HITInsight Blog

Do we have to define population health to make it useful?

Submitted by Medsphere on Sun, 07/09/2017 - 05:00

Maybe the initial challenge of population health is deciding exactly what that phrase means.

Well before it became a catchphrase in health IT, population health was the province of academics who devised predictably academic definitions like “… the aggregate health outcome of health-adjusted life expectancy (quantity and quality) of a group of individuals, in an economic framework that balances the relative marginal returns from the multiple determinants of health.”

Categories: 
Population Health

Without interoperability, EHRs are too expensive

Submitted by Irv Lichtenwald on Tue, 06/27/2017 - 11:56

Would you pay top dollar for anything—a car, phone, television, whatever—that promises truly transformational technology at some unspecified future date?

I doubt you would. We generally buy products for what they offer now, not what the company says they will eventually do (vaporware, as IT calls it).

And yet, so many hospitals pay multi-billions of dollars for healthcare IT systems that promise to integrate patient care … eventually. Why? Some argue the primary reason is a false market that was created by federal government incentives and boundless faith.

What will you do with that data center space?

Submitted by Medsphere on Thu, 06/08/2017 - 08:37

Is there anyone left to passionately defend onsite data centers?

Perhaps, but attendance at advocacy meetings is probably sparse. Soon, the onsite data center proponents will get lumped with eight-track tape aficionados and supporters of leeches as medical technology.

While some hospitals still maintain local data centers, recent trends suggest many are letting someone else do the work by going with the “cloud” option.

An American dilemma: Incarceration and the mentally ill

Submitted by Irv Lichtenwald on Thu, 06/01/2017 - 10:51

It’s generally common knowledge that the United States incarcerates a higher percentage of the population (716 per 100,000 people) than any other country on earth. With just 5 percent of the world’s total population, the U.S. still has 25 percent of the global prison population.

Categories: 
Behavioral Health

5 takeaways from the WannaCry ransomware attacks

Submitted by Medsphere on Tue, 05/23/2017 - 13:51

Will information technology ever realize an imagined future where security is strong enough, reliable enough, secure enough to block any and all attacks?

It’s a dubious proposition made more uncertain by the recent WannaCry ransomware incident that started a couple of weeks ago and continued around the globe for several days. The virus was seemingly halted on Friday, May 12, when a security researcher found weaknesses in the code, but additional versions without those weaknesses have been sent out since.

Categories: 
Security

Michigan study: Information blocking as a sales strategy

Submitted by Medsphere on Wed, 05/10/2017 - 13:25

Looking to boost the entertainment value of this blog, a couple of years ago we compared information blocking to the mythical jackalope—a creature no one has seen in nature but many have encountered hanging over bars in various western towns.

Categories: 
Interoperability

Hospital and PCMH collaboration reduces expensive ER care

Submitted by Irv Lichtenwald on Wed, 04/05/2017 - 13:39

Think about the last time you visited the emergency room. Perhaps you’d cut yourself badly and were holding a towel around your hand awaiting stitches. Do you recall why other people seemed to be there? You probably do. Some had an injury requiring immediate attention, like you, and others seemed fine. Maybe they had a fever. Maybe they didn’t know what else to do.

That’s the challenge of emergency care in America—the most expensive care money can buy—and it’s a primary reason for Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH).

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