FHIR, or Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, is a new standard for exchanging healthcare information that is easier to use and more interoperable than previous standards. FHIR provides a common language for exchanging healthcare data, making it easier for different systems to communicate with each other, which will help to improve the quality of care and...Read More

As cases of COVID-19 increased around the world in 2020, the need for telehealth rose dramatically as well. Overwhelming demand resulted in many hastily implemented platforms, leaving areas ripe for exploitation by cybercriminals. Top-down guidance on RPMs (remote patient monitoring systems) was wanted and needed. Enter NIST. . . What is NIST + What Are...Read More

Less surprise, more preparation! The federal No Surprises Act went into effect January 1, 2022. Its intent is to notify patients ahead of their appointment that they might incur unanticipated medical expenses after receiving care, including care from an out-of-network provider. This is a move toward fostering good faith and consistent transparency between practices and...Read More

We all know that telehealth virtual care exploded onto the scene in 2020 as a way to adapt to pandemic conditions. Since then, it has expanded, and then leveled off a bit. Usage rates for virtual care have plateaued, but is 38 times higher than pre-pandemic. With all this activity, are patient outcomes the same...Read More

National labor shortage, The Great Resignation, nursing shortages, physician shortages – these terms are all over the news these days, and it presents real problems for healthcare. Labor Shortages Shortages in medical specialties and nursing have been a hot topic for a long time, however the 2021-2022 employment climate is hitting healthcare hard. Scarcities are...Read More

In October 2021, Best Buy became the latest company to enter the healthcare marketplace by acquiring Current Health, an at-home medical monitoring technology platform.   Forbes, a global news and events source, featured the move in a November 2021 article, interviewing Deborah Di Sanzo, President of Best Buy Health. Di Sanzo discussed the motives behind...Read More

Find out more about remote patient monitoring – and how it is rapidly growing to deliver benefits for patients and providers alike. What is RPM? Like most forms of telemedicine that have expanded over the pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has become mainstream.  With RPM, Internet-connected patient care equipment is placed in the patient’s home...Read More

Chatbots, machine learning, cloud technology  — what do all of these new features (and many others) mean for patients and for healthcare organizations?  In a November Healthcare IT News article, Dr. Rowland Illing, director of international public sector health at Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers up ways that this new tech is being deployed in...Read More

San Francisco, CA – November 17, 2021 – FormDr, a HIPAA compliant online forms service, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through the company’s Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth® Marketplace, this newly integrated application is now available to athenahealth’s growing network of healthcare providers to offer the ability to send and receive...Read More

The telehealth boom sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has leveled off for now but many rural communities are still not reaping the benefits of telemedicine. One in five Americans live in a rural area. In most of these areas healthcare resources are unevenly distributed, thus creating a shortage of services. Although geographic areas vary widely,...Read More