These days, people still have high respect for hospital staffs. When the children are down with fever, their parents would call their trusted pediatrician to seek for medical help. Most businesses and multinational corporations today even have their own industrial nurses or physicians to help the employees with their medical issues.
Currently, one of the most important members of the medical team is the medical assistant. Their role in health care are becoming more versatile and dynamic. They are now given more duties and responsibilities. Since they have so many tasks to care about, it is only vital that they understand what their profession demands. This is to avoid incidence of lawsuits and other dilemmas.
Yes, people trust their health care professionals. People trust them with their lives. It is important that they master the different medical terms and treatment procedures performed in their medical area. Also, they should know how to follow the different laws and bio ethical standards concerning their profession.
Since this article is about ethics and bio ethics of medical assistants, it is important to differentiate the two. First, let us discuss what ethics is. Ethics is a set of rules or guidelines. These rules are used to determine if the person is acting properly or not. Medical ethics are part of professional ethics. It governs the behavior and conduct of the health care professionals. To work ethically, the health care professional must remain truthful and fair.
Bio ethics on the other hand, is about life preservation. In the past, most medical decisions are made solely by doctors and physicians or legal professionals. But with the advancement of technology, patients are given more choices and medical alternatives. Since medical assistants are performing more active roles in health care, they should know how to attack different situations in a moral and ethical way. No one is perfect. Anyone can commit mistakes like giving the wrong medications or medical procedures. However, in the medical industry, a mistake can be detrimental. Yes, accepting and telling the main physician about the mistake is not easy, but it can save life.
Role Of The American Association Of Medical Assistants
In the medical assisting field, the AAMA or the American Association of Medical Assistants is responsible for setting the guidelines for ethical and moral conduct. They see to it that their members are always striving for excellence.
Certainly, one of the most promising industries today is health care. It can provide several opportunities and career advancements. However, it is not an easy job. Medical assisting is a popular health care profession. Like any other medical professionals, they too are facing many challenges in their career. Thus, knowing the different laws and bio ethical guidelines concerning their profession can help them a lot to becoming proficient and qualified health care staffs.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
Implementing SOA in Healthcare Systems
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the latest concept buzzing in software and IT circles. SOA is the next evolutionary step in systems development. Properly implemented, it builds upon existing architecture while it better addresses efficient reuse of business functionality inside and outside the organization. At its core, SOA is about providing true interoperability that reflects real-world use cases.
Most organizations do not realize the dream of enterprise-wide systems, but instead rely upon a portfolio of independent systems. Often these systems have duplicate data and functionality. The goal of SOA is to select and encapsulate certain pieces of functionality as services that can be made available across the organization. With this being the goal, the organization can shift their focus from individual, often file-based interfaces, to creating service-oriented applications. These new applications not only create a truly interoperable environment, but they also more accurately reflect the actual business functions in a healthcare environment.
Most industries, including healthcare, are faced with the dilemma of providing operational systems, supporting the revenue management and any administrative features. For healthcare, the operational could be capturing the insurance payment for a claim as defined by the remittance advice. The revenue piece could be the posting of that payment to the proper account and recognizing the affect on the aging balance. The administration piece could be the security that makes sure the person entering the transaction has the proper authority to do so. It is not unusual, nor is it bad, for this to be done in three different systems. SOA allows the different systems to know what has happened and to interact when changes are made.
SOA is different from legacy systems integration in that it requires system design and management principles that support reuse and sharing of system resources across the organization. It does this without requiring re-engineering the existing systems. With SOA, existing processes are combined with new capabilities to build a library of services. These services then become the solution. The goal is to create shared services that reflect actual business processes. SOA strengthens interoperability while reducing the need to synchronize data between isolated systems. Properly implemented, the organization has readily available services regardless of the originating system, department, location or desktop.
Let's examine a relatively simple transaction and how the SOA approach applies. A clinic has a new patient coming in for a visit. A list of items to be done includes:
* Examining if the patient exist
* Verifying patient eligibility
* Adding the patient to the Master Patient Index
* Examining the Doctors schedule
* Creating the appointment
* Accessing public records
* Creating an EHR visit
We have potentially accessed three to seven different systems depending on the functionality of the base applications. Many healthcare environments either do not perform all the functionality or do it with a series of point-to-point file-based interfaces. Still others do it by entering the data into multiple systems. Manually entering data into multiple systems is essentially human-interoperability because it is up to a person to coordinate and control the interfaces.
As the number of systems increases, standard interface formats, such as Health Level 7 (HL7), and central data interface engines are adopted by larger healthcare organizations. Internet-based communication allows organizations to exchange data with external organizations, such as payors.
Although data is passed among systems, the file exchange approach falls short of supporting true data interoperability. File exchanges can work, but they have multiple inherent problems:
* Multiple points of failure - creating the file, configuring where the file should go, security to write the file, confirmed delivery of the file, file reader services, configuration of picking up the file and reading the file are just a sample of the issues that have to be solved. Not that these are not solvable problems, they all are. With each point of functionality comes an increased probability that something can break.
* Increased cost - Using all of the multiple points of failure mentioned above, each step requires additional development, testing and maintenance. All of these combined equals increased cost and elongated time lines.
* Finger pointing - Any time a file is create and security is needed to create the file, we have a blending of development teams with infrastructure teams. Management never wins when both of these technical groups are pointing fingers saying it is the others fault.
