Healthcare IT Today Interviews

To dive into where we're at with computer vision in smart hospitals, we sat down with Roger Lam, VP of Engineering at MBX Systems.  In the interview, Lam shares some of the top places he sees computer vision being used in healthcare and how that could shape the facilities of the future.  He also dives into the evolution of the technology and how the technology is now more accessible...

When you first hear about VR (Virtual Reality) being used for medical training, it kind of sounds like a game or a joke and not a serious addition to a doctor’s training.  However, the reality is that the technology and the research around surgical training using VR is very serious and much more than a game.  What did surprise me was how VR surgical training was not so much a replacement...

We wanted to learn about Epic's decision to apply to be a QHIN, so we sat down with Matt Doyle, Software Development Lead for Interoperability at Epic, to talk about this announcement.  he shared Epic's view on TEFCA, why they plan to apply to be a QHIN, and the decision to get behind TEFCA.  Plus, we ask him how the data differs between Epic's 3 main healthcare interoperability efforts:...

We've been talking about the "hospital room of the future" for a while now.  I guess it's safe to say the future is here in many regards.  However, when I recently sat down with Jeff Fallon, Chairman and CEO at eVideon he was more excited about the industry than he's ever been before.  In fact, he talks about how things are different today than they have been in the past (Parti...

During the AHIP Annual conference in Las Vegas, I had a chance to sit down with David Schweppe, Chief Analytics Officer at MedeAnalytics, to learn more about what he was hearing at the conference and how MedeAnalytics can help the payer community.  In the interview below, I ask Schweppe what he's seen that he knows works for the AHIP payer end user.  Plus, I ask him about how payers...

When you attend a conference, it's always fun to see if there's a kind of theme or hot topic for those attending the conference.  At this year's HFMA annual conference the big theme I kept hearing over and over had to do with staffing challenges.  Needless to say, the world in general and healthcare in particular has been hit hard with staffing challenges.   In our video interview b...

Realtime locating systems (RTLS) have long been known to help hospitals with medical device management, but there is a new use-case that is growing in popularity and importance: addressing staff safety and duress. Through RLTS platforms, security teams can be alerted to the exact location of staff who need immediate assistance. As violence towards nurses and physicians increases, this will become...

To learn more about the problem of burnout and how the right clinician focused technology can help, I sat down with Jed S. Rosen, MD, Regional Director, Medical Informatics at LifeBridge Health and Rishi Sarna, MD, Chief Medical Officer at TransformativeMed. They share with us some of the stories of burnout in healthcare and more about what they see as the real core problem for doctors that are bu...

It feels like FHIR has gone through all the hype cycles you can imagine in the decade or so that FHIR's been around.  I've heard FHIR described as the solution to healthcare's woes and heard others describe its limitations.  We all know the reality is somewhere in between, but where are we at with FHIR today.   After my previous experience talking with 1upHealth about FHIR, I knew t...

At most companies, a strong corporate culture is a by-product of leadership rather than the result of a conscientious effort. Smart companies are realizing this must change as retaining tech talent becomes more challenging. Niko Skievaski, Co-Founder & President at Redox is doubling down on his culture-building efforts to ensure the company can continue to scale and succeed.    We ca...

Everyone loves a comeback story. There’s just something inspiring about facing adversity and fighting through a challenge to emerge victorious on the other side. That is certainly the script that the new executive team at Greenway Health hopes to write for themselves. So far, their journey appears to be carrying them in the right direction as the company focuses on product stability and earning th...

One of the big challenges for health IT companies is onboarding new customers for something like payments.  Turns out, a bank we all probably know, KeyBank, acquired a company called XUP Payments to address this problem and the challenges of collecting payments in healthcare.   I had a chance to sit down with Pete Wheeler, SVP, Group Lead, Healthcare and Insurance Payments at KeyBan...

