Category Archives: Government

The honor of caregiving

In her book, The Inspired Caregiver, Tia Walker writes, “To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.” As our population ages, all of us need to think about caregiving. Most of us, in one way or another, have been affected by it. Who among us hasn’t listened to […]
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Einstein, state procurement departments and innovation: An unbeatable combination to improve the well-being of citizens

One of my favorite quotes about the importance of encouraging innovation doesn’t include the word “innovation” at all. It’s Albert Einstein’s cautionary observation: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” He’s right, of course, in so many ways. Whenever we’re trying to achieve breakthroughs, the key […]
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Next AI ‘wave’ will be a sea change for health care

The artificial intelligence (AI) journey from theory to mainstream has evolved in waves. While health care may see AI as an abstract concept, I believe that technology capabilities have already entered their second wave of evolution. The roots of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies go back to 1950, when Alan Turing suggested that machines could be […]
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The people side of “analytics”

For HHS agencies, the focus is on improving lives To slightly misquote Benjamin Disraeli, there are lies, damn lies, and analytics. Okay, let me say it another way.  It’s not that “analytics” are actually lies, but – like “statistics” in Disraeli’s time – they can be misleading and, if not used and interpreted properly, can […]
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After nearly 50 years, it’s time to retire traditional MMIS procurements

There are only 51 of them in the entire country, but their reach affects millions and their impact is profound. Cumulatively through the years, these systems have cost states billions of dollars and consumed thousands of hours of productivity. They’ve caused headaches, heartburn and sleepless nights for agency IT experts, financial executives and policy analysts […]
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Not science fiction: AI is creating value in surprising places

You might think of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care as science fiction — something that’s a future possibility. But the truth is, the future is here now. AI is a collection of methods and technologies for performing tasks we often associate with the human mind, such as learning and reasoning. AI approaches already have […]
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A real-life application for artificial intelligence in health care

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. It’s in our shopping experiences, our search engines, our dining and entertainment recommendations. We’ve seen AI-based medicine on TV for decades, and we can make that a reality — if we go deeper. I’m more excited than ever about the possibilities of AI in health care, but we need to […]
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Unlocking insights and value within health care data through NLP

I recently called natural language processing (NLP) artificial intelligence (AI) with an ROI — and yes, it’s a catchy phrase, but it’s also true. NLP is an essential asset in today’s health care landscape. Let me tell you a story. Bill and Ted work at the same company – Excellent Adventures, Ltd. – but they […]
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Addressing social determinants of health can improve overall health outcomes

John Selig, senior vice president at the Lewin Group and former director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, was interviewed recently at the Health IT Summit hosted in Baltimore (April 5–6). He discussed the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on overall health outcomes. SDOH is still a relatively new area of focus […]
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Artificial intelligence unlocks buried data

Did you know that more than half of the information contained in electronic medical records is unusable to health care organizations? Mark Morsch, Optum360 Vice President of Technology, says studies show 60 to 80 percent of EMR content is unstructured. That means some data that could potentially be used to create a more complete picture […]
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