With SOA, IT processing is organized and represented as a collection of services. Each service is made available to the entire organization through a standard protocol. All departments that maintain or use the same data use the same service. This makes any redundancies transparent to users. Applications supporting a specific workflow will reference the same service. Each service communicates with the systems to which it is related. Users no longer need to switch between systems to complete a workflow. Data is naturally synchronized between systems. Services aligned in this manner enable true interoperability among the healthcare organization's processes and people.
As SOA is further adopted by the healthcare industry, collections of services, as well as specific services, will be available for use by a healthcare organization's internal and external resources. This is possible because the origin of the service is transparent. Imagine adding a patient in one application and having that patient synchronized in all other systems without specific point-to-point interfaces and files being generated.
Integrating data and interoperability are key requirements in evolving healthcare technology, and healthcare is behind the curve in adoption and investing in these technologies. Healthcare adopting these technologies and getting the right information in the right place at the right time can result in the following benefits:
* Greater claim accuracy
* Reduced medical errors
* More accurate diagnosis
* Increased access for patients
* Reduced payment cycles
SOA takes on greater significance with the emergence of Healthcare Information Networks (HINs). A HIN is collaboration among the government, hospitals, specialty labs and pharmacies and payors to provide a network of data exchange that builds shared information, data repositories, applications and interfaces. The collective applications efficiently and accurately exchange key information across a spectrum of healthcare. Existing HINs are currently accomplishing the following:
* Exchange of patients' electronic medical record between providers to get key information like medical history, allergies, persistent problems, medications and active treatments
* Referral exchanges
* Electronic patient eligibility for a visit or procedure
* Electronic claim filing and payment
* Electronic ordering and monitoring of prescriptions
* A consolidated repository of key healthcare information for disease control
* A consolidated repository of data to support government-funded programs and benefits of those programs
* A portal for the patient, providers and payors accessing patient data
There is little debate regarding the benefits of implementing HINs. There is debate about the cost and the ROI of HIN investment. Part of the ROI equation is the cost of supporting the legacy applications and their participation in the network. If every time a new hospital, clinic, pharmacy, or government program was introduced a new point-to-point interface had to be introduced, it would not be feasible to build a HIN that has sustainable momentum. The cost of having to build a sequence of point-to-point interfaces for every system involved in the network would be unsustainable to all the practices and the software providers who support them.
When using SOA for HIN integration, the cost of integration can be reduced significantly and a sustainable community value is created. To accomplish this goal, SOA services facing the HIN must accomplish the following:
* Simplify and reduce the interface points to create data interoperability in the network
* Address the architecture, infrastructure, software, and related business functions as a cohesive unit
* Have services deployed internally and externally to support the needs of the organization and the HIN
* Support legacy systems
* Support current and evolving data standards
* Be tested for scalability so larger external organization can use it
SOA is the direction IT is moving. SOA gets our focus off of a single application and what it needs to do and onto how this application fits into a bigger world. Whether that world is the organization or beyond, SOA enables the applications key components to become exposed to all who need them. Healthcare, which as an industry has can achieve great benefits from this kind of interoperability, is behind others in achieving it. Healthcare IT managers, and the software companies that support them, need to evaluate how they are incorporating SOA in their design plans.
Most organizations do not realize the dream of enterprise-wide systems, but instead rely upon a portfolio of independent systems. Often these systems have duplicate data and functionality. The goal of SOA is to select and encapsulate certain pieces of functionality as services that can be made available across the organization. With this being the goal, the organization can shift their focus from individual, often file-based interfaces, to creating service-oriented applications. These new applications not only create a truly interoperable environment, but they also more accurately reflect the actual business functions in a healthcare environment.
Most industries, including healthcare, are faced with the dilemma of providing operational systems, supporting the revenue management and any administrative features. For healthcare, the operational could be capturing the insurance payment for a claim as defined by the remittance advice. The revenue piece could be the posting of that payment to the proper account and recognizing the affect on the aging balance. The administration piece could be the security that makes sure the person entering the transaction has the proper authority to do so. It is not unusual, nor is it bad, for this to be done in three different systems. SOA allows the different systems to know what has happened and to interact when changes are made.
SOA is different from legacy systems integration in that it requires system design and management principles that support reuse and sharing of system resources across the organization. It does this without requiring re-engineering the existing systems. With SOA, existing processes are combined with new capabilities to build a library of services. These services then become the solution. The goal is to create shared services that reflect actual business processes. SOA strengthens interoperability while reducing the need to synchronize data between isolated systems. Properly implemented, the organization has readily available services regardless of the originating system, department, location or desktop.
Let's examine a relatively simple transaction and how the SOA approach applies. A clinic has a new patient coming in for a visit. A list of items to be done includes:
* Examining if the patient exist
* Verifying patient eligibility
* Adding the patient to the Master Patient Index
* Examining the Doctors schedule
* Creating the appointment
* Accessing public records
* Creating an EHR visit
We have potentially accessed three to seven different systems depending on the functionality of the base applications. Many healthcare environments either do not perform all the functionality or do it with a series of point-to-point file-based interfaces. Still others do it by entering the data into multiple systems. Manually entering data into multiple systems is essentially human-interoperability because it is up to a person to coordinate and control the interfaces.
As the number of systems increases, standard interface formats, such as Health Level 7 (HL7), and central data interface engines are adopted by larger healthcare organizations. Internet-based communication allows organizations to exchange data with external organizations, such as payors.
