NueMD is conducting a survey of medical practices, billing companies, and business associates about HIPAA compliance.
In anticipation of the upcoming audits by the Office of Civil Rights, researchers at NueMD have teamed up with The Daniel Brown Law Group and Porter Research to conduct a survey that will help small practices prepare for an audit.
The survey will gauge respondents’ knowledge of HIPAA’s Privacy and Security regulations, understanding of compliance measures, and how electronic devices are used for communication.
Participation is strongly encouraged for care providers, office managers, and office staff of medical practices, as well as those who work for business associates (medical billing companies, software companies, etc) of covered entities.
athenahealth, Inc. announces that its More Disruption Please (MDP) Accelerator is now accepting applications. Launched in June 2014 with the arrival of its first portfolio company, Smart Scheduling, the accelerator is the company’s newest initiative for driving connectivity and innovation across the continuum of care.
The More Disruption Please Accelerator intends to drive disruption in health care by fostering the growth of high-potential, early-stage startups. athenahealth is offering its accelerator portfolio companies seed funding, free office space at its Watertown headquarters, and ongoing mentorship from athenahealth experts, advisors-in-residence and partners. Most notably, the More Disruption Please Accelerator provides its portfolio companies with exposure to athenahealth’s network of more than 55,000 health care providers via seamless integration with athenahealth’s athenaNet platform. Companies interested in working with MDP can now access and test athenahealth’s APIs through a re-imagined developer portal, designed to streamline global connectivity with athenaNet.
Chris Moses, CEO, Smart Scheduling, said, “Smart Scheduling is thrilled to take advantage of athenahealth’s commitment to open, interoperable, and disruptive technology as its first portfolio company. What’s unique about the athenahealth Accelerator is its highly customized approach; we are working together to determine a mutual definition of success for our company. Access to athenahealth’s APIs and cloud-based network has been, and will continue to be, critical to our scalability and success. We look forward to continuing to work with athenahealth’s team to bring our unique service to more and more providers across the country.”
Guest post By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS, chief medical information officer at Infor.
In many ways healthcare is like a symphony orchestra. Although information technology can enhance care planning, assist in medication administration and reduce duplicative testing, it cannot replace the people required to deliver care services to patients. Nurses are needed to administer medications, therapists are needed to provide treatments, and physicians are needed to diagnose illnesses and provide treatment plans. On average, hospitals devote close to 70 percent of their budget to labor costs. Until robots replace humans in the delivery of patient care, selection of the proper skill mix and number of professionals remains a significant factor that determines cost in provider organizations.
Although information technology cannot replace the staff delivering care to patients, it can assist organizations in choosing the best talent available, help develop that talent and determine the best way to utilize the skills of these professionals.
To identify the best talent, information technology tools allow the extraction of an employee’s “behavioral DNA” – the measurement of behavioral, cognitive and cultural traits. Organizations then compare this prospective employee’s “DNA” to the “DNA” of existing high performing employees within the organization in an effort to identify individuals who possess a high probability of excelling within the organization.
The recent theft of 4.5 million medical records by Chinese hackers coupled with the news that as-yet unidentified hackers were able to penetrate the U.S. government’s health care portal have ignited consumer concerns about the safety of health care records – and rightly so. No patient should have to worry that his or her protected health information (PHI) may fall into the hands of thieves.
The medical industry experiences more security breaches than any other U.S. industry today, serving to undermine public confidence in electronic health records and the industry at large. Last year alone, more than 7 million patient health records were breached, up 138 percent over the previous year, according to a February report by IT security consultant Redspin. Theft or loss of unencrypted portable computing devices (i.e., laptops) or digital media containing PHI was the leading cause of PHI data breach, impacting 83 percent of records breached. Unauthorized access and hacking incidents impacted less than 7 percent of records breached.
It’s reassuring to see the industry break new ground in studying security flaws and addressing vulnerabilities. For example, the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) teamed with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) last spring to lead CyberRX, a series of no cost, industry-wide exercises designed to simulate cyber attacks on participating health care organizations and help them identify weaknesses in preparedness. Two important findings emerged:
Organizations that participate in cyber exercises are better prepared for a cyber attack, regardless of the maturity and comprehensiveness of their information security program.
More preparation exercises like CyberRX would benefit health organizations by helping them to evaluate their programs, refine policies and procedures, and develop and implement effective communications among internal departments, the industry at-large, and government.
