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I came across this article today as I was exploring some details regarding recent legislation that was signed into law in Iowa.  https://www.healthcarelawtoday.com/2018/04/23/iowas-new-telehealth-law-what-you-need-to-know/

I recently read an article that I thought was worth sharing, "From Theory to Practice: How One Team Put a New Spin on EHR Training", written by Lee Milligan, MD, VP & CMIO for Asante.   I find this to be a refreshing perspective as we face future opportunities in health care.  Milligan does a great job of unpacking the importance of personal touch and the fact that there is no substitute for the hard work of training in a robust test environment.  Too often though, this is an item on the project list delegated to folks using formal classes as the medium.  Formal classes have their place, but they aren't necessarily the best and only way to achieve the results we desire.  People learn by doing, but we can't just tell them to go and do. We need to be at their side guiding them to proper and effective use.

On December 28, 2017, CMS posted a clarification letter that was stated to be effective immediately.  You can find the PDF document here.  A quick summary of the clarification is as follows:

Recently a customer of ours was recognized in a CNN article. This is a great story of an organization that has defied the odds by being strategic about how they "do healthcare" in small town / small county America. This industry speaks often about the need for innovation and when we hear those words our minds typically lean in a direction of some new whiz-bang treatment, technology or phone app. Upon reading this article though, you find that in Main Street America, innovation can and must take on different forms. We are proud to be associated with the bright minds at North Sunflower. This is a team that innovated its way out of despair but hasn't rested on the initial success. They continue to innovate their business model, their technology and their approach to customer service, including keeping the place completely spotless - and that's no cliche' - they really do.

The use of technology in healthcare continues to grow. And with that growth comes complexity, cost, security concerns, and a steady stream of IT initiatives. You’ve got a CIO or IT Director that manages all that, but in all likelihood you’re not entirely sure how they make sure IT is enabling organizational strategy. If that’s something you’d like to better understand, you’re not alone.

Welcome our video blog, where we're talking about technology as it relates to Ambulatory Surgery Centers. This is a resource for Administrators who are trying to navigate IT. We will be giving you tips, answering questions, covering top IT pains in the market place, and more... all to help you become successful with technology so that you can focus on patient care!  

In light of the need for cost reduction, healthcare organizations will have to find ways to reduce some of their costs without sacrificing value or negatively impacting outcomes. IT costs will get their share of scrutiny, begging us to ask the question, “Is there a way to reduce the spend on IT without impacting technology use and performance?”

Trap #1: Maintainer Mentality

I have been working with rural and community hospitals for more than 22 years and in that time, I have witnessed a mind-boggling amount of change. From the Balanced Budget Amendment to the advent of Critical Access and Certificate of Need to HIPAA to ARRA, HITECH and now MACRA and MIPS, the regulatory and reimbursement changes have come without mercy. At the same time, the impact of technology in both care delivery and care management has been nothing short of revolutionary. In the past 22 years however, the one constant that I have observed is that physician satisfaction is not only a pillar to the well-being of the community, it’s THE basis for continued financial stability at the local community hospital.

Ransomware often strikes and spreads through e-mail. In fact, there is a new rapidly spreading ransomware attack occuring that's referred to as Peyta Ransomware. This is a new variant of ransomware that was first seen over a year ago. Peyta ransomware not only encrypts files, but locks users out of computer systems as well, thus making the remediation of this threat much more difficult and time consuming. Be sure to take extra precaution when opening attachments and clicking on web links in your email as this variant of ransomware apears to be spreading via e-mail at this time.