Data Repositories

As more health care data becomes digital, data storage and data access become increasingly important issues. Stories here tackle the many aspects of managing a data warehouse, including data feeds, data formats, and access and governance issues.

Congress Asked to Fund Network to Track Infections

Joseph Goedert | May 08

Thirty health care and patient safety organizations have sent a letter to Congress asking for $31.5 million to fund the National Healthcare Safety Network, which tracks healthcare-associated infections.

Disease Management

Hospitals

Payers

Group Practices

Policy & Regulation

Patient/Physician Portals, a Stepwise Approach – Part 1

David Linthicum | May 07

Data integration is an important aspect of heath data management. However, it’s often overlooked as a core health care I.T. strategy. This is largely due to the fact that we’re used to dealing with data integration as tactical one-off projects, using whatever mechanisms work to solve the problem.

Consumer Health

Health Info Exchange

Web Technology

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.

Decision Support

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Revenue Cycle Management

Consumer Health

Chronic Care

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.

Consumer Health

EHR

Group Practices

Hospitals

Health Info Exchange

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

Consumer Health

Policy & Regulation

Biobank Program for Personalized Medicine Hits 25K Enrollees

Joseph Goedert | Apr 29

Twenty-five thousand individuals now have enrolled in the Mount Sinai Biobank Program of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, the organization announced on April 29.

Disease Management

Chronic Care

Hospitals

EHR

Systems Integration

In Pursuit of Quality Analytics

Gary Baldwin | Apr 26

Dignity Health’s data repository defines big—every night it grows by some 500 GB. Encompassing 39 hospitals across four western states, Dignity (the former Catholic Healthcare West) is using that data warehouse to create an analytics infrastructure to drive quality improvement efforts among an initial group of 600 physicians, themselves scattered across disparate locations.

Comments (2)

Group Practices

Hospitals

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

Consumer Health

Revenue Cycle & Payments

Policy & Regulation

Group Practices

Hospitals

HHS Seeks to Ease HIPAA Barriers to Background Gun Checks

Joseph Goedert | Apr 22

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has issued a request for information as it prepares to promulgate a rule to lift legal barriers related to the HIPAA privacy rule that may prevent states from reporting mental health information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Data Security

Group Practices

Hospitals

Decision Support

Policy & Regulation

Mayo Goal: Avoid Analytics ‘Chaos’

Gary Baldwin | Apr 19

When it comes to granting access to the analytics database, however, Mayo takes a measured approach. “We control the use and the release of any data,” says Alan Krumholz, M.D., vice president and director of quality outcomes. “If you let lots of people have access to data they don’t understand, you have chaos.”

Disease Management

Looking for BI Talent? You’re Not Alone

Boris Evelson at Forrester Research | Apr 18

Whether you are just starting on your BI journey or are continuing to improve on your past successes, shortage of skilled and experienced BI resources is going to be one of your top challenges. You are definitely not alone in this quest. Here are some scary statistics:

EHR

Decision Support

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

The Big Data Revolution: Part 2

Steve Miller, Co-Founder, OpenBI LLC | Apr 12

A new book shows how to assess the value of data in present and future uses.

Group Practices

EHR

Hospitals

Payers

South Carolina, Arkansas Pick IBM to Modernize State I.T. Systems

Joseph Goedert | Apr 12

IBM Corp. had announced new contracts with health and human services agencies in South Carolina and Arkansas to modernize their information systems and take advantage of new data analytics capabilities.

Payers

Group Practices

Hospitals

Consumer Health

Policy & Regulation

Vendor News

New Guidance to Aid Cybersecurity Preparedness

Joseph Goedert | Apr 10

HITRUST, a health industry stakeholder consortium, has issued guidance on how best to use its Common Security Framework of best practices to assess an organization’s cybersecurity preparedness.

Data Security

EHR

Health Info Exchange

Group Practices

Hospitals

Payers

Policy & Regulation

Web Technology

Getting Real Results with Clinical Desktop Virtualization

Apr 05

Getting Real Results with Clinical Desktop Virtualization

Explore the Benefits of Virtualization in Health Care.

Adoption of desktop virtualization in healthcare is expected to grow by 44% in 2013. In addition to enhancing clinical mobility and productivity, workstation or “desktop” virtualization can also result in a variety of other benefits including reduced storage costs, agility, improved reliability and enhanced security. To succeed in a virtualized environment, healthcare organizations need to rely on sophisticated storage solutions.

Read this eBook and get an close look at the benefits of desktop and other types of virtualization in the health care industry. You’ll also discover why healthcare organizations need powerful, integrated storage solutions to support virtualization.

Data Security

Document Management

Electronic Data Interchange

Health Info Exchange

Mobile Technology

Systems Integration

Web Technology

Wireless/Mobile