Health IT optimization
The health IT optimization process refines healthcare technology systems to improve performance, efficiency and user experience. The process streamlines workflows, enhancing data integration and accessibility, and may include implementing updates or add-ons. Understand how optimization efforts maximize the value of health IT investments.
Top Stories
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News
19 Nov 2024
Digital Health Most Wired: Health IT budgets doubled in 2024
The 2024 Digital Health Most Wired survey revealed significant increases in health IT budgets, adoption of patient engagement tools and a stronger emphasis on cybersecurity. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Nov 2024
How generative AI in healthcare is helping cut admin burden
Over 90% of healthcare workers feel optimistic about the promise of generative AI in healthcare to alleviate administrative burdens, according to a new survey. Continue Reading
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News
29 Oct 2024
EHR integration drives ambient speech purchasing decisions
Healthcare organizations are prioritizing EHR integration and usability when selecting ambient speech technology, with top picks including Nuance and Abridge. Continue Reading
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News
01 Aug 2024
ChatGPT shows potential for clinical knowledge review
ChatGPT could help clinicians more effectively review medical literature by prioritizing and summarizing research abstracts from journals related to their specialties. Continue Reading
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Definition
16 Jul 2024
healthcare CIO (healthcare chief information officer)
A healthcare CIO (healthcare chief information officer) is an executive at a healthcare organization that oversees the operation of the information technology department and consults with other C-level personnel on technology-related needs and purchasing decisions. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Jun 2024
Inside UW Health's generative AI pilot for nurse efficiency
UW Health nurses are piloting a generative AI tool that drafts responses to patient messages to improve clinical efficiency during ongoing staffing shortages. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 May 2024
Disaster recovery in healthcare: Free plan template and overview
Healthcare organizations handle critical, sensitive data in their IT infrastructures. They must protect those infrastructures from disruptive events with a disaster recovery plan. Continue Reading
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News
16 May 2024
Athenahealth launches specialty EHR tools to improve care
Athenahealth has introduced new specialty EHR solutions that aim to meet the clinical and operational needs of women's health and urgent care practices. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 May 2024
How an integrated EHR can simplify practice operations, RCM
Integrated EHR offerings with revenue cycle management (RCM) technology and AI features can help streamline operations for independent physician practices. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 May 2024
3 use cases for generative AI in healthcare documentation
Generative AI in healthcare offers promise for tasks such as clinical documentation, but clear regulations and standards are needed to maximize benefits and minimize risks. Continue Reading
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News
12 Mar 2024
Care orgs tap Microsoft generative AI for clinical documentation
Standford Medicine, WellSpan Health, and Providence are early adopters of DAX Copilot, a generative AI tool for clinical documentation from Microsoft. Continue Reading
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Answer
05 Mar 2024
Epic Taps Ambient Intelligence to Streamline Clinical Documentation
A new Epic EHR integration uses ambient intelligence to draft clinical documentation based on patient-provider conversations in a matter of seconds. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Mar 2024
3 EHR training best practices for clinician satisfaction
By providing specialty-specific EHR training, using e-learning modules, and encouraging ongoing EHR education, healthcare organizations can help promote clinician satisfaction. Continue Reading
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News
21 Feb 2024
EHR Information Overload Adds to Clinician Burnout, Stress
The majority of physicians in a national survey said EHR information overload raises stress levels, and 30 percent said it contributes to clinician burnout. Continue Reading
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22 Jan 2024
KLAS: Improved EHR Efficiency Can Mitigate Early-Stage Clinician Burnout
To help address clinician burnout in its early stages, organizations can focus on EHR efficiency by providing additional EHR training, KLAS authors said. Continue Reading
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News
16 Jan 2024
AI Medical Scribe Deepens Epic EHR Integration to Enhance Workflows
Improvements to the EHR integration include tools to customize AI medical scribe notes and compatibility with Epic SmartData elements. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Dec 2023
How Health Informatics, HIE Can Mitigate Impacts of Climate Change
With increasing instances of extreme weather, health informatics researchers are looking to leverage HIE to support public health in the context of climate change. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2023
New Tools From EHR Vendor athenahealth Harness Generative AI
New generative AI tools from EHR vendor athenahealth include a care plan summarization feature, as well as a tool to draft patient case documents. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2023
ONC-Funded Project Taps FHIR for Clinical Research EHR Data Access
An ONC-funded research team has developed two new platforms that leverage FHIR to support standardized EHR data access for clinical research scalability. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Dec 2023
