This white paper discusses the essential role that small IT solution providers can play in supporting the transition to health IT among small medical providers. It notes that while policies like the HITECH Act have incentivized health IT adoption, small medical providers still face challenges adopting systems due to limited resources. Small IT solution providers are well positioned to help small medical providers but face barriers entering the health IT market. The paper recommends policy changes to support education and retraining of IT professionals in health IT, integrate IT professionals into assistance programs, and reduce privacy and security compliance burdens on small IT firms. These changes could help small medical providers adopt health IT while allowing IT firms to support the transition and economic growth.
This document provides recommendations from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for the Obama Administration and 111th Congress on enabling healthcare reform through the use of information technology. It calls for a minimum $25 billion investment in health IT to help providers adopt electronic medical records with standards and certification. It also recommends expanding exceptions and safe harbors for EMRs, codifying national health IT leadership and standards bodies, and holding a White House summit on healthcare reform through health IT. The recommendations aim to develop the necessary infrastructure for health IT to transform healthcare.
This document outlines 11 healthcare IT trends for 2011 as identified by GE Healthcare and the eHealth Initiative. The trends include: 1) downward pressure on healthcare reimbursements, 2) increased pressure on healthcare CIOs to manage many strategic changes, and 3) a shift in the nature of competition toward quality and performance as pay-for-performance incentives are tied to outcomes.
The document discusses recent healthcare reforms in the United States and their potential impacts. It notes that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to increase insurance coverage while lowering costs. Additionally, the HITECH Act promotes the meaningful use of IT in healthcare to improve quality and reduce spending. Major effects may include 45-55 million Americans gaining insurance, increased use of electronic health records and pay-for-performance programs between providers and payers. Overall the reforms seek to align financial incentives around improved patient outcomes and care coordination.
The document discusses recommendations for a wireless carrier entering the mHealth industry. It provides an overview of trends in healthcare spending and delivery that are driving growth in mHealth. The mHealth market structure and service categories are described, showing remote monitoring as the largest segment. Partnerships with technology companies and healthcare providers are identified as key to success. Revenue models and the potential for incremental revenue are presented. The evolution of mHealth services from wellness to integrated solutions is depicted. Competitors and growth challenges are outlined. Recommendations focus on strategic partnerships, thought leadership, and executing a long-term vision to succeed in mHealth.
This summary provides an overview of key points from the document:
1) Enforcement of HIPAA security standards was initially lacking when they took effect in 2005, with compliance being below 25%. However, high-profile breaches, clearer regulations, and penalties from the Obama administration have increased enforcement and compliance.
2) A recent example is CVS Caremark being fined $2.25 million and required to fulfill obligations over 20 years after exposing patient health records.
3) Health care organizations face challenges in information security due to the nature of aggregating complete patient health histories, as well as generally being behind other industries in adopting new technologies. Factors like securing necessary funding and gaining staff buy-in for security
Technology Meets Medicine: Business Models and Distribution Strategiesguest1fee1
This presentation discusses technology trends in the connected medical device industry and business models for distribution. It outlines consolidation among large companies in the industry and increased interest from tech giants. It also summarizes regulatory issues and forecasts growing markets for remote patient monitoring among seniors, those with chronic conditions, and those wanting to stay healthy. The presentation examines opportunities for disease management services, personal emergency response, retail, and more to distribute connected devices and services.
Healthcare informatics involves the intersection of business, information systems, and healthcare to support clinical care, health administration, and patient/provider care. Information systems help automate and digitize the healthcare industry by increasing data availability and meeting regulatory compliance. McKesson Technology Solutions (MTS) is a market leading firm that provides enterprise software solutions and services to over 52% of health systems and 20% of physician practices. As a core part of each MTS business unit, the information systems department develops products that support trends in healthcare informatics, such as clinical decision support and electronic pharmacy systems. Recently, MTS expanded its product offerings through a new distribution agreement while also facing several lawsuits.
This document provides recommendations from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for the Obama Administration and 111th Congress on enabling healthcare reform through the use of information technology. It calls for a minimum $25 billion investment in health IT to help providers adopt electronic medical records with standards and certification. It also recommends expanding exceptions and safe harbors for EMRs, codifying national health IT leadership and standards bodies, and holding a White House summit on healthcare reform through health IT. The recommendations aim to develop the necessary infrastructure for health IT to transform healthcare.
This document outlines 11 healthcare IT trends for 2011 as identified by GE Healthcare and the eHealth Initiative. The trends include: 1) downward pressure on healthcare reimbursements, 2) increased pressure on healthcare CIOs to manage many strategic changes, and 3) a shift in the nature of competition toward quality and performance as pay-for-performance incentives are tied to outcomes.
The document discusses recent healthcare reforms in the United States and their potential impacts. It notes that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to increase insurance coverage while lowering costs. Additionally, the HITECH Act promotes the meaningful use of IT in healthcare to improve quality and reduce spending. Major effects may include 45-55 million Americans gaining insurance, increased use of electronic health records and pay-for-performance programs between providers and payers. Overall the reforms seek to align financial incentives around improved patient outcomes and care coordination.
The document discusses recommendations for a wireless carrier entering the mHealth industry. It provides an overview of trends in healthcare spending and delivery that are driving growth in mHealth. The mHealth market structure and service categories are described, showing remote monitoring as the largest segment. Partnerships with technology companies and healthcare providers are identified as key to success. Revenue models and the potential for incremental revenue are presented. The evolution of mHealth services from wellness to integrated solutions is depicted. Competitors and growth challenges are outlined. Recommendations focus on strategic partnerships, thought leadership, and executing a long-term vision to succeed in mHealth.
This summary provides an overview of key points from the document:
1) Enforcement of HIPAA security standards was initially lacking when they took effect in 2005, with compliance being below 25%. However, high-profile breaches, clearer regulations, and penalties from the Obama administration have increased enforcement and compliance.
2) A recent example is CVS Caremark being fined $2.25 million and required to fulfill obligations over 20 years after exposing patient health records.
3) Health care organizations face challenges in information security due to the nature of aggregating complete patient health histories, as well as generally being behind other industries in adopting new technologies. Factors like securing necessary funding and gaining staff buy-in for security
Technology Meets Medicine: Business Models and Distribution Strategiesguest1fee1
This presentation discusses technology trends in the connected medical device industry and business models for distribution. It outlines consolidation among large companies in the industry and increased interest from tech giants. It also summarizes regulatory issues and forecasts growing markets for remote patient monitoring among seniors, those with chronic conditions, and those wanting to stay healthy. The presentation examines opportunities for disease management services, personal emergency response, retail, and more to distribute connected devices and services.
Healthcare informatics involves the intersection of business, information systems, and healthcare to support clinical care, health administration, and patient/provider care. Information systems help automate and digitize the healthcare industry by increasing data availability and meeting regulatory compliance. McKesson Technology Solutions (MTS) is a market leading firm that provides enterprise software solutions and services to over 52% of health systems and 20% of physician practices. As a core part of each MTS business unit, the information systems department develops products that support trends in healthcare informatics, such as clinical decision support and electronic pharmacy systems. Recently, MTS expanded its product offerings through a new distribution agreement while also facing several lawsuits.
Healthcare - Customer-Centric Healthcare Best Practices for CIO and CISOsNicholas Christiano Jr.
The document discusses the challenges healthcare CIOs and CISOs face in providing secure yet accessible patient information in light of new regulations. It notes that while healthcare organizations have traditionally focused on keeping data private, new rules will require all patient data to be online by 2016. This presents a dilemma for technology leaders who must ensure stringent security while supporting more open access. The document provides recommendations for best practices to address this challenge, including looking to other industries like banking that balance security and accessibility well. It stresses the importance of selecting the right technologies and solutions to protect against breaches while meeting patient and regulatory needs.
The document discusses how close various healthcare technologies are to reaching a "tipping point" of widespread adoption. It analyzes segments like remote patient monitoring, disease management programs, and personal health records. While some areas like mobile health show promise, most segments are still fragmented with no clear leader. Google Health is called a "wildcard" that could potentially dominate personal health records by automatically populating records. The biggest future tipping points are predicted to be mobile telehealth and technologies that support "hospital at home" models.
Ensuring Security and Privacy in the HIE Market - Redspin Information SecurityRedspin, Inc.
The adoption of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) offers benefits like improved quality of care and increased efficiency. However, ensuring security and privacy is challenging as HIEs provide a target for cybercrime. Emerging HIE models involve cloud platforms where providers manage security, but transparency is needed. One of the major challenges is demonstrating compliance with regulations while protecting data and detecting incidents. Close cooperation is required between platform providers, operators, and customers to effectively govern security.
Independent hospitals and small health systems face a daunting challenge in developing their healthcare IT capabilities to meet the requirements of value-based care. But they must carefully weigh their options and proceedcautiously in meeting that challenge.
