Category: Healthcare Industry News
Role of Health Data Exchange in Advancing Care Information
Date: September 1st, 2016Source: HealthIT InteroperabilityTopics: HIE, MACRA, Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)As part of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the advancing care information performance category will replace meaningful use for eligible clinicians — and place a strong emphasis on healthcare interoperability and health data exchange.
Read MoreHow to Get Started with a Population Health Management Program
Date: August 30th, 2016Source: HealthIT AnalyticsTopics: Population Health, Data AnalyticsGiven the fact that providers are increasingly acknowledging that they can’t escape the shift to pay-for-performance care, they are starting to turn their attention to developing the strategies and programs that will help them make the switch with the least amount of financial and operational discomfort. Population health management is at the top of that list, since it sits squarely at the nexus of health IT implementation, big data analytics, value-based reimbursement, improved operational efficiencies, and increased patient engagement.
Read MoreInfluential healthcare leaders set principles for patient-centered care
Date: August 30th, 2016Source: Modern HealthcareTopics: Value-Based Care, Accountable Care, Patient CareA group of healthcare industry heavy hitters who want to promote value-based care have developed a set of principles to help providers make patients the top priority in everything they do. The Health Care Transformation Task Force paper includes six guiding principles, each with key questions providers can ask themselves to gauge progress in following the principle.
Read MoreWhy Do We Want Interoperability?
Date: August 29th, 2016Source: HIE AnswersTopics: HIE, EHRs, Health IT, InteroperabilityA lot of time and attention has been put into the notion of interoperability by almost every stakeholder in the healthcare system. Those interested in the issue include patients, providers, vendors and the government. Why has interoperability received so much focus, though? It may be possible to answer that question by stating that interoperability contains a large element of the common good.
Read MoreUsing Health Information Exchange to Reduce Strain on EDs
Date: August 25th, 2016Source: HealthIT InteroperabilityTopics: HIE, Care Coordination, Emergency ServicesUse of health information exchanges could provide a solution to avoiding unnecessary visits to emergency departments while improving patient care, according to a recent study in the Southern Medical Journal.
Read MoreThe Impact of MACRA on Your Practice
Date: August 16th, 2016Source: RCM AnswersTopics: Meaningful Use, MACRA, Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Encouraging physicians to switch to electronic health records (EHR) has been a long term effort from CMS ever since the January 2009 passage of the HITECH act. Over three-quarters of physicians and nearly all hospitals are using an EHR but the incentivizing structure has been hard to wade through, at best. Now healthcare professionals and physicians alike must focus their efforts on understanding the end of the SGR formula and the beginning of The Merit Based Incentive Payment System and Alternative Payment Model
Read MoreTips for Overcoming Health Information Exchange Challenges
Date: August 15th, 2016Source: HealthIT InteroperabilityTopics: HIE, Healthcare PolicyNumerous challenges stand in the way of effective health information exchange and those are the top of the list tend to be non-technical in nature.
Read MoreHIE offers quick access to outside info to improve ED care
Date: August 15th, 2016Source: Fierce HealthcareTopics: HIE, Interoperability, Emergency ServicesHealth information exchanges (HIE) can improve emergency department care by providing faster access to patient information from outside sources, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
Read MoreCaring for High-Need, High-Cost Patients—An Urgent Priority
Date: August 12th, 2016Source: The Commonwealth FundTopics: Population Health, Value-Based Care, HealthcareMeaningful improvement in the health system will require improvement in care for those patients using it the most: people with multiple chronic conditions. Within this clinically diverse group are patients who remain stable for years with appropriate treatment, others who live with extreme functional limitations, and still others with persistent behavioral health challenges or related social needs, like housing or food, that exacerbate their conditions. Care for these high-need, high-cost patients is expensive: despite comprising just 5 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 50 percent of the nation’s annual health care spending.
Read MoreEHR Use Fuels Research, Interventions to Close Gaps in Care
Date: August 11th, 2016Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: EHRs, Population HealthIn a paper recently published in Health Affairs, researchers detail inequities in quality healthcare and discuss the methods by which providers can overcome those inequities. At the forefront of that research is robust EHR use to help manage key population data.
Read MoreACO's integration of behavioral health yields 13% decrease in ED visits, study finds
Date: August 11th, 2016Source: Healthcare DiveTopics: Behavioral Health, Accountable Care, Patient CareThe integration of behavioral health services into patients’ regular primary care source can help accountable care organizations (ACOs) improve the efficiency of their delivery systems, suggested a new study published in Health Affairs.