How 4 EHR Vendors Are Leveraging Generative AI in Clinical Workflows
Generative AI is generating a lot of buzz across the healthcare industry, with EHR vendors introducing tools to streamline clinical workflows and administrative tasks. Continue Reading
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News
27 Nov 2023
Community Health Center PCPs Spend Less Time on EHR, Electronic Inbox
A study revealed that primary care physicians (PCPs) practicing in community health centers spend 5.40 fewer minutes on the EHR than PCPs working in other settings. Continue Reading
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News
21 Nov 2023
EHR Usability Outshines AI as Top Health IT Priority of Healthcare Execs
An MGMA poll found that improving EHR usability was the top health IT priority for healthcare leaders, followed by patient communications, revenue cycle management, and AI. Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2023
eHealth Exchange HIE Launches Program to Boost HL7 FHIR Adoption
The incentive program from eHealth Exchange will reward HIE participants who exchange patient data with payers using the HL7 FHIR data standard as outlined in the HL7 Da Vinci Project. Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2023
Digital Health Most Wired: Healthcare Orgs Focusing on Health Data Usage
With widespread EHR adoption, healthcare organizations are looking toward health data usage to improve outcomes, according to the Digital Health Most Wired 2023 survey. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Nov 2023
How Regenstrief Is Linking Dental & EHR Data to Drive Clinical Research
A Regenstrief study that connected dental and EHR data has sparked further clinical research into a potential biomarker for Sjögren's, a chronic autoimmune disorder. Continue Reading
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News
03 Nov 2023
KLAS: Epic Signal Data Cannot Predict EHR Satisfaction, Clinician Burnout
The provider-efficiency tracking feature from Epic does not meaningfully measure EHR satisfaction, but it can serve as a jumping-off point for EHR optimization, according to KLAS. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Oct 2023
How Case Western is Prioritizing Epic EHR Training for Medical Students
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the first medical school to leverage Lyceum, an Epic EHR training platform designed for first-year medical students. Continue Reading
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23 Oct 2023
KLAS: Clinician Satisfaction with eLearning EHR Training Mounts
From 2021 to 2023, the share of clinicians who would recommend eLearning EHR training to a colleague increased from 67 to 83 percent, according to a KLAS report. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2023
EHR Vendor eClinicalWorks Taps AI Tool for Clinical Documentation
A new health IT integration from EHR vendor eClinicalWorks is set to simplify clinical documentation for providers using AI technology. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2023
Florida FQHC Streamlines Collections Using eClinicalWorks EHR Services
A federally qualified health center (FQHC) has increased payment collections through revenue cycle management tools connected to its eClinicalWorks EHR platform. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2023
KLAS Outlines Health IT Vendor Offerings for Clinician EHR Efficiency
The KLAS report validates offerings that aim to improve clinician EHR efficiency from health IT vendors such as athenahealth, Epic, MEDITECH, and NextGen Healthcare. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Oct 2023
What Role Does the EHR Play in Clinical Informatics?
EHR data can aid clinical informatics research through streamlined clinical trial recruitment, public health surveillance, and health IT analytics. Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Oct 2023
How Clinical Ambient Intelligence Can Address Clinician Burnout
While clinical ambient intelligence could mitigate clinician burnout, organizations must leverage an implementation strategy that promotes interconnectivity, according to a Forrester analyst. Continue Reading
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News
13 Oct 2023
CHIME Names 21 Healthcare Orgs as 2023 Digital Health Most Wired
The 2023 Digital Health Most Wired Survey awarded 21 healthcare organizations with the highest recognition for their commitment to digital health transformation. Continue Reading
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News
11 Oct 2023
Google Cloud Announces Generative AI Search Capabilities for Healthcare
New generative AI search features from Google Cloud aim to help drive efficiencies across the healthcare industry and improve clinical decision support. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2023
EHR Vendor NextGen Releases AI Solution to Boost Provider Efficiency
The new AI solution within EHR vendor NextGen Healthcare’s mobile application aims to enhance provider efficiency by summarizing clinical encounters. Continue Reading
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News
27 Sep 2023
Nuance Releases Generative AI Copilot for Clinical Documentation
The Nuance DAX Copilot uses generative AI to automatically create draft clinical documentation for physician review and entry in the EHR. Continue Reading
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Feature
21 Sep 2023
3 User-Centered Design Practices to Drive EHR Usability, Optimization
Employing user-centered design practices can help healthcare organizations pinpoint clinical workflow challenges to improve EHR usability. Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2023
MEDITECH EHR Integration Taps Generative AI for Clinical Notes
The MEDITECH EHR integration leverages ambient technology and generative AI to help providers spend less time on clinical documentation. Continue Reading
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News
19 Sep 2023
Ochsner to Pilot Epic EHR Integration for Generative AI Patient Messaging
