Our Favorite Tweets & Photos from HIMSS19

More than 46,000 health IT professionals and enthusiasts converged on the Sunshine State for the 2019 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition held this week (Feb 11 - 15) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Attendees took in educational sessions, keynotes and industry forums, while vendors showcased their wares and released new product and partnership […]

Read More

The Urgency of Interoperability

The word “interoperability” means different things to different people. By definition in the IT world it is the ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of information. While most healthcare providers want and understand the importance of EHR interoperability, most also say (according to this 2017 survey) that current interoperability solutions […]

Read More

Nearly 75% of Patients Comfortable with State HIE Systems

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of patients feel “very” or “moderately comfortable” with an electronic version of their health records being immediately accessible online by any authorized health care provider in their state, says a new survey from Software Advice. The survey polled 583 U.S. health consumers and interviewed experts to understand patient support for interoperability, their perceptions of […]

Read More

Salesforce Launches Salesforce Health Cloud

Today Salesforce introduced Health Cloud, its first industry product built specifically for healthcare. Salesforce Health Cloud is a cloud-based patient relationship management solution that enables providers to gain a complete view of the patient with integrated data from electronic medical records (EMRs), wearables and more; make smarter care decisions; engage with patients across their caregiver […]

Read More

Interoperability Gets Personal

Let me start with my personal firsthand experience of health information interoperability. While playing football for his college last fall, my son sustained a pelvic fracture. He was initially seen and evaluated at the local community hospital, an excellent institution. He was transferred to an outstanding quaternary institution about 35 miles away. At the community […]

Read More

Signs of Spring: Collaboration and Growth in Healthcare IT

Spring feels distant with the relentless snow here in the Northeast. And yet, in healthcare IT circles there are seedlings popping up through the frozen ground. New growth and new ideas taking root all around. In the chill of December, the Argonaut Project arrived on the scene. Echoing the mythological allusion of the JASON report, the […]

Read More

State HIEs: The Glass is Half…

For advocates of Health Information Exchanges (HIE), a new study on repeat imaging offers encouragement. As reported in January in Healthcare IT News, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College found that participants whose medical records were accessed through an HIE within 90 days were significantly less likely to have repeat imaging tests. The study comes on […]

Read More

Interoperability, the 21st Century’s Golden Fleece

Jason, mythic hero prior to the Greek Dark Ages, was tasked to find the Golden Fleece before he could claim his throne. For this quest, Jason recruited other Greek heroes, Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, to name a few of the Argonauts. Today, a new Jason summons new heroes to join in the quest for […]

Read More

Meaningful Use Postponement, Reassessment Are Positive Developments

On May 20, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allowed providers another year to remain at Stage 1 of Meaningful Use, and the 2011 edition of CEHRT may be used for 2014. In addition, 2017 was confirmed as the start date for Stage 3. For some, unlike the ICD-10 delay, this postponement, confirmation […]

Read More

Four Reasons Healthcare Testing Needs Are Growing

The complexity and interdependence of enterprise applications in healthcare settings increasingly require specialized QA and testing capabilities—automated and manual.  A thorough testing program can help hospitals identify and fix business, functional and performance defects, while improving application speed, quality and usability. We see four critical drivers causing  hospital leaders to evaluate and supplement their testing […]

Read More

Checking for Vital Signs at HIMSS14

There’s a reason why they are called vital signs. By looking at temperature, pulse, blood pressure and respiratory rate, physicians can assess the status and direction of a patient’s health. Although my practice days are over, I’m eager to check the vital signs of healthcare IT next week at HIMSS14. By most accounts, the patient […]

Read More