Healthtech Security
Article | November 29, 2023
Virtual care and telehealth are no longer seen as merely an innovative method of delivering healthcare; technology is now indispensable to protecting patients, staff, and PPE resources amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a recent Harvard Medical School blog, Lee H. Schwamm, MD, shared that “telehealth, the virtual care platforms that allow health care professionals and patients to meet by phone or video chat, seems tailor-made for this moment in time… The current crisis makes virtual care solutions like telehealth an indispensable tool.” He believes that the role of telehealth is vital to our country as “it can help flatten the curve of infections and help us to deploy medical staff and lifesaving equipment wisely.”
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Health Technology
Article | September 12, 2023
Affordable healthcare is the need of the hour and interoperability is the means to that end. The healthcare ecosystem is looking into ways they can enable this affordability as soon as possible, and that is where FHIR comes in. FHR promises an on-demand exchange of secure healthcare information. It has become an increasingly popular protocol, thanks to its commitment to ensuring interoperability in the app economy, via apps.
The privilege enjoyed by consumers and participants in most industries is the ease of accessibility of information. With most of it being on the cloud, a URL ensures access to the same information regardless of where it is being accessed from or which internet enable device. This is the privilege FHIR aims to introduce in healthcare, over the current document-based approach where forms are either faxed, emailed, or electronically exchanged.
FHIR is for
Building new healthcare apps
Develop cloud-based health apps that integrate with social networks
Providing a simple to use standards-based API for cloud-based health integration services
The government looking to implement a national EHR
FHIR Aims to Reduce Cost
The medical expenses of an average American in a year are north of $12k and rising. The reasons are the unnecessary complications in the healthcare IT infrastructure. With FHIR, HL7 aims to reduce the burden on providers in sharing and accessing healthcare data at the point of care, thereby reducing the administrative expenses spent on moving data back and forth. It also promises to grant on-demand access to patients – enabling them to make better-informed healthcare decisions.
What is part of FHIR?
Pre-defined Resources and API
A common way to represent data as building blocks and rules for connecting them
Target support for common scenarios
Implementer Friendly
Familiar tooling and technologies using web standards
Multiple Libraries available for faster implementations
Mobile Friendly
Concise and easily understood specifications, RESTful API and JSON
Leverages cross-industry web technologies
Multi-paradigm
Thick client, browser, or mobile devices
Supports human readability as the base level of interoperability
Large Community for Support
Heaps of open-source software and training events, webinars, and connectathons
Specification feedback welcomed, including update requests-tracker
Out-of-the-box Interoperability
Base resources can be used as it is, can also be adapted for local requirements
Seamless exchange of information using messages or document
Start The FHIR
Health plans are jumping on the FHIR bandwagon faster than ever thanks to the Interoperability and Patient Access rule as well as the latest proposals. Do not get left behind or sustain the ramifications of non-compliance with CMS regulations.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | August 16, 2023
Do you know you can now wear technology?
With the help of wearable technology, it's now easier to keep track of useful information in one go! This go-to technology has made people’s lives easier and smoother health-wise.
In the last five years, more people have started using wearable technology to monitor health data and live healthier lifestyles.
According to the Deloitte Global Survey, today, more than 80% of people are interested in using wearable technology. Statista also studied that the ear-worn wearable technology market will be worth more than 44.16 billion US dollars by 2023. These data show that customers are gravitating toward wearable technology due to its simplicity and convenience.
The Tech is Getting Smarter
Wearable technology has enabled the concept of self-checking, evaluation and monitoring of certain health conditions.
The Internet of Things (IoT) technology is transforming and improving the entire lifestyles of millions of people. So it's no surprise that the technology is spreading. Thanks to IoT and AI, which have pushed these technologies into individuals’ hands in the form of smartwatches, fitness bands, and other devices. In this case, app development has also been a critical success factor.
Consumers of all age groups actively use wearable technology for multiple physical benefits, such as monitoring daily activities (running, walking), water intake, heartbeat, sleep cycles, blood pressure, oxygen level, and mobility levels. In fact, the tech helps them to stay motivated by maintaining and extending their good habits.
Wearables can measure these characteristics through an effective data model that is instantly responsive. The readings can be saved, displayed, or forwarded to a doctor for medical study. This interface of wearable technology saves money and time traveling to clinics, hospitals, GPs, and other medical facilities.
The next feature that only wearable technology provides is reminders and inspiring information! Due to the addition of automatic functionalities, users have invested considerably in wearables and sparked the usage at the current time.
Furthermore, wearable technology is also seen in other medical devices such as ECG monitors, which is again a cutting-edge consumer electronic device that users can use to measure electrocardiograms at home. A Deloitte study found that due to the rising demand and supply together, nearly 200 million wearable gadgets will be marketed globally by 2023.
Transforming Healthcare Towards Intelligence
The pandemic accentuated the importance of wearable technology the most, particularly for health monitoring. As a result, the technology was available in every second home.
Wearable innovation is exceptional with the advancements in sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and algorithms. Sensor data provides insights regarding an individual's activity levels, cardiac pattern discrepancies, and other aspects. For example, many companies and manufacturers employ PPG, Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectrophotometers to enable blood pressure monitoring features in smartwatches and portable medical devices.
