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.
Rusty Yeager on EHR Standardization and Rehabilitation Hospitals. In the latest CIO Podcast, Yeager, the Senior VP and CIO at Encompass Health, talked to John Lynn about the benefits of deploying a standardized EHR across an organization. The conversation also covered some of the unique IT needs of a rehabilitation hospital. Read more…
What It Takes to Build Out Digital Fax. Like it or not, fax is still part of today’s solution to healthcare’s interoperability problem. John talked to Kno2 co-founder Theresa Bell and John Mannion of Consensus Cloud Solutions about the benefits of integrating fax into healthcare communication tools. Read more…
Healthcare Web Site Accessibility and Disabilities. In the first of a three-part series, Andy Oram explained why it’s critical for healthcare web sites to take accessibility seriously from a legal and regulatory perspective – and why there are so many factors to consider when designing web sites with patients with disabilities in mind. Read more…
Enabling Web Site Accessibility via Automation. In the second part of the series, Andy explored how automation can identify and address issues of web site accessibility. These tools can detect problems such as missing or incorrect image alt text, hard-to-read fonts, or animations that could trigger epileptic symptoms. Read more…
The Importance of Simplicity in Healthcare Accessibility. In the third installment of the series, Andy discussed why accessibility is more than easy-to-use web sites. From virtual visits that don’t require a proprietary app to educational resources written that are in clear language, vendors and providers alike have much to consider. Read more…
How DirectTrust Is Improving Its Directory. Writing from The Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference, a Collaboration with the DirectTrust Summit, John shared updates on ongoing work DirectTrust is doing to improve the directory of Direct addresses. In a nutshell, real-time updates enabled by FHIR are the future. Read more…
Education and Communication Can Catalyze HIE Adoption. In another dispatch from the Civitas Networks / DirectTrust event, John learned that many HIE projects suffer from a marketing problem. Teams are so in the weeds with the data and technology they’re developing that they forget to tell a compelling story about the work they do. Read more…
Federal or State Health Data Collection? Conversations about health data sharing can be tricky given that private and public entities, as well as state and federal agencies, are all involved in data collection. John provided some highlights of a fascinating talk on federalism vs. states’ rights at the Civitas Networks / DirectTrust event. Read more…
Exploring the Future of Primary Care. In the latest Healthcare IT Podcast, Colin and John unpack the many challenges facing primary care at the moment, especially the potential impact of technology vendors and retail clinics entering the market. Read more…
Funding and M&A Activity:
- Virtual care provider Biofourmis added Intel Capital to its Series D funding round, which was initially announced in April. The extension brings the total funding raised in the round to $320 million.
- Wisconsin-based provided ThedaCare made a $3 million investment in Qventus, which provides care operations automation software. The investment was part of a $50 million growth capital round.
- SaaS-based EHR, HIE, and telehealth vendor Netsmart acquired CORE Analytics, the skilled nursing facility (SNF) claims data analytics offering previously owned by Zimmet Healthcare.
- Medical conversation AI vendor Abridge received $12.5 million in Series A funding, bringing the company’s total to $27 million.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.