Approximately 100 Ochsner clinicians will test an Epic EHR integration that uses generative AI to draft responses to routine patient requests. Continue Reading
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News
07 Sep 2023
Personalized Clinical Documentation Tools Linked to EHR Satisfaction
Physicians who use personalized clinical documentation tools, such as templates and shortcuts, report the highest levels of EHR satisfaction, a KLAS report found. Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2023
Epic Sepsis Prediction Model Lacks Clinical Decision Support Timeliness
A new study found that the Epic Sepsis Prediction Model was less timely and missed more cases than other clinical decision support tools, including SOFA and SIRS. Continue Reading
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24 Aug 2023
Additional Epic EHR Education Linked to Clinician Satisfaction
While Epic EHR education courses boost clinician satisfaction, providers want more opportunities to share best practices with their peers. Continue Reading
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News
18 Aug 2023
Effective Resident EHR Training Hinges on Personal Initiative
Researchers said residency programs should foster relationships between medical assistants and residents to support EHR use and clinical documentation. Continue Reading
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News
17 Aug 2023
Epic Announces Integration for Generative AI Clinical Documentation
Emory Healthcare in Georgia will deploy the generative AI integration across its Epic EHR to streamline clinical documentation workflows. Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2023
Three Provider Orgs Look to eClinicalWorks EHR for Workflow Upgrades
Primary Care Joliet, Encore Health Group, UniVida Medical Centers have recently invested in eClinicalWorks EHR to advance workflow upgrades. Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2023
EHR Work Associated With Clinician Burnout Across Specialties
A study found that a “pooling” system to triage patient portal messages did not reduce the odds of clinician burnout from EHR work. Continue Reading
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News
27 Jul 2023
AWS Releases Generative AI Service for Clinical Documentation
The new AWS service will support generative AI clinical documentation capabilities for general medicine and orthopedics specialties. Continue Reading
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News
26 Jul 2023
VA Deploys Verizon Private 5G Network to Advance Patient Care
The Verizon private 5G network is set to enhance bandwidth and support patient care improvements at VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Continue Reading
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News
19 Jul 2023
NLP EHR Integration Identifies Acute COVID-19 Cases with 94% Sensitivity
A study found that an NLP EHR integration helped speed time to treatment and improved reporting accuracy for COVID-19 cases. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2023
The Sequoia Project, AHIMA Aims to Enhance Data Usability Efforts
The organizations created a new initiative to assist healthcare organizations in navigating data usability. Continue Reading
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News
10 Jul 2023
Health System Deploys Support Service for Epic EHR Usability
After moving to an Epic EHR system last year, Emory Healthcare is leveraging a virtual support tool from Experis to support EHR usability. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jul 2023
SOGI Data Missing in Over 60% of Adult EHR Records, Study Finds
Accurate sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data are needed within EHR systems to address health disparities for SGM individuals. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jun 2023
Part-Time PCPs Spend Greater Share of Clinic Hours on EHR Than Peers
A study found that part-time PCPs spend more time on the EHR per eight hours of scheduled work time than full-time physicians. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jun 2023
State HIE Data Helps Drive Value-Based Care Across Management Org
A tool that inserts the most critical HIE data into patient health records has helped a medical management organization achieve significant value-based care savings across its clinics. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jun 2023
AMA Announces 2023 Recipients of EHR Use Research Grant Program
Awardees of the AMA EHR Use Research Grant include AllianceChicago, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and MedStar Health. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jun 2023
Mercy Health Introduces Community Data Hub for Public Health
A new resource from Mercy Health aims to help public health officials better understand community health by aggregating millions of publicly available data points. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2023
64% of Clinical Documentation Integrity Clients Cite Reporting Issues
While many clinical documentation integrity customers cite reporting as a challenge, health IT vendor Nuance stands out for high reporting accuracy, according to a KLAS report. Continue Reading
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12 Jun 2023
EHR Workflow Prompts Boost Lung Cancer Screening, LDCT Ordering
EHR workflow prompts helped simplify the identification of patients for lung cancer screening and allowed physicians to order LDCT with a single click. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jun 2023
KLAS: Client Adoption Varies Across Clinical Communication Platforms
Healthcare organizations using Stryker Edge’s clinical communication platform reported the highest average number of exchanged messages, the KLAS report found. Continue Reading
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05 Jun 2023
Using EHR Data to Advance Chronic Disease Surveillance, Public Health
Regenstrief researchers are working with local public health partners to share EHR data for chronic disease surveillance through the state HIE. Continue Reading
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02 Jun 2023
