Bonus Features – April 30, 2023 – 68% of providers say improving patient collections is a high priority, hospital expenses have increased 2x the Medicare IPPS reimbursement rate since 2019, and more

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

News and Studies

Compared to other industries, healthcare is leading the way in improving networks to support edge computing, according to the latest AT&T Cybersecurity Insights Report. Budgets for edge computing go into four buckets – strategy, networks, security, and applications – and healthcare is putting nearly one-third of its edge computing spending into networks. While this investment is helping to converge on-premises networks, it does leave less to spend on network security, which is a worrying sign.

Healthcare risk management company Censinet, KLAS Research, and the American Hospital Association (AHA) published their inaugural Healthcare Cybersecurity Benchmarking Study. The study found that organizations are doing well when it comes to email security but face gaps when it comes to medical device security and supply chain risk management. Overall, the study concluded, organizations are still taking a reactive and not a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

Syntellis and the AHA reported that hospital expenses increased 17.5% from 2019 to 2022 – or more than double the rate of increase for Medicare IPPS reimbursement (7.5%). Drug expenses also increased 19.7% over the same time period, Additionally, 74% of hospitals reported an increase in the number of administrative tasks related to health insurance policies, compared to just 2% who reported a decrease.

A CWH Advisors study commissioned by healthcare payment company Sphere found that 68% of provider organizations believe improving patient payment collections is a high priority. Additionally, 71% ranked accelerating cash flow as one of their top three priorities, followed by improving customer service for patients and staff (68%) and offering flexible payment options for patients (50%).

A paper from Southern California FQHC AltaMed Health Services and mPulse Mobile, which makes conversational AI tools for patient engagement, reported a 7% increase in colorectal cancer screening rates when patients received automated text reminders and fotonovelas (in either English or Spanish) educating them about the importance of screening.

Partnerships

Product and Company News

Sales

Awards

  • Rock Health announced its Top 50 in Digital Health for 2022, a list that includes dozens of startup founders, leading venture capitalists and policymakers, and journalists such as CNBC’s Bertha Coombs, TechCrunch’s Natasha Mascarenhas, and Modern Healthcare’s Gabriel Perna.
  • DrFirst medication management solution SmartRenewal won Gold in the Edison Awards.

People

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo.

About the author

Brian Eastwood

Brian Eastwood is a Boston-based writer with more than 10 years of experience covering healthcare IT and healthcare delivery. Brian also writes about enterprise IT, consumer technology, corporate leadership, and higher education for a range of publications and clients. He got his start as a professional writer as a community newspaper reporter in 2003.

When he's not writing, Brian is most likely running, hiking, or cross-country skiing in Northern New England. When he needs a break from cardio, he's usually reading a history book.

   

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