Winners of the 2017 eHealthcare Leadership Awards were announced today at a special keynote presentation at the Healthcare Internet Conference in Austin, Texas. Over 200 organizations, representing a broad industry spectrum, received recognition for their outstanding websites and digital communications. A total of 116 individuals familiar with healthcare and the internet judged the entries. See Read More
// By Shawn Gross // The robotic yet charming voice of Alexa can help you find a good movie, make a payment on your credit card, get airline fares for a trip to Dublin, or see how many calories are in the banana you’re eating. With an estimated 11 million devices sold, the Amazon Echo Read More
Imagine if all of your older and chronically ill patients had personal assistants to help them monitor their vital signs, answer pressing health questions, and remind them to take their medicines. While this scenario may sound ideal, it’s also quite an unrealistic goal to expect to accomplish for an entire population. But the newest generation Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Imagine if all of your older and chronically ill patients had personal assistants to help them monitor their vital signs, answer pressing health questions, and remind them to take their medicines. While this scenario may sound ideal, it’s also quite an unrealistic goal to expect to accomplish for an Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Lean business practices have been around ever since Toyota devised the “Toyota Production System” to transform its manufacturing processes. The idea was further refined in the book Lean Thinking, and distilled down to five core ideas¹: Value—specify the value desired by the customer Value Stream—identify the value stream for Read More
Insights from New Study of Healthcare Consumers’ Digital Experience // By Becky Barney-Villano // Retail has done it for years. Restaurants have, too. Even the banking industry is now meeting consumer expectations for on-demand services with such capabilities as mobile deposits, and complicated mortgages are being closed with a few clicks from a smartphone. Healthcare Read More
At Mount Sinai’s Institute for Next Generation Healthcare in New York City, artificial intelligence or AI (also referred to as machine learning) is helping researchers to gain new insight into genetic predispositions for cancer and other diseases. Close to 2,000 miles across the country, Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah, is using AI to Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // At Mount Sinai’s Institute for Next Generation Healthcare in New York City, artificial intelligence or AI (also referred to as machine learning) is helping researchers to gain new insight into genetic predispositions for cancer and other diseases. Close to 2,000 miles across the country, Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake Read More
“Reputation management has never been more important for healthcare providers and organizations that are actively seeking new patients. Why? The increase in high-deductible health plans has created a new breed of healthcare shopper,” says Becky Barney-Villano, healthcare writer and marketing specialist. “The rise of insurance exchanges where consumers pick their plans has resulted in more Read More
// By Becky Barney-Villano // Reputation management has never been more important for healthcare providers and organizations that are actively seeking new patients. Why? The increase in high-deductible health plans has created a new breed of healthcare shopper. The rise of insurance exchanges where consumers pick their plans has resulted in more robust and careful Read More
Managing change is hard, even for innovative organizations like Boston Children’s Hospital. “That’s something I hear in all the businesses I’ve worked with, from GE to Cigna to here,” says William Gagnon, senior director of global digital strategy and customer engagement at Boston Children’s. Digital transformation at Boston Children’s is laser-focused on making the shift Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Managing change is hard, even for innovative organizations like Boston Children’s Hospital. “That’s something I hear in all the businesses I’ve worked with, from GE to Cigna to here,” says William Gagnon, senior director of global digital strategy and customer engagement at Boston Children’s. Change is risky, and healthcare Read More
A growing percentage of consumers with employer-sponsored health insurance are choosing high-deductible health plans that have lower premiums. Citing data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Becker’s reported that 24 percent of employees enrolled in high-deductible health plans in 2015, up from just 4 percent in 2006. The downside of HDHPs is that out-of-pocket costs are Read More
This leading awards program, which drew over 900 entries last year, recognizes the very best websites and digital communications efforts of healthcare organizations, online health companies, pharmaceutical/medical equipment firms, suppliers, and business improvement initiatives. Now in its 18th year, the awards program is presented by Plain-English Health Care, publisher of eHealthcare Strategy & Trends and Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The nature of our health system in the U.S. is that it is massively complicated, with many variables that impact price. It’s extremely challenging for health systems to give an answer to a patient who asks a seemingly simple question: How much will this cost me? First a provider Read More
// By Emily Kagan Trenchard // I just got back from HIMSS 2017 in Orlando, Florida, and if this national conference of health IT professionals had a message, it was this: Patient engagement is the goal, so interoperability is the key. Why is that? Because to truly boost consumer engagement, we need to get our Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In 2002, years before patient portals were a checkbox to qualify for meaningful use incentives under healthcare reform, MD Anderson Cancer Center created its own patient portal. But the motivation was not financially driven. “Patients were walking around with huge amounts of paper. You would see people—I’m not lying—with Read More
In 2002, years before patient portals were a checkbox to qualify for meaningful use incentives under healthcare reform, MD Anderson Cancer Center created its own patient portal. myMDAnderson was launched in 2002. It gave patients a personalized electronic hub to organize all their information, and 24/7 online access. The tool has stood the test of time, Read More
A little over two years ago, Jill Austin, chief marketing officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), was given a challenge by her CEO. “Vanderbilt, at the time, had gotten a lot of recognition for being way out in front on social media,” says Chris Bevolo, author of Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // A little over two years ago, Jill Austin, chief marketing officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), was given a challenge by her CEO. “Vanderbilt, at the time, had gotten a lot of recognition for being way out in front on social media,” says Chris Bevolo, author of Joe Read More
Looking for a technology solution to stay in closer touch with patients between visits? Maybe your patients over age 50 haven’t scheduled their colonoscopy yet. Some patients may need closer contact after being discharged from the hospital, or they have a chronic condition like diabetes, hypertension, or COPD and need to be monitored between office Read More
There is no shortage of digital innovation in any field these days, but in healthcare, there has been an explosion of interest in developing digital solutions for the industry’s most pressing problems. The challenge has been that the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is often at odds with complex, risk-averse, highly regulated healthcare organizations. Amazon Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Looking for a technology solution to stay in closer touch with patients between visits? Maybe your patients over age 50 haven’t scheduled their colonoscopy yet. Some patients may need closer contact after being discharged from the hospital, or they have a chronic condition like diabetes, hypertension, or COPD and Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // There is no shortage of digital innovation in any field these days, but in healthcare, there has been an explosion of interest in developing digital solutions for the industry’s most pressing problems. The challenge has been that the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is often at odds with complex, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Nigel Murray is the Chief Executive Officer of the Waikato District Health Board, headquartered in Hamilton, New Zealand. One of 20 district health boards (DHBs) in the country, it includes the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere. The Waikato DHB serves a population of 400,000 within the local urban Read More