A Smart and Connected Ecosystem for Faster Return to Work for Disability and ...Cognizant
Digital and workers' comp insurers should leverage a wide range of digital health technologies, monitoring devices and wellness analytics to reduce return to work (RTW) times and thereby increase operational efficiency, cut claims costs and offer better outcomes to all stakeholders.
From Chaos to Catalyst: Five Imperatives for HealthcareCognizant
The document discusses five imperatives for healthcare providers and payers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It summarizes each imperative as follows:
1. Take out costs - Providers and payers must reduce costs due to financial pressures from rising supply costs, decreased utilization of services, and changes in insurance coverage.
2. Deliver care@home - The pandemic accelerated adoption of telehealth and more services can now be delivered virtually. This allows decoupling of care from physical infrastructure.
3. Implement low-touch healthcare - Providers must reduce physical contact to ensure safety while maintaining a personalized experience through contactless processes and virtual care.
4. Accelerate digital transformation - Changes in consumer behavior
The document discusses emerging trends and innovations that are driving healthcare transformation in Canada. It identifies the top 10 healthcare game changers, including: 1) Healthcare clouds that will take health records off mainframes and make them accessible online; 2) Health analytics that will use more available data to improve decision making and care; 3) New payment models that will tie funding to quality and outcomes rather than just outputs.
This document describes a software solution called AptSPEND that helps life sciences companies comply with regulations requiring disclosure of aggregate spending on healthcare professionals. AptSPEND aggregates spending data from multiple sources, scrubs the data to identify duplicate records, tracks spending by individual healthcare providers across states and systems, and generates required reports. It is presented as an end-to-end solution that not only provides the software but also handles implementation, data integration, and ongoing services to help users maintain compliance.
This document discusses several issues regarding the implementation of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for healthcare settings, including:
- The need for standardized certificate policies and assurance levels to facilitate interoperability between healthcare organizations.
- Challenges of developing common certificate profiles given the flexibility and extensibility of the X.509 standard, which can lead to profile proliferation if not addressed.
- Managing user privileges and access controls for electronic medical records using attribute certificates and authorization APIs.
- Ensuring long-term access to electronic medical records stored using encryption keys from PKI certificates with finite validity periods.
The document provides background on these issues and makes recommendations to address interoperability, such as developing a model certificate policy for
Because putting patients’ needs first is essential in the healthcare industries, many healthcare systems
face health information technology (HIT) related challenges and a patient service dilemma.We will firstpresent
the patient service dilemma and provide a high-leveloverview of technologies that have increased the productivity,
efficiency in providing care, and clinical collaboration across their various healthcare campuses. Then, we will
suggest changesto current HIT practice that will enableHealth Systems to be Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant, while meeting the needs of patients, their expectations of care, and the
changing healthcare industry.
4 Digital Health Trends Affecting Your Revenue CycleMeduit
The document discusses 4 emerging digital trends impacting the healthcare industry: 1) Big data, with more health data being collected but not fully utilized; 2) mHealth and wearable devices increasing patient engagement and ownership; 3) The Internet of Things expanding connectivity of devices; and 4) Data security becoming more vital as digital innovation increases potential threats. These trends present both opportunities such as reduced costs and improved outcomes, as well as challenges around data sharing and protection that healthcare organizations must address. Behavioral analytics and a focus on data security are seen as important to manage risks in this evolving digital landscape.
The document discusses disruptive digital technologies that are transforming healthcare, including telemedicine, the Internet of Medical Things, cloud computing, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, artificial intelligence, chatbots, data science, and blockchain. It outlines Thailand's national eHealth strategy and components like electronic medical records, health information exchange, and a quality framework for healthcare accreditation and information technology. Overall, the document emphasizes how healthcare organizations can gain competitive advantages by leveraging these disruptive digital technologies through digital optimization, business transformation, and defining their digital organization landscape.
The document summarizes key aspects of the national healthcare landscape in the United States, including recent government initiatives promoting health information technology adoption through programs like the HITECH Act and meaningful use. It discusses regional extension centers, beacon communities, and the final rule on meaningful use criteria and incentives for eligible professionals and hospitals to qualify for federal funding when adopting electronic health records.
Improving Care Coordination with Big Data, Analytics and Technology - Paul Co...Paul Brian Contino
Medical Informatics Update: Analytics and Tools for Care Coordination
IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center
October 16th, 2013
The 2013 edition of the Medical Informatics Update is a joint effort between IBM Research and the Columbia University Center for Advanced Information Management. The general chairs for this workshop are Dr. Shahram Ebadollahi and Dr. Georges Hripcsak.
The document discusses India's policy journey towards establishing a national digital health ecosystem. Key events include the release of the National Health Policy in 2015, launch of the Ayushman Bharat program in 2018, and announcement of the National Digital Health Mission in 2020. Standards for electronic health records, metadata, and data dictionaries were drafted between 2008-2019 to enable interoperability. The National Digital Health Blueprint proposed an ecosystem approach with various building blocks like applications, standards, and an institutional framework. The financial lever of the government can support universal healthcare goals through a proposed health claims platform using e-governance and data analytics.
1. The healthcare informatics industry utilizes information technologies and management strategies to improve processes and efficiency in healthcare. McKesson Technology Solutions is a major player providing clinical software, pharmacy automation, and other IT services to hospitals.
2. McKesson's revenues have increased each year from $108 billion in 2008 to $112 billion in 2009. They are ranked 14th on the Fortune 500 list. McKesson provides solutions for electronic health records, computerized physician order entry, and decision support systems.
3. Trends in the industry include a focus on digitizing paper records, developing automated decision support systems using electronic data, and automating patients' medical histories. Regulatory acts are also driving increased IT adoption,
TechTalks | Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Opportunities and Trendsrmcsoft
This document discusses opportunities for digital transformation in healthcare through three examples:
1. A digital health system operating unit called Mercy Virtual that generated $325 million in revenue and $113 million in EBITDA through remote patient monitoring and reduced unnecessary emergency visits.
2. A study of 300 high-cost patients that spent $45 million annually on acute care. A remote monitoring program reduced costs by $15 million and cut 12 full-time employees.
3. A telehealth startup called TeleHealth Solution that aims to improve access to care, reduce costs, and address physician shortages by providing virtual consultations and remote monitoring across specialties.
The document discusses several key healthcare trends and opportunities:
1) Demographic shifts like population aging are increasing demand for healthcare services. Chronic diseases are also rising due to lifestyle changes.
2) Technological advances and the empowered consumer are transforming healthcare delivery through telemedicine, mobile health apps, and more consumer-centric models.
3) New entrants like technology companies are disrupting the industry by introducing new products and services, while incumbents must decide whether to partner or compete with these new players.
This document discusses using A3 thinking to effectively collaborate with business customers in agile projects. A3 thinking is a four step approach involving grasping the situation, analyzing it, considering potential solutions, and creating an action plan. It facilitates discovery and leads to better conversations by focusing on value. Key benefits include generating options, validating solutions, and setting based decision making. The approach helps lead business customers to discover their real needs and avoid wish lists.
Product owner team agile2015 dean stevensDean Stevens
Product Owner Team. I presented this idea at the Agile 2015 conference. The PO Team is a key to successfully implementing agile in an enterprise. I share my experience and explain the roles, activities and artifacts.
This document discusses how the Kanban method can be used as a foundation for leadership. It summarizes that Kanban focuses on visualizing workflow, limiting work in progress, measuring and managing flow, making process policies explicit, and using models to recognize improvement opportunities. The key aspects of leadership discussed are addressing stakeholder needs, starting with continuous improvement where you are, and doing what makes lean sense.
Healthcare - Customer-Centric Healthcare Best Practices for CIO and CISOsNicholas Christiano Jr.
The document discusses the challenges healthcare CIOs and CISOs face in providing secure yet accessible patient information in light of new regulations. It notes that while healthcare organizations have traditionally focused on keeping data private, new rules will require all patient data to be online by 2016. This presents a dilemma for technology leaders who must ensure stringent security while supporting more open access. The document provides recommendations for best practices to address this challenge, including looking to other industries like banking that balance security and accessibility well. It stresses the importance of selecting the right technologies and solutions to protect against breaches while meeting patient and regulatory needs.
The document discusses how close various healthcare technologies are to reaching a "tipping point" of widespread adoption. It analyzes segments like remote patient monitoring, disease management programs, and personal health records. While some areas like mobile health show promise, most segments are still fragmented with no clear leader. Google Health is called a "wildcard" that could potentially dominate personal health records by automatically populating records. The biggest future tipping points are predicted to be mobile telehealth and technologies that support "hospital at home" models.
Ensuring Security and Privacy in the HIE Market - Redspin Information SecurityRedspin, Inc.
