Health technology

1,606 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 53

Why ICD-10 concerns me deeply

March 7, 2014Mar 7, 201425

If you’re a practicing provider, chances are you still feel some anxiety about several issues related to the ICD-10 transition that are critical for maintaining the health of your practice. These probably include reimbursement, documentation workflows, potential audits, and claims…

As a family medicine provider, what I hope to see develop is the opportunity for providers to encourage payers to be more transparent about topics like the level of coding …

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Why ICD-10 concerns me deeply

5 ways to engage your patients in the office

David Lee Scher, MD

March 5, 2014Mar 5, 201412

There are over 58 million references to "patient engagement" if one conducts a Google search. The term has been diluted and changed in the past couple of years and has become a buzz phrase, used more from a business than…

There are over 58 million references to “patient engagement” if one conducts a Google search. The term has been diluted and changed in the past couple of years and has become a buzz phrase, used more from a business than clinical benefit perspective.

The Center for Advancing Health defines patient engagement as “actions individuals must take to obtain the greatest benefit from the health care services available to them.” …

How mHealth will change the doctor-patient culture

Margalit Gur-Arie

March 4, 2014Mar 4, 20142

Your coffeemaker went dead on you this morning, and while lamenting your drowsiness at work, your friend Denise mentions that she just bought a new coffeemaker at Target and she absolutely loves it. You take your coffee the same way…

You are a busy professional and you don’t have time to go to Target, search …

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Incorporate patient-generated health data into the EMR

Israel Green-Hopkins, MD

March 2, 2014Mar 2, 201428

A few months ago, I spent 15 minutes filling out a detailed health data form at the doctor’s office. The paper form contained multiple questions about my health, family history, medications and basic demographic information. I assumed that an administrative specialist would code it into the practice’s electronic medical record (EMR) to be put to use. So it came as a surprise when I spent another 5 minutes reviewing the …

Why hospitals should be scared of cyberattacks

Joe Flower

February 18, 2014Feb 18, 2014

If you are a CEO or COO of a health care organization, and your IT people have been trying to get your attention, it’s time to have a serious sit-down with them. If they haven’t been trying to get your…

If you are a CEO or COO of a health care organization, and your IT people have been trying to get your attention, it’s time to have a serious sit-down with them.

If they haven’t been trying to get your attention, it’s time to have an more serious sit-down with them, complete with charts and graphs and arrows on fip charts.

Here’s why.

Remember in November it was revealed that the Target retail …

What Uber can teach health care delivery

Ali Ansary & Ali Khan, MD & Tasce Bongiovanni, MD

February 16, 2014Feb 16, 2014

Let's get the disclaimer out of the way: We love Uber. As physicians with roots in the Bay Area, we use Uber all the time. The service is convenient, (usually) swift and consistently pleasant. With a few taps of a…

Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way: We love Uber.

As physicians with roots in the Bay Area, we use Uber all the time. The service is convenient, (usually) swift and consistently pleasant. With a few taps of a smartphone, we know where and when we’ll be picked up — and we can see the Uber driver coming to get us in real time. When the vagaries of San Francisco …

Electronic medical records obstruct patient interaction

Kevin Pho, MD

February 15, 2014Feb 15, 201418

A version of column was published in USA Today on January 19, 2014. Over half of physicians today use electronic medical records, thanks to the federal government spending more than $22 billion dollars incentivizing providers to transition away from paper…

A version of column was published in USA Today on January 19, 2014.

Over half of physicians today use electronic medical records, thanks to the federal government spending more than $22 billion dollars incentivizing providers to transition away from paper charts. Supporters of digital records, including President Obama, say they improve patient care and reduce health costs. Having navigated a transition from paper charts to electronic records in my own practice, …

Use emerging digital technology to improve communication with patients

Anita Gupta, DO, PharmD & Reem N. Sheikh, DPM

February 9, 2014Feb 9, 2014

With the growing demand of patient demands, change in healthcare delivery with Affordable Care Act, physicians are asked to adapt to these changes rapidly. In order to be efficient and provide this level of care to patients, the use of digital technology in medicine has grown dramatically. New platforms for integrating medical care and digital technology have been developed to enhance doctor patient communication.

Digital technology encompasses a broad range of …

5 ways to improve the adoption of medical apps

David Lee Scher, MD

February 3, 2014Feb 3, 201413

Before the adoption of new technologies which will undoubtedly improve health care (as it has the retail and finance sectors), it must be introduced in ways which are digestible, scalable, and subject to rapid iteration. Is mobile technology different from…

Is mobile technology different from the adoption of any other change in health care delivery? I think not. The culture of care certainly requires change as care models are changing. The point of care is shifting to the home, professionals …

Primary care has to go multimedia

Jorge Stanham, MD

January 31, 2014Jan 31, 2014

I passed the 60 mark more than a year ago and since then have been more aware of my limitations: some joint aches, getting tired easier, more need to rest and longing for a slower pace in my everyday routine. Meanwhile, general medical practice is speeding up and increasingly shedding its limitations.

