Contrary to widespread hopes, the growth in telehealth brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic probably won’t lower health care costs. But it may make some services more widely accessible. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study compares average 2020 commercial insurance payments for evaluation and management and mental health therapy claims for services provided via […]
More than 80% of leading health systems that are using RPA/AI say their primary reason for investing in the technology was improving financial performance, but once the technology was in use, they said efficiency was the top benefit. The reasons that leading health systems initially invest in robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) […]
Various approvals, exceptions, and new PCS codes that may potentially lead to additional payments. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) desires to use the best data available when rate setting for the upcoming fiscal year. Because COVID-19 unsettled the playing field within the healthcare arena, CMS made the decision to use data from […]
A new Lumeon survey lists improving patient access, team coordination, and improving care quality as top wishes, but inadequate budgets, data silos, and inflexible EHRs remain as barriers. While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how huge a role technology can play in making the care process more efficient and convenient, simply revving up patient engagement […]
Being a physician comes with certain baseline stressors. For most, the culprits are pretty familiar: patient care responsibilities, high debt loads that compel long working hours, system complexities, and mounting administrative chores. COVID-19 has added yet another layer to the burdens that already contribute to physician burnout. As an emergency physician, walking into work every […]
Electronic Prior Authorization can have a positive impact for both physicians and patients. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) published a news release stating that an analysis of the E-prior authorization process found that it was able to significantly reduce the time between a request for authorization and a decision and the time between the […]
To support the sudden increase in test results and medical records being transmitted during the pandemic, hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies implemented additional devices and remote connections into their networks. After the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) lifted penalties around telehealth to expand care options amid the crisis, new platforms were adopted that were not previously allowed […]
The clinical documentation improvement (CDI) vendor landscape has undergone significant changes over the last couple of years, including vendor acquisitions and technology developments. And these changes and other factors have had an impact on customer experience, according to a recent KLAS report. For example, vendors like Iodine, Optum, and 3M have gained momentum over the past […]
Telehealth, remote monitoring will boost patient outcomes and value-based care results Limited by the slow pace of change in traditional reimbursement models, shifts in the paradigm for patient care have also lagged far behind the possibilities created by transformative technology. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed that, catalyzing improvements in reimbursement by both commercial and government […]
By April of last year, seemingly every news station in American was featuring the heroic efforts of physicians, nurses, and other clinicians fighting COVID-19. These providers transformed healthcare, implementing telehealth and virtual care, standing up new wards in hotels, sports arenas, and schools, and finding new ways to stretch precious supplies. But behind those transformations […]