Here are the 10 most read stories on health IT for the month of September.
1. The reach of technological innovation continues to grow, changing all industries as it evolves. In healthcare, technology is increasingly playing a role in almost all processes, from patient registration to data monitoring, from lab tests to self-care tools. Here are the 10 biggest technological advancements for healthcare in the last decade.
2. An increasing number of hospitals and health systems are in the market for a replacement EHR system. Almost 50 percent of hospitals with 200 or more beds will purchase a new electronic medical record system by 2016, according to a KLAS report. Here is the story of Kingsport, Tenn.-based Wellmont Health System and their decision to switch to Epic.
3. Here are 50 points offering facts and insights into the EHR market and some of the most prominent companies.
4. In early September, CMS issued a final rule granting providers the flexibility in meaningful use attestation the agency had originally proposed back in May and finalizing the extension of stage 2 through 2016 for providers that started attesting in 2011 or 2012. Here are 10 things to know about the final rule.
5. Breaches of unsecured protected health information come in a variety of forms including hacking, improper disposal, theft, unauthorized access and loss, to name a few. Desktop computers, laptops, email, network servers, EMRs and portable electronic devices are all potential sources of breaches. Here are the 15 states with the highest number of individuals affected by data breaches so far this year.
6. Here are the 10 largest provider data breaches due to theft of health IT hardware. The data is reported to HHS by providers, as required by the HITECH Act.
7. Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System notified patients of a security breach resulting in compromised data of 10,000 patients.
8. Several signs indicate Amazon is preparing to jump into the digital health market. For example, the Google engineer who led the development of Google Glass joined Amazon's staff, signaling a possible move into wearables. Is Amazon making its move into digital health?
9. While the average annual salary for health IT workers is $89,879, job functions play significant roles in how much IT professionals make, according to the 2014 HealthITJobs.com survey. Here are six average health IT salaries based on job function.
10. With passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, electronic health records have been widely adopted across healthcare organizations large and small. While there are many benefits to EHRs — improved accessibility to patient data, increased charge capture and improved preventative health — there are inherent problems in adopting this technology. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly of EHRs.
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