Our News site at www.HealthITAnswers.net can thank all the thought leader contributors for its many years of success. Here are recent articles that deserve sharing.
Winning the Long Game of Remote Revenue Cycle
By Rick Stevens, Chief Technology Officer, VISPA
Twitter: @VispaFlow
2020 threw its share of curveballs at healthcare revenue cycle leaders. From drops in patient volumes to rises in self-pay receivables, new tactics and strategies were essential to stay in the game.
Now that we’re in 2021, many of last year’s survival strategies have moved from stopgap measures to long-term operational changes in the healthcare revenue cycle. The biggest of these is the solidification of a remote or hybrid revenue cycle workforce as a permanent part of the healthcare landscape. This topic, along with other important revenue cycle IT challenges for 2021, was discussed during my recent HealthcareNOW Radio interview with Jim Tate on The Tate Chronicles. Continue reading…
Telemedicine IT and Disaster Response
By Luke Smith, Writer and Researcher
Twitter: @lukesmithwrites
The novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV2, created a public health disaster that required an innovative and accessible response. By nature of a pandemic, the effects of the virus have been widespread. Medical professionals are strained in accommodating the crushing demand.
To better answer public health needs while maintaining the safety of medical personnel, telemedicine became a popular and necessary feature of care treatment. Through telemedicine, physicians have been able to treat, observe, and even diagnose patients from across huge distances.
This recent example has shown us the power and importance of telemedicine in disaster response. Here’s what you should know about this game-changing connection. Continue reading…
Too Much Data, Too Little Insight: The Limitations of Sleep Wearables
By Dr. Melissa Lim, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder, Somnology and Patrick Yam, CEO and Co-Founder, Somnology
Twitter: @SomnologyMD
We keep hearing that sleep, a biological need as old as humanity itself, is the next big thing. Much of this newfound momentum around sleep – which is now closely tied with the wellness movement – is linked with the growth of wearable sleep trackers within smart watches and smart rings: The market is expected to grow by more than 15% between 2020 and 2026.
As researchers have noted, sleep trackers can make a huge difference in helping individuals recognize factors that could be affecting sleep (e.g., room temperature, going to bed too early), and provide some initial detection of a larger problem, such as sleep apnea. Given that the U.S. sleep epidemic currently impacts 70 million people in the U.S. and contributes to notable short- and long-term health risks ranging from accidents to serious chronic health conditions, these advances are profound. The idea that one can improve sleep, while staving off all of these health risks, simply by wearing a watch or ring – is pretty awesome. There’s just one problem. Often, these devices, and the sleep applications they host, do not go far enough. They don’t always measure sleep in a way that is helpful from a clinical perspective. Continue reading…
