The healthcare industry is dealing with an onslaught of cyberattacks as bad actors target vulnerable and valuable patient data. The theft of this data through ransomware or phishing attacks can cause major financial losses, erode patient trust or, crucially, affect patient care. While patients want more access to their data, they also want data privacy. Healthcare organizations must balance both in an increasingly complex and sophisticated threat landscape. Health IT experts discussed the current challenges for healthcare organizations regarding cyberthreats and data privacy at ViVE 2023 in ..read more

The meaning of digital transformation varies depending on whom you ask, but health IT leaders at ViVE 2023 agree that the time for innovation in healthcare is now. The industry is contending with clinician burnout, staff shortages, increased cyberthreats, changing patient demands and a growing wealth of data from which insights are waiting to be gleaned, all while digital health companies continue to disrupt healthcare delivery. Speakers at ViVE, taking place March 26-29 in Nashville, Tenn., kicked off the first full day of music-themed educational sessions by addressing current priorities ..read more

The consumerization of healthcare has been expanding for years, but it was spurred on by the pandemic and patients’ growing comfort levels with digital-first approaches to healthcare. Smartwatches, increasing telehealth options and the pervasiveness of on-demand healthcare services such as direct-to-consumer lab testing are changing the way patients expect to interact with healthcare. Responding to patients’ changing expectations is one way healthcare organizations manage the patient experience. While focusing on the patient experience isn’t a new concept, the expansion of digital health ..read more

Use of telemental health services expanded quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all signs indicate this trend is here to stay. More than half of patients (57 percent) say they prefer using telehealth for regular mental health visits, according to a recent J.D. Power survey. A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation also found that more than one-third of outpatient care visits for mental health and substance use disorders are conducted via telehealth. Increased patient demand for mental telehealth services, as well as permanent policy changes allowing reimbursements for telemental and ..read more

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently placed healthcare among the critical infrastructure sectors that are “so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.” While health organizations continue to recover from revenue lost during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re now also being hit with labor shortages and inflation that is impacting supply chain costs. To make matters worse, some predictions for this ..read more

Health systems and hospitals across the country are using remote patient monitoring (RPM) to expand resources from the care center to patients’ homes. With the COVID-19 pandemic came an onslaught of adoption of patient-care technologies in 2020, including a ramping up of RPM for both chronic and acute conditions. Between 2019 and 2022, RPM procedure claims rose 1,300 percent, according to a March 2023 report by Definitive Healthcare. Nurses rank fourth in specialties with the highest share of RPM procedure claims (7.4 percent share of patients, 5 percent share of procedures), according to the ..read more

Healthcare systems use a variety of devices and picture archiving and communications system (PACS) tools to digitally acquire and store medical images respectively. The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) protocol ensures these various technologies can successfully communicate with each other, which leads to more efficient care and enhances patient safety. Before DICOM was established as the global protocol, radiologists relied on hard copies of medical images, which were printed like photographs. If one doctor needed to collaborate with another, a physical folder ..read more

A panel discussion during the 2023 American Telemedicine Association Conference and Expo brought together three health system leaders to share their insights on prioritizing innovation amid economic and workforce challenges. During the session, Sara Vaezy, executive vice president and chief strategy and digital officer at Providence, discussed how the pressures have created a sense of urgency to develop new business models and prioritize digital approaches. That’s why virtual care has shown its successes as a mode of delivery that works, because it “can help you achieve growth in a consumer ..read more

More patients prefer using telemedicine to get prescriptions and treat minor illnesses, according to a recent survey from digital health funding group Rock Health. Telehealth adoption also has seen significant increases in underserved communities, including uninsured and rural patients. However, when it comes to health data sharing, building trust remains a challenge across the healthcare ecosystem. Still, patients are more willing to share their health information with clinicians than with insurance companies or pharmacies, according to the survey. Telehealth is not a lesser mode of care ..read more

1. A Conference of Moments There were so many wonderfully curated moments at the 2023 American Telemedicine Association Conference and Expo. The opening night casino event set a relaxed and collaborative tone for the conference. The (very early) special interest group breakfast was the perfect way to kick off on Sunday as it got our creative juices flowing (along with the coffee). The various stages embedded on the exhibit floor made for serendipitous and thought-provoking conversation. The poster sessions were incredibly powerful and a wonderful way to showcase the research and rigor that ..read more