Regulatory Compliance

I recently read an article in the NY Times talking about an “unexplainable” sharp and persistent slowdown in the growth of healthcare costs. It has been followed by others, such as this one from USA Today, that have begun attempting to shed light on the reasons why. Contrary to the partisanship rhetoric from our lawmakers, […]

As HIMSS 2013 has come to a close, I’ve had a chance to look back at the experience of the last few days. I’ve been going to HIMSS for over 15 years. I can’t remember one where I didn’t learn things, meet new people and get excited about the innovations in health IT. However this […]

While many people likely left after Monday it hasn’t been obvious from the crowds on the exhibit floor and hallways. The only major difference I noticed was that there were fewer people in the education session I attended. However, one I attended was first thing in the morning and there have been vendor receptions each […]

I attended a session at the HIMSS 2013 Conference yesterday entitled, Healthcare Kaizen, Daily Improvement, Not Just Events that Mark Graban, MSME, MBA, presented. At a technology conference it was refreshing to hear how technology should not be the only focus to improving care. In today’s healthcare environment, big strategic initiatives are all the rage. […]

When wandering through the large HIMSS 2013 exhibit hall in New Orleans this year, I am inspired by innovation and the impact of mobile technologies on healthcare. I was thinking about the article in the Atlantic Wire called “Google Glass Will Be Out Just in Time for a Very Expensive Christmas Present” and what the […]

The healthcare IT field is rapidly developing and changing. Emerging technology and updated regulations put pressure on healthcare providers and health plans to stay ahead of the curve. Perficient creates a monthly list that explores some of the current topics and issues in health IT. This list examines the most talked about issues and technologies […]

It has been shown that active patient engagement results in fewer hospital readmissions, decreased medical errors, and less consequences resulting from poor communications. Engaging patients improves healthcare, saves money, and reduces errors. Meaningful Use has a program goal to deploy technology to raise patient engagement. The timing is ideal, since more patients are connected every […]

As a big fan of kevinmd.com, I enjoyed reading David Nash, MD’s take on how doctors need an “EMR 3.0” analytic engine for accountability and that creating an analytics tool that monitors gaps in care for a provider’s population is very important for accountable care. We also agree that as successful as the big EMR […]

Healthcare organizations are challenged with collaboration and coordination of patient care while struggling with many aspects of payment and quality. The shift from a traditional fee-for-service model to the ACO has many physicians worrying about a return to capitation versus risk and cost sharing. The key is managing the health of a fixed population of […]

I guess I could’ve used “fail” instead of “go on forever,” but I chose to use the latter here for a reason. For smaller initiatives, you occasionally get the former, but as is so often the case with those large enterprise endeavors, it’s the latter. I’ve seen this occur time and time again, a couple […]

In the financial services practice, compliance audits and vendor security evaluations are the norm for IT and operations. Our customers must meet standards to participate in the industry, to protect their assets, to protect their customers’ personally identifying information, and to meet their regulatory requirements as a business.  When IT organizations take part in completing […]

Sean Brooks, in his article 5 EHR predictions, very astutely anticipates several upcoming changes related to Electronic Health Records: 2013 will be the year of the replacement EHRs Many EHR vendors will disappear The cloud is here to stay I believe Sean is spot on and I would like to expand on this based on […]