The adoption of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) offers benefits like improved quality of care and increased efficiency. However, ensuring security and privacy is challenging as HIEs provide a target for cybercrime. Emerging HIE models involve cloud platforms where providers manage security, but transparency is needed. One of the major challenges is demonstrating compliance with regulations while protecting data and detecting incidents. Close cooperation is required between platform providers, operators, and customers to effectively govern security.
Independent hospitals and small health systems face a daunting challenge in developing their healthcare IT capabilities to meet the requirements of value-based care. But they must carefully weigh their options and proceedcautiously in meeting that challenge.
A Smart and Connected Ecosystem for Faster Return to Work for Disability and ...Cognizant
Digital and workers' comp insurers should leverage a wide range of digital health technologies, monitoring devices and wellness analytics to reduce return to work (RTW) times and thereby increase operational efficiency, cut claims costs and offer better outcomes to all stakeholders.
From Chaos to Catalyst: Five Imperatives for HealthcareCognizant
The document discusses five imperatives for healthcare providers and payers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It summarizes each imperative as follows:
1. Take out costs - Providers and payers must reduce costs due to financial pressures from rising supply costs, decreased utilization of services, and changes in insurance coverage.
2. Deliver care@home - The pandemic accelerated adoption of telehealth and more services can now be delivered virtually. This allows decoupling of care from physical infrastructure.
3. Implement low-touch healthcare - Providers must reduce physical contact to ensure safety while maintaining a personalized experience through contactless processes and virtual care.
4. Accelerate digital transformation - Changes in consumer behavior
The document discusses emerging trends and innovations that are driving healthcare transformation in Canada. It identifies the top 10 healthcare game changers, including: 1) Healthcare clouds that will take health records off mainframes and make them accessible online; 2) Health analytics that will use more available data to improve decision making and care; 3) New payment models that will tie funding to quality and outcomes rather than just outputs.
This document describes a software solution called AptSPEND that helps life sciences companies comply with regulations requiring disclosure of aggregate spending on healthcare professionals. AptSPEND aggregates spending data from multiple sources, scrubs the data to identify duplicate records, tracks spending by individual healthcare providers across states and systems, and generates required reports. It is presented as an end-to-end solution that not only provides the software but also handles implementation, data integration, and ongoing services to help users maintain compliance.
This document discusses several issues regarding the implementation of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for healthcare settings, including:
- The need for standardized certificate policies and assurance levels to facilitate interoperability between healthcare organizations.
- Challenges of developing common certificate profiles given the flexibility and extensibility of the X.509 standard, which can lead to profile proliferation if not addressed.
- Managing user privileges and access controls for electronic medical records using attribute certificates and authorization APIs.
- Ensuring long-term access to electronic medical records stored using encryption keys from PKI certificates with finite validity periods.
The document provides background on these issues and makes recommendations to address interoperability, such as developing a model certificate policy for
Because putting patients’ needs first is essential in the healthcare industries, many healthcare systems
face health information technology (HIT) related challenges and a patient service dilemma.We will firstpresent
the patient service dilemma and provide a high-leveloverview of technologies that have increased the productivity,
efficiency in providing care, and clinical collaboration across their various healthcare campuses. Then, we will
suggest changesto current HIT practice that will enableHealth Systems to be Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant, while meeting the needs of patients, their expectations of care, and the
changing healthcare industry.
4 Digital Health Trends Affecting Your Revenue CycleMeduit
The document discusses 4 emerging digital trends impacting the healthcare industry: 1) Big data, with more health data being collected but not fully utilized; 2) mHealth and wearable devices increasing patient engagement and ownership; 3) The Internet of Things expanding connectivity of devices; and 4) Data security becoming more vital as digital innovation increases potential threats. These trends present both opportunities such as reduced costs and improved outcomes, as well as challenges around data sharing and protection that healthcare organizations must address. Behavioral analytics and a focus on data security are seen as important to manage risks in this evolving digital landscape.
The document discusses disruptive digital technologies that are transforming healthcare, including telemedicine, the Internet of Medical Things, cloud computing, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, artificial intelligence, chatbots, data science, and blockchain. It outlines Thailand's national eHealth strategy and components like electronic medical records, health information exchange, and a quality framework for healthcare accreditation and information technology. Overall, the document emphasizes how healthcare organizations can gain competitive advantages by leveraging these disruptive digital technologies through digital optimization, business transformation, and defining their digital organization landscape.
The document summarizes key aspects of the national healthcare landscape in the United States, including recent government initiatives promoting health information technology adoption through programs like the HITECH Act and meaningful use. It discusses regional extension centers, beacon communities, and the final rule on meaningful use criteria and incentives for eligible professionals and hospitals to qualify for federal funding when adopting electronic health records.
Improving Care Coordination with Big Data, Analytics and Technology - Paul Co...Paul Brian Contino
Medical Informatics Update: Analytics and Tools for Care Coordination
IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center
October 16th, 2013
The 2013 edition of the Medical Informatics Update is a joint effort between IBM Research and the Columbia University Center for Advanced Information Management. The general chairs for this workshop are Dr. Shahram Ebadollahi and Dr. Georges Hripcsak.
The document discusses India's policy journey towards establishing a national digital health ecosystem. Key events include the release of the National Health Policy in 2015, launch of the Ayushman Bharat program in 2018, and announcement of the National Digital Health Mission in 2020. Standards for electronic health records, metadata, and data dictionaries were drafted between 2008-2019 to enable interoperability. The National Digital Health Blueprint proposed an ecosystem approach with various building blocks like applications, standards, and an institutional framework. The financial lever of the government can support universal healthcare goals through a proposed health claims platform using e-governance and data analytics.
1. The healthcare informatics industry utilizes information technologies and management strategies to improve processes and efficiency in healthcare. McKesson Technology Solutions is a major player providing clinical software, pharmacy automation, and other IT services to hospitals.
2. McKesson's revenues have increased each year from $108 billion in 2008 to $112 billion in 2009. They are ranked 14th on the Fortune 500 list. McKesson provides solutions for electronic health records, computerized physician order entry, and decision support systems.
3. Trends in the industry include a focus on digitizing paper records, developing automated decision support systems using electronic data, and automating patients' medical histories. Regulatory acts are also driving increased IT adoption,
TechTalks | Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Opportunities and Trendsrmcsoft
This document discusses opportunities for digital transformation in healthcare through three examples:
1. A digital health system operating unit called Mercy Virtual that generated $325 million in revenue and $113 million in EBITDA through remote patient monitoring and reduced unnecessary emergency visits.
2. A study of 300 high-cost patients that spent $45 million annually on acute care. A remote monitoring program reduced costs by $15 million and cut 12 full-time employees.
3. A telehealth startup called TeleHealth Solution that aims to improve access to care, reduce costs, and address physician shortages by providing virtual consultations and remote monitoring across specialties.
The document discusses several key healthcare trends and opportunities:
1) Demographic shifts like population aging are increasing demand for healthcare services. Chronic diseases are also rising due to lifestyle changes.
2) Technological advances and the empowered consumer are transforming healthcare delivery through telemedicine, mobile health apps, and more consumer-centric models.
3) New entrants like technology companies are disrupting the industry by introducing new products and services, while incumbents must decide whether to partner or compete with these new players.
This document discusses using A3 thinking to effectively collaborate with business customers in agile projects. A3 thinking is a four step approach involving grasping the situation, analyzing it, considering potential solutions, and creating an action plan. It facilitates discovery and leads to better conversations by focusing on value. Key benefits include generating options, validating solutions, and setting based decision making. The approach helps lead business customers to discover their real needs and avoid wish lists.
Product owner team agile2015 dean stevensDean Stevens
Product Owner Team. I presented this idea at the Agile 2015 conference. The PO Team is a key to successfully implementing agile in an enterprise. I share my experience and explain the roles, activities and artifacts.
This document discusses how the Kanban method can be used as a foundation for leadership. It summarizes that Kanban focuses on visualizing workflow, limiting work in progress, measuring and managing flow, making process policies explicit, and using models to recognize improvement opportunities. The key aspects of leadership discussed are addressing stakeholder needs, starting with continuous improvement where you are, and doing what makes lean sense.
The document discusses value stream management in healthcare. It defines a value stream as all the activities involved in treating patients from arrival to discharge. It describes mapping value streams using current and future state value stream maps to identify waste and improvements. The goal is to link processes in a smooth continuous flow without interruptions. Key components of value stream management include selecting a value stream manager, using visual controls, and conducting real-time problem solving and continuous process improvement.
Flow is a very Lean idea. The first two Lean principles are “Specify Value” and “Make Value Flow”. Most agile methods have the concept of flow baked in. A key lever to promote flow is limiting work in progress, something many organizations find very challenging.
This talk and demonstration will help project managers “see” how value flows in an agile software development project and why it is important.
