Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.
ELLKAY Selected as CommonWell’s New Technical Service Provider. John sat down with leaders at ELLKAY and CommonWell to discuss how the organizations will be working together – primarily at the moment to support CommonWell’s QHIN efforts – and learn why data sharing entities are actually designed for seamless transitions to new service providers. Read more…
Perspectives from the Oracle Health Conference. At this year’s event, now part of Oracle World, John learned about Oracle Health’s plans to go international, build a bridge between EHRs and ERPs, and transition Cerner infrastructure to the cloud. There was some discussion about AI, but it seems like Oracle Health is waiting to release something more than window dressing. Read more…
Where Do We Need Less – or More – Healthcare IT Regulation? We asked the Healthcare IT Today community about the thorny topic of regulation. Respondents pointed to the challenges of onerous regulations around information blocking, prior authorization, and staffing mandates. At the same time, multiple respondents called for legislation to support a national patient identifier. Read more…
Healthcare IT Today Podcast: Reporting From the Epic User Group Meeting and Civitas Conferences. John and Colin sat down to dish on the announcements they expected to hear from Epic but didn’t. They also debated whether TEFCA and QHINs will bring value to the industry or end up going the way of many defunct technology trends. Read more…
Sustainability in Healthcare Requires a Cultural Mindset Shift. The biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions are indirect, which makes them difficult to measure and act upon, according to Sheetal Chawla and Stephen Obana at Capgemini Americas. To truly push the needle on sustainability, healthcare organizations need to make it a strategic imperative, not just a KPI. Read more…
Meet Growing Demand for Mental Health Services With Personalized Digital Solutions. Nearly half of Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals, and wait times can last months. Digital health tools can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, while telehealth can make mental health services more accessible, said Dr. Byron Crowe at Solera Health. Read more…
How Virtual Observation Elevates the Patient Experience. Staff shortages could cripple acute care and its 1-to-1 observation model. That’s where virtual nursing comes into play, according to Holly Miller at Collette Health. Using virtual observation, one clinician can oversee 10 patients at a time and communicate directly with patients or send alerts to staff if an intervention is needed. Read more…
Make a More Accessible and Inclusive Web. As 25% of American adults have some type of disability, accessible Web content needs to be top of mind for healthcare organizations. Ben Cash at Reason One described how using screen readers, visual simulators, and other evaluation tools can help organizations identify and address accessibility concerns in their digital health content. Read more…
Use the Cloud for Private Healthcare Data. The prevalence of scanning and printing documents in healthcare points to the value of cloud infrastructure, according to Jim Cropper at Brother International. That’s because the cloud enables secure transmission and storage of documents while making information exchange less cumbersome. Read more…
Featured Health IT Job: Staff Nurse III – Information Technology at California-based Natividad posted to Healthcare IT Central.
Bonus Features for September 17, 2023: 20% of healthcare marketers worried about job security amid AI adoption, while 53% of executives using AI to address drug diversion “very confident” in their efforts. Read more…
Funding and M&A Activity:
- Care coordination vendor WellSky acquired Experience Care, which makes software for long-term and post-acute care providers.
- TeleVox acquired Odeza Patient Engagement, a business unit of Ensemble Health Partners.
- Privacy and data quality company Integral secured a $6.9 million Seed funding round.
- Sales intelligence platform Bonfire Analytics closed a Pre-Seed funding round.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.
