In this week’s news roundup, we feature healthcare IT news addressing the challenges and opportunities of a digital hospital. Stories featured discuss revenue cycle, EHRs and CMS data.

CMS enables improved data sharing

Until this week, researchers using CMS data for their work had their requests for data filled through shipped encrypted files. In a world of ever changing, ever increasing data, this method was less than ideal. Great news is, easier access is now available. Researchers using the newly released Virtual Resource Data Center (VRDC) will be able to access CMS data from their own workstations. Additionally, they will be able to manipulate the data within the new data center. Healthcare Informatics covered the announcement made at the White House event “Data to Knowledge to Action: Building New Partnerships” in an article published this week.

Panel of health IT experts discuss the value of data

Fierce Health IT reports on statements made by panelists who spoke at The Economist‘s healthcare forum this week. Cleveland Clinic CIO, Martin Harris, indicated that his organization has seen positive results like better care delivery and reduced costs from the use of patient, financial, and payer data. John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston made the statement, “financial peril” awaits hospitals that don’t change their business models to ones based on quality over quantity. For more on what the panelists had to say, visit the article here.

Expectations for EHRs might be too high

In an article on Healthcare IT News, it is suggested that some of the concerns and disappointments directed at EHRs are likely due to the unrealistic expectations the users and even vendors are placing on them. In the article, EHR design is referred to as domineering and points to the rigidity of most systems as a culprit for roadblocks. One interviewee states, “I think the [EHR vendors] that will be successful, are going to be the ones that don’t try to hold onto what they have, look at it with a clean slate, and say ‘alright, we need to engage the patient; how do we do that?’ and then secondarily ask ‘how does this integrate with the software we already have?’”

A CFO’s point of view on managing the revenue cycle

CFOs in the healthcare industry are under a lot of pressure right now. They are responsible for ensuring that federal mandates, new systems, and compliance issues don’t interfere with the bottom line. Given the costly upgrades and installations, the constant maintenance and increased need for staff, this proves to be a daunting assignment. This week, EHR Intelligence conducted an interview with Rick Lyman, the Vice President of the Revenue Cycle at Advocate Health Care to discuss the challenges CFOs face when charged with revenue management in an overwhelmed, constantly changing industry.