In the event of an outbreak, public health routinely strives to accurately identify all potential cases of disease. This process includes differentiating between the “worried well,” who may reference an infectious disease by name simply because it is receiving widespread media coverage, and patients who cite genuine causes for concern, like contact with an infected […]
The long-awaited ICD-10 compliance date of October 1, 2015 is fast approaching, and we’ve spoken with many concerned physicians and technical contacts at acute care facilities about how these changes may affect EpiCenter senders. EpiCenter has been capable of accepting ICD-10 codes since the initial ICD-10 compliance date of October 1, 2013, and over the […]
EpiCenter 3.1 is now live. Along with several bug fixes, there’s some new functionality geared toward making medical and triage notes reports more easily navigable. When a cell in the report contains lengthy triage or observation notes, it was previously difficult to expand the window enough to be able to read the full text. Now, […]
Several HMS staff members are headed to Philadelphia next week for the 2014 ISDS Conference. You can hear from us at the following talks: Impact of Demographics on Healthcare Utilization Who: Dr. Andrew Walsh Where: Columbus Ballroom C When: 10:30am to 10:50am on Wednesday December 10th*
As we’ve mentioned previously, the Health Monitoring Systems team has been hard at work on incorporating extensible data types into EpiCenter. These extensible data types include Triage Notes and Observations. Now that EpiCenter 3.0 has been released, we’re excited to share these new enhancements with our users.
“In a recent article on Venturebeat.com, an online publication covering tech news, Bryan Sivak, CTO of the Department of Health and Human Services, was quoted as saying: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if the CDC could be immediately alerted if a patient showed up at a clinic somewhere with a temperature of 104 degrees, and who […]
Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan visited the emergency department of a Dallas Hospital with a temperature of 100.1 degrees Fahrenheit, abdominal pain, decreased urination, and a sharp headache. He was sent home with antibiotics because it was not disclosed to the doctors on staff that Duncan had recently traveled from Liberia, where the disease has […]
We’ve written a lot about health care spending in the US, and about the ways we could lower costs and improve outcomes. This nicely-designed widget from the Institute of Medicine creates visualizations that further clarify the exorbitant costs of healthcare in the US, and also provides information on lowering costs and improving outcomes. Take a […]
We’ve been hearing a lot recently about Americans panicking over Ebola concerns. Ebola is highly infectious, and the outbreak in Africa has been met with sensational media reports about both the African outbreak and the (unlikely) possibility of a similar outbreak in North America. Following news of the confirmed case of the affected man in […]
The cost of healthcare in the United States is staggering. This is well-documented but bears repetition. In 2012, healthcare in the United State cost $2.8 trillion. Of this, 75% was related to chronic conditions. That 75% amounts to $2.1 trillion spent annually on treating chronic conditions.