Health IT First Movers May Enjoy Competitive Edge, Faster Growth

Most healthcare organizations are conservative when it comes to investing in new technologies, but a new report suggests early adoption of social, mobile, analytic, cloud and machine-to-machine technologies are hallmarks of higher growth rates and market leadership. The findings come from a new study, The Digital Dividend: First Mover Advantage, conducted for Verizon by the Harvard […]

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Is Healthcare IT Meaningful Work?

Most would agree that doctors and nurses, i.e., those on the front lines of delivering patient care, have meaningful jobs. But what about those behind the scenes, such as the healthcare IT workforce that installs the electronic medical records systems (EMRs), maintains billing and coding software and manages the overall IT infrastructure of hospitals and health […]

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The Most Epic Tweets from Epic UGM 2014

Wearing coveralls, a red flannel shirt, work boots and a John Deere hat, Epic Systems' CEO and founder Judy Faulkner made it clear during a keynote speech Tuesday during the annual Epic Users' Group Meeting (UGM) that the company was sticking to what it knows - developing its Epic Systems software and improving interoperability with other EHR vendors. […]

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From Abacus Rings to Phone-Charging Pants: The History of Wearables

Long before FitBit, Google Glass and Bluetooth headsets, wearables entered the world in a non-social media world. No one wrote an online review about the abacus ring, the first known wearable, but chances are that everyone did laugh when the first person tried to put an Apple II computer into a cut-out backpack. So at least […]

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Interoperability, the 21st Century’s Golden Fleece

Jason, mythic hero prior to the Greek Dark Ages, was tasked to find the Golden Fleece before he could claim his throne. For this quest, Jason recruited other Greek heroes, Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, to name a few of the Argonauts. Today, a new Jason summons new heroes to join in the quest for […]

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5 Reasons Why Healthcare IT Workers Switch Jobs

Nearly half of IT employees at a hospital would like to work for their current employer until retirement, according to a 2013 Towers-Watson survey. But the reality of today's HIT job market is one of greater volatility, with most HIT workers open to new opportunities under certain circumstances. In our own survey of HIT full-time […]

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How to Find Skilled HIT Candidates That Many Employers Overlook

When it comes to IT recruitment, hospital hiring managers may feel like they are looking for a needle in a haystack. But our survey of the healthcare IT workforce points to two rich veins of HIT candidates that should be tapped more often by recruiters. Our report — and our own day-to-day outreach — points […]

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5 Market Factors Driving Next-Gen Revenue Cycle Management Growth

Hospitals are actively evaluating and buying new Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) applications to supplement core RCM functions, such as patient registration, billing and collections, according to a newly released report from HIMSS Analytics. These newer solutions are designed to improve collection rates, business office workflows, productivity, patient satisfaction and patient convenience, according to the 2013 […]

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Healthcare IT Consultants Are… Happy!

“I’m a hot-air balloon that could go to space,” sings Pharrell Williams in his mega-hit, “Happy.” That’s a feeling shared by many healthcare IT consultants these days who are riding sky-high on a surplus of challenging projects and ever-increasing pay rates. In our first-ever survey measuring engagement and job-seeking trends among HIT professionals, consultant satisfaction, […]

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AMDIS 2014: A View From The Edge

With more acronyms than you can shake an EHR at, the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Physician-Computer Connection Symposium was a conference with an edge – at times edgy with dissonance, at times pushing to the edge of our knowledge and capabilities, at times the cutting edge of growth and change. Held […]

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Healthcare IT Leaders Announces the 2014 Best Healthcare IT Blogs

From code update delays to IT skills shortages, the health IT blog community effectively maps the long and winding road to health IT. For the second year, we’re giving special recognition to blogs that provide information about software systems, consultant best practices, tools of the trade and legislative changes that may impact healthcare IT consultants’ […]

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Wearables: A Solution Searching For Problems?

Wearables, devices used to sense data and process it into information, are generating quite the buzz in healthcare these days. But down the line, does that buzz come with a sting? In Wearable Tech News, Tony Rizzo reports wearable technology spending predictions of $50 billion by 2018. He also reports on a ground-breaking, glucose-sensing contact […]

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