Consumer Health

Connecting patients and providers is the holy grail of clinical I.T. This section looks at enabling technologies, such as patient portals and personal health records that are designed for direct use by patients. In addition, patient-centric technologies, such as disease management applications, are covered.

Editor's Note: Analyzing the Real World

Greg Gillespie | May 01

A recent report by research firm IDC Health Insights tagged analytics as the No. 1 technology priority for organizations engaging in accountable care.

Data Repositories

Decision Support

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Revenue Cycle Management

Chronic Care

He Wrote the Book

Elizabeth Gardner | May 01

If you want to explain to people in other industries exactly what you do and why it's so interesting and challenging, Phil Fasano has written a book for you to give them.

EHR

Hardware

Group Practices

Health Info Exchange

Decision Support

Chronic Care

Disease Management

Most Wasteful States for Prescription Meds

May 01

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Group Practices

Hospitals

Medication Management

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Want to Impress OCR During a HIPAA Audit? Write a Book

Joseph Goedert | May 01

Here is a tutorial from the Cleveland Clinic on maximizing proof of HIPAA privacy/security rule compliance through organized documentation by making a Book of Evidence.

Data Security

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Vendor News

Policy & Regulation

Stimulus

Feds Want Input on Reducing Senior Identity Theft

Joseph Goedert | May 01

The Federal Trade Commission will host a day-long forum on May 7 to hear from stakeholders on ways to reduce senior identity theft and mitigate the effects when it happens. The in-person meeting in Washington also will be accessible via the Web.

Data Security

Hospitals

Group Practices

Payers

Policy & Regulation

The Goal: Better Use of Patient-Reported Information

Joseph Goedert | Apr 30

In recent years, patient portals, secure e-mail messaging software and patient kiosks in provider facilities have significantly increased the generating of electronically captured patient self-reported health information.

Data Repositories

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Health Info Exchange

Policy & Regulation

HHS/OCR Content Explains HIPAA Nuances for Consumers, Providers

Joseph Goedert | Apr 30

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has put together a package of new and existing content to help consumers and providers better understand the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The office enforces the rules.

Data Security

Decision Support

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Policy & Regulation

Stimulus

Payers

Contractor Vangent Gets Federal HIX Business

Joseph Goedert | Apr 30

Vangent Inc., a unit of government contractor General Dynamics, will build and operate call centers to help consumers purchase health insurance through state-based health information exchanges built in part or entirely by the federal government.

Group Practices

Hospitals

Health Info Exchange

Payers

Policy & Regulation

CMS: Simplified Application for HIX Coverage

Joseph Goedert | Apr 30

Preparing for health insurance exchanges, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has developed a three-page health insurance application form for individuals, down from 21 pages. The application for families is cut by two-thirds, according to CMS.

Payers

Data Repositories

Policy & Regulation

New Elsevier Content Covers Evidence-based Medicine

Joseph Goedert | Apr 26

Medical information content vendor Elsevier has published the first in a series of issue briefs examining the benefits and challenges of adopting evidence-based medicine.

Hospitals

Group Practices

Decision Support

Policy & Regulation

Chronic Care

HIT Vendor Alliance Comments on Lifting Interoperability Barriers

Joseph Goedert | Apr 26

The CommonWell Health Alliance, announced in March and comprising a handful of health information technology vendors collaborating to cooperate on systems interoperability issues, has responded to a federal request for information on ways to advance interoperability and health information exchange.

Health Info Exchange

Policy & Regulation

Data Security

Payers

Vendor News

Systems Integration

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Hospitals

Group Practices

EHR

Allscripts Doubles Down on Care Coordination

Joseph Goedert | Apr 25

Physician and hospital software vendor Allscripts has introduced new software to support the enhanced care coordination across provider settings required under accountable care organizations and other value-based treatment/payment programs.

Chronic Care

Disease Management

Health Info Exchange

EHR

Systems Integration

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Vendor News

Analysis: Most ER Visits from Privately Insured are Avoidable

Joseph Goedert | Apr 25

A Truven Health Analytics study of more than 6.5 million emergency department visits of privately insured patients finds only 29 percent of them required immediate attention.

Payers

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Policy & Regulation

Group Practices

Hospitals

Data Repositories

Mercer Adds Ancillary Payers to its Private Insurance Exchange

Joseph Goedert | Apr 25

Labor consultancy Mercer has announced more insurers who will offer benefit plans through a new private insurance exchange for employers, called Mercer Marketplace.

Payers

Group Practices

Hospitals

Health Info Exchange

Policy & Regulation

New Federally Supported Networks to Aid in Comparative Treatment Research

Joseph Goedert | Apr 24

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent not-for-profit organization created in the Affordable Care Act, has issued two funding announcements to establish the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

Disease Management

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Chronic Care