Digital technology is revolutionizing health care — but everybody who adopts it knows that it presents challenges in a clinical setting. There are learning curves with hardware and software, new habits to develop, glitches to deal with, and a whole lot more — while you’re taking care of patients under time constraints. According to Judy […]
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Ready or not, here it comes — risk-based, fee-for-value health care is here or coming to a market near you! Health care providers are no longer asking whether they should get ready. They are asking: How fast should we make the transition? They know it may not be pretty. “Organizations need to set a goal […]
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“Anytime you have a patient that’s more engaged and involved in their care, your outcomes are better.” That’s a quote from Judy Herrington, who has 30 years’ experience in the health care field and serves as the vice president of nursing, medicine services at Parkland Hospital in Texas. Her front-line observation echoes the results of […]
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Some health systems and hospitals are embracing technology in a big way – building all digital, wired facilities. In April 2016, Modern Healthcare reported on Humber River Hospital in northwest Toronto, which has automated approximately 75% of its back-of-hospital functions. At Humber, the most notable changes have to do with efficiency and quality of care. […]
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Parkland Hospital in Dallas County, Texas, is one of America’s “most wired,” as recognized by Hospitals & Health Networks® Magazine. Its careful integration of user-friendly tech extends from handy kiosks in the lobby to patient rooms with an array of digital devices that help both patients and staff. While much of the technology is focused […]
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The need for better care coordination becomes clear when you see the results of surveys showing the number of patients taking multiple medications and visiting multiple doctors. In spring of 2016, the New York Times reported on a national survey, conducted by Harvard researchers, that found 39 percent of people over age 65 use five or more […]
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In today’s health care, there are a lot of players – and a lot of payers, each with their own standards for evaluating physicians and the care they provide. As Greg Kile, CEO of the analytics firm Populytics, explains in an Optum® video, his company’s top 10 payers have 176 different metrics. Being washed over […]
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One of the buzzwords in health care reform is “interoperability.” But what’s behind the buzz? Interoperability is the ability to share data across systems and analyze and use the data. But it’s not just about sharing for sharing’s sake. The goal is to use information to create bigger, more complete data sets that can power […]
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“We are in the midst of a generational business model transformation. It takes a strong man or woman to stand up in front of an organization and say we are going in a different direction.” Health care consultant Ted Schwab, formerly of Oliver Wyman, is quoted in the Optum eBook Moneyball, emphasizing the importance of […]
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Failure to follow up with a physician or follow a medication regimen can cause a recently released patient to end up right back in the hospital. But there are other, non-clinical factors that also lead to readmissions. The causes can be grouped into three main categories: Patients’ medical literacy According to the National Network of Libraries […]
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