by Jean Rush, Independent Board Member, former EVP Government Markets, Highmark December 2019 – In 2019, CMS provided Medicare Advantage plans with greater flexibility in the definition of “supplemental benefits,” allowing these benefits if they “compensate for physical impairments, diminish the impact of injuries or health conditions, and/or reduce avoidable emergency room utilization.“   In essence,… Read more »

by Ara Kouchakdjian, VP Product Management at Stanley Healthcare November 2019 –  The challenge: Figuring out a release date For non-engineers, software processes are a black box.  Those of us facing the market want a simple answer to the question: “when can the client generate value from the new release?” Explanations from many product and… Read more »

by Ellen Harrison, VP of Operations & Market Strategy, HMS October 2019 – At some point, most healthcare organizations will likely need to communicate with members in some type of emergency or rapid response situation, whether it’s a natural disaster, public health crisis or prescription recall. Just consider the state of natural disasters in 2018…. Read more »

by Julie Mann, Chief Commercial Officer, Holon Solutions September 24, 2019 – The healthcare information technology (HIT) market is expected to grow from more than $187 billion this year to more than $390 billion by 2024. Much of this growth is driven by healthcare providers, health plans and policymakers collectively concluding that the fragmented, inefficient… Read more »

by Michael Woods, Global Chief Medical Officer, caresyntax August 27, 2019 – When one speaks of patient injury in healthcare, it’s easy to point at the statistics. However, almost everyone has a friend or family member who is represented by those statistics. Through that lens, patient harm becomes very personal. Yet the rate of all-cause… Read more »

by Lynn Carroll, Chief of Strategy & Operations, HSBlox July 2019 – As value-based care accelerates, the disparate data of traditional fee-for-service doesn’t work. Data silos and a lack of patient integration present challenges for dissemination of data across the continuum of care.  As a result, the reporting feedback loop required for the development and… Read more »

by Heather Kawamoto, Chief Product Officer, Recondo Technology June 2019 – Healthcare has a high turnover problem, and not just for clinical staff. In many hospitals, especially in rural areas, it is notoriously difficult to find employees with specialized expertise in working with healthcare insurance companies on various revenue cycle transactions. Compounding the problem is… Read more »

by Staci Porter, Senior Clinical Strategist, Zynx Health May 2019 – The Russian proverb “Trust, but verify” entered the American lexicon in the 1980s when it became a favorite mantra of Ronald Reagan during arms-reduction negotiations with the Soviet Union. Reagan understood that while trust can provide a strong foundation for a relationship or agreement,… Read more »

By Robin Hill, Chief Clinical Officer, Vivify Health April 2019 – With U.S. healthcare evolving toward a value-based system that rewards quality over quantity, provider organizations are being required to take on more patient risk than in past contractual agreements with payers. That means providers must collect as much relevant patient data as possible to… Read more »