HealthITJobs.com recently released new information that shows that health IT continues to be one of fastest growing careers in the US. The conclusion is based on its survey, “2014 HealthITJobs.com Salary Survey,” which also stated that the mean salary for health IT professionals is $89,879.43, with 30 percent also receiving an average bonus of $13,100.52.
In addition to being well paid, health IT pros also enjoy high job satisfaction with a full 80 percent of those working in the field satisfied with their jobs. In conjunction with the releasing the survey, the company also issued the following infographic with data collected during July and August of 2014.
As you might imagine, experience pays off, as do certifications. If you don’t have either, don’t expect to make as much, and without each a salary can be deeply impacted. If you have each of those and want to make even more money, work on Epic software or go work with a consultant firm. And, the most money will be made working in the New York area and on the West Coast, but you’ll also pay more to live there, of course.
Check out the following graphic? Are you being shown the money?
A new survey of senior information technology executives at some of the nation’s largest health systems reveals that their top priority for IT infrastructure investment is analytics – a technology that is central to achieving the systematic quality improvements and cost reductions required by healthcare reform.
Health Catalyst surveyed members of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), all chief information officers (CIOs) or other senior IT executives of US healthcare organizations. Survey respondents provided a high-level view of the many competing priorities for IT investment that hospital leaders face in the era of “value-based care” – a term describing elements of the Affordable Care Act as well as private industry incentives that reward providers for improving their patients’ health.
Most experts agree that value-based care will require hospitals to use sophisticated analytics to comb through terabytes of clinical and financial data to reveal actionable opportunities for improving quality and efficiency. The survey’s findings confirm that view, with 54 percent of respondents rating analytics as their highest IT priority, followed by investments in population health initiatives (42 percent), ICD-10 (30 percent), accountable care/shared risk initiatives (29 percent), and consolidation-related investments (11 percent).
Guest post by Tom Bizzaro, RPh, vice president of health policy, FDB.
National Health IT Week has come and gone. The industry is focused on how far IT has come and how far it needs to go in healthcare. As most organizations have now adopted electronic records, one of the big themes this week has been EHR interoperability — getting these systems to work together.
Earlier this year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) published a 10-year vision to achieve an interoperable health IT infrastructure. The ONC publication is meant to move the industry toward the much coveted interoperability that will enable healthcare organizations to seamlessly share patient information. The simple fact that the federal government has issued this call to action and the industry is embracing it is a good sign for the future of healthcare. We will finally be able to share vital patient information that helps us improve care for individuals and populations, while cutting some of the unnecessary costs out of the system.
While the report is encouraging, this is a very real industry where change only comes after considerable effort. To help move toward the interoperable nirvana quicker – or at least make the journey more palatable — we need to:
In another display of beauty, the folks at CDW Healthcare recently released the following infographic describing the rise of the digital patient, a new specifies of mankind. As CDW notes, thanks to innovative mobile technology and the prevalence of broadband networks, patients are investing in their own healthcare more than ever before. Interest in their health and the ability to self diagnose ultimately may be the key to long-term patient engagement, but of course that’s a sticky wicket of its own.
“From searching for a physician online to tracking fitness activities via wearable technology to accessing their personal health records through a portal — patients are embracing mHealth and technologies that will help improve their well-being. In fact, the number of adults using smartphones to monitor their health grew to 75 million in 2012 — a number expected to more than triple by the end of 2014,” CDW writes on its blog.
According to the graphic, patients are “better informed” before they enter their physician’s office, are looking to social media for their health research and are embracing mobile devices as a way to connect with their caregivers. Additionally, the vast majority of patients want access to their medical records online. The graphic also suggests that patients are becoming more aware and attracted to portals, though I’m still skeptical that this is a widespread phenomenon.
Consumers also are getting more interested in wearable health tech, however, and are tracking their outcomes, especially using their smartphones; 112 million devices are expected to be in use by 2018.
Finally, security of the information and its exchange is of the highest importance to consumers , as if is for all of us, but it’s worth pointing out because even with all of the development and patient involvement in their care, they are still concerned about the safety of their information.
Take a look at the following graphic to see if there’s anything surprising here.
NueMD is conducting a survey of medical practices, billing companies, and business associates about HIPAA compliance.
athenahealth, Inc.