Although data is passed among systems, the file exchange approach falls short of supporting true data interoperability. File exchanges can work, but they have multiple inherent problems:
* Multiple points of failure - creating the file, configuring where the file should go, security to write the file, confirmed delivery of the file, file reader services, configuration of picking up the file and reading the file are just a sample of the issues that have to be solved. Not that these are not solvable problems, they all are. With each point of functionality comes an increased probability that something can break.
* Increased cost - Using all of the multiple points of failure mentioned above, each step requires additional development, testing and maintenance. All of these combined equals increased cost and elongated time lines.
* Finger pointing - Any time a file is create and security is needed to create the file, we have a blending of development teams with infrastructure teams. Management never wins when both of these technical groups are pointing fingers saying it is the others fault.
With SOA, IT processing is organized and represented as a collection of services. Each service is made available to the entire organization through a standard protocol. All departments that maintain or use the same data use the same service. This makes any redundancies transparent to users. Applications supporting a specific workflow will reference the same service. Each service communicates with the systems to which it is related. Users no longer need to switch between systems to complete a workflow. Data is naturally synchronized between systems. Services aligned in this manner enable true interoperability among the healthcare organization's processes and people.
As SOA is further adopted by the healthcare industry, collections of services, as well as specific services, will be available for use by a healthcare organization's internal and external resources. This is possible because the origin of the service is transparent. Imagine adding a patient in one application and having that patient synchronized in all other systems without specific point-to-point interfaces and files being generated.
Integrating data and interoperability are key requirements in evolving healthcare technology, and healthcare is behind the curve in adoption and investing in these technologies. Healthcare adopting these technologies and getting the right information in the right place at the right time can result in the following benefits:
* Greater claim accuracy
* Reduced medical errors
* More accurate diagnosis
* Increased access for patients
* Reduced payment cycles
SOA takes on greater significance with the emergence of Healthcare Information Networks (HINs). A HIN is collaboration among the government, hospitals, specialty labs and pharmacies and payors to provide a network of data exchange that builds shared information, data repositories, applications and interfaces. The collective applications efficiently and accurately exchange key information across a spectrum of healthcare. Existing HINs are currently accomplishing the following:
* Exchange of patients' electronic medical record between providers to get key information like medical history, allergies, persistent problems, medications and active treatments
* Referral exchanges
* Electronic patient eligibility for a visit or procedure
* Electronic claim filing and payment
* Electronic ordering and monitoring of prescriptions
* A consolidated repository of key healthcare information for disease control
* A consolidated repository of data to support government-funded programs and benefits of those programs
* A portal for the patient, providers and payors accessing patient data
There is little debate regarding the benefits of implementing HINs. There is debate about the cost and the ROI of HIN investment. Part of the ROI equation is the cost of supporting the legacy applications and their participation in the network. If every time a new hospital, clinic, pharmacy, or government program was introduced a new point-to-point interface had to be introduced, it would not be feasible to build a HIN that has sustainable momentum. The cost of having to build a sequence of point-to-point interfaces for every system involved in the network would be unsustainable to all the practices and the software providers who support them.
When using SOA for HIN integration, the cost of integration can be reduced significantly and a sustainable community value is created. To accomplish this goal, SOA services facing the HIN must accomplish the following:
* Simplify and reduce the interface points to create data interoperability in the network
* Address the architecture, infrastructure, software, and related business functions as a cohesive unit
* Have services deployed internally and externally to support the needs of the organization and the HIN
* Support legacy systems
* Support current and evolving data standards
* Be tested for scalability so larger external organization can use it
SOA is the direction IT is moving. SOA gets our focus off of a single application and what it needs to do and onto how this application fits into a bigger world. Whether that world is the organization or beyond, SOA enables the applications key components to become exposed to all who need them. Healthcare, which as an industry has can achieve great benefits from this kind of interoperability, is behind others in achieving it. Healthcare IT managers, and the software companies that support them, need to evaluate how they are incorporating SOA in their design plans.
America's Healthcare System Ranks The Lowest Among Industrialized Nations
The U.S. doesn't get its money's worth when it comes to healthcare, according to recent statistics. The Commonwealth Fund released a report earlier this month on America's ranking in the world healthcare system -- and it wasn't good.
According to the report, residents of the United States receive the poorest quality of care, yet pay the most for it, among six of the top industrialized nations, including Germany, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The findings were based on measures including quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes of healthcare. Germany took the overall first place ranking, followed by Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
While the other five nations on the list provide universal healthcare, the U.S., with its unorganized mixture of employer-funded care, private insurance, and government programs, leaves nearly 48 million throughout the country with no insurance whatsoever. Ominously, the Fund also linked lack of insurance with poorer quality of care in another report released this month.
Texas ranks at the very bottom of the nation in numbers of people left uninsured, at just over 25%. With high incidences of poverty, unemployment, and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, the state stands to gain more than most by measures to update the healthcare and/or to make insurance available to more of the population. Most of those lacking insurance do not receive pertinent preventative care, resulting in increased long-term costs to health, as well as to the state and federal governments.
Particularly in the larger cities of Dallas, Houston, and Austin -- where many from rural areas of the state come seeking care, overburdening the system further -- change would be welcomed.
Activists and members of Congress are calling for an overhaul of the overburdened and outdated system, with suggestions ranging from instituting America's own universal healthcare, to subsidizing private insurance companies in order to make healthcare coverage available to all, regardless of income.
