On October 1, 2014, one of the biggest changes to ever hit the healthcare industry will take effect, when the old system of diagnostic coding, ICD-9 will be replaced by ICD-10.With the new coding system, the number of diagnostic codes will jump from the current 14,000 to 68,000, a fivefold increase. ICD-10 will enable physicians Read more…
Medical Billing
Avoid Patient Injury and Lawsuits
A lawsuit can take a massive toll on a physician’s confidence and reputation. Every day, physicians are faced with the risk of making mistakes that can potentially end up in a lawsuit, such as diagnostic errors or incomplete follow-ups. However, by creating procedures and policies to protect their practices, physicians can mitigate patient injuries, and Read more…
Building a profitable ACO: Quality data critical for success
New partnerships, collaborations and approaches to care delivery have been devised as the health industry moves from volume-based to value-based payment model. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are an important element of this transformation as providers look to optimize care through cost effective methods. ACOs can succeed if organizations are able to collect, aggregate and share Read more…
Future holds promise for HIEs
The future for Health Information Exchanges is looking better for 2014 but there will be some challenges. Achieving success in this area will require knowledge and the technical flexibility to adapt. Broadly, there are three HIE groups based on technological and operational preparedness. The first group has deferred investments in technology foreseeing low enrollments. This Read more…
mHealth is Transforming Care Delivery
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and Denmark’s health minister Astrid Krag, highlighted mobile healthcare as the way to improve outcomes in the future at the mHealth Summit. Yunus, the Grameen Movement pioneer, who opened up his native Bangladesh to the power of cellphones, said that smartphone has the power to transform people’s Read more…
Key 2014 deadlines for physicians
The new year is going to be important for physicians in meeting regulatory requirements and reporting deadlines. These deadlines will affect quality of care, adoption and usage of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). These deadlines relate to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and more importantly, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). January 1, 2014: CMS Meaningful Use Read more…
Healthcare IT Risk Assessment: 5 Steps
Healthcare IT systems are intertwined with operations, policies and processes along with a bunch of systems, application and data. Sometimes the systems are so complex that one breakdown can last for days and cost the organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost time and money. Therefore, it is imperative that healthcare organizations dependent on Read more…
Improving patient engagement through patient portals
Patient portals are one of the major requirements for Meaningful Use Stage 2 and beyond, and they are in big demand. From large scale practices to small and medium ones, everyone is using these portals to improve patient engagement and shared decision making. Even the physicians who are not offering patient portals are looking to offer Read more…
Security risks for the healthcare industry in 2014
With the emerging technological trends and with new devices coming out each year, the security risks for the healthcare industry are huge. Cyber-crimes keep on getting more sophisticated. Should the private practice be concerned about it? Let’s find out some of the risks that will affect the healthcare industry in 2014. Social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Read more…
Data center outages costing healthcare industry big time
Without a shadow of doubt, technology has made our lives simpler in a way that we could not have imagined about two decades back. If someone back then had spoken of how we would be able to carry our emails with us all the time through smartphones, browse the entire world with just a few Read more…