle Performance and Patient Financial Experience in Emergency Care
By Tyler Williams, President, ZOLL AR Boost
Twitter: @zoll_rescuenet

Healthcare consumerism is changing the way patients and healthcare teams interact. As patients shoulder greater financial responsibility for rising out-of-pocket healthcare costs, their needs and expectations are evolving. Greater transparency and simplicity in medical billing rank high on the list of new consumer demands. Continue reading…

3 Priorities Impacting the Healthcare IT Workforce
By Jessica Thomas, Associate Vice President Staffing Services, CereCore
Twitter: @CereCore

After 20+ years of experience providing staff to hospitals and operators, I know firsthand that finding the right technical talent is more critical than ever. Hospital and healthcare providers face tremendous change from a variety of factors: consolidation and divestiture, regulation, and the availability of new technologies that improve patient care. Continue reading…

Understanding Blockchain’s Watershed Moment Happening in Healthcare
By Matt Ferrari, Chief Technology Officer, ClearDATA
Twitter: @cleardatacloud

In this episode of my podcast series of CTO Talk on HealthcareNOW Radio, I had the chance to connect with David Houlding, CISSP CIPP. David is the Principal Healthcare Lead for Microsoft Azure, and has focused much of his impressive career on privacy, security, and compliance in healthcare. Lately, he specifically is focusing on the healthcare and life sciences cloud and use cases for AI, machine learning, and blockchain. Continue reading…

Solving Access to Specialty Care for Rural Communities
By Gigi Sorenson, RN, MSN, Chief Clinical Officer, GlobalMed
Twitter: @GlobalMed_USA

Limited access to specialty providers and internet connectivity continues to be a barrier to quality healthcare for rural communities worldwide. Rural patients typically have less income than those in urban areas, limiting their ability to afford care even if they can manage the travel to an urban location. Combine this with limited internet access in remote areas, the healthcare outlook for rural communities looks dismal. Continue reading…