Obviously, it's an issue that needs to be closely analyzed, as it is "pretty undisputable that we spend twice what other countries spend on average," as reported by The Commonwealth Fund. While, in comparison to other industrialized nations, the U.S. has the fewest patients seeing a regular doctor (16%), is the least wired (working with the fewest electronic records, and receiving the fewest electronic updates on disease treatment options), and has one of the highest infant mortality rates, we are actually spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as Germany, at $6,102. Canada spends $3,165 per capita, Australia $2,876, Britain $2,546, and New Zealand $2,083.
The U.S. also has one of the longest emergency room waiting times, takes an average of four months to deliver elective surgery, and is considered one of the less "convenient" nations when it comes to general healthcare. Sixty-one percent of Americans surveyed found it "somewhat" or "very difficult" to receive care on nights or weekends.
What is most shocking perhaps, is the relatively high infant mortality rate, at 5 in every 1,000. The U.S. is tied with Poland, Hungary, Malta, and Slovakia for this statistic, and, among the 32 industrialized nations surveyed, ranked only above Latvia, at 6 in every 1,000 births. Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, and Norway beat the U.S. by a landslide, at approximately one-third the death rate. Every year, 16,000 newborn deaths occur in this country, mostly linked with low birth weights and premature delivery. This suggests a surprising lack of prenatal care and, indeed, measures of mothers' well-being ranks extremely low in comparison to other industrialized nations.
African-Americans suffer almost twice the national average of infant mortality, at 9 in every 1,000 -- which is closer to developing nations' statistics than to industrialized ones. Black babies born in the U.S. are also twice as likely to be premature and have a low birth rate than their white counterparts.
Throw in scandals -- like drug companies enticing doctors with "free" gifts and dinners to sell their medications, or multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company investments in medical schools -- and it looks like a gloomy picture, indeed. Michael Moore's summer release of Sicko, though sure to be controversial, undeniably raises a subject on the national consciousness.
While it is painfully obvious that something must be done -- and quickly -- the next step is not so clear. States such as Hawaii and Massachusetts have taken their own initiatives with state-provided health insurance, resulting in nearly 90% of their residents having insurance, and therefore better access to care. California has debated its own measures, as well as many Midwestern states.
It's not a straight-forward debate, by any means. While nations providing universal healthcare rank higher in overall standings, the U.S. is still considered a leader when it comes to breakthrough technologies and treatment options. A balance must be struck between revolutionary research and making sure more people actually have access to its results. Reports on new HIV drugs, for instance, hint that turning HIV and AIDS into a chronic, versus fatal, condition is just around the corner...but those medications are expensive, and not everyone in the U.S. has access to them.
Residents of the U.S., however, have done little to push the initiative. The surprising lack of attention on the issue in political debates reflects the fact that voters do not choose their candidate primarily based on his or her plans for future healthcare reform. And, time and again, it has been proven that the masses' outspoken push for measures is what gets things done on Capitol Hill. In the end, it's really time for us -- the people -- to decide how to dig ourselves out of this one.
According to the report, residents of the United States receive the poorest quality of care, yet pay the most for it, among six of the top industrialized nations, including Germany, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The findings were based on measures including quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes of healthcare. Germany took the overall first place ranking, followed by Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
While the other five nations on the list provide universal healthcare, the U.S., with its unorganized mixture of employer-funded care, private insurance, and government programs, leaves nearly 48 million throughout the country with no insurance whatsoever. Ominously, the Fund also linked lack of insurance with poorer quality of care in another report released this month.
Texas ranks at the very bottom of the nation in numbers of people left uninsured, at just over 25%. With high incidences of poverty, unemployment, and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, the state stands to gain more than most by measures to update the healthcare and/or to make insurance available to more of the population. Most of those lacking insurance do not receive pertinent preventative care, resulting in increased long-term costs to health, as well as to the state and federal governments.
Particularly in the larger cities of Dallas, Houston, and Austin -- where many from rural areas of the state come seeking care, overburdening the system further -- change would be welcomed.
Activists and members of Congress are calling for an overhaul of the overburdened and outdated system, with suggestions ranging from instituting America's own universal healthcare, to subsidizing private insurance companies in order to make healthcare coverage available to all, regardless of income.
Obviously, it's an issue that needs to be closely analyzed, as it is "pretty undisputable that we spend twice what other countries spend on average," as reported by The Commonwealth Fund. While, in comparison to other industrialized nations, the U.S. has the fewest patients seeing a regular doctor (16%), is the least wired (working with the fewest electronic records, and receiving the fewest electronic updates on disease treatment options), and has one of the highest infant mortality rates, we are actually spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as Germany, at $6,102. Canada spends $3,165 per capita, Australia $2,876, Britain $2,546, and New Zealand $2,083.
The U.S. also has one of the longest emergency room waiting times, takes an average of four months to deliver elective surgery, and is considered one of the less "convenient" nations when it comes to general healthcare. Sixty-one percent of Americans surveyed found it "somewhat" or "very difficult" to receive care on nights or weekends.
What is most shocking perhaps, is the relatively high infant mortality rate, at 5 in every 1,000. The U.S. is tied with Poland, Hungary, Malta, and Slovakia for this statistic, and, among the 32 industrialized nations surveyed, ranked only above Latvia, at 6 in every 1,000 births. Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, and Norway beat the U.S. by a landslide, at approximately one-third the death rate. Every year, 16,000 newborn deaths occur in this country, mostly linked with low birth weights and premature delivery. This suggests a surprising lack of prenatal care and, indeed, measures of mothers' well-being ranks extremely low in comparison to other industrialized nations.
African-Americans suffer almost twice the national average of infant mortality, at 9 in every 1,000 -- which is closer to developing nations' statistics than to industrialized ones. Black babies born in the U.S. are also twice as likely to be premature and have a low birth rate than their white counterparts.
