Precyse to create 1,000 new coding jobs

Precyse,performance solutions and Vermont HITEC, a not-for-profit education center, are partnering to fill Precyse’s current and future medical coding workforce development needs in Vermont. The two organizations are now recruiting candidates for the first session of the medical coding education program to train candidates as at-home medical coders for Precyse. The program is a collaborative effort involving the U.S. Department of Labor, Vermont Department of Labor, Vermont Agency of Commerce, Vermont HITEC and Precyse.

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State HIEs share lessons learned

While "persistent challenges and barriers" related to infrastructure and funding continue to vex state health information exchanges, there's still ample need for their services and plenty of opportunity at the state and federal levels to keep supporting them, according to a new report presented to ONC.

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HL7 Launches Joint Argonaut Project to Advance FHIR

HIMSS welcomes the Argonaut Project’s use of innovative standards and technologies to rapidly advance health information interoperability. HIMSS remains highly engaged and supportive of innovation across the health IT sector, including the evolution of emerging standards such as HL7 FHIR. 

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Present future tense

I’m often asked by hedge funds, investors, and private equity firms to evaluate start ups based on their management savvy, product maturity, and business models. I’ve been on several calls with startups in 2014 in which the grammar was all “present future tense:” "We will have a product that does…" My response to the investors is to clarify: 1.  they will have a product that might... 2.  they have a product that does... There

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How to make ICD-10 testing matter

There's a lot being said about the importance of ICD-10 end-to-end testing. But why? Healthcare providers need to know what they are looking for. A set of testing goals will help guide medical practices to some worthwhile lessons: How much medical coding productivity can be expected. Will accuracy be a problem with medical coders familiar with ICD-10 codes? What systems use ICD codes. How much reimbursements can change. Where documentation needs to improve. To reach

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When a patient’s death is broadcast without permission

This story was co-published with the New York Times. Anita Chanko could not sleep. At 4 a.m., on an August night in 2012, she settled onto the couch in her Yorkville living room with her dog, Daisy, and her parrot, Elliott, and flipped on the DVR. On came the prior night's episode of " NY Med," the popular real-life medical series set at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, starring Dr. Mehmet Oz. Mrs. Chanko, 75, was a

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John Halamka looks at how health IT fared in 2014

2014 was quite a year. Thinking back to December 2013, I cannot believe that so much has happened. Let’s take a look at the major HIT events that shaped 2014 and what they portend for 2015. Affordable Care Act - despite challenges with healthcare.gov and state health insurance exchanges, the notion of moving forward with an open insurance marketplace and accountable care got traction.The IT needed to meet the needs of the patient centered

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Will 2015 be the year your watch teaches you about your health?

There is no known medical condition that enables an individual to predict the future.  While such an ability would be extremely useful for myriad reasons, we have, instead, learned to hone and leverage our analytic skills to deduce what might occur, relying on the data we cull and parse to help forecast the future.  So, when it comes to predicting the year ahead, we should consider the one we just had. Regardless of which

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Virtual visits: Cutting healthcare costs

An Alliance for Connected Care study, released in December, estimates that virtual visits could save an average of $126 per visit. Researchers found on average, telehealth visits cost between $40 and $50; compared to an average estimated cost of $136 to $176 for an in-office visit. They also found that 83% of health conditions were resolved after a virtual visit.  Of the remainder (patients whose conditions did not resolve), 10% went to an emergency department

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