Be In the Know: 5 Trends in Health IT

Be in the know when it comes to latest health IT trends. Whether you’re a doctor, health consultant, medical biller or a patient, these are the trends you should keep in mind and join in on for the remaining months of 2011 and for 2012.

Electronic Medical Records: Clearly I have bias for this trend, which is taking over exam rooms all over the world. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 80 percent of US hospitals and 41 percent of private practices plan to make use of the federal incentives by adopting EMRs. Look for medical practice walls become less cluttered with paper records and more with technology.
Competitive Environments: The competition is heating up and many new companies are appearing every day, ready to tackle the medical sector. Keep an eye out for acquisitions and funding for EMR and Healthcare organization around the globe. Earlier I blogged about how HIT investments are all the rage, read HERE.
Revenue Cycle Management: HIMSS Analytics say Medicare reimbursements are going to create a challenge for hospitals as they work to maintain their revenue cycle.
Social Media + Patient Engagement: Look out for more social channels popping up geared towards healthcare’s number one client: the patient. Whether its doctors reaching out to patients or patients connecting with each other, healthcare communities will be a big hit on social channels.
Interoperability: According to Michael Stevenson, director of product management at MediServe Corp., “[Interoperable systems] will allow for greater confidence of critical patient information being shared between systems for the improvement of patient safety and outcomes.”

What do you predict for the upcoming months and for 2012? Any trends you’d like to see or would like to cease?

Shea Steinberg

Shea Steinberg is a proactive Social Media Specialist at Practice Fusion. She maintains all of Practice Fusion’s social networks and is constantly promoting our EHR in the social media sphere. Also an active member of the EHRBlogger team, she writes about everything Healthcare IT, while using her sass to make a joke or two along the way. Whether it’s breaking news or a new social media tool for doctors, she’s on top of it. When not reaching out via social media, Shea cheers for her Alma mater, The University of Arizona (Go Wildcats!) and enjoys discovering new places in San Francisco. Connect with Shea: