Practice Management

Healthcare is still plagued by its old foes: limited access and minimal proof of quality

Propelled by degrees in mathematics, accounting and quantitative analysis, "which was like computers way back then," Horace Clark has engineered the information technology for companies of major interest to financial investors throughout his life.

One of the biggest uncertainties in today's healthcare market is what managed care's future role will be in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The most recent trend is an exodus from Medicare+Choice due to the federal government's insufficient reimbursement levels.

MCOs advised to plan implementation approach, strategies for supportingindividual privacy rights

The easy application process gives MCOs and their vendors more time to prepare, with no real drawbacks

National Reports-As next year's Health Insurance Portability and AccountabilityAct (HIPAA) deadline to begin filing claims electronically looms closer,healthcare providers are scrambling to fund and establish clinical informationsystems. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that only 10% of hospitalshave such capabilities, and 27% in another survey said they lacked the financialresources to establish them.

For Wisconsin medical center executives, greater efficiency and lower operating costs offset the high initial investment, more training

Consortiums, Web visits and online management help payers overcome reluctance to increase online care

Health care inflation, Chevron vs. Echazabal, Principal Financial Well-Being Index, HIPAA employeed identification number

New York - Just as ATMs transformed the banking industry, online capabilities for patients and providers could bring the same radical changes for cost savings to healthcare.

Runaway litigation is boosting healthcare costs and reducing patient access to care

Americans complain about access, while MCOs struggle with appeals, privacyand reimbursement

Digital order entry could bring the change healthcare has been expecting

Avoid issuing and supporting digital certificates to large member populations;rely instead on IDs and passwords

Congress weighs the benefits of research against patient privacy issues

He has a unique perspective on healthcare technology, working his way through the University of Iowa as a ward clerk before the implementation of information systems of any kind.

National health protection and the economy redefine the issues

Spending $1 per member on CRM can reap huge rewards in competitive markets

Dental, vision and hearing programs are surviving the recession, but they might not be out of the woods yet

National health protection and the economy redefine the issues

Just as important, those responsible for IT's successes must be able to quantify them with business metrics

Ranked by total of all payers, 2000

News brief.

HIPAA is an important step toward using the Internet, rather than value-addednetworks, for electronic health transactions. The completion of the workof the Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) initiativeis an important step toward fulfilling this promise.

The marriage of health plans and PBMs can improve quality of care and prevent catastrophic events