Throw in scandals -- like drug companies enticing doctors with "free" gifts and dinners to sell their medications, or multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company investments in medical schools -- and it looks like a gloomy picture, indeed. Michael Moore's summer release of Sicko, though sure to be controversial, undeniably raises a subject on the national consciousness.
While it is painfully obvious that something must be done -- and quickly -- the next step is not so clear. States such as Hawaii and Massachusetts have taken their own initiatives with state-provided health insurance, resulting in nearly 90% of their residents having insurance, and therefore better access to care. California has debated its own measures, as well as many Midwestern states.
It's not a straight-forward debate, by any means. While nations providing universal healthcare rank higher in overall standings, the U.S. is still considered a leader when it comes to breakthrough technologies and treatment options. A balance must be struck between revolutionary research and making sure more people actually have access to its results. Reports on new HIV drugs, for instance, hint that turning HIV and AIDS into a chronic, versus fatal, condition is just around the corner...but those medications are expensive, and not everyone in the U.S. has access to them.
Residents of the U.S., however, have done little to push the initiative. The surprising lack of attention on the issue in political debates reflects the fact that voters do not choose their candidate primarily based on his or her plans for future healthcare reform. And, time and again, it has been proven that the masses' outspoken push for measures is what gets things done on Capitol Hill. In the end, it's really time for us -- the people -- to decide how to dig ourselves out of this one.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Integrated Healthcare Systems
The world of healthcare is always changing. When you think back to healthcare and health services back when our parents and grandparents were children and then compare things to healthcare today things are drastically different. One thing that has changed and developed and also continues to change and develop as we speak is what is called the integrated healthcare systems. Sometimes also referred to as multi-care providers or multi-care treatment, these systems intend on focusing on convenience for the client or patient and ease of working through the system. Typically these systems cover a wide area of travel and are operated through multiple levels. The systems also incorporate many different types of services including medical services and general health and wellness services as well. The goal is the get you healthy and to keep you that way with this type of integrated system.
A system such as Manhattan Illinois healthcare has many different offices and services connected to it. There is typically a large hospital that would be the main center and then many other clinics, offices, and even smaller hospitals that feed into and work off of or from the larger hospital. Patients can visit a doctor in a medical center or office and expect to the same level of service if they visit a different doctor, hospital, or other provider that is within the same integrated healthcare systems. There is also the benefit of having your medical records contained in the same system so that you don't have as much trouble trying to track down a get your medical records to all your different doctors.
Information is many times also maintained in the integrated healthcare systems information center so that if you visit Monee healthcare instead of another center then your information can be located because it is all consider the same provider. In a way this is like an umbrella system that covers the patient. There can be advantages for a patient and the goal of the integrated healthcare system is to make the experience better for both the patient and for the healthcare providers as well.
This way of providing care for patients is drastically different than how the doctors and nurses may have provided care in the past but one could say that it is an attempt on a large scale to make patients feel similar. A doctor from Manteno healthcare is not likely to come to your home to provide care but the hope would be that because you are in this network of healthcare and provided quality and uniform care that you may feel somewhat like your father or grandfather felt with the doctor at their home.
A system such as Manhattan Illinois healthcare has many different offices and services connected to it. There is typically a large hospital that would be the main center and then many other clinics, offices, and even smaller hospitals that feed into and work off of or from the larger hospital. Patients can visit a doctor in a medical center or office and expect to the same level of service if they visit a different doctor, hospital, or other provider that is within the same integrated healthcare systems. There is also the benefit of having your medical records contained in the same system so that you don't have as much trouble trying to track down a get your medical records to all your different doctors.
Information is many times also maintained in the integrated healthcare systems information center so that if you visit Monee healthcare instead of another center then your information can be located because it is all consider the same provider. In a way this is like an umbrella system that covers the patient. There can be advantages for a patient and the goal of the integrated healthcare system is to make the experience better for both the patient and for the healthcare providers as well.
This way of providing care for patients is drastically different than how the doctors and nurses may have provided care in the past but one could say that it is an attempt on a large scale to make patients feel similar. A doctor from Manteno healthcare is not likely to come to your home to provide care but the hope would be that because you are in this network of healthcare and provided quality and uniform care that you may feel somewhat like your father or grandfather felt with the doctor at their home.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Evolution Of Integrated Health Care Delivery Systems And The Singularity
If one had to design a health care system that would seem doomed to failure one might start with one in which the providers of care were fragmented, independent and driven through the reimbursement system to provide ever more services that generate higher income on a fee for service basis. The system would provide care to patients who were isolated from the economic costs of the services by third party payments, through employer funded insurance coverage. Third party payers would make their money through reducing premium payouts, by simply delaying or not paying out what they contracted to provide or extorting deep provider discounts in exchange for directed volume. The approach to care of individual patients would be ad hoc, without significant oversight. Severely ill patients would be passed back and forth by all providers like the black queen of spades in a deck of cards. Bad debts would be written off as "charity care." Insurance premiums would rise faster than the world's oceans in global warming. Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, in an contentious and polarized political democracy little can be done to re-design an antiquated, inefficient, ineffective, and bankrupting cowboy system of health care delivery in a focused, comprehensive way that will likely make a real difference. There are just too many moving parts and special interests involved. There is, however, an incremental change underway as a result of the recent health care reform efforts that have the potential to morph the system into a paradigm that makes more practical sense. Medicare will be providing contracts with Accountable Care Organizations that will have to become clinically integrated systems of efficient hospitals and care providers in order to obtain adequate reimbursement. Expect to see these new systems expanding in the private sector as well.
