The Politics of Health Care

Fixing Healthcare Costs

2013-05-17T14:43:00Z

Editor's note: This blog post is written by Alex Tolbert, founder of Bernard Health . Our healthcare system is broken partly because consumers don't know what anything costs. As patients become more proactive in making informed healthcare decisions, we all agree this should be fixed. But why is it so hard? Achieving price transparency in healthcare is difficult because healthcare business models rely heavily on a lack of transparency. Insurers, hospitals and providers want a better healthcare system...(read more)

Patient Confidentiality and Social Media

2013-04-26T15:22:00Z

Editor's note: This article was posted with permission from its author, Christine Gondos, Igloo Software. She can be reached at cgondos@igloosoftware.com . The fastpaced healthcare industry is continuously evolving -- whether it be newly released studies, new best practices or new techniques, the healthcare community thrives off of innovation. While annual conferences provide the opportunity for healthcare professionals to connect, the majority of professionals rely on email to exchange new findings....(read more)

Cloud Computing Meets HIPAA Omnibus: A Provider Checklist

2013-03-26T16:08:00Z

(Editor's Note: This guest blog was written by Frankie Rios, CISSP, VP information security and compliance, GNAX.) Cloud computing and storage is an undeniable migration path and IT strategy. Overall spending on cloud technology is expected to reach an estimated $150 billion annually by 2014, according to a recent Gartner Group study. And within healthcare, 35 percent of health IT professionals surveyed said their organization was implementing or maintaining cloud computing in 2012, up from 30 percent...(read more)

Implications of the Affordable Care Act

2013-03-13T16:40:00Z

Editor's note: This blog is written by Anthony J. Hall, RN, BSN, behavioral health charge nurse at Atlanta Medical Center. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) means major changes in the way Americans view health issues and treatment options. While there is increased optimism building around the plan's effect on patient care, healthcare providers will bear the burden of the plan's negative impacts, such as a shortage of primary care providers. Though the full impact on the medical profession has been hard...(read more)

Medicaid Expansion

2013-02-15T18:26:00Z

Editor's note: This blog is written by Miguel A. Bustillos, department chair and professor at California University of Management & Sciences in Virginia. Most of us have heard about the Medicaid expansion and how states like Florida, Texas and Virginia are against it. Some do not understand why the Medicaid expansion has become such a big issue or what exactly the Medicaid expansion is. The Medicaid expansion, expected to be fully implemented by 2014, is a plan under the Patient Protection and...(read more)

Is Gun Violence a Public Health Issue?

2013-01-18T16:13:00Z

As reported on Newswise, the following is a statement by Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, president of The New York Academy of Medicine, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious medical academies, on the seriousness of gun violence as a major public health issue. The statement is in response to deadly incidents of gun violence in Newtown, CT, Webster, NY, and the shooting of 15 individuals, three of whom died, during separate acts of gun violence in Chicago, IL on New Year's Day. "As a nation, we can...(read more)

Patient Engagement Helps Hospitals Achieve Stage 2 Meaningful Use Compliance

2012-12-06T19:27:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Jodi DeMarco, PhD; she is the interactive solutions advisor for TeleHealth Services. The controversy around meaningful use options and proposed requirements has morphed from spirited debate to reluctant acceptance. Healthcare providers have weighed in with sometimes varying opinions over the many months since Stage 1 was rolled out. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has reviewed input from all sides and affirmed its intentions for Stage 2...(read more)

Projected Costs of Healthcare Law Changing

2012-09-25T20:14:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Michael LaMagna is a partner at Timins & LaMagna, LLP, practicing Health Care Regulatory, Elder /Probate/Disability/Trusts and Estates, Social Security and General Legal practice in both New York and Connecticut. The Congressional Business Office (CBO) reports that in 2016, which is when the 2010 health care law becomes fully in effect, 2% of Americans, or roughly 6 million individuals, will be subject to the health care penalty tax. This is significantly...(read more)

Patient Education, Engagement, & Interactivity Tools Help Hospitals Achieve Stage 2 Meaningful Use Compliance

2012-09-10T20:39:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Jodi DeMarco, interactive brand manager, TeleHealth Services . With final Stage 2 rules for satisfying meaningful use requirements issued by The Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) last week, several of these initiatives focus on the importance of patient education and engagement. The requirements for the adoption of certified technology enable the capture and sharing of health-related information to advance clinical processes and drive improved...(read more)

Business as Usual: What the Supreme Court Ruling Means for Healthcare M&A

2012-08-27T15:09:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Molly K. O'Neill, Brian R. Browder and Donald B. Stuart. With the dust settling on the Supreme Court's Affordable Care Act ruling, the question of whether the decision will lead to increased M&A activity in the hospital and healthcare industry can now be answered with a definitive yes, no and we'll see. Yes The Supreme Court's ruling left the 2010 healthcare reform legislation largely in place, nullifying only the provisions that would have penalized states...(read more)

HIE Options: The Battle Between Public and Private Continues

2012-08-15T18:11:00Z

As Meaningful Use criteria push towards required interoperability and changing reimbursement methods necessitate more coordinated care, HIEs are looking more and more appealing to h H ealthcare providers. The HIE market practically exploded last year, growing more than 40%, according to a Chilmark Research report . "As federal incentives drive the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) technology in the U.S., we will quickly move into the post-EHR era where the value of patient data is not what...(read more)

Pharma: To Tweet, Or Not to Tweet?

2012-08-14T15:42:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Chelsea Foster , a copywriter at DKI. Twitter has openly embraced the unimportant. It is the foundation upon which it was built in the first place. We all have that innate desire to inform the online eyes and ears of our friends, families, and perfect strangers, about the most painstakingly trivial personal information. But Twitter's not all bad (or boring). It also gives us the ability to plug ourselves into the world. Tweet by tweet, we can receive real-time...(read more)

ICD-10: Still in the Works

2012-08-09T18:10:00Z

If you are worried that your organization is falling behind on ICD-10 preparation, you are not alone. Nearly half of the 2,118 providers who participated in the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) February 2012 ICD-10 readiness survey said they did not even know when they would be completing their impact assessment — a key milestone that should have been met in 2011. Only a fifth had already completed their assessment. Health plans are only marginally more prepared, according to the...(read more)

Having Insurance Doesn't Rule Out Social Security Disability Eligibility

2012-07-12T18:30:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Karen Hercules-Doerr, a healthcare executive and director of Community-Based Representatives at Allsup. Contact: k.hercules-doerr@allsupinc.com . It seems reasonable to assume that patients with health insurance are ineligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a program that provides benefits to Americans unable to work because of a disability. After all, more than 55 percent of Americans aged 26-64 participate in employer-based healthcare coverage,...(read more)

The Medicaid "Wrinkle"

2012-07-02T16:17:00Z

Editor's note: This blog was written by Jill Glomsted, editor of ADVANCE for Occupational Therapy Practitioners. In the June 28 Supreme Court ruling, seven of the nine Justices agreed that it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to force states to participate in the Affordable Care Act's expansion of the Medicaid program. The expansion had been expected to cover roughly 17 million uninsured Americans, mostly low-income adults. The federal government will foot the full bill for the...(read more)