The document discusses using business capability analysis to provide a lean-agile approach to enterprise analysis. It describes modeling business capabilities to present a graphical view of the business value stream and specify value through a relative assessment of capabilities. The value of capability analysis is that it can provide business context, facilitate discovery of good answers quickly, and promote feedback to focus on business value.
Study: The Future of VR, AR and Self-Driving CarsLinkedIn
We asked LinkedIn members worldwide about their levels of interest in the latest wave of technology: whether they’re using wearables, and whether they intend to buy self-driving cars and VR headsets as they become available. We asked them too about their attitudes to technology and to the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the devices that they use. The answers were fascinating – and in many cases, surprising.
This SlideShare explores the full results of this study, including detailed market-by-market breakdowns of intention levels for each technology – and how attitudes change with age, location and seniority level. If you’re marketing a tech brand – or planning to use VR and wearables to reach a professional audience – then these are insights you won’t want to miss.
This document summarizes the key findings of an EMC-commissioned study by IDC on integrated care delivery models in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The study found that traditional hospital-centric healthcare systems are inefficient for treating chronic conditions like non-communicable diseases. An integrated care model coordinates care across hospitals, primary care, clinics, and other providers. Information sharing through integrated patient records is critical to enable coordination among different care providers. However, integrated care faces challenges related to governance, data quality, legacy systems, and cultural change. The document discusses how solutions for electronic medical records, big data analytics, cloud computing, and document lifecycle management can help overcome barriers by facilitating information sharing across the healthcare system.
This document summarizes the key findings of an EMC-commissioned study by IDC on integrated care delivery models in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The study found that traditional hospital-centric healthcare systems are inefficient for treating chronic conditions like non-communicable diseases. An integrated care model coordinates care across hospitals, primary care, clinics, and other providers. Information sharing through integrated patient records is critical to enable coordination among different care providers. However, integrated care faces challenges related to governance, data quality, legacy systems, and cultural change. The document discusses how solutions for electronic medical records, big data analytics, cloud computing, and document lifecycle management can help overcome barriers by improving information capture, access, and insights
Call for Action Enabling Healthcare Reform Using Information Technologymhart007
The document provides recommendations for the Obama administration and 111th Congress on enabling healthcare reform through information technology. It calls for a $25 billion investment in health IT to help providers adopt electronic medical records with the goals of improving quality, reducing costs, and empowering consumers. It also recommends applying national standards, expanding exceptions to anti-kickback laws to promote data sharing, and establishing federal bodies to provide leadership and coordination on health IT issues. The recommendations aim to develop robust health IT infrastructure as a foundation for successful healthcare reform.
This document discusses how health information technology (health IT) can be used to improve the quality of care in primary care settings. It provides background on projects by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and others to promote the adoption of health IT. The document aims to identify health IT functionality that supports quality improvement, propose strategies ("change ideas") for implementing health IT as a tool for improvement, and identify opportunities for innovation. While health IT holds promise, simply implementing current systems will not drive improvement on its own. Success requires using health IT together with robust care models and quality improvement methods.
The document discusses a value model created by Intel's Digital Health Group to help healthcare organizations discuss and measure the benefits of healthcare IT (HIT) investments. The model identifies seven value dials - quality of care, patient safety, patient access, physician/staff productivity, physician/staff satisfaction, revenue enhancement, and cost optimization - that HIT investments can impact. The model provides a framework for healthcare organizations to determine which objectives they want to achieve through HIT and how to measure progress towards those objectives using relevant key performance indicators. Using this model, organizations can better evaluate HIT investments and initiatives.
U.S. Healthcare - Converting Vision to RealityCognizant
The document discusses the ongoing transformation of the U.S. healthcare industry as it works to address rising costs and improve quality of care. It describes several key areas of change: 1) the development of a national healthcare IT infrastructure to share patient data electronically, 2) integrated health management through coordinated care models like patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations, and 3) personalized medical care enabled by new diagnostic technologies. Realizing this vision will require overcoming challenges around standards, costs, and adapting to disruptive trends in technology and demographics.
A Roadmap for Optimizing Clinical Decision SupportHealth Catalyst
Compared to industries such as aerospace and automotive, healthcare lags behind in decision support innovation. Following the aerospace and automotive arenas, healthcare can learn critical lessons about improving its clinical decision support capabilities to help clinicians make more efficient, data-informed decisions:
Achieve widespread digitization: Healthcare must digitize its assets and operations (patient registration, scheduling, encounters, diagnosis, orders, billings, and claims) for effective CDS similarly to how aerospace digitized the aircraft, air traffic control, baggage handling, ticketing, maintenance, and manufacturing.
Build data volume and scope: Healthcare must collect socioeconomic, genomic, patient-reported outcomes, claims data, and more to truly understand the patient at the center of the human health data ecosystem.
This document discusses strategic applications of information technology in the healthcare industry. It begins by outlining the growing role and expenditures of IT in healthcare. It then introduces a framework for conceptualizing strategic IT applications, distinguishing between internal integration of systems within an organization and external integration with outside groups. Key emerging technologies discussed include computerized patient records, document management systems, data warehouses, intranets, the internet, and telemedicine. The document provides examples of how various healthcare organizations have implemented these technologies.
This document discusses strategic applications of information technology in the healthcare industry. It begins by outlining the growing role and expenditures of IT in healthcare. It then introduces a framework for conceptualizing strategic IT applications, distinguishing between internal integration of systems within an organization and external integration with outside groups. Key emerging technologies are described that enable these forms of integration, including computerized patient records, document management systems, data warehouses, the internet, intranets, networking/ATM technology, and medical informatics/telematics. Specific healthcare organization examples of implementing these technologies are provided.
با گسترش فناوری اطلاعات و سرویس های مختلفی امروزه در زندگی انسان ها ارائه می شود حوزه سلامت و درمان هم بی بهره از این گسترش فناوری نبوده و در صورتی که سیاستمداران و برنامه ریزان کشور بتوانند از ظرفیت های ترکیب دانش پزشکی و فناوری اطلاعات بهره ببرند شاید با وجود افزایش جمعیت کهنسال و نیاز به رسیدگی های خاصی که در این قشر احساس می شود بتوان در کاهش هزینه های درمان گامی برداشت
Practical guide on private funding for EU eHealth SMEsgetslidesdeck
The document discusses trends in digital health and investment in Europe compared to the US. Some key points:
1) Venture funding for digital health has grown rapidly in recent years on both sides of the Atlantic, with over $4 billion invested in the US in 2014 alone. However, investment in Europe still lags behind, though some large funding rounds have occurred.
2) Most digital health startups in Europe are still at the seed stage, but more are qualifying for Series A funding and beyond in recent years.
3) Factors holding back more investment in Europe include digital health initiatives still being in early stages of development and a fragmented healthcare system compared to the larger US market. Interviews with an investor
Digital Health in the UK: An industry study for the Office of Life SciencesPatients Know Best
The document provides an overview of the digital health industry in the UK, analyzing trends across four sub-sectors: telehealthcare, mHealth, health analytics, and digitized health systems. It finds that the UK has been an early adopter in some areas like telecare and primary care electronic records. However, it also faces challenges commercializing innovations and building large companies. The report identifies five areas that could help the UK grow its digital health industry: addressing skills shortages, improving NHS understanding of digital solutions, clarifying data access and use, improving reimbursement policies, and strengthening commercialization capabilities.
he technologies collectively known as health information technology (health IT) share a common attribute: they enable the secure collection and exchange of vast amounts of health data about individuals. The collection and movement of this data will power the health care of the future. Health IT has the potential to empower individuals and increase transparency; enhance the ability to study care delivery and payment systems; and ultimately achieve improvements in care, efficiency, and population health.
Connected Care: Technology-Enabled Care at Homewhatifound
This document discusses technology-enabled connected care, which uses in-home monitoring devices and care management programs to enhance chronic disease management and post-acute care. It argues this approach could save $400 billion annually by reducing complications and readmissions while improving self-care. Consumers strongly support this model with three-quarters wanting expanded use of in-home technologies and devices. The document outlines two key applications - management of chronic conditions and post-discharge monitoring. It also lists existing clinical technologies that could be used in homes to improve care coordination and outcomes.
Technology is constantly transforming healthcare for the better, but getting technology right is an understated challenge for the industry. This webinar addresses three of healthcare's top challenges in tapping technology's full potential: cost, privacy and adoption. Experts and providers share tips, strategies and stories to help overcome these challenges to truly harness the power of transformative healthcare technology.
Where to get primary health informationthomas654564
Medooc is a search engine for researching medical information.It has been built by medical professionals to help others in the community to research and share credible health information.Doctors, Physcials and medical professionals participate in Medooc.com on day to day basis to help each other.
For more information you can visit:-http://www.medooc.com/
How the Internet of Things Is Transforming Medical DevicesCognizant
The Internet of Things (IoT) should be a central focus for medical device companies, as IoT dramatically expands and enhances the field for the entire stakeholder ecosystem. We offer a roadmap for medical devices companies seeking a wise and effective path forward with IoT.