The government's push toward implementation of global electronic medical records systems will be key to the development of data driven systems competing not only for financial gain, but also for quality in performance and outcomes. Data capability inaugurates performance accountability in managing patient care. With the advent of reliable data there will be more and more focus on evidence based medicine, what works and what does not and we will be moving from a largely intuitive approach to an empirical design in health care delivery. Outliers will be reviewed, evaluated and addressed. The focus will be on system based accountability in providing the most effective method of care and the most reasonable price. This can only occur if hospitals and care providers are focused on and are compensated for the delivery of health not the delivery of care. Look to the rise and advance of fully integrated health care systems compensated in global fixed fees, and view the decay and death of fee for service medicine.
The pace of technology development in the form of electronic medical records, smart electronic medical devices and in communication, storage and cloud computer functioning, augers the potential for what what Ray Kurzweil describes as the "Singularity."
What then is the singularity? It's a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian nor dystopian, this epoch will transform concepts that we rely on to give meaning to our lives from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself.
Unfortunately, in an contentious and polarized political democracy little can be done to re-design an antiquated, inefficient, ineffective, and bankrupting cowboy system of health care delivery in a focused, comprehensive way that will likely make a real difference. There are just too many moving parts and special interests involved. There is, however, an incremental change underway as a result of the recent health care reform efforts that have the potential to morph the system into a paradigm that makes more practical sense. Medicare will be providing contracts with Accountable Care Organizations that will have to become clinically integrated systems of efficient hospitals and care providers in order to obtain adequate reimbursement. Expect to see these new systems expanding in the private sector as well.
The government's push toward implementation of global electronic medical records systems will be key to the development of data driven systems competing not only for financial gain, but also for quality in performance and outcomes. Data capability inaugurates performance accountability in managing patient care. With the advent of reliable data there will be more and more focus on evidence based medicine, what works and what does not and we will be moving from a largely intuitive approach to an empirical design in health care delivery. Outliers will be reviewed, evaluated and addressed. The focus will be on system based accountability in providing the most effective method of care and the most reasonable price. This can only occur if hospitals and care providers are focused on and are compensated for the delivery of health not the delivery of care. Look to the rise and advance of fully integrated health care systems compensated in global fixed fees, and view the decay and death of fee for service medicine.
The pace of technology development in the form of electronic medical records, smart electronic medical devices and in communication, storage and cloud computer functioning, augers the potential for what what Ray Kurzweil describes as the "Singularity."
What then is the singularity? It's a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian nor dystopian, this epoch will transform concepts that we rely on to give meaning to our lives from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself.
Does the United States Healthcare System Need an Overhaul?
Healthcare is undoubtedly one of the United States' biggest challenges today. Having been declared "broken" by experts over ten years ago, the system has still not shown any improvements. Supposed "fixes" promised by managed care have not surfaced. Instead, health insurance premiums are rising, hassles for patients and physicians continue, and more than 45 million Americans are uninsured.
If the challenges with healthcare that the United States faces are not met swiftly and wisely, the current problems will worsen and new challenges will arise. Even considering that new technology, such as online medical consultations, will increase efficiency, the cost of new tests and treatments are projected to outweigh the savings. As physicians and online doctors get better at treating ailments and illnesses, they will in turn lengthen patients' lives, thereby increasing the number of people requiring medical care.
Additionally, as costs rise, many employers will not be able to handle providing healthcare benefits to their employees. This is just one contributing factor to the growing number of uninsured citizens.
Is Healthcare Reform in Our Near Future?
President Obama has plans in motion to ensure each and every American has access to high quality health care, deeming it "one of the most important challenges of our time." He stated that the number of uninsured Americans is growing, premiums are skyrocketing, and an increasing number of people are being denied coverage every day. In addition, President Obama believes that an improved healthcare system - including one that supports the use of telemedicine and online doctor consultations - is also essential to rebuilding the U.S. economy, in that an improved system will benefit people and businesses - not just insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
According to Darrell M. West, Vice President, Governance Studies at Brookings Institution, "the biggest obstacle to health care reform is fear of the unknown. Anytime you make fundamental changes in the system, there is going to be anxiety from doctors worried about reimbursement levels, patients concerned over access to care, insurers about market competition, and hospitals about cost structures. In this situation of complex proposals and unknowable consequences, it is easy to play to people's fears and scare them into resisting change. What President Obama has to do is persuade people that diving into the unknown future is less risky than the current status quo. If he can overcome the fear hurdle, he will get health care reform."
We Have Evolved...It's Time for Healthcare to Evolve, Too
The way of approaching healthcare in the United States has become outdated. With the rapidly expanding array of technology that is available to the people of the United States, it is no wonder why the way research is done has changed; and the ways in which people communicate has also changed. So what about change in the healthcare system? It is due time for physicians and other healthcare providers to evolve with the times and incorporate telehealth services, such as online medical consultations and online prescriptions, into their practices.
Datamonitor has predicted that the global telehealth market is expected to exceed $8 billion by the year 2012. Telemedicine (often used synonymously with telehealth) is the use of medical information being exchanged from one to another via electronic communication, whether it is the internet or phone. This exchanged medical information in the form of online doctor consultations and printable doctors' excuses online in turn is used to improve the patient's health or direct them in the right path.
