Finding ways to maximize safety for patients and healthcare staff is on everyone’s mind these days. At Internist Associates, a four-provider practice located in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, contactless check-in has been instrumental in enhancing safety for everyone giving and receiving care.
With COVID-19 forcing changes to medical practices, 2020 is a great time to go back to basics. As students return to school and families juggle their schedules, it’s the perfect time to do your healthcare IT homework to make sure you’re delivering the services and information they need.
During these challenging times, strengthening Patient Engagement may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. VIP Midsouth Children’s Clinic is a group of eight pediatric clinics in Tennessee that use the Patient Portal to strengthen engagement.
One of the most difficult technology decisions any organization has to make has little to do with hardware, software, or upgrades. Once all such decisions have been made, the last remaining obstacle is often a very practical one: Do we do this a bit at a time, or all at once?
In medicine, nothing has potentially greater impact on patients’ well-being than the prescribing of controlled substances. Done properly, such prescriptions alleviate suffering, promote wellness, and restore health. When mishandled, however, the process can be subject to fraud and abuse that can comprise patient safety.
As many of us danced the night away at the silent disco or sat in a vast ballroom as Girish delivered his electric Keynote Address at last year’s National Conference, none of us could have imagined how much the world would change.
Ensuring the wellbeing of children requires access to quality care, fast and accurate diagnoses, and the right medications. It also requires a seemingly magical fourth ingredient that parents may never think about — effective interoperability.
When it comes to improving healthcare IT, what is the consensus of expert opinion for improving the day-to-day usefulness of Electronic Health Records?
We looked at a dozen reports issued during the last five years and published in sources including Becker’s Health IT & CIO Report, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, EHR Intelligence, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and industry news outlets. The reports summarize studies, user surveys, industry trends, consumer preferences, and experts’ views.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected just about everything in 2020. National Health Center Week (August 9-15) is an opportunity to focus on both the challenges that COVID-19 is posing for healthcare and some creative solutions.
Discussions and debates over healthcare policy never end, but one point is beyond dispute: Since their founding in 1965, our nation’s community health centers have grown to play a vital role in delivering quality healthcare to more than 28 million Americans¹.
During National Health Center Week, we take time to recognize the work that thousands of providers and staff do every day on behalf of communities across the nation.
Since ancient times, the story of medicine has been one of ongoing discovery, pushing the frontiers of science forward to gain a deeper and more holistic understanding of what makes us ill and how we can restore health.
Consumerism in healthcare — the shift from a “patient-centric” to a “customer-centric” mindset — means understanding that patients demand choice, quality, and continued engagement after medical visits. Developing an effective marketing strategy in a competitive market can feel like playing darts blindfolded. But using a broad range of tactics can reach today’s busy consumers and help your practice thrive.
The right hands include authorized providers, for whom access to the most up-to-date patient data is essential for informed decision-making and better and safer medicine. Ensuring patients also enjoy on-demand access to their own medical records is critical for making them full partners in their healthcare.
Switching EHRs can be time-consuming and expensive, but practices continue to seek better healthcare IT. An EHR should provide comprehensive documentation, the latest interoperability, tools for Patient Engagement and Population Health, in-depth data analytics, tools that promote safety when trying to reduce the number of in-person visits, and effective Revenue Cycle Management.
Given how few EHRs meet all those criteria, it is not surprising that 62% of practices have switched EHRs at least once.
You’ve done your planning, lined up your funding, and worked through the herculean tasks of opening your practice. Staffing may seem like the easy part, but it’s a critical phase that demands you slow down and follow a process for finding the most qualified candidates.