In this age of #MeToo, more organizations are now grappling with power structures that often have not welcomed many women and minorities at the head of the decision-making table. A 2017 study by Rock Health estimated that women make up only about 23 percent of the executive leadership at Fortune 500 healthcare companies, even though they comprise nearly half of the U.S. healthcare labor force.

Topics: Industry Leaders, Healthcare IT

Our thought leader podcast series continues with a very special guest: the 2017 CHIME-HIMSS John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year Randy McCleese. Randy currently serves as the CIO at Methodist Hospital, a 192-bed acute care hospital, 25-bed critical access hospital, and 19-practice physician network based in Henderson, Kentucky.

Topics: CIO, Industry Leaders, Podcast, Health IT, Value

The challenges faced by rural healthcare organizations today — Critical Access Hospitals in particular — are truly daunting. Many never fully recovered from the economic downturn and most continue to experience provider shortages while caring for an increasingly older and more chronically ill population.

Topics: Interoperability, Health IT, Healthcare IT

The latest Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs) that went into effect on Jan. 13 have been making waves across our industry. These updated CoPs — standards that agencies must meet in order to participate in Medicare — included several completely new regulations, as well as revisions to many others. And despite the fact that CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) delayed the phase-in date of the new standards, many agencies had to scramble to prepare in time. 

Topics: Home Care, Government Regulations

As healthcare continues to evolve, there is one constant when it comes to treating patients: The critical role that nurses play in delivering quality care. That role has certainly expanded over the years, particularly in the areas of establishing and maintaining patient safety, finding workflow efficiencies through evidence-based clinical documentation, and recognizing and responding to social determinants of health.

Topics: Security, Home Care, Nurse, Population Health, Integration, Patient Safety

Every day, nurses collect and analyze information to ensure that patients are getting the right care at the right time. That same preventative approach is critical to improving cybersecurity at the point of care.

Topics: Security, Big Data, Patient Safety, Healthcare IT, nurses

Nurses are the backbone to a successful healthcare organization, and have a significant impact on the patients' outcome and overall experience. In celebration of this year’s National Nurses Week (May 6 through 12), we have put together our top three blogs dedicated to nurses, who play such an important role in the healthcare industry. 

Topics: Nursing, Nurse

In behavioral health, social determinants is something we look at, but many of us haven’t made it a part of our everyday language. We know social factors have an impact, but because of how broadly defined they are, finding the next steps to take can be difficult.

Topics: Population Health, Patient Engagement

There are distressing similarities between what the United States faced with HIV/AIDS in the 1980’s and the current opioid epidemic. Most people have a personal story related to the harm that can be associated with opioids. The numbers of opioid deaths and people suffering from substance use disorder has reached staggering numbers.

Topics: EHR, Population Health

As caregivers, we all fall victim to “alert fatigue,” when the sheer number of alerts a clinician receives causes them to unknowingly miss important safety warnings. Ironically, all these alerts that are meant to improve patient safety can cause workers to become desensitized and potentially miss important warnings; from incessant smartphone buzzing, to tablet chimes or the blinking red indicators of your EHR.

Topics: Physician, How to, Patient Safety