White Paper: Assessment Methodology

Healthcare regulations and requirements are an ongoing challenge for hospitals, physicians, clinics and medical systems. Costs are increasing, systems are undergoing continuous change to meet regulatory requirements, staffs are inundated with current workloads, and revenue is decreasing. Faced with these costly challenges, organizations implement temporary workarounds to support ongoing needs. Processes are developed utilizing the… Read more »

Survey: Epic Identified as Most Satisfactory EHR System

Epic was ranked the most satisfactory EHR system in a survey conducted by Healthcare IT News. The survey, which polled IT managers, physicians and clinician end-users, measured EHR systems based on visual appearance, user experience, interoperability, quality of installation support, quality of ongoing support, and overall satisfaction.   Epic averaged 8.1 out of 10 for… Read more »

The Affordable Care Act and Your Facility

The re-election of Barack Obama has pretty much settled the fate of the Affordable Care Act – there is no question now that Obama’s signature legislation will go into effect. And that will mean increased costs for many medical facilities that use contingent labor. However, because of the nature of contingent work, it is unclear… Read more »

ICD-10 Deadline Is Approaching. Will You Meet It?

If you are involved in healthcare, you know a big deadline is looming. The date is October 1, 2014. That’s the deadline for all healthcare providers to begin using Clinical Modification ICD-10-CM for diagnosis coding and Procedure Coding System ICD-10-PCS for inpatient procedure coding. It will be a huge undertaking, and if healthcare providers, vendors,… Read more »

Strategically Planning for Increased Staffing Needs as a Result of the Affordable Care Act

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, what can facilities expect in terms of additional staff, and how will this impact their strategic planning? The exact impact of the legislation on individual facility needs is still a bit murky at this point, given the complexity of the law and demographics. But one thing is… Read more »

The Looming Transition of the Stage 2 of “Meaningful Use”

Hospitals and other medical facilities have been educated on Meaningful Use and how that relates to the implementation of electronic healthcare records in their facility. Stage 2 of the Meaningful Use program is slated to begin in 2014. Stage 2’s final regulations, that were recently published, are emphasizing interoperability, the ability of providers to share… Read more »

EHR Isn’t Just an IT Project: How to Guarantee Successful Implementation

As the era of HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) and healthcare reform continues, the IT component is crucially important for healthcare organizations that want to survive and thrive. An integral part of HITECH is the installation of Electronic Health Record Systems (EHRs), but only organizations that can demonstrate meaningful use… Read more »