Where to get primary health informationthomas654564
Healthcare information, also known as health informatics, is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the effective use of data, information, and knowledge for communications and decision making in healthcare delivery and management. It involves the resources, devices and methods used to acquire, store, and use healthcare data and information to improve patient care. Some key areas of healthcare information include using computers and clinical guidelines to support areas like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, and biomedical research. It also addresses legal and ethical issues around using electronic tools and media for healthcare and ensuring privacy and security of patient data.
Greater Interoperability in Healthcare 2022: Data & TechnologyInferscience
Inferscience offers the best HCC medicare risk adjustment services in Newton, MA. Inferscience has taken advantage of these new wider rules to expand functionality. Inferscience’s proprietary technology can extract clinical data from any web-based EHR and standardize it. The data can be made available to any application via API. It is the expectation that expanding functionality with these types of features will at the end of the day benefit providers and patients as well. The most important consideration, therefore, for the continuing success of this road map is for all interest groups to participate with attentiveness and intentionality. Because in the end, collaboration is the key to greater interoperability in healthcare.
What are the major challenges for managing health care information t.pdffsenterprises
What are the major challenges for managing health care information technology in the context of
health care reform? How should existing and future health care information technology be
managed?
Solution
Tha Major Challenges :
There are Mainly 5 Information Technology Challenges Faced by Healthcare Organizations
Healthcare is among the economic sectors facing the most significant challenges in
implementing effective IT solutions.
Chief information officers in healthcare settings must balance strict privacy and security
requirements with the need to constantly improve IT infrastructure and performance. From small
doctor’s offices to major hospitals, the healthcare IT environment is increasingly complex and, if
not managed appropriately, can negatively impact patient care.
A Growing Flood of Data
Healthcare data usage is growing at an exponential pace for a variety of reasons. Digital imaging
technologies, electronic medical records, and resource-taxing applications are placing a strain on
existing data infrastructures. Mobile applications and a growing use of telemedicine technologies
also are increasing data generation and the need for its secure storage and management.
Federal HIPAA Privacy Requirements
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, requires medical providers
to safeguard patients’ private medical information. The federal law requires stringent procedures
for backing up data along with recovering data in disaster and emergency situations. The Health
Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health act, or HITECH, strengthened
HIPAA and increased penalties and requirements for mandatory notifications when data
breaches occur.
Inadequate Data Storage Capacity
Data storage needs for healthcare double approximately every 18 months, largely due to
regulatory pressure to keep patient information indefinitely. Forward-thinking medical
organizations have begun implementing strategic, multi-tiered storage plans that include on-site,
off-site and virtual storage. But improving overall storage capacity also requires more efficient
software solutions for managing the massive and growing amounts of data that now exist in
diverse medical environments.
Lack of Communication among Healthcare Systems
Only in the past few years have electronic medical records become the standard, and data
systems that smoothly interface between all medical providers remain years away. While the
industry regularly rolls out innovations to improve patient care and facility operations, the
advances often have limited capability to “talk” to each other. This lack of ability to interface
across systems restricts the ability to automate processes and to capture and use data effectively,
decreasing the return on investment for technology.
Increasing Costs of IT Projects in Healthcare
Healthcare organizations are facing rapidly increasing IT costs from a number of drivers,
including government regulations, growing energy needs and pressure t.
Mobile phones have come a long way since their introduction over 30 years ago. Phones are smaller, weigh less, and do more, carrying data as well as voice. Phones not only make telephone calls, they send e-mail and text messages, take and send photographs, play games, and access and browse the Internet. And mobile phones are everywhere. By the end of 2009, mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide numbered approximately 4.6 billion.1 Neither age, nationality, nor economic status represents a barrier to owning and using a mobile phone. The first phones may have been novelties, but mobile phones now are a necessity, especially for the under-35 demographic.
This document from Whospoppin Enterprises discusses relationships between doctors, patients, and pharmacies. It likely outlines how these groups interact and exchange medical information to provide healthcare services and prescribe/fill medications. The date, 1/2/2014, indicates when this policy or procedures document was created or last updated.
Smart machines IBM’s watson and the era of cognitive computingWirehead Technology
We are at the dawn of a major shift in the evolution of technology. The next two decades will transform the way people live and work just as the computing revolution has transformed the human landscape over the past half century. The host of opportunities and challenges that come with this new era will require a new generation of technologies and a rewriting of the rules of computing.
Healthcare is in crisis. While this is not news for many
countries, we believe what is now different is that the
current paths of many healthcare systems around the
world will become unsustainable by 2015.
This may seem a contrarian conclusion, given the efforts
of competent and dedicated healthcare professionals
and the promise of genomics, regenerative medicine, and
information-based medicine. Yet, it is also true that costs
are rising rapidly; quality is poor or inconsistent; and
access or choice in many countries is inadequate.
Introduction
The increasing use of smartphones and tablet computers as business tools has brought organizations and their employees new levels of productivity, flexibility and mobility. But their use is a double-edged sword, bringing with it new levels of complexity to IT management and security.
The shift to mobile is dramatically changing the way people work and companies do business. IT departments are being challenged to effectively manage resources and infrastructure to support the mobile enterprise. The stakes are high, and enterprise mobility solutions are complex. To succeed, you need more than a piecemeal solution. You need a partner who can deliver a true end-to-end mobility service.
This white paper discusses how HP solutions can help healthcare providers implement bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives securely. BYOD allows doctors, nurses and patients to access healthcare resources using their personal mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. However, it also presents security and network management challenges. HP solutions like Intelligent Management Center (IMC) provide simple network access control to authenticate devices and users. IMC uses device fingerprinting to identify devices and enforce security policies, allowing BYOD while maintaining compliance with regulations and protecting sensitive patient information. The paper explains how HP solutions address BYOD challenges around security, network usage and management of both organization-owned and personal devices on the healthcare network.
The Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE) has just released its Consumer Education Health IT Toolkit. It was developed to provide healthcare professionals with simple and informative educational material to share with their patients. Consumer education and engagement are cornerstones for the implementation of a successful state health IT program.
The Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE) has just released its Consumer Education Health IT Toolkit. It was developed to provide healthcare professionals with simple and informative educational material to share with their patients. Consumer education and engagement are cornerstones for the implementation of a successful state health IT program.
The document summarizes how new Illinois healthcare laws will affect small businesses. It discusses small business tax credits available for employers who provide health insurance. Nearly 60% of small businesses that don't offer coverage cite cost as the main barrier. The laws also require insurers to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical claims and quality improvement. The document encourages small business owners to educate themselves and employees on the new laws and support legislation for healthcare cost transparency.
This guide to designed to help private doctors and small clinics understand the HIPPA regulation and get them ready for an audit. The guide contains several checklists that will guide them step by step to make sure everything is done to create and secure and EMR network
This document discusses how organizations can capitalize on collective intelligence by tapping into the knowledge and expertise of individuals both inside and outside the organization. It provides 3 approaches that organizations can use to apply collective intelligence: 1) Discovering and sharing new ideas through contests/challenges, collaborative design markets, virtual ideation, and communities of practice. 2) Augmenting skills and distributing workload through parallel task processing and distributed question/answer forums. 3) Improving forecasting effectiveness by collecting diverse opinions through prediction markets. The document also provides examples of companies that have successfully used these approaches.
Are you wondering how social media will change your business then check out this whitepaper by IBM about how your business will be effected by social media.
This document provides updates and tips for social media marketing. It discusses setting up a content marketing program with regular blog posts. It promotes embedding videos in blogs and using Twitter to share interesting facts from reports. Mobile apps and curating factoids are also presented as ways to engage customers. An alumni company, Wirehead Technology, is featured for its curated mobility blog.
The Hayt School implemented a wireless network across their campus to enhance learning opportunities. Wirehead Technology installed 49 wireless access points throughout the school, allowing students to access the internet and classroom files from laptops anywhere on campus. This has enabled hands-on project-based learning in new locations like the cafeteria and auditorium. Teachers and students are already benefiting from increased mobility and flexibility in their lessons. The school plans to expand their keyboarding program and explore other technologies that can enhance the curriculum using the wireless network.
Wirehead Technology provides comprehensive healthcare IT managed services including:
1) Helping healthcare practices create HIPAA/HITECH compliant IT networks through managed services to manage patient and practice information while improving care.
2) Offering a range of IT solutions like EMR/PM software, security systems, telecommunications, computer hardware, and mobile health applications.
3) Having experience implementing solutions for practices ranging from sole providers to hundreds of providers through customizable, model-driven systems.
