January 30, 2012
The CMS Innovation Center held an Accelerated Development Learning Session earlier this month on how to develop episode-based care for bundled payment programs. The bundled payments shared savings program is one of two broad voluntary programs under healthcare reform administered through Medicare (the other being the accountable care organization (ACO) shared-savings program). The session provided two very interesting case studies. Earlier this month, I wrote about one case study at Baystate Medical Center. In this blog I will share with you another case study from St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, a 617-bed facility in Hartford, Conn.
January 30, 2012 By David Raths
One of the great potential benefits of the meaningful use EHR incentive program is improved public health syndromic surveillance. As EHRs and health information exchanges mature, they promise to speed the dissemination and analysis of clinical data. Epidemiologists who used to have to wait for paper-based reports will soon have almost real-time access to data to monitor or identify infectious disease outbreaks.
January 27, 2012 Pete Rivera
Our industry often expands as some companies acquire others. As customers and industry watchers we grow accustomed to the various names of products and know exactly what it does based on its name. Ingenix Claims Manager scrubs electronic claims before sending them to payers. Initiate offers a tool that helps you determine the amount of duplicate medical records that are in your data base. Finally, IDX was the software used for practice management, EMR, radiology and HIS. These are just a few products that have been “rebranded.”
January 26, 2012 Gabriel Perna
One sector of healthcare IT that will be worth watching over the next few years is telehealth. From the sounds of my recent chat with Jonathan Linkous, the CEO of the American Telemedicine Association, the industry is on the brink of explosive growth.
