healthcare Commentary

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Paul Cerrato

Mobile Medical Apps Gold Rush Needs Scrutiny

May 16, 2012

The problem with this kind of booming market? It attracts not only the best and brightest but also IT developers looking for quick profits with...

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Paul Cerrato

Stage 2 EHRs Require Meaningful Patient Engagement

May 14, 2012

Many of the government’s proposed Stage 2 Meaningful Use criteria for e- health records won't be easy to meet. Here's how providers are meeting...

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

Compromise On Health Data Access May Be Ugly

May 10, 2012

Some hospitals and doctors oppose giving patients electronic data as quickly as required by proposed Meaningful Use Stage 2 regulations. Consumer...

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Paul Cerrato

How To Ease EHR Frustration

May 07, 2012

EHRs can slow physicians' practices to a crawl, but evidence suggests they ultimately pay off.

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

CRM Platform Can Churn Out Customized Health Apps

May 03, 2012

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health uses Microsoft's customer relationship management platform to rapidly develop niche health-related...

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Doug Henschen

Hana and Exalytics: SAP's Hype Versus Oracle's FUD

May 01, 2012

Getting to the facts in the war of words surrounding SAP's Hana and Oracle's Exalytics platforms.

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Paul Cerrato

So What Was Wrong With ICD-9?

April 30, 2012

As your IT team makes the transition to the ICD-10 medical coding system, doctors will insist that the older system worked just fine. Here's your...

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Maribel Lopez

How Mobile, Cloud, Are Transforming Healthcare

April 26, 2012

Spurred by a combination of government incentives and aging technology, healthcare is entering an IT renaissance with mobile and cloud...

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Paul Cerrato

3 IT Tools Helping Patients Find Clinical Trials

April 26, 2012

We hear so much about the transformative power of medical informatics, and no doubt some of it is more hype than reality. These three examples are...

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

As More Docs Use Digital Records, So Will Consumers

April 24, 2012

HITECH Act is prompting widespread adoption of e-health records, but there's more to "Meaningful Use" than what's in the government's programs.

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Eric Openshaw and Phil Asmundson

Mobile Health Presents Life-Changing Opportunities

April 23, 2012

From medication reminders to wearable body sensors, mobile health solutions will become a vital part of our lives and many organizations' services.

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Paul Cerrato

Clinicians Need Unconventional IT Tools For Toughest Cases

April 19, 2012

Providing quality care for difficult-to-treat patients requires some truly disruptive approaches.

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Paul Cerrato

Despite Flaws, Personal Health Records Are Smart Medicine

April 16, 2012

Many consumers have concerns about data breaches; others complain about "Big Brother" watching. Here's my take on why the benefits of PHRs...

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

Don't Hit Snooze Button On ICD-10

April 12, 2012

Given a one-year extension for ICD-10 compliance, healthcare groups must make the most of the preparation time.

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Paul Cerrato

Is Your Clinical Decision Support Built On Quicksand?

April 04, 2012

If a CDS system isn't based on rock-solid data, don't expect to see better patient outcomes or long-term cost savings.

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Paul Cerrato

Telemedicine Dilemma: Savings Or Healing Hands More Important?

April 03, 2012

Telemedicine has two sides, cutting costs and giving some patients access to previously unreachable expertise, but depriving others of the...

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

IT Decisions Hang On Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling

March 28, 2012

Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of healthcare reform legislation could influence the direction of health IT.

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Paul Cerrato

Interoperability Nirvana Nowhere In Sight

March 27, 2012

Despite attempts to find a common standard for healthcare data communications, it still feels like the Tower of Babel.

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

Can Personalized Medicine Improve Drug Safety?

March 21, 2012

Personalized medicine programs can find better treatments based on patients' genetics. Why can't the same tools be used to predict--and...

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Paul Cerrato

Smarter Voice Capabilities Will Transform Medical Documentation

March 21, 2012

Natural language processing combined with voice recognition produces clinical language understanding, which has the potential to profoundly change...

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Paul Cerrato

Healthcare CIOs Need To Understand Physicians' Pain

March 14, 2012

Clinicians are frustrated by immature clinical information systems and questionable pay-for-performance rules. Understanding their angst can bring...

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Paul Cerrato

When EHR Critics Jump To Bad Conclusions

March 13, 2012

If you think the recent Health Affairs report proves e-access to patient records increases healthcare costs, you need to take a closer look at the...

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Paul Cerrato

IT-Enhanced Medical Homes Aren't A Quick Fix

March 07, 2012

Patient-centric medical homes are touted to fix the healthcare cost crisis, but the deep pockets and extensive IT resources they require aren't...

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Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

How To Achieve Better Patient Engagement

March 05, 2012

Meaningful Use Stage 2 proposals raise the bar for online patient engagement, highlighting how important it is for healthcare providers to...

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Paul Cerrato

Why BYOD Doesn't Always Work In Healthcare

February 28, 2012

Security and screen layout problems make it difficult to let clinicians bring their own tablets and smartphones to work.

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