The document profiles four health information exchange (HIE) efforts that are succeeding in getting doctors to share patient data. It discusses how HIEs enable doctors to access test results, diagnoses, and other patient information across organizations. It then summarizes four specific HIE initiatives: the Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange which serves a rural, underserved region; state-level exchanges being developed in several states using federal funding; HealthBridge serving the Cincinnati area; and the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The document concludes by noting the growth in HIEs and expectations that new federal incentives and requirements will further drive their adoption.
1. WHITE PAPER
Health IT Deployment:
The Essential Role of Small
IT Solution Providers
www.comptia.org
2. 2 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
Contents
executive summary 3
Part 1: HealtH it and small Business 4
aBout comptia 4
Part 2: Policy and regulatory landscaPe 5
THE HITECH ACT AnD THE STRATEgIC PlAn 5
SmAll mEDICAl PRovIDERS 6
RolE of IT CommunITy, BARRIERS 7
Part 3: education 8
Part 4: tecHnical assistance 10
Part 5: Privacy and security 11
BuSInESS ASSoCIATE RulE 11
STATE STAnDARDS 12
Part 6: conclusion 13
www.comptia.org
3. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 3
exeCutive summary
The health IT transition is a vital step toward improving the quality of care and overall
health of patients throughout the united States. Several key legislative efforts have
established policies seeking to advance the transition among medical providers. Trends,
however, indicate that small medical providers are slow to adopt health IT due to a range
of concerns about their ability to navigate complex technologies and the impacts it could
have on their practices.
At the same time, small IT solution providers have the expertise to be a meaningful partner in the
transition, but current policies have restricted their ability to enter the health IT market on a large
scale. Several minor changes to existing policy would make great strides towards bringing small
IT solution providers into the fold to help advance the transition and remove some of the burden
from small medical providers. This paper outlines recommendations within three distinct policy
areas: education, technical assistance, and privacy and security.
Health IT has the ability to increase the quality of care to patients and usher in significant
economic benefits for small businesses across the nation. However, for health IT to be a success,
federal policies must understand the important link between small medical providers and small IT
solution providers. Policies that foster a partnership between these small businesses will not only
allow medical providers to focus on patients, but will also help to grow the economy and keep
the u.S. IT industry competitive within a $3 trillion global IT market.
4. 4 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
Part 1: HealtH it and small Business
Health information technology (IT) deployment is a vital national priority that has the capability to
increase the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the united States, while reducing the overall long-
term costs associated with antiquated record keeping and other applications. from eliminating the
need for duplicative medical tests to providing healthcare professionals with instant access to patient
information, health IT is a key component of modernizing our healthcare systems.
Health IT also has the ability to transform our nation’s evolving economy.
As Secretary Sebelius noted, “we believe in health information technology Wider adoption of health it has the potential to
because it’s an investment in a stronger economy.”1 Two studies, one by generate both internal and external savings:
the RAnD Corporation and one by the Center for Information Technology
leadership, report estimates of the potential net benefits that could • Internal savings are those that can be captured
arise nationwide if all providers and hospitals adopted health information by the provider or hospital that purchases the
technology. Both studies estimated annual net savings to the health care system; they are most likely to be in the form
sector of about $80 billion, relative to total spending for health care of of reductions in the cost of providing health
about $2 trillion per year.2 care—that is, improvements in the efficiency
In order to achieve the dual benefits of healthcare optimization and with which providers and hospitals deliver care.
economic growth, health IT should be implemented in a manner that
allows medical providers to continue to focus on patient care and not be • External savings are those that the provider
distracted with complex and expensive new requirements. The IT industry or hospital that purchases the system cannot
should be a partner in this process in order to provide a seamless health realize but that accrue to another such provider
IT transition, while removing the burden from medical providers. This or perhaps the relevant health insurance
partnership will not only allow for more widespread adoption of health IT plan or even the patient. Such savings might
among small medical providers, but will also allow healthcare providers
arise, for example, from the newfound ability
to continue their focus on patients and avoid dedicating staff to new
of participants in the health care sector to
information technology systems.
exchange information more efficiently.
As part of a $3 trillion global industry, IT sector employment in the u.S. Source: Congressional Budget Office, Evidence on the Costs and
could benefit from healthcare growth in the form of a higher volume Benefits of Health Information Technology
of work and in newly created positions. According to the Bureau of
labor Statistics, employment of medical records and health information
technicians is expected to increase by 20 percent, much faster than the average for all occupations
through 2018.
great benefits exist for both our healthcare and the economy by effectively integrating the IT
community into the health IT transition.
aBout Comptia
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a non-profit trade association
representing the IT industry. CompTIA represents over 2,000 IT companies. our members are at
the forefront of innovation and provide a critical backbone that supports broader commerce and
job creation. These members include computer hardware manufacturers, software developers,
technology distributors, and IT specialists that help organizations integrate and use technology
products and services. CompTIA is dedicated to serving its membership by advancing industry
innovation and growth through its educational programs, market research, networking events, and
public policy advocacy.
1 Secretary Sebelius Remarks, HIMSS Convention, February 23, 2011.
2 Congressional Budget Office, Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology: www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/91xx/doc9168/05-20-HealthIT.pdf.
www.comptia.org
5. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 5
CompTIA is also the leading global provider of vendor neutral IT certifications
to validate skills in the workplace. over 1.5 million individuals hold one of our
certifications, with the vast majority having completed one of our foundational
certifications, A+, Security+, and network+. The development and dissemination
of these certifications serve the industry by adding to the level of knowledge and
professionalization of the IT solution provider. In turn, this allows the IT solution
provider to be an ambassador for the IT industry, bringing to its client a voice of
technical knowledge and support.
CompTIA offers its members and the industry at large numerous training and credential
programs to help them enter the health IT market, among other IT verticals. The
CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certificate covers the knowledge and skills required
to implement, deploy, and support health IT systems in various clinical settings. The
exam covers regulatory requirements, organizational behavior, IT operations, medical
business operations and security. The exam is intended for IT professionals who are
CompTIA A+ certified or have 500 hours of hands-on IT technical experience in the lab
or field, plus the knowledge/skills necessary to deploy and support health IT systems.
on the business side, CompTIA offers a suite of training courses and educational tools
to help IT companies maintain best practices when developing and implementing IT
solutions for healthcare offices and hospitals.
Part 2: PoliCy and regulatory landsCaPe
The HITECH Act and the Strategic Plan
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act
was signed into law as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in
2009. The legislation makes significant progress in providing incentives for early
adoption of Electronic Health Records
(EHRs) through incentive payments for What is “Meaningful Use”?
achieving the “meaningful use of electronic The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
health records” standard, which are later of 2009 specifies three main components of
replaced by penalties for noncompliance. Meaningful Use:
Achieving the “meaningful use” standard
1. The use of a certified EHR in a meaningful
adds an additional layer of concern for manner, such as e-prescribing.
medical providers as the path to reaching
2. The use of certified EHR technology for
“meaningful use” remains unclear to many
electronic exchange of health information to
small medical providers. The legislation
improve quality of health care.
also codifies the office of national
3. The use of certified EHR technology to submit
Coordinator for Health Information
clinical quality and other measures.
Technology (onCHIT), expands the
requirements of the Health Insurance According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services, “meaningful use” means providers need
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),
to show they’re using certified EHR technology in
and provides several funding opportunities
ways that can be measured significantly in quality
to assist in the transition.
and in quantity.
6. 6 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
Recently, the office of national Coordinator (onC) released the “federal Healthcare IT Strategic
Plan: 2011-2015,” which outlined five general goals:
• Achieve adoption and information exchange through meaningful use of healthcare IT.
• Improve care, improve population health, and reduce healthcare costs through use of
healthcare IT.
• Inspire confidence and trust in healthcare IT.
• Empower individuals with healthcare IT to improve their health and the healthcare system.
• Achieve rapid learning and technological advancement.
Thus far, the federal government has taken significant steps towards achieving these goals;
however participation by small and medium sized medical providers has not achieved full
potential. In order to realize better health outcomes, a more efficient delivery of medical
services, and a satisfied patient base, it is important that more small medical providers
participate and that IT solution providers be made a partner in achieving these goals.
• Achieve adoption and information exchange through meaningful use of healthcare IT.
• Improve care, improve population health, and reduce healthcare costs through use of
healthcare IT.
• Inspire confidence and trust in healthcare IT.
• Empower individuals with healthcare IT to improve their health and the healthcare system.
• Achieve rapid learning and technological advancement.