Read MoreOffice-Based Docs Lag in Outward Health Information Exchange
Date: August 10th, 2016Source: HealthIT InteroperabilityTopics: HIE, InteroperabilityWhile office-based physicians are making progress in adopting certified electronic health records (EHR) systems, only about a third electronically shared patient health information with external providers in 2014, according to a new data brief released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Read MoreFocus on value drives collaboration between postacute care providers, hospitals
Date: August 10th, 2016Source: Health Leaders MediaTopics: Hospital Readmissions, Long-Term Care, Transitions of CareWhether hospitals and health systems plan to own postacute providers or not, how your organization interacts with them after discharge will play an ever more critical role in both clinical and financial outcomes.
Read MoreHealth care organizations 114 times more likely to be ransomware victims than financial firms
Date: July 26th, 2016Source: CSOTopics: Data SecurityHealth care organizations were 114 times more likely to hit by ransomware infections than financial firms, and 21 times more likely than educational institutions, according to a new research report by Solutionary.
Read MoreCommunity health centers get $90M for IT buys
Date: July 26th, 2016Source: Health Data ManagementTopics: HIE, EHRs, Health IT, Rural HealthcareThe Bureau of Primary Health Care within the Health Resources and Services Administration later this year will start disbursing $90 million in grant funds to about 1,380 health center award recipients transitioning to value-based models of care who will need new IT tools.
Read MoreAdvanced EHR Use Shows Potential to Lower Patient Costs
Date: July 20th, 2016Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: EHRs, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesResearch shows that patients at advanced EHR use hospitals cost on average $730 less than those at other hospitals. Advanced EHR use may lead to significant per patient savings, showing promise for an eventual return on investment, shows a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Read MoreMeasuring Interoperability: Listening and Learning
Date: July 13th, 2016Source: HIE AnswersTopics: HIE, MACRA, InteroperabilityBased on internal analysis, external feedback, and MACRA’s specific definitions of “widespread interoperability” and the relevant population to be measured, we have identified two measures in particular that satisfy both the feedback we received and MACRA’s specific parameters
Read MoreHealthcare spending growth rate rises again in 2015
Date: July 13th, 2016Source: Modern HealthcareTopics: Health Plans, HealthcareGovernment agencies, companies and consumers spent a lot more on healthcare in 2015 than the prior year. It's another result of the U.S. reducing its uninsured rate to historic lows through healthcare reform, which has spurred demand for more hospital services, clinic visits and prescription drugs.
Read MoreWhat Clinical Quality Measures Mean to Healthcare Providers
Date: July 7th, 2016Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: EHRs, Meaningful Use, MACRA, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesThroughout the healthcare landscape, providers and hospitals must navigate various different incentive programs and quality improvement programs, with which come numerous requirements for clinical quality measures.
Read MoreValue-Based Care to Spur New Population Health Management Tools
Date: June 22nd, 2016Source: HealthIT AnalyticsTopics: HIE, EHRs, Population Health, Value-Based CareValue-based care and risk-based reimbursement contracts will continue to be a catalyst for the development and implementation of innovative population health management tools, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan.
Read MoreWhat Is EHR Optimization, How Does It Start?
Date: June 21st, 2016Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: EHRs, Transformation Support ServicesSo much of the focus of an EHR implementation is on the go-live and plenty of hustle and bustle precedes a practice's launch of a new EHR technology. However, the digital journey has only just begun at that point and what follows to sustain EHR adoption and use is known as EHR optimization.
Read MorePhysicians struggle to get timely data, and patient care suffers
Date: June 17th, 2016Source: Health Data ManagementTopics: HIE, EHRs, InteroperabilityDespite widespread use of electronic health records, a recent survey has found gaps in how information flows between clinicians and also between physicians and their patients.
Read MoreValue-Based Reimbursement Set to Eclipse FFS
Date: June 17th, 2016Source: Health Leaders MediaTopics: Value-Based Care, Accountable CareThe adoption of value-based reimbursement models is fast-paced and expected to dwarf the fee-for-service model by 2020, survey data shows.
Read MoreCare Coordination Improves Outcomes for Dual Eligible Patients
Date: June 16th, 2016Source: HealthIT AnalyticsTopics: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Care Coordination, Accountable CareCMS has announced that dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid patients face better outcomes because of integrated health plans that promote care coordination between the programs.
Read MoreLack of patient data, quality measures slowing shift to value-based care
Date: June 15th, 2016Source: Healthcare DiveTopics: Value-Based Care, Accountable Care, Quality Improvement64% of providers and payers said doctors don’t have the necessary tools to succeed in a value-based care model. And 85% of doctors said they would likely or very likely use a tool that provides real-time, on-demand patient-specific data to identify gaps in quality, risk and utilization.
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