As every hospital continues to embrace HealthIT for their organization, there are some concerns amongst the CIOs’ about network security. A recent survey by College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), which polled almost 200 members working for healthcare organizations, revealed that malware attacks and data theft are the major concerns amongst information security and chief information officers at hospitals.

While every other organization uses social media to bolster their presence in the market, hospitals are generally clueless on how it can impact their practice. This cluelessness arises from the fact that healthcare was always a need-driven organization where patients came when they were sick or injured.

After a listening tour and nearly 4,000 public comments, CMS released the final rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, a landmark payment system for Medicare physician fees that replaces the sustainable growth rate formula.

The availability of digital health tools doesn’t ensure its usage and a lot of factors can impact adoption amongst users. The University of Texas recently conducted a survey to study the divide between health literacy and adoption of health information technology to see if there’s any correlation.

Imagine the state of healthcare and healthcare information technology in five years. What will it look like? Will healthcare provide more – or less – value? Will care be better coordinated? Will patients be more engaged? What about interoperability?

Customers were always empowered, but patients were not even aware or informed about their health till some five years back. With the advent of technology, emergence of health tech startups and changes in healthcare policy, physicians are making every effort to involve the patients throughout the treatment process to ensure the best outcome. As a result, patients these days expect a lot more than few over-the-counter medicines and advice.