As information expands exponentially, doctors need not only to keep up with the information that reaches them directly, but …

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Primary care has to go multimedia

Mobile applications can revolutionize preventative care

Kevin R. Campbell, MD

January 31, 2014Jan 31, 20146

Applications for mobile devices are commonplace. These small but often sophisticated programs are quite varied and allow for anything from vehicle GPS navigation, taxicab or car pickups in New York City or rating wines and restaurants. As with most new gadgets and technologies, medicine and healthcare provide many opportunities for expansion and use. When we examine the available applications found at Apple’s App Store, it is evident that medical mobile …

Should hospitals regulate medical apps?

Tom Lewis

January 22, 2014Jan 22, 20143

The medical and health app market is growing rapidly, there’s no question about it. One as yet unanswered question though is how to regulate this emerging industry. This is something we’ve talked about before in a viewpoint published in JAMA Dermatology as well as on iMedicalApps. While it is still early on and we will in many ways have to see which approach is most suitable, its clear that some way …

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Should hospitals regulate medical apps?

Patient portals for hospitalized patients: Do they make sense?

Suneel Dhand, MD

January 20, 2014Jan 20, 2014

Patient portals are very much the future of health care. Having easy access to ones’ medical history, diagnoses, and test results, seems like such a natural thing that it’s hard to imagine that only a couple of decades ago medical…

Of course, the Internet and technology revolution has taken this concept to a whole new level. Health care organizations across the …

Make the EHR a safe harbor from criminal prosecution

Adrian Gropper, MD

January 16, 2014Jan 16, 20143

The governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, devoted all of his annual speech to the problem of drug addiction. On the national news, Shumlin points out the link between prescription painkillers and death, and he calls for treating opiate addiction as…

Meanwhile in another part of Washington, I’m involved in the federal effort to link the law enforcement Prescription Drug …

What I’m looking for in a personal health record system

Leslie Kernisan, MD, MPH

January 15, 2014Jan 15, 2014

When it comes to the health care of a frail older person, families really need a good personal health record (PHR) system. So I am once again preparing to take a look at what’s available, in hopes of finding something that I can more confidently recommend to the families I work with. (To see what medical info I urge families to track, see this Geriatrics for Caregivers post.)

I have …

Why I will never take EMRs for granted again

James C. Salwitz, MD

January 10, 2014Jan 10, 2014

One of the spinoffs of being an oncologist is that you do not to take the world for granted. Each morning, I walk around the yard and smell the morning breeze. I am thankful for my children, my wife and my own health. I am thrilled, if occasionally skeptical, to have the opportunity to pay taxes in a country that I love. So, who would believe I would take our …

How EHR design can affect patient safety

Michael Chen, MD

January 7, 2014Jan 7, 201429

Besides the importance of physician happiness when using an EHR, using design principles that maximize user intuition and presentation of relevant information, there is one aspect of health care information systems that should never be overlooked: patient safety. Scot Silverstein,…

Scot Silverstein, MD, blogging at Health Care Renewal as InformaticsMD, frequently brings to light issues surrounding health care IT implementations that compromise patient safety. Reading his posts should be sobering and concerning to both …

Fixing EHRs requires changing the way we pay for care

Ira Nash, MD

December 30, 2013Dec 30, 201317

I was talking to a colleague recently about his practice, and remarked that he was still keeping a paper medical record. Without hesitation, he made it clear that he not only liked the paper record, but he positively dreaded switching to an electronic record. He said sadly that he thought it was inevitable that he would be forced to switch, but hoped that the day would be far into the …

The gamification of medical training

Vincent Stevenson

December 26, 2013Dec 26, 20132

Video games evoke several connotations. They are regarded as childish, escapist, and time wasters that prompt isolation and bad habits. Video games are even blamed for violence and other ills of society. In actuality, many serious scientists have convincingly argued that video games not only have acquired an undeserved reputation, but they are actually potent and effective tools for science education.

Features of video games inherently support scientific learning

While it may …

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The gamification of medical training

ICD-10 will lead to the perfect storm in health care

Edmund Billings, MD

December 22, 2013Dec 22, 20133

Let me concede from the outset that I lean toward the negative -- dire predictions, worst-case scenarios, a bit of doom and gloom, etc. But I ask you, oh gentle, patient reader, how could I not? Let’s go to the…

Let me concede from the outset that I lean toward the negative — dire predictions, worst-case scenarios, a bit of doom and gloom, etc.

But I ask you, oh gentle, patient reader, how could I not?

Let’s go to the satellite. You can see warm air from a low-pressure system (meaningful use stage 2, not changed dramatically by the one-year extension) collide with cool, dry air from a high-pressure area (the turmoil …

Health technology

Articles, page 53

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