Interoperability Making health IT “usable” on the Frontlines
Rebecca Freeman | May 11, 2017
Usability of health information technology (health IT) systems means many things to many people. If we look at the industry-standard International Organization for Standardization definition, usability is, “the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.” While we agree on a definition, we also come to a fork in the road in terms of implementation,
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Interoperability What Does The Comprehensive Shared Care Plan Mean For Nursing?
Rebecca Freeman | May 8, 2017
Care coordination is a key feature of evolving care models designed to avoid episodic care for patients. Currently, various federal programs that pay for health care services require a care plan as a component of care coordination. For example, care plans must be established for patients receiving certain Medicare benefits (e.g., home health care) and Medicare makes payment for certain primary care and care management services with a care plan element (e.g., chronic care management services).
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Interoperability Demystifying Patient Matching Algorithms
Steven Posnack | May 1, 2017
Last week at Health Datapalooza 2017, Adam Culbertson (HIMSS Innovator in Residence at ONC) and I gave a five minute “coming attraction” presentation about a patient matching algorithm challenge ONC will launch in June. For the uninitiated, we use “patient matching” in health IT as shorthand to describe the techniques used to match the data about you held by one health care provider with the data about you held by another (or many others).
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Interoperability Wanted: Feedback on Ways to Measure the Implementation and Use of Interoperability Standards
Steven Posnack | April 26, 2017
In our everyday lives standards enable tasks to be completed more efficiently, reduce configuration costs, and add predictability in markets that can help the lower barriers to entry for innovative products. However, experience has shown that just because technology includes “standardized” capabilities they are not necessarily used to their fullest extent nor are they always implemented in a “standardized” manner. From a health information technology (health IT) perspective, this is especially true when other non-standard/non-computable options exist (e.g.,
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Precision Medicine The Precision Medicine Era is Dawning
Teresa Zayas Cabán, PhD | April 11, 2017
The Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) will usher in an era of individualized health care. PMI will advance the nation’s ability to accelerate scientific discovery and improve clinical care through an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in people’s genes, environments, and lifestyles. Put simply, PMI will enable us to better predict which treatments will be most effective for which patients – and health information technology (health IT) is foundational to achieving its promise.
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