News
Hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in almost 100 counties across the United States and its territories will be losing coverage for telehealth services because they no longer live in federally designated rural areas. As a result of the 2010 Census, 97 counties in 36 states and territories are being redefined as metropolitan, rather than rural.
Eighty-two percent of U.S. doctors responding to a recent survey indicate they want patients to actively participate in their own healthcare by updating their electronic health records. However, only 31 percent said they believed a patient should have full access to his or her own record.
The HIPAA Privacy and Security final rule -- also known as the HIPAA Omnibus Rule -- became effective March 26. One expert predicts enforcers will have a heyday with expanded ability to crack down on providers and their business associates.
At the third annual Healthcare Experience Design conference on March 25, several hundred designers, developers and other creative thinkers put their minds to drawing up better experiences for patients and providers alike.
Pulse8 CEO John Criswell sees plenty of opportunity to harness the information that HIXs and HIEs will have as a means for both bending the cost curve and bettering care quality.
Accountable care organizations might be today's hope for grappling with healthcare costs and bumping up quality, but according to one expert, they are doomed to fail without one key element.
Saying the U.S. is "on the cusp of a crisis," a statement announcing the Training Tomorrow's Doctors Today Act explained that the proposed legislation would work toward eliminating the workforce shortage by 2025.
Three subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee just concluded three hearings on mobile health March 18-21, looking for "the sweet spot and that fine line," between patient safety regulations and freedom of innovation, as it was described by Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) at the opening of the hearings.
There's little question that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA, has demonstrable benefits already -- even if, as a Kaiser Poll found this week, Americans still don't understand them. What's less clear is how the ACA will fare long-term given today's tumultuous political environment.
While Karl Rove maintains that the ACA's future is unsettled, healthcare experts are predicting slow but consistent progress. Does the Obama administration have time enough to guarantee the law long-term?