Like most criminals, the shady characters who are out to steal your data will be much more likely to succeed if they have an accomplice on the inside. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance they’ll find more than a few accomplices on your staff. Of course, the employee who ultimately opens…
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Hackers see too many hospitals and other healthcare facilities the way a car thief sees a parking lot full of unlocked vehicles. Easy pickings. How pervasive is the cybersecurity problem in health care? A Ponemon Institute study found that in the previous two years, 89% of healthcare organizations had dealt with data…
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In health care, we don’t refer to once-in-a-while events or not-very-often events. The phrase that describes wrong-site surgeries, medication errors, retained objects, surgical fires and a host of other potentially tragic occurrences is never events. And that’s as it should be, says consultant and safety expert Spence Byrum. “How can it be anything else?” he asks. “These…
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For most physicians, accountable care organizations represent dramatic change, both in the way they deliver care, and in the way they’re compensated. Along with focusing on value rather than volume — which flies in the face of years of ingrained practice — physicians taking part in ACOs need to focus on…
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Since the advent of the EHR, medical scribes have been the helping hand to the overworked physician, fed-up with clerical duties that take away precious time from interacting with patients. The perks of using medical scribes in the healthcare setting have been mentioned time and time again. Studies have shown…
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It all but goes without saying that treatments are more successful when patients adhere to treatment regimens. If patients aren’t taking medications, following instructions for nutrition and physical activity, or attending appointments, their conditions — chronic or acute — may fail to improve, may recur or, worst of all, may…
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The way physicians are paid is about to change dramatically — and yet it seems doctors don’t know an overhaul is coming. Half of non-pediatric physicians have heard of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (thankfully shortened to MACRA), including those with a high share of Medicare payments. A final rule on…
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Now that ICD-10 is here, it’s more important than ever that you submit clean claims for services provided to Medicare patients, as well as those with private insurance. Early reports indicate that the denial rate since the transition to ICD-10 is hovering around 10%. That’s at the high end of the industry-average…
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When hackers breached the computer system of the Anthem Inc. — the largest health insurer by market share in 82 of 388 metropolitan areas examined by the American Medical Association — they gained access to the personal information of tens of millions of customers and employees. Databases containing names, dates of birth,…
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The first round of data logged by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act is now coming to light. The act requires manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and biological, and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) that participate in U.S. federal healthcare programs to report payments, transfers, ownership and items of value given to…
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