Small Medical Providers
Early trends indicate that small medical practices are less likely to transition to electronic
medical records, despite incentives provided within the HITECH Act. According to the office of
national Coordinator, only 41% of small medical providers will be compliant with digital health
record records by 2014. In many cases, small medical providers are concerned about the lack
of staff resources they have to dedicate to a health IT system. According to farzad mastashari,
national Coordinator, small medical providers “often lack
staff with IT training and don’t have the background or
Reasons for Not yet Adopting EMR
the time to do it themselves.” 3 Not a Minor Major
Factor Factor Factor
There continues to be a concern that implementing Upfront costs of EMR 7% 18% 75%
health IT in small practices will become the responsibility
Ongoing operational costs of EMR 8% 29% 64%
of medical staff and, ultimately, take them away from
their primary focus. At a recent Congressional hearing, Impact on existing work flow
or processes 14% 27% 59%
a small medical provider highlighted this concern by
Training and user adoption issues 12% 38% 50%
stating, “I fear the effect it may have on my practice
in terms of the disruption of care that I can provide Interoperability or technology
standards issues 16% 42% 41%
to my patients during the procurement of hardware
and software, converting patient records, learning and Data security/privacy 19% 43% 39%
implementing the system as a practitioner, and training
Decision driven by parent hospital 38% 29% 33%
staff. And while I certainly understand that an EmR
system would benefit patients, will it require more—or Don’t think it will improve patient care 25% 44% 31%
less—physician and staff time, and will it ultimately be
Existing EMR Technology not
34% 44% 31%
beneficial to my practice?”4 good enough
Source: CompTIA 2nd Annual Healthcare IT Market: Insights and Opportunities study
3 Farzad Mastashari, Testimony before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology, June 2, 2011.
4 Denise Lea Elliott, Testimony before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology, June 2, 2011.
www.comptia.org
7. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 7
While the HITECH Act is an important framework for advancing health IT, the legislation
does not promote the significant role the IT community, particularly IT solution providers,
should play in the transition to electronic medical records, especially for small medical
providers. As HHS Secretary Sebelius noted in a recent speech, “switching from paper to
electronic records is never easy. But it is a lot harder for the small practice with limited
staff and resources than it is for the major hospital with a trained IT team and a big budget
for capital improvements.”5
The IT industry has the ability to help fill the health IT void among small medical providers
and reverse the current trend away from implementation. However, small IT providers have
significant barriers to participating in the health IT transition.
Role of IT Community, Barriers
Current estimates are that the unites States
will need 50,000 more health IT workers to
help medical providers achieve meaningful Small Medical
use of electronic medical records.6 yet, the Providers
IT industry has a long track record of growth
and is uniquely positioned to fill this void—
particularly among small and medium-sized
IT firms. According to a 2010 Small Business
Administration report, small firms accounted
Federal Small IT
for 65% (or 9.8 million) of the 15 million net Government Providers
new jobs created between 1993 and 2009.
furthermore, small businesses hire 40 percent
of high tech workers (such as scientists,
engineers, and computer programmers).7
While the IT solution provider could play a significant role helping small medical providers
overcome the challenges of implementing health IT, a variety of barriers exist that have
prevented IT solution providers from entering the market in meaningful numbers. In
general, the HITECH Act and the strategy presented by the onC both have a significant
focus on the medical provider, yet do not mention the role IT solution providers could play
in a successful transition. Therefore, the entire burden has been placed on the medical
providers themselves, without a focus on partnering with IT solution providers.
There are also specific barriers preventing small and medium sized IT businesses from
helping achieve the healthcare and economic potential, such as:
• A lack of resources for retraining IT professionals,
• fully integrating IT professionals in the assistance provided by the Regional Extension
Centers, and,
• Data breach provisions that place unfair burdens on IT professionals.
While these barriers could significantly limit entry for IT professionals and, therefore, limit
the success of the health IT transition for small medical providers, there are opportunities
to overcome these barriers. We explore each of these areas below.
5 Secretary Sebelius Remarks, HIMSS Convention, February 23, 2011.
6 EHR Institute: www.ehrinstitute.org/ehrhow/group-blog.blog/2010/09/08/Additional-50-000-Health-IT-Workers-Needed-to-Impl.
7 Small Business Administration, Frequently Asked Questions: web.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24.
8. 8 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
Part 3: eduCation
PoliCy reCommendation
> Provide support and resources toward retraining current it professionals in health it specialties.
Current situation
The current economic slowdown is having a profound effect on the labor market as workers shift to
adapt to new realities. As Secretary of labor Hilda Solis noted, “As the economy recovers, the labor
market will continue to evolve. To remain competitive, we need to ensure that industry has the labor
it needs to innovate and expand, and that displaced workers have the skills to compete for these new
jobs.” Health care-sector jobs have continued to grow throughout this recession, and this growth is
expected to continue as the American population ages.8
The Bureau of labor Statistics estimates that medical records and health information technicians
held about 172,500 jobs in 2008. Jobs are expected to grow by 20%, or about 35,100 new jobs, for
the decade 2008-2018. The office of national Coordinator estimates that 50,000 IT workers will
be needed to meet the EHR requirements of “meaningful use.” To meet this need, there has been a
significant focus on recruitment of new individuals trained in health IT at the college and university
level through scholarships and grants made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. CompTIA very much supports this focus as demonstrated by our deep commitment to, and active
participation with, the midwest HIT Regional College Consortium and to the HHS/Dol Career Clusters
effort. However, from our experience, more attention and resources need to be provided to training
existing IT professionals who already have basic IT skills but who need additional help in adding a
health IT “bolt-on” to their considerable knowledge and experience in IT. many of these professionals
will go through private training centers and/or will audit courses at their local community college
or university, and then take a certification test to validate those skills allowing them to more rapidly
become conversant in health IT. This summer, CompTIA launched its own healthcare IT technician
certificate, a vendor- and technology-neutral credential that validates the operational, regulatory and
security knowledge necessary to provide hardware and software support in medical environments
where EHR systems are used.
oCCuPational ProjeCtions data:
mediCal reCords and HealtH information teCHniCians
employment employment Change Job openings due to growth and
(2008-19) replacement needs
2008 2018 numBer PerCent 2008-2018
172,500 207,600 35,100 20.3 70,300
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Typical coursework in health information technology includes medical terminology, anatomy and
physiology, health data requirements and standards, clinical classification and coding systems,
data analysis, healthcare reimbursement methods, database security and management, and quality
improvement methods.9 While bringing new people into the profession is important, the existing IT
community must not be forgotten and, indeed, should be leveraged more effectively as we work to
8 Politico: www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40195.html.
9 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov/oco/ocos103.htm.
www.comptia.org
9. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 9
draw current IT professionals into new careers. These men and women can be activated
very rapidly to help with the transition toward health IT, but they need some economic
assistance to offset some of the costs of this sizeable investment.
solution Provider Hit training needs
Hit training needs Very Critical somewhat Not Critical
need Critical Need
Compliance/regulatory mandates (HIPAA) 45% 36% 20%
Healthcare workflow processes 42% 43% 15%
Software applications such as EMR 41% 40% 18%
How to access federal stimulus funds 39% 45% 17%
Business strategies for entering a new market 37% 47% 16%
sales training 31% 47% 22%
Source: CompTIA’s 2nd Annual Healthcare IT Market: Insights and Opportunities study
oPPortunity
President Barack obama said that “one thing government can do is partner with the private
sector to make sure that every worker has the necessary skills for the jobs they’re applying
for.”10 Policies such as an HIT education tax credit or direct lending to offset education and
other costs would provide valuable resources to allow workers with IT knowledge to shift
their focus to the growing health IT sector, allowing tens of thousands of IT workers to take
advantage of the national push for the benefits surrounding EmRs.
However, we understand the fiscal pressures that are having a profound impact across federal
budgets and initiatives. Because of that, we recommend adapting existing tax credit programs
to help retrain current IT professionals and then phase credits out over time. In particular,
we encourage policymakers to amend the lifetime learning Credit and Business Education
Tax Deduction so that individuals and IT solution providers could offset some of the expense
of earning appropriate certifications and skills for the HIT marketplace. These initiatives can
provide the necessary incentive to defray the costs for business owners, while ensuring that
the workforce is capable of handling the challenge ahead.
further, we recommend that capital support for small IT businesses should be provided
by re-allocating funds from existing programs designed to assist small businesses, such
as the Small Business lending fund. While a total of $30 billion has been allocated to
the Small Business lending fund, at this point, applications for only $12 billion has been
received. Accordingly, we recommend undistributed funds be redirected to address these
HIT funding needs.
10 Wall Street Journal: online.wsj.com/article SB10001424052702304259304576379142910970126.html.
10. 10 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
Part 4: teCHniCal assistanCe
PoliCy reCommendation
> ensure that regional extension centers (recs) work to educate and integrate small it
firms into the health it transition.