Revenue provides stability and flexibility to healthcare organizations. Both are extremely valuable as patient volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels. The healthcare staffing crisis is also putting severe margin pressure on organizations. To address this challenge, organizations are turning to technology and partnering with specialized vendors to improve their revenue cycle processes.  Heal...

When I look at the state of communication in healthcare, I can see that we’ve made a lot of progress.  Certainly, there’s still plenty of work to be done, but the good news is that now we have electronic options when it comes to communicating healthcare data between organizations.  This wasn’t really true even a decade ago.  In fact, the real challenge today is that with so many opt...

The first step towards a digital transformation isn’t to adopt new technology. To truly transform, healthcare organizations need to first deal with legacy thinking, legacy culture, and legacy processes that surround legacy technology. Get that right and the road to transformation becomes faster and smoother.    Healthcare IT Today recently had the opportunity to discuss the topic of lega...

System availability not uptime is critical for patient care. Cyberattacks have a significant negative impact on availability. No single security solution will prevent attacks, so a layered approach is needed. One tool that is overlooked is packet monitoring which can be used to detect attacks early, find infrastructure vulnerabilities, and improve availability.    Healthcare IT Today sat...

The financial and administrative experience is no longer considered separate from the clinical experience by patients. A poor experience after their procedure or visit can have just as much negative impact as a bad visit. Key to a positive experience is price transparency, which is not as challenging to achieve as we first believed – according to Cedar CEO Florian Otto.    Healthcare IT...

One of the most interesting people I met at the HIMSS 2022 conference this year was João Bocas.  If you're on Twitter, then you've probably seen him tweeting from his account @WearablesExpert where he shares great digital health content.  One thing I love about Bocas is that he brings a great international perspective to the conversation since he lives in Europe.   We sat down with...

In a recent Emerging Technology Spotlight report, KLAS Research found that provider organizations who are using CorroHealth’s autonomous coding product are highly satisfied with the solution’s functionality and that it has had a positive impact on their operations.   Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity to sit down with the report’s lead author – Mac Boyter, Research Director at KLAS – to...

Despite the losing staff to the Great Resignation and early retirement, many healthcare organizations are facing higher labor costs. Why? Because of the increased reliance on agencies to bolster remaining staff. Controlling this cost and even weaning off of agencies is possible through a disciplined, evidenced-based approach to staffing. Futura Healthcare is helping its provider clients achieve th...

To dive into the challenges of Health Equity and Health Disparities, I sat down with Scott Afzal, President of Audacious Inquiry, to understand their thinking in this area.  In the interview, Afzal shares how he defines health equity and why it matters.  Plus, he shares some specific examples of health disparities and then discusses how health IT can help to address the problem. &nb...

The inability to easily exchange medical data is holding back healthcare improvements and innovation. Thankfully there has been concerted effort recently from governments, vendors, standards bodies, and healthcare organizations to address this. Key to this effort is a standardized way to measure our interoperability progress (or lack thereof). The Healthcare Leadership Council and other leading or...

The pandemic has cast a harsh light on the unequal distribution of care. Instead of hiding from the reality, leading healthcare organizations like Adventist Health are addressing the problem head-on by adopting technologies and practices that prioritize access to care. Adventist has partnered with GetWell, Kyruus, VisitPay, and Tonic Health for example, to provide consumer-like experiences for pat...

I recently sat down with Trevor Colhoun, CEO & Co-Founder at TPN.health, to talk about the mental health referral problem and learn more about the network of behavioral health professionals they created.  Colhoun shares with us about the state of mental health and what he's hearing from behavioral health professionals he talks to every day.  Plus, he shares why they decided to c...

While healthcare seems perennial behind in adoption of many technologies, the good news is that healthcare specific eSignature solutions are available and making a difference in healthcare organizations today.  I got a look at this first hand at the HIMSS 2022 conference when I sat down with Janelle Goff, Project Manager at Singing River Health System, Brandi Reiterman, Corporate Director of...