2019 Year in Review

2019: Healthcare IT gains new ground

It's been an eventful year for health IT. Of course, that's been the case every year over the past decade since the first meaningful use checks were mailed out, kickstarting the digital healthcare age as we know it. But at the tail end of the 'teens, we see a flowering of innovation that could only have been dreamed of in 2010.

Whereas many health systems were preoccupied back then with the basic blocking and tackling of EHR implementation, this year they were investing in AI and machine learning, exploring advanced pop health analytics, deploying leading-edge cybersecurity tools, expanding telehealth programs of all shapes and sizes – and embracing cloud hosting to an extent that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. As we look back on 2019, it's worth remembering how far the industry has traveled to get here.

-- Mike Miliard, Editor

What you need to know

News
There have been many frustrations with how the federal EHR incentive program was implemented this...
By Mike Miliard |
News
Hospitals and health systems are beginning to embrace a more holistic approach to ensuring the...
By Mike Miliard |
News
The department has innovated and expanded its uses of telehealth, advanced data centers to improve...
By Nathan Eddy |
Insight
From the rise of CCIOs to networks promoting diversity in the industry, the UK has seen a fair...
By James Freed |
Revisiting PwC’s report on the top issues facing healthcare in 2019
News
The consulting giant issued a forward-looking report in January 2019. Healthcare IT News went back...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
As healthcare moves further into the post-electronic health record era, approaches to one of its...
By Mike Miliard |
Providers innovated patient engagement and experience in 2019
News
Whether enabling patients to understand costs, helping them manage billing or reminding them to get...
By Bill Siwicki |
What we learned at the HIMSS Healthcare Security Forum
News
As the role of the CISO evolves, so too does the threat landscape, the infrastructure that needs...
By Mike Miliard |
Forward-looking providers making strides with AI in 2019
News
Most healthcare provider organizations have yet to dip their toes into artificial intelligence. But...
By Bill Siwicki |
Doctor on a computer
News
Connected care, upskilled workers, tax reform, a Southwest Airlines approach, private equity and...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
The EHR vendor’s founder also discusses the state of interoperability, cloud computing and...
By Mike Miliard |
Epic, Cerner and others reveal just how their EHRs are interoperable
News
The companies also advise healthcare CIOs on some key interoperability questions to ask any EHR...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
The famed digital health pioneer talks about his new book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial...
By Mike Miliard |
News
As machine learning rapidly expands into healthcare, the ways it "learns" may be at odds...
By Benjamin Harris |
Mayo Clinic CIO: 'This artificial intelligence stuff is real'
News
"And it is coming quickly to a care setting near you," said Cris Ross at Health 2.0 on...
By Mike Miliard |
OpenNotes notches another big milestone, with 40 million patients now seeing their EHRs
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As more than 200 health systems have signed on with the patient empowerment movement, population...
By Mike Miliard |
News
The National Coordinator talks 21st Century Cures, information blocking, Apple, consumerism, FHIR,...
By Mike Miliard |
How FHIR 4 will drive interoperability progress in healthcare
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Experts from across health IT, including members of the HL7 board and advisory council, say the new...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
Despite one senator's hope to move deliberately with rulemakings and not repeat some errors of...
By Mike Miliard |
News
An alphabet soup of healthcare stakeholders, including AHIMA, CHIME, MGMA and others, want the...
By Mike Miliard |
News
"Voice user interfaces are an essential step to humanizing the EHR," says Vanderbilt...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
Health orgs are using AI to enhance decision making and drive greater value for patients and...
By Bill Siwicki |
Telehealth helps Mayo Clinic neonatologists better treat newborns in emergencies
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The new technology connects on the first attempt 96% of the time, compared with 73% for the...
By Bill Siwicki |
News
The cloud-hosted, voice-enabled system will be designed and built with close input along the way...
By Mike Miliard |