Commonly referred to as online medical consultation services, telemedicine is not different from the actual practice of medicine; it is just the application of the standard, accepted practice of medicine, to electronic communication, thus making it more widely accessible and easier to obtain by the general public. With technology at everyone's fingertips, it is no wonder that a rapidly increasing number of people are turning to the internet for online doctor consultations and printable doctors' excuses. To date, approximately 36 million Americans have already been treated by telemedicine through online doctor consultations and/or prescriptions. A survey showed that over 70% of patients indicate that they are willing to try online doctor consultations and online prescription services rather than going into an office when they have a minor illness.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reported that possibly 70% of all doctors visits are for information or a consultation of sorts that could easily be handled over a phone. All of these visits cost medical providers and patients alike for the unnecessary trips. It has been estimated that as much as $300 billion of health care costs are wasteful and unnecessary, thus resulting in higher insurance costs for groups and individuals alike.
Are These Goals Within United States' Reach?
The three targeted goals when it comes to improving the U.S. healthcare system according to President Obama are the following:
o Reform the healthcare system;
o Promote scientific and technological advancements; and
o Improve preventative care
With the rapid advancement of telemedicine, or online doctor consultation and online prescription services, the aforementioned goals are most definitely within our reach.
For premium telemedicine or "ask a doctor" services, consult with qualified, fully licensed U.S. physicians, or online doctors, on KoolDocs.com. KoolDocs.com telemedicine service offers patients increased access to health care services with added convenience and affordability. KoolDocs.com helps patients avoid the hassle of having to go into the doctor's office for acute simple medical conditions such as bronchitis, colds, coughs, flu, ear infections, sinus infections, laryngitis, sore throats, upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, smoking cessation, shingles, athlete's foot, acne, rashes, insomnia, weight loss, herpes, and more. Unlike waiting hours for the typical doctor's office to call back, KoolDocs.com physicians return patients' calls within a one- to three-hour window of time, or whenever is most convenient for the patient. For online doctor consultations, printable doctors' excuses.
If the challenges with healthcare that the United States faces are not met swiftly and wisely, the current problems will worsen and new challenges will arise. Even considering that new technology, such as online medical consultations, will increase efficiency, the cost of new tests and treatments are projected to outweigh the savings. As physicians and online doctors get better at treating ailments and illnesses, they will in turn lengthen patients' lives, thereby increasing the number of people requiring medical care.
Additionally, as costs rise, many employers will not be able to handle providing healthcare benefits to their employees. This is just one contributing factor to the growing number of uninsured citizens.
Is Healthcare Reform in Our Near Future?
President Obama has plans in motion to ensure each and every American has access to high quality health care, deeming it "one of the most important challenges of our time." He stated that the number of uninsured Americans is growing, premiums are skyrocketing, and an increasing number of people are being denied coverage every day. In addition, President Obama believes that an improved healthcare system - including one that supports the use of telemedicine and online doctor consultations - is also essential to rebuilding the U.S. economy, in that an improved system will benefit people and businesses - not just insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
According to Darrell M. West, Vice President, Governance Studies at Brookings Institution, "the biggest obstacle to health care reform is fear of the unknown. Anytime you make fundamental changes in the system, there is going to be anxiety from doctors worried about reimbursement levels, patients concerned over access to care, insurers about market competition, and hospitals about cost structures. In this situation of complex proposals and unknowable consequences, it is easy to play to people's fears and scare them into resisting change. What President Obama has to do is persuade people that diving into the unknown future is less risky than the current status quo. If he can overcome the fear hurdle, he will get health care reform."
We Have Evolved...It's Time for Healthcare to Evolve, Too
The way of approaching healthcare in the United States has become outdated. With the rapidly expanding array of technology that is available to the people of the United States, it is no wonder why the way research is done has changed; and the ways in which people communicate has also changed. So what about change in the healthcare system? It is due time for physicians and other healthcare providers to evolve with the times and incorporate telehealth services, such as online medical consultations and online prescriptions, into their practices.
Datamonitor has predicted that the global telehealth market is expected to exceed $8 billion by the year 2012. Telemedicine (often used synonymously with telehealth) is the use of medical information being exchanged from one to another via electronic communication, whether it is the internet or phone. This exchanged medical information in the form of online doctor consultations and printable doctors' excuses online in turn is used to improve the patient's health or direct them in the right path.
Commonly referred to as online medical consultation services, telemedicine is not different from the actual practice of medicine; it is just the application of the standard, accepted practice of medicine, to electronic communication, thus making it more widely accessible and easier to obtain by the general public. With technology at everyone's fingertips, it is no wonder that a rapidly increasing number of people are turning to the internet for online doctor consultations and printable doctors' excuses. To date, approximately 36 million Americans have already been treated by telemedicine through online doctor consultations and/or prescriptions. A survey showed that over 70% of patients indicate that they are willing to try online doctor consultations and online prescription services rather than going into an office when they have a minor illness.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reported that possibly 70% of all doctors visits are for information or a consultation of sorts that could easily be handled over a phone. All of these visits cost medical providers and patients alike for the unnecessary trips. It has been estimated that as much as $300 billion of health care costs are wasteful and unnecessary, thus resulting in higher insurance costs for groups and individuals alike.
Are These Goals Within United States' Reach?
The three targeted goals when it comes to improving the U.S. healthcare system according to President Obama are the following:
o Reform the healthcare system;
o Promote scientific and technological advancements; and
o Improve preventative care
With the rapid advancement of telemedicine, or online doctor consultation and online prescription services, the aforementioned goals are most definitely within our reach.
