Track ASC metrics to produce a healthy bottom line
Each day seems to bring new tasks for leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), adding to their already overflowing plate. One task that can easily fall off that plate is collecting and analyzing metrics, yet failing to do so can have serious financial consequences. OR Manager recently asked ASC leaders…
AMA, partners on initiative to develop integrated platform for big data analytics
Editor's Note The American Medical Association (AMA) and its partners, including the American Medical Informatics Association, IBM, and Cerner, are developing an integrated platform for clinical informatics and big data analytics, the October 16 HealthIT Analytics reports. The aim of the physician-led Integrated Health Model Initiative is to help healthcare…
Data analytics tops list of challenges for healthcare execs in 2018
Editor's Note In a survey from the HealthCare Executive Group, clinical and data analytics was was the top of 10 challenges the healthcare industry will face in 2018, the October 9 Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review reports. Value-based payments was third, cybersecurity was sixth, and mobile health technology was…
Nearly a third of consumers lack easy access to medical records
Editor's Note An Ambra Health survey found that 31% of more than 1,100 healthcare consumers were not able to easily access their medical records, and only half of those had access to their records online through their health care practitioner, the September 19 Healthcare Informatics reports. The survey also found…
Can HAI data be useful in differentiating US hospitals?
Editor's Note There are enough healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data reported on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website to meet minimal criteria for useful hospital comparisons in many geographic areas; however, it varies by type of HAI, this study finds. The analysis included data from 4,561…
Bill to reduce EHR burden clears subcommittee
Editor's Note The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee on September 13 approved legislation that would remove a requirement to make meaningful use standards for electronic health records (EHRs) more stringent over time, the September 13 AHA News Now reports. In a letter of support for the bill, which is…
Children’s Hospital Colorado alerts patients of data breach
Editor's Note Officials at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora are sending notifications to nearly 3,400 patient families about a data breach that may have compromised their health information, according to the September 11 Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review. On July 11, investigators found an unauthorized person may have accessed…
FDA to staff new digital health unit
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is filling 13 positions in a new digital health unit that was created as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, the September 11 FierceHealthcare reports. The FDA intends to build a group of experts who are experienced with software lifecycle…
Ransomware attacks: How to protect your medical device systems
Ransomware is a form of computer malware used to make data, software, and information technology (IT) assets unavailable to users. It uses encryption of data to hold systems hostage with an associated ransom demand, often in Bitcoin (a virtual currency that is difficult to trace). This encryption is used to…
Medicare ‘meaningful use’ data to be submitted via QualityNet
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced August 7 that hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in Medicare’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program will submit their “meaningful use” data via QualityNet rather than the EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System beginning January 2, 2018,…
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