Researchers Develop eCQMs for Cancer Diagnostic Process, Follow-Up
Healthcare organizations could use eCQMs to incentivize cancer diagnostic performance improvement and develop interventions to reduce missed follow-up opportunities. Continue Reading
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30 May 2023
HIE Boosts Care Coordination, Home Discharge Among Older Adults
Beneficiaries had 9 to 15 percent higher odds of discharge home with home health when health information exchange (HIE) was available. Continue Reading
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News
30 May 2023
Transparency Key for Default Opioid Dosing EHR Interventions
Transparency regarding EHR interventions that change default dosing settings for opioids could help improve clinician support for such interventions, according to a qualitative study. Continue Reading
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24 May 2023
UNC Health to Implement Generative AI Tools Through Epic EHR Integration
The Epic EHR integration will use generative AI to auto-draft replies to some of the most common and time-consuming patient portal messages. Continue Reading
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23 May 2023
MEDITECH Enhances Telehealth through EHR Integration with Doximity
The MEDITECH EHR integration with Doximity Dialer will allow healthcare providers access to telehealth capabilities directly from MEDITECH's Expanse Now. Continue Reading
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23 May 2023
Standard Metrics Needed to Measure After-Hours Clinician EHR Work
Accurately quantifying clinician time spent on EHR work outside time scheduled with patients is critical for understanding occupational stress and clinician burnout. Continue Reading
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16 May 2023
How Clinician Perceptions of EHR Use Can Drive EHR Innovation
Qualitative EHR use research can help researchers gather insight on what to target for quantitative analysis and better inform EHR innovation. Continue Reading
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16 May 2023
Review Finds EHR Nudge Interventions Drive Care Quality Improvements
The most common EHR nudge intervention, changing choice default options, improved care quality in all reviewed studies. Continue Reading
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15 May 2023
Study Finds EHR Communication Methods Hinder Care Team Well-Being
Virtual care team communication strategies that support rich communication could help address EHR communication challenges. Continue Reading
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15 May 2023
KLAS Report Demonstrates Value in Virtual, Self-Directed EHR Training
KLAS found that self-directed, virtual EHR training sessions usually last less than an hour and can generate a significant ROI in terms of clinician time savings. Continue Reading
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12 May 2023
Health IT End-Users Alliance Unite on SDOH Data Collection for Health Equity
A Health IT End-Users Alliance statement offers principles to guide the public and private sectors in SDOH data collection to achieve health equity. Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2023
DirectTrust Releases Finalized Criteria for TNAP-Participant Accreditation
Updates to the DirectTrust TNAP-Participant accreditation program address requirements that participants must meet for data exchange with a TEFCA QHIN. Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2023
Northwell Awards $1M to Employee-Driven Digital Health Innovation Projects
Northwell Health will fund two new digital health innovation projects, including one focused on an AI-enabled solution to navigate cancer patients to care. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2023
Algorithm Harmonizes EHR Data into ‘Macrovisits’ for Clinical Research
Researchers said the algorithm is a foundational step in quantifying EHR data heterogeneity and harmonizing data for clinical research. Continue Reading
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05 May 2023
Opinion: EHR Reform Requires Clinical Note Reinvention to Cut Clinician Burnout
JAMA viewpoint authors suggested that EHR reform to cut clinician burnout should focus on removing administrative functions within the clinical note. Continue Reading
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04 May 2023
AEHADA Announces Plan to Drive Digital Health Innovation Through Collaboration
AEHADA aims to support digital health innovation by empowering members with training, education, and networking opportunities, officials said. Continue Reading
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04 May 2023
PCORI Unveils Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research Funding Opportunities
A new PCORI funding opportunity will focus on clinical effectiveness research that aims to mitigate hypertension management disparities. Continue Reading
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03 May 2023
KLAS Ranks Hospice Health IT Vendors for Customer Satisfaction, Value
The KLAS report found that hospice solutions from health IT vendors MatrixCare and WellSky were best for supporting independent hospice agencies. Continue Reading
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02 May 2023
Partnership Enables Open Data Sharing for Spinal Cord Injury Research
The Reeve Foundation and University of Alberta partnership aims to facilitate open data sharing in spinal cord injury research to promote value, shared knowledge, and data transparency. Continue Reading
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01 May 2023
Writing a New Ending in the Patient Access to Care Story
Patient access to care is at risk as physician shortages persist and hospitals seemingly close every day; supporting pharmacists through technology can help to fill access gaps and keep patients healthy and happy. Continue Reading
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News
25 Apr 2023
US Census Bureau Data Linkage Bridges Gaps in Race Data Collection
