Jennifer Garces de Marcilla
Healthcare Cybersecurity: Securing Your Digital ...

Cyberattