Technology

The Federation of State Medical Boards approved a model telehealth policy this weekend that's made some providers of these services happy and others, well, not so much, because of its emphasis on using video rather than audio technology for a first patient visit.

Most people want to take medications as prescribed, even if they sometimes need a little help remembering. For them, an automated system that monitors drug taking and provides feedback after the fact may be more useful than one that nags people when it is time to take a pill, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, visiting fellow, Brookings Institution, former national coordinator for health information technology (HIT), US Department of Health and Human Services, says interoperability is the concept of being able to securely exchange health information, and then appropriately understand and use it.

With the delay in ICD-10, many insurers now have to slow down a mammoth IT project and, potentially more disruptive, make adjustments to a whole slew of programs and contracts.

Look beyond the EHR incentive program. A national effort to turn CMS's recent release of Medicare physician payment data into useful, actionable data visualizations is the hottest HIT challenge right now.

Healthcare experts have officially begun a long-awaited dive into newly released data showing how much doctors charge and receive for treating Medicare patients.

EHRs - and the data they hold - are critical to succeed in population health, but they're not enough.

Karen DeSalvo, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology has proposed that ONC become more forward-thinking.

Supporters point to advances such as greater takeup of EHRs by doctors, though critics say federal policymakers pushed technology long before it was ready.

The Safety Assurance Factors for Electronic Health Record (EHR) Resilience, or SAFER guidelines, could assist healthcare providers as they integrate technology into their everyday practices.

Big data, electronic health records, online health insurance portals-countless technology innovations are emerging, but how important are they for health leaders to adopt? According to analysts at Forrester Research, a global research and advisory firm, it's not only extremely imperative, but a matter of organizational survival.

As the quality and cost transparency movements gain support within the healthcare industry, a more important question persists: what will actually work for consumers?

Health information technology (HIT) system advancements, including medical device improvements, could account for more than $30 billion per year in savings.

With less than a week remaining to sign up for private health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more than half of the uninsured don't know that March 31 is the deadline.

If mobile medical devices had greater interoperability, which means they could better communicate with each other, the nation could avoid more than $30 billion a year in wasteful healthcare spending.

Providers seeking to treat patients using telemedicine will be required to deliver the same standard of care as they would if they were treating them in person, at least according to a proposal from The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). In fact, these new telemedicine policy guidelines intend to solidify patients' welfare.

The Federation of State Medical Boards will vote next month on a new telemedicine policy that codifies that medical care takes place where a patient, not a provider, is located.

Health information technology is most useful at the point of care so why do so many emergency medical services (EMS) professionals lack access to patient health information where it is likely to prove so effective?

Sustaining and enhancing patient experience in this era of reform will require a combined macro policy-level and micro practice-level approach.

The authors discuss 4 tech-dependent innovations that will be major keys to the sustained success of ACOs.

Currently, more than 600 accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been established throughout the United States. However, a recent study finds that more than half of physician groups remain hesitant to join an ACO.

Evaluation of the 5 As of smoking cessation using patient electronic medical records across 6 distinct healthcare systems, stratified by comorbidity, gender, age, race ethnicity.

Criminals are stealing patient records to commit medical identity theft. And the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made the situation worse, according to a new report from privacy and information security research firm Ponemon Institute.

Members of the Health IT Policy Committee approved a set of recommendations Tuesday that will bring meaningful use Stage 3 requirements one step closer to federal approval and scale back the initial Stage 3 proposals by 33%.

Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says Aetna engages consumers in decision-making in a variety of ways.