New research from the Census Bureau reveals that linking Medicaid with census and survey data reduces missing race data by 63 percent, improving race data collection for health disparity research Continue Reading
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21 Apr 2023
ED Nurses Report Cumbersome Documentation for EHR Behavioral Flags
ED nurses said EHR behavioral flag documentation should be easier to complete and there should be more leadership follow-up after flagged incidents. Continue Reading
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21 Apr 2023
Intermountain Develops FHIR-Based Platform for Clinical Decision Support
The new FHIR-based tool will combine various solutions, including the Intermountain ePneumonia app, for clinical decision support. Continue Reading
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19 Apr 2023
3M HIS Taps AWS Generative AI to Advance Ambient Clinical Documentation
3M will use AWS generative AI services, including Amazon Bedrock, to help refine and scale the delivery of its ambient clinical documentation solution. Continue Reading
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18 Apr 2023
Health IT Vendor eClinicalWorks Announces Azure OpenAI EHR Integration
eClinicalWorks will expand its partnership with Microsoft Azure through EHR integration of machine learning models from Azure OpenAI Service. Continue Reading
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17 Apr 2023
Study Finds EHR Issues Can Contribute to Ambulatory Diagnostic Errors
The researchers said that more granular reporting taxonomies are needed to understand the EHR issues that may be contributing to diagnostic errors. Continue Reading
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News
11 Apr 2023
ONC Releases Proposed Rule to Further Cures Act Interoperability Goals
The proposed rule includes provisions to update standards adopted under the ONC Certification Program to advance interoperability and reduce costs. Continue Reading
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10 Apr 2023
FDA Selects Cerner Enviza to Develop EHR AI Tools for Drug Safety
Cerner Enviza will help create AI tools for extracting critical information from EHR notes to support drug safety in a new FDA project. Continue Reading
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News
05 Apr 2023
Restricted EHR Configuration Does Not Improve Clinician Efficiency, Study Finds
Restricting providers to opening one EHR record at a time did not reduce wrong-patient orders or clinician efficiency. Continue Reading
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News
31 Mar 2023
PCORI Awards $123M to Support Clinical Effectiveness Research
PCORI awarded six of the studies through targeted funding opportunities on specific high-priority topics identified through input from patients and other stakeholders. Continue Reading
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News
30 Mar 2023
BCBSA Offers Health Equity Guide to Standardized SDOH Data Collection
Old SDOH data collection methods can exacerbate disparities; BCBSA and NMQF have called on the healthcare industry to close health equity gaps through standardization and updated approaches. Continue Reading
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News
29 Mar 2023
KLAS: Personal Initiative Drives Clinician, Nurse EHR Satisfaction
About one in three nurses reporting high EHR satisfaction said being proactive about learning the EHR was key to their success. Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2023
How the Cloud Improves Clinical Care, Healthcare Operations
The cloud improves care access and affordability while redirecting resources from managing infrastructure to supporting clinical and operational workflows. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2023
KLAS: Speech Recognition For Clinical Documentation On The Rise
While front-end speech speech recognition is growing, transcription will continue to play a limited but key role in clinical documentation, KLAS found. Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Mar 2023
How HL7 FHIR APIs Are Driving Healthcare Innovation, Interoperability
With use cases across clinical care, research, health information exchange (HIE), and public health, HL7 FHIR APIs span the healthcare innovation spectrum. Continue Reading
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News
17 Mar 2023
VA Report Outlines Solutions to Key EHRM Patient Safety Issues
With go-lives at VA health centers set to resume in June, a VA team suggested technical fixes for patient safety issues related to the EHRM program. Continue Reading
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News
16 Mar 2023
Rigid MAT EHR Workflows Add to Nurses’ Cognitive Load
Researchers suggested that medication administration technology (MAT) that compiles essential patient information could improve nurses’ EHR workflows. Continue Reading
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News
14 Mar 2023
Clinical Decision Support EHR Alert Doubles Heart Failure Drug Prescriptions
A banner-like EHR alert was a more effective form of clinical decision support than a monthly email for improving MRA prescription rates. Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2023
KLAS Ranks Long Term Care EHR Vendor Performance, Customer Satisfaction
According to KLAS, long term care organizations are highly satisfied with EHR vendor PointClickCare, but some customers want more communication regarding new functionality. Continue Reading
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News
22 Feb 2023
Analyzing Free-Text EHR Orders to Support Clinical Workflow Optimization
Patterns of nursing-related free-text EHR orders can reflect clinical workflow problems that force providers to use system “workarounds.” Continue Reading
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News
16 Feb 2023
ONC Brief Outlines How Standardized SDOH CDS Can Support Health Equity
CDS systems that include SDOH factors could improve health equity through widespread adoption, ONC officials suggested. Continue Reading