Getting started is harder – expansion is, too!

Those who have faced the challenge of starting a medical practice — funding, location, staffing, insurance, and building a reputation — might think expanding a practice is relatively easy.

In fact, expansion is every bit as challenging. Most well-established practices understand the need for growth and want to grow, but may be unsure about the best way forward. Should they add providers? Additional locations? Some of each? And how to do so?

And as they ponder those questions, an equally critical reality faces them each day — the need to tend to the needs of existing patients!

Understanding the importance of your cardiovascular health is key to reducing the chances of contracting life-threatening diseases. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, and adopting a healthful diet alongside regular physical exercise can reduce the chances of contracting the disease.

‘Less’ mindfulness can have more impact

It may be the biggest catch-22 in medicine. Providers understand they could improve their overall well-being if they took time to be more mindful about their daily routines. But many worry that setting aside the time to focus on themselves will cause them to fall still further behind, leading to additional stress that could undo the good that can come from mindfulness activities.

Where are the flying cars?

It’s 2020. We’re already well into the 21st century. By now, wasn’t artificial intelligence supposed to have given us flying cars, replicators to produce our favorite foods on demand, and a society in which everyone enjoyed luxury, ease, and good health?

What would a healthcare practice be without patients to care for? Well, probably not much of a practice at all. National Patient Recognition Week is a time for practices to celebrate patients, focus on patient satisfaction, and learn how to keep patients happy and coming back to their practice.

An October 2018 study commissioned by the referral management platform Fibroblast found that 87% of healthcare executives say that addressing the loss of patients to their competitors is a high priority. At the same time, the survey found that about a quarter of executives either do not track so-called patient “leakage” or don’t understand why it occurs and what to do about it.

Whether customers are scanning through user reviews to figure out where to get the best slice of pizza or reading up on which healthcare provider is right for them, the majority of consumers will make an educated decision before making a choice. As a healthcare provider, it’s your job to recognize and understand what your customer base’s needs are and how you will be able to solve their problems and keep them coming back for more.

What is healthcare consumerism?

Pioneered by the U.S. Army

Many doctors and patients today are using telemedicine, connecting via computer or mobile device for a range of medical and behavioral health concerns, from assessing pain to examining a skin rash to discussing medications. But going to the dentist? Doesn’t that still mean a physical office visit?

Maybe not. In 1994, the U.S. Army’s Total Dental Access Project showed that teledentistry could reduce costs while extending dental care to rural areas where dentists may not be readily available.

For those accustomed to years of office visits for cleaning and drilling of teeth, the question is obvious: How do they do that?

So, your practice has been doing well. You’ve got more patients, happy clients, and superb care. As your practice continues to grow, it’s fair to question whether or not your current EHR is capable of providing you with the tools and help necessary for a smooth transition.

Today’s patients are fortunate to live in an era of remarkable medical discoveries and advances. Between 1920 and 2020, life expectancy in the U.S. grew from about 50 years to more than 75 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thanks to early detection and better treatments, death rates for many forms of cancer continue to decline. Genetic medicine and new drugs hold enormous promise for curing even the rarest and most debilitating diseases.

While dramatic medical advances grab the headlines, most patients and medical practices focus each day on a more modest goal — creating the best possible patient experience during each medical encounter.

Doing so requires both great healthcare IT tools and innovative, flexible thinking throughout a medical organization.

It’s the last game of the season. The floodlights turn on – illuminating the crisp autumn sky and revealing the compact emerald turf. As you sit on the locker room bench, you hear the other high school students stamping their feet on the metal bleachers in anticipation. You stand up and rush through the tunnel, the nervous euphoria that was in your stomach now an all-encompassing focus on the game.

The whistle blows, you get the ball, your opponent comes directly for you. You shimmy to the left. They saw it coming. BAM! You’re on the ground. Waves of pain circulate from your thumb. Your coach tells you to wrap it. Later, when you take the bandage off, your thumb is more swollen than it had been before. The minute you see the doctor in the emergency room, they look at it and ask why you wrapped up your hand for a broken bone.

The doctor was able to determine how to treat the injury in seconds by simply looking at the hand. If the coach had access to a telehealth solution, a doctor could have determined what to do quickly and accurately. Utilizing telehealth for sports is just one application for this increasingly useful technology.

Vulnerable Communications

Every day, millions of Americans, including healthcare providers, grab their computers, tablets, and smartphones and fire off emails — to family, friends, coworkers, and business associates. Many medical providers also continue to use a much older technology — the fax machine — to transmit sensitive patient data.

We may think our communications are secure. After all, our messages usually go through, and security problems are relatively uncommon for any given business or healthcare provider. But dangers abound, and the consequences of even a single security breach can be enormous.

As the lights dim and you begin crunching on some buttery popcorn, the theater is illuminated by a forest green screen. After the first trailer ends, the screen changes to a dark red. The words on the screen say that it’s been approved for a restricted audience only.

When it comes to movie trailers, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) created a set of standards that help determine whether a film is deemed appropriate for every viewer.

In the same way that the MPAA has used their rating system to try and make the film industry better, so have Standard Development Organizations (SDOs) created health data standards to improve interoperability between healthcare organizations and their Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.

With the holiday season fast approaching, people everywhere will turn to online marketplaces like Amazon® or eBay® to purchase gifts for friends and family. Now, imagine the frustration that would ensue if these companies made a decision to only allow access through a single browser and on a specific type of mobile device.

Users want the freedom to be able to access a website from any browser, on any device, and on any operating system. This same need for independence and ease of use carries over when providers need to access healthcare data between EHRs. FHIR is the means of achieving this.