Friday, March 27, 2015

A Cognitive Risk Stratification Assessment Saves Resources and Saves Lives

Modern technology has a lot to offer today.Combined with life sciences it has changed the way we live. The healthcare industry is a prime example where the collaborative efforts between medicine and technology are clearly visible. This association has made saving lives easier than ever.

Although, the new ICD-10 standards require revamping of codes, they provide a more robust structure to create the algorithms for patient predictive datawarehouse applications. These software programs successfully predict events before they occur with accuracy up to 90%. These statistics are extremely crucial for accurate risk assessments and predictions.

Lot of resources are wasted on the disparity in diagnoses and the treatment of patients. While different monitoring techniques spend valuable resources, patient suffering escalates. A comprehensive module devised to predict a condition using population health predictive solution is very effective for patient risk stratification. Sustainable use of such technologies in a hospital setting helps divert the right resources where they are needed the most. Thus, compliance can be more cost-effective and resource-friendly if integrated into such an algorithm and that in turn helps reduce patient suffering and saves lives.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Revolutionary operational changes needed for ICD-10 clinics


A lot of time has elapsed since the announcement and the subsequent delay of induction of ICD-10 codes. The stage is set for the transition of health care to a mammoth 70,000-code system. The challenge now lies with the providers who have to invest time to train their personnel in addition to manage incurred expenses. The EHR (Electronic Health Record) and billing systems need updating in accordance with the specified standards. The transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 will bring about a radical change in healthcare that will accommodate newly developed diagnoses and procedures, innovations in technology and treatment, performance-based payment systems, and more accurate billing requirements. ICD-10 ambulatory clinics are believed to have fully established themselves by now as October is looming.

Based on the new ICD norms, a complete overhaul of the technological inventory might be required ahead of this transition. All the devices, platforms, software, and tech assists, which were previously based on an ICD-9 construct, need to be remodeled according to the latest update. Now is not the time to get an insight over how the transition will affect your practice. ICD-10 has already been delayed, and the first of October is just a few months away. The simple fact is that changes have to be made, and in compliance with the standards.

In ICD-10, physicians would be required to populate detailed reports about the medical conditions and the procedures performed at various stages of treatment. Although, there are certain similarities with the former version, ICD-10 codes are a lot more specific and exhaustive. 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Predicting Hospital Acquired Conditions Saves Your Bottom Line and Saves Lives

Differential diagnosis can get doctors in a spot. Similar symptoms and numerous conditions intersecting with each other sometimes cause a fault in the diagnosis. It results in the wrong line of treatment hence, further escalation of problems for the patient. Another added factor is healthcare acquired infections. Sometimes patients develop infections due to poor conditions at a hospital or a healthcare facility, or due to hospital staff not following proper procedures and hygiene. This results in increased patient suffering, long length of stay, loss of resources for the hospital and even loss of lives. 

Measures for prevention of healthcare acquired infections should take precedence in hospital settings. This would result in helping stop the unnecessary loss of resources and even save patient lives. Modern software applications that can predict an infection before it occurs contribute largely to the reduction of hospital acquired infections, which further reduces the stress on the hospital resources. These resources can being turn allocated to places where they are required the most. Although, many hospitals vehemently deny such occurrences, unfortunately, they do happen. While all contingencies cannot be covered, it is important to predict the occurrences of infections in hospital or healthcare settings to optimize and maximize resource allocation while saving lives.