Virtual assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa are now part of many people’s everyday life (they turn on their music for them, answer their questions and are an ever present companion in their lives). However, there is burgeoning research and theory that suggests that they may be useful in helping build an appropriate care package for those with dementia. So, let’s explore the evidence. Here are some ways in which these technologies...
The world has been changing at a rapid pace over the past two decades with endless tech innovations all designed to make life easier, or so they promise. The younger generation, who have grown up in this time of rapid change, take all this new technology in their stride. But what about seniors and elderly people? There can be a major learning curve for older people when it comes to any technology because there was...
The world of medicine has come a long way in the last 200 years or so and many scientific discoveries have been made. From simply identifying and preventing sicknesses at the turn of the century to the more recent smart inhalers and robotic surgery, you would think that the world of medicine couldn’t progress much more, but it has, and will continue to do so. One of the most recent and exciting discoveries related to...
Written by Helen Dempster, Chief Visionary Officer, Karantis360 As the ageing population grows and pressures on healthcare professionals mount, it has become clear that the care sector is strained. This is having an extremely negative impact on carers, and most importantly their clients, as they try to deliver a high quality level of care in a continuously pressured environment. Whilst the government is investing fundamental funds into the sector, it is important to question whether everyone...
Interoperability plays a fundamental role in the future of healthcare. By 2020 global healthcare data is expected to reach 2.3 billion gigabytes – a phenomenal amount – for all sorts of uses: vital signs data for monitoring conditions, high-resolution images to support diagnosis, or pharmacy records to understand which medicines should be prescribed. But this information needs to be in the right hands to be truly effective. Clinicians and carers can work smarter and provide...
Beckman Coulter, the global leader in clinical diagnostics, announced the launch of DxA 5000, a revolutionary automation solution designed to enable laboratories set a new standard for turnaround time. We conducted an interview with Dr. Christoph Moellers, Beckman Coulter’s Vice President & General Manager, Automation, to learn more about their work. Who is Beckman Coulter? Beckman Coulter is committed to advancing healthcare for every person by applying the power of science, technology and the passion...
For a majority of medical practices, hospitals, and healthcare systems, physician referrals are the backbone of the practice. It is essential for physicians to connect and build referral relationships with local physicians to help boost patient referrals and overall patient growth for the practice. With physician referrals as a large portion of the patient base, many physicians and practices have begun implementing physician liaison marketing programs. Physician liaisons allow the physician the ability to connect...
The Privacy Rule from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) provides rights related to personal healthcare protection, applies to covered entities – healthcare plans, providers, and data clearinghouses – according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Covered entities will typically contract with outside organizations such as law firms, and it is permissible under HIPAA for covered entities to share protected health information (PHI) with those third...
Even without dusting off a high school math book, most people would tell you that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Too often, we are unable to take that straight path to our intended destination, forcing us to take the long way, sometimes even landing us hopelessly gridlocked in traffic bottlenecks. This analogy is particularly apt when applied to the healthcare revenue cycle. To the uninitiated, the process looks simple enough:...
Missed medical appointments plague the healthcare industry. Unattended sessions cost the sector billions each year, and can have a significant effect on your own practice. Some medical practices have been known to experience no-show rates of 50%, although, typically, evidence suggests that urban clinics tend to see non-attendance rates of around 15-30%. From the missed office payment to the cost of overheads, the impact of failed attendance varies from practice to practice, but is always...