For premium telemedicine or "ask a doctor" services, consult with qualified, fully licensed U.S. physicians, or online doctors, on KoolDocs.com. KoolDocs.com telemedicine service offers patients increased access to health care services with added convenience and affordability. KoolDocs.com helps patients avoid the hassle of having to go into the doctor's office for acute simple medical conditions such as bronchitis, colds, coughs, flu, ear infections, sinus infections, laryngitis, sore throats, upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, smoking cessation, shingles, athlete's foot, acne, rashes, insomnia, weight loss, herpes, and more. Unlike waiting hours for the typical doctor's office to call back, KoolDocs.com physicians return patients' calls within a one- to three-hour window of time, or whenever is most convenient for the patient. For online doctor consultations, printable doctors' excuses.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Medical Alert Systems - A Life Line for Seniors
A personal emergency response system can save your elderly loved one's life in the event of a sudden illness or accident. How do you choose the best senior alert system? In today's feature, we'll review the most popular senior alert systems.
Med Alerts for Seniors
More and more seniors are living alone and wish to maintain their independence. They don't want to leave their home and move in with relatives or go into a senior residence. But if you're like millions of people who worry about an aging loved one, you need to know they're safe and sound. Luckily, today's medical alert devices can help you and your special senior citizen make safe independent living practical.
Medical Alert Systems: How They Work
Senior medical alerts systems are comprised of a push-button call device that activates an intercom device. The push button is worn around the neck as a pendant, around the wrist like a watch or clipped on the belt. Most companies offer all three choices.
When the call button is pressed it activates the monitoring system, which is essentially an intercom device that connects the senior with the monitoring company. The monitoring company's call center then calls the home and attempts to speak with the senior. Based upon the response they get from the senior, the company will follow a predetermined protocol. For example, if the button was pressed accidentally or just to test the device the call center will note the incident - they will not send 911 every time the button is pressed.
What You Need To Know
The call-button has a limited transmission range which is adequate for most homes. But if you wander out of range, the push button will not work. Some monitoring services will be alerted when the transmission device stops working (whether it is because the device is out of range, the battery is dead or other malfunction) - but many cheap monitoring systems do not have this feature. Make sure you pick the right one.
Another important point, with standard senior alerts if the wearer does not or cannot push the panic button, help won't come. If the wearer is unconscious, disoriented and can't push the button, the device won't be of much use. That's why many people choose a device with fall-detection. Many providers advertise "fall detection," but research shows that too often these devices don't detect falls in the real world. That's because these devices are only triggered by a sudden, violent drop - and that's not always the way falls happen in the real world.
Many elderly people fall down by slumping down to the floor. They might feel dizzy so they hold on to the wall and slump to the floor rather than dropping from upright to flat out. When people fall like this, these so-called "fall detectors are useless. So, what is the solution?
We like my Halo for true fall detection. Their device is worn under the clothing and besides being a call-button, it can detect when the wearer stops moving unexpectedly, when their skin temperature is outside the norm and even heart rate changes. It's an affordable service that offers more protection than the standard panic button system. But - since it has to be worn under the clothing and against the skin you may find that your elderly relative may resist wearing it at first. The good news is that it is light-weight and they will get used to wearing it. After a while they won't even notice they're wearing it.
Med Alerts for Seniors
More and more seniors are living alone and wish to maintain their independence. They don't want to leave their home and move in with relatives or go into a senior residence. But if you're like millions of people who worry about an aging loved one, you need to know they're safe and sound. Luckily, today's medical alert devices can help you and your special senior citizen make safe independent living practical.
Medical Alert Systems: How They Work
Senior medical alerts systems are comprised of a push-button call device that activates an intercom device. The push button is worn around the neck as a pendant, around the wrist like a watch or clipped on the belt. Most companies offer all three choices.
When the call button is pressed it activates the monitoring system, which is essentially an intercom device that connects the senior with the monitoring company. The monitoring company's call center then calls the home and attempts to speak with the senior. Based upon the response they get from the senior, the company will follow a predetermined protocol. For example, if the button was pressed accidentally or just to test the device the call center will note the incident - they will not send 911 every time the button is pressed.
What You Need To Know
The call-button has a limited transmission range which is adequate for most homes. But if you wander out of range, the push button will not work. Some monitoring services will be alerted when the transmission device stops working (whether it is because the device is out of range, the battery is dead or other malfunction) - but many cheap monitoring systems do not have this feature. Make sure you pick the right one.
Another important point, with standard senior alerts if the wearer does not or cannot push the panic button, help won't come. If the wearer is unconscious, disoriented and can't push the button, the device won't be of much use. That's why many people choose a device with fall-detection. Many providers advertise "fall detection," but research shows that too often these devices don't detect falls in the real world. That's because these devices are only triggered by a sudden, violent drop - and that's not always the way falls happen in the real world.
Many elderly people fall down by slumping down to the floor. They might feel dizzy so they hold on to the wall and slump to the floor rather than dropping from upright to flat out. When people fall like this, these so-called "fall detectors are useless. So, what is the solution?
We like my Halo for true fall detection. Their device is worn under the clothing and besides being a call-button, it can detect when the wearer stops moving unexpectedly, when their skin temperature is outside the norm and even heart rate changes. It's an affordable service that offers more protection than the standard panic button system. But - since it has to be worn under the clothing and against the skin you may find that your elderly relative may resist wearing it at first. The good news is that it is light-weight and they will get used to wearing it. After a while they won't even notice they're wearing it.
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