A growing body of research into how people are using video games to manage their health may give payers, providers, patients, and software developers some clues about what it takes to improve health while simultaneously reducing costs. “Video games can change people in fundamental ways that can lead to better health behaviors,” Debra Lieberman, Ph.D.,
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Reporting on Meaningful Use quality measures is getting a little easier for healthcare providers, thanks to the latest version of an open source solution. popHealth, an open source reference implementation software service developed by The MITRE Corporation in 2009 with funding from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) released its latest version earlier this
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Cerner, Inc.’s strong fourth quarter results for 2011 capped off what company executives described as a “record year” across all key measures. Bookings, a term which Cerner uses to describe contracts signed but not yet paid for, reached all-time high of $889 million in 4Q, representing a 44 percent increase over the same period last
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Simply providing patients with a method to access their healthcare information will not ensure changes in patient outcomes, according to a recent study whose findings may warrant some additional thinking about the patient engagement and empowerment elements of Stage 2 Meaningful Use.  However, the study also suggests that providing educational and clinical intervention tools to
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Characterizing December as an “exceptional” month for Meaningful Use registration, attestation, and payments, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) officials recently announced that $2.5 billion in Meaningful Use incentive payments had been distributed as of December 2011. Additionally, Robert Tagalicod from CMS reported to the HIT Policy Committee at its meeting earlier this month
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Surprise surgery cancellations or delays were costing Presidio Surgery Center time and money and Jessie Scott, administrator of the center, knew she had to find a solution.  Six months after implementing a Web-based pre-op system, Presidio has lowered operating costs by substantially reducing day-of-surgery cancellations, reclaimed valuable nursing time and increased patient satisfaction. “We had
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In many of the interviews we’ve done over the years, we hear a lot about the importance of clinician buy-in. The phrase “Clinicians won’t adopt technology unless you get them to buy-in to the system,” is something that always comes up when we’re talking with CIOs, consultants and vendors about systems implementation. But what does
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While healthcare payers have  experimented in the past with acquiring healthcare providers, expect to see the deals getting larger and more frequent, says an industry analyst. Robert Booz, vice president and distinguished analyst in Gartner’s Industries Research area and a 30-year industry veteran, says he’s seeing a growing number of  healthcare payers acquiring healthcare providers,
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Size makes a difference when it comes to successfully attesting to Meaningful Use Stage 1, says the IT director of a Critical Access Hospital. “Bigger hospitals may have started before we did but they’re still working on meeting Meaningful Use,” says Craig Wells, IT director at George C. Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg, Iowa.  “In
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With the rush to implement health information technology, it’s no wonder that everyone in healthcare feels overwhelmed.  Change, even in a less manic environment than today’s, is difficult and while pushback from users is something to be expected, there are strategies that CIOs can use to effectively manage change. 1.  Take a walk in a
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