Health IT Issues that Deserve a Second Read – April 2025
One of the ways that Answers Media is different from other media sites is the sense of community. The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. We publish at least eight guest posts a week now, so in case you missed some, here are the top ten read and shared guest posts in the month of April. You can also read previous month’s Top Ten Lists. Thank you for contributing and reading.
Most Played Radio Episode in April
From What’s My Tagline, host Carol Flagg chatted with Brittany Quemby, VP of Marketing & Editor at Healthcare IT Today & Swaay.Health. Brittany joined her to talk about the Swaay Health LIVE event in San Diego.
Most Read Thought Leader Posts in April
Merger & Acquisition in Telehealth: How Increased Consolidation is Reshaping Access to Mental Health Services
By Andy Flanagan, CEO, Iris Telehealth
LinkedIn: Andrew Flanagan
LinkedIn: Iris Telehealth
The telehealth sector flourished post-pandemic, becoming an essential component of healthcare delivery. Now, merger and acquisition activity is accelerating across the field of telehealth, especially in behavioral health. According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, nearly 160 million Americans live in areas with mental health provider shortages. Provider scarcity, long wait times, high costs, and geographic limitations particularly affect rural and underserved communities. Continue reading…
Healthcare Cybersecurity Trends in 2025
By Usman Choudhary, General Manager, VIPRE Security Group
LinkedIn: Usman Choudhary
LinkedIn: VIPRE Security Group
The healthcare sector has long been a prime target for cybercriminals, and 2024 saw an alarming escalation in AI-powered cyber threats. Ransomware attacks, data breaches, and phishing scams leveraged generative AI to become more sophisticated and difficult to detect, putting patient data and critical healthcare operations at risk. In response, hospitals, health systems, and providers increasingly adopted AI-driven security solutions for threat detection, automated incident response, and proactive vulnerability management. Continue reading…
How Payer-Provider Collaboration is Creating a More Patient-Friendly Healthcare Industry
By Joan Butters, Co-Founder and CEO, Xsolis
LinkedIn: Joan Butters
LinkedIn: Xsolis
A KFF survey from 2023 revealed nearly one in five adults had health insurance claims denied in the previous year. On a national level, that suggests millions of disaffected patients. As the calendar turned to 2025, the growing public frustration with the cracks in the U.S. healthcare industry had exploded into a national conversation. Continue reading…
DOGE, Terminated Contracts, and TEFCA
By Jim Tate, EMR Advocate
LinkedIn: Jim Tate
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has certainly been burning the midnight oil as it moves forward on eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse” in federal spending. So many contracts are being terminated that even those with eagle eyes are having trouble keeping up. One recent cancellation of a contract caught me eye. Listed on a HHS website was a PDF listing terminated contracts. Continue reading…
Denials Management: Unintended Consequences of the Good Enough Mentality
By Ryan Chapin, Executive Director of Strategic Solutions, AGS Health
LinkedIn: Ryan Chapin
LinkedIn: AGS Health
With hospitals, health systems, and other provider organizations already squeezed by higher operating costs and lower operating margins, a surge in the volume and complexity of claim denials is an unwelcome source of a potentially multimillion-dollar revenue leakage that few organizations can afford to ignore. Continue reading…
Understanding the Importance of NCQA Data Aggregator Validation
By Nathan Elliott, Director of Professional Services, J2 Interactive
LinkedIn: C. Nathan Elliott
LinkedIn: J2 Interactive
NCQA provides a nationally recognized standard for validating an organization’s ability to collect, aggregate, and standardize healthcare data for quality measurement and reporting, such as Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). It represents more than 72% of the U.S. population. Data Aggregator Validation enables HIEs to save payers significant amounts of time and effort conducting their own primary source verification of patient data. Continue reading…
Always Listening, Always Leaking?
By Matt Fisher, Healthcare Attorney
LinkedIn: Matthew Fisher
Ambient listening technology is growing in many areas and being incorporated into a lot of different applications. What does the ambient listening do? It automatically picks up conversations and other sounds around it to be processed for one purpose or another. What happens with the data collected by the ambient listening technology? Continue reading…
Overcoming 7 Challenges of Implementing Zero Trust in Healthcare
By Zac Amos, Features Editor, ReHack
LinkedIn: Zachary Amos
LinkedIn: ReHack Magazine
While zero trust can benefit health care information technology professionals, several things should be considered before implementation. Neglecting these common challenges could cause trouble later. Continue reading…
State Medicaid Program Reports Cost Savings and Quality Boost by Integrating Social Care
By Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo, PhD, MPH, Vice President of Research and Evaluation, Unite Us
LinkedIn: Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo, PhD, MPH
LinkedIn: Unite Us
Improving health outcomes requires more than medical care alone—it demands a holistic approach that addresses Social Drivers of Health (SDOH), such as housing, food security, transportation and interpersonal safety. The evidence is clear: addressing these factors not only improves health but also generates significant cost savings as evidenced during a recent educational session at HIMSS 2025. Continue reading…
From Biometrics to Passwordless Tech: Healthcare’s Secure Authentication Methods are Rapidly Changing
By Mikaela Lewis, Principal Consultant and Virtual CISO, & Chris Floros, Principal Consultant and Virtual CISO, Clearwater
LinkedIn: Mikaela B. Lewis, MS, CAHIMS
LinkedIn: Chris Floros
LinkedIn: Clearwater
It used to be simple. Come up with a password you won’t forget. Re-enter it so many times it’s etched into your brain. But those days are behind us. Passwords are no longer enough to protect sensitive patient health data. With artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, threat actors can now rapidly crack complex passwords, putting sensitive data and systems at risk. Continue reading…