The combination of technology with intelligence is creating a whole new world of healthcare where individuals can track, record, and improve their health issues in a lesser timeframe.
A Committed Future of Healthcare
So, will technology for health improvement thrive?
The answer is yes. Wearable technology delivers real-time health data and allows consumers to improve their health without incurring high costs. Consumers' willingness to share their data with healthcare professionals indicates a surge in future demand for wearable technology gadgets.
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Future of Healthcare
Article | February 19, 2022
Anesthesia groups face major challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic: Financially strapped hospitals are increasingly unwilling or unable to pay anesthesia subsidies, and a shortage of qualified anesthesiologists and CRNAs is making recruitment extraordinarily competitive.
The good news is that anesthesia opportunities are plentiful in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) market. As more inpatient procedures migrate to ASCs, anesthesia practices can help meet demand by working with hospitals and ASCs. A dual-contracting approach can help increase revenue, reduce operational risk, enhance recruiting leverage, and present opportunities for equity investments in ASC ventures.
Expanding ASC Case Mix
Multiple factors are driving increased ASC volume.Consumers have long been attracted to the convenience andfast turnaround timesASCs offer, and as the pandemic began to take hold and patients worried about becoming infected in hospitals, theirpopularityincreased.
But even before the pandemic hit, theuse of ASCs was growing,with the number of centers increasing 7.1% annually since 2016.1No doubt this was in part driven by Medicare restricting fewer surgeries to the inpatient only (IPO) setting. This year alone, Medicare is adding 11 orthopedic procedures to the ASC-approved list, including total knee arthroscopy (TKA) and total hip arthroscopy (THA).2Commercial payersare alsofuelingASC volume by promotingthis venue as a lower-cost option to members.Lastly, with more than 90% of ASCs at least partially owned by physicians,providers themselvesare driving moreprocedures to this setting.
Hospitals Become ASC Buyers
For years, hospitals viewed ASCs as direct competition and discouraged or even prohibited inpatient anesthesia practices from contracting with them. But that dynamic is changing as more hospitals become buyers or majority investors.
According to a recent survey, the percentage of hospitals and health systems planning to increase their investments in ASCs rose from 44% in 2019 to 67% in 2020, with 75% of 200-plus-bed hospitals already owning more than one ASC.3Hospitals view these investments as a way to enhance physician relationships and increase surgical capacity.
The Benefits of Practice Diversification
For anesthesia practices that elect to contract with both hospitals and ASCs, a key benefit is improved profitability, since average ASC case reimbursements are higher than average hospital cases due to better payer mix and more efficient room turnover. Groups that work with multiple organizations also reduce their institutional or operational risk by limiting their exposure to potential financial problems associated with a single contracted entity.
Practices likewise gain an edge when it comes to recruiting in today’s highly competitive anesthesiologist and CRNA market. One of the chief benefits of ASC involvement is being in a position to offer a better work-life balance by spreading call responsibilities across a larger physician call pool. The math is simple: If a hospital group has seven physicians, each must provide call coverage once a week. But if the group also contracts with five ASCs and brings on five additional doctors to staff the facilities, individual call responsibilities are reduced to once every 12 days.
The importance of mitigating call duties to improve the work-life balance for both experienced clinicians and new hires can’t be overstated, particularly as hospitals work to streamline OR throughput by increasing the number of surgical procedures. Groups can also explore a range of creative compensation approaches, including essentially selling call opportunities to newly hired or recent graduate anesthesiologists as additional avenues to attract qualified clinicians while easing the burden on senior anesthesiologists.
Equity Opportunities
Among the most intriguing aspects of ASC involvement is the potential for becoming an equity stakeholder in the business. Surgeons traditionally have been the primary drivers in creating ASCs, but new opportunities exist for anesthesiology groups, particularly if their hospital is buying an existing ASC or developing a new ASC venture and looking to diversify the ownership group.
The idea of anesthesia ownership isn’t as crazy as it might sound. Like surgeons, anesthesiologists are integral to the success of an ASC, and like surgeons, they get there early and stay late. It’s no secret that joint ownership can greatly improve relations between the practice and the hospital, since both are now working toward the same objectives.
Groups can also make more money. I met with a surgical group not long ago with a 49% ownership stake in a hospital. That equity generated an additional $80,000 per year for each physician partner. How much you can make, of course, depends on your specialty, your level of ownership, and the volume of business. But you’ll never know until you try.
Outside Expertise
The pandemic has unleashed numerous changes throughout healthcare, and where the dust will eventually settle isn’t entirely clear. But what is certain is that for organizations to remain viable, they’ll need to be flexible and look hard at nontraditional business opportunities. Contracting with both hospitals and ASCs represents one such approach for anesthesia groups.
If you’re interested in exploring this and other business possibilities but don’t know where to start, Change Healthcare can help. Our team of expert anesthesia practice-management consultants have an average of 18 years’ experience in the specialty. We can be engaged on a per-project basis or we can provide our consultant services as part of our turnkey anesthesia-billing solution.
Our anesthesia revenue cycle management services can be deployed either on our own proprietary anesthesia-billing platform or on your hospital billing system. Either way, we’ll provide seamless, end-to-end service.
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