Current situation
The office of national Coordinator has used $677 million to fund 62 Regional Extension
Centers throughout the nation. According to the onC, the goals of the RECs “include
outreach and education, EHR support (e.g., working with vendors, helping choose a
certified EHR system), and technical assistance in implementing health IT and using it in a
meaningful way to improve care.”11
The RECs have the ability to greatly impact the EHR transition, especially among small
medical providers. According to David Blumenthal, the former national Coordinator,
“conversion from paper to electronic health records is a challenging task for any provider,
and we believe that help from the RECs will make an important difference, especially in
assisting doctors in smaller practices and the smaller and rural hospitals.”12 The outreach
and technical assistance RECs could provide should not only increase participation, but
reduce costs for the providers. In order to best serve medical providers and encourage
greater participation, RECs should universally expand their focus to everyone that plays
a role in the transition and not limit their focus to medical providers—many of which will
outsource their IT work to a third party.
Small IT solution providers can play a significant role in helping small medical providers
with the transition to EHRs; however, RECs greatly vary in their approach to small IT
firms. In some cases, RECs are doing very little to establish a connection between small
IT firms and small medical providers, which leaves small medical providers without a vital
component of a successful EHR transition. While most RECs identify themselves as vendor
neutral, many have preferred vendor lists that vary significantly in terms of preferred
vendors and overall structure.
Additionally, REC websites vary significantly, which reduces their ability to advance their
outreach goals. In most cases, they provide little information for IT professionals that could
be carrying out the transition and focus entirely on the medical providers, which remain
hesitant to move forward.
The absence of a universal commitment by the RECs to integrate small IT firms into the
transition will not only impact the ability of small medical providers to participate in the
transition, but will also limit their ability to focus on patient care.
11 Office of National Coordinator: healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/facts_at_a_glance/1835/home/17870.
12 David Blumenthal: www.regionalextensioncenters.com.
www.comptia.org
11. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 11
oPPortunity
CompTIA strongly supports the concept of Regional Extension Centers that will assist in the EHR
transition, especially for small medical providers that continue to struggle without clear direction.
It is important, however, that the RECs have a uniform process that facilitates communication and
outreach to all parties involved in the transition. While some RECs are already effectively doing
this, it is important to ensure that RECs across the nation are providing uniform services to best
reach the goal of a successful EHR transition.
RECs should have a list of local solution providers that are readily available to medical providers.
These lists should be neutral and provide a diverse menu of local options to assist with the EHR
transition. RECs should also offer guidance and training to IT solution providers on “meaningful
use,” data breach, and notification standards. Additionally, the RECs should actively work to
partner medical providers with IT solution providers and resist attempting to serve as the IT
solution provider themselves. In some cases, RECs are establishing venues (similar to job fairs)
that would connect these two vital components of the EHR transition, which is a model that
should be used throughout the country.
CompTIA is working to make sure IT companies are well-versed in the specific IT needs of healthcare
providers, and has created a suite of training courses and educational tools to that end.
PART 5: PRIVACy ANd SECURITy
PoliCy reCommendation
> amend the Business associate rule.
> enact federal preemption for data breach standards and notification requirements, including
elimination of private rights of action.
Current situation
In general, CompTIA applauds the efforts made under the HITECH Act to raise privacy standards
for personal health information (PHI). Consumer and medical trust in health IT will only come
to pass if there is strong respect for, and protection and enforcement of, personal health
information. With that said, there are a series of notable provisions that will present substantial
burden on the small IT solution provider that could severely restrict entry and competition in the
HIT space.
Business Associate Rule
under the HITECH Act, business associates and subcontractors of the covered entities are now
directly liable under HIPAA for complying with the security and privacy rules. originally, the
HIPAA Security Rule required a covered entity to maintain administrative, technical, and physical
safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all PHI the covered entity
12. 12 White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
creates, receives, maintains, or transmits. However, the HITECH Act extended the application of
the HIPAA Security Rule’s provisions on administrative, physical, and technical safeguards and
documentation requirements to business associates of covered entities, making those business
associates subject to civil and criminal liability for violations of the HIPAA Security Rule.
This change represents a departure from HIPAA where the liability for business associates was
based on the applicable business associate contract with the covered entity. This means that a
small IT solution provider can now be exposed to criminal penalties and civil fines that can range
up to $1.5 million—a crushing amount for a business with 20 employees or less.
state standards
Today, over 45 states have data breach notification requirement laws on the books with varying
requirements and standards. When the HITECH Act was enacted, the new law specifically allowed
states to maintain their individual data notification laws, so long as the state laws did not provide
less protection than the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Because of this, states were authorized with few
limitations under the HITECH Act to create new requirements that impose additional limitations
on the use and disclosure of protected health information, including adding new parameters on
how data breach notifications must be managed.
This interplay between state and federal standards can be a source of great confusion to a small
business in the HIT space. for example, under the HITECH Act a data breach notification must be
provided within 60 days of a breach, but in states like massachusetts, a notice of data breach must
be provided within 45 days. Even more complicating, under the business associate rule, the notice
requirement is triggered if a vendor knows, or “should have known” that a breach occurred had the
vendor undertaken “reasonable diligence.” yet the massachusetts data breach law requires a vendor
to provide notice when it “knows or has reason to know of a breach of
security.” 13 These variances can cause small IT solution providers millions did you Know?
of dollars in aggregated compliance and legal costs.
The Poneman Institute recently calculated that
furthermore, because the HITECH Act does not preempt state data the average cost of a data breach is $204 per
breach notification laws that are more stringent, small IT solution
compromised customer or patient record. This
providers remain exposed to civil litigation through private rights of
action. Currently, over ten states maintain data breach notification includes $144 in indirect costs and $60 in direct
laws with private right of action provisions, subjecting small businesses costs. The cost per record of a data breach
to significant legal exposure and risk. for example, any resident of involving a laptop computer or other mobile
California can file a civil action under the state’s data breach notification
device is $225. These costs result from a complex
law, which includes data breaches of medical health information. The
web of competing and conflicting state data
costs associated with defending a civil lawsuit, regardless of merit, can
be devastating to a small IT solution provider and pose a significant breach laws for protected medical information.
barrier to entry.
Source: For the Record:
To be clear, CompTIA believes that there should be strong and robust
www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/013111p14.shtml
protections for the management, storage, and transmission of protected
medical health data. However, when states are allowed to implement
their own patchwork requirements, the results often pose a significant
barrier affecting consumers, medical practices, and IT firms.
13 Commonwealth of MA: www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXV/Chapter93H/Section3.
www.comptia.org
13. White PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers 13
oPPortunity
CompTIA strongly believes that there must be robust protection and enforcement of
personal health information. only by ensuring significant security precautions will we as
a nation be able to usher in the opportunity surrounding health IT, from both a medical
delivery and economic standpoint. modifications to the provisions noted above can ensure
significant protection of PHI while fostering a competitive and open environment for small
to medium sized health IT solution providers.
Specifically, CompTIA believes that the HITECH Act should be revised to serve not just
as the floor, but also as the ceiling for data notification requirements. CompTIA has long
supported federal preemption for data breach standards and notification, and the evolution
of HIPAA under the HITECH Act makes this an even more integral change for small HIT
providers. one consistent law across the country with an agreed upon definition of a
breach and notification time period, as well as elimination of private rights of action, could
save small and medium size IT solution providers millions of dollars in reduced compliance
and legal costs associated with data breach notification requirements. Such an approach
would eliminate uncertainty and confusion as to what the obligation of a business would be
in the event of a data breach.
CompTIA also supports the HIPAA liability model in place prior to the enactment of the
HITECH Act. under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, business associates and related
third parties had a contractual obligation to certify that an IT firm met the HIPAA privacy and
security obligations. These certifications created a competitive incentive for IT firms to offer
the highest standard of privacy and security compliance. Instead, the new framework of fines
serves as a disincentive to new entrants that would otherwise offer competent IT services.
PART 6: CONClUSION
Small IT solution providers are well positioned to play a significant role in the health IT
transition as a result of their expertise and unique skill set. given that the overall goal
of health IT is to increase the quality of care and improve patient health, federal policies
should allow medical providers to focus on patients and open the door for IT solution
providers to focus on making the transition as efficient and effective and possible. A strong
partnership between the federal government, medical providers, and the IT industry is
critical to ensure a successful future for patient health as well as ensure strong economic
benefits as a result of this transition. However, many federal programs and policies seeking
to advance health IT and encourage broad support have left small IT solution providers
on the sidelines, placing medical providers at a disadvantage and significantly burdening
market entry for a vital component to our nation’s IT industry.
14. 14 WHite PaPer: Health IT Deployment: The Essential Role of Small IT Solution Providers
federal policies should reflect the important role small IT solution providers can play in
the health IT transition and create avenues for them to fully participate. Doing so will
help to expand adoption by medical providers and increase the quality of care to patients.
Participation by small IT providers will also help drive job creation and retention, keeping
America’s small business backbone as an economic engine for generations to come.
Health IT has significant potential and opportunity. CompTIA and its member companies look
forward to continued engagement and dialogue with policymakers to ensure that health IT is
successful and that patients, small business, and our economy all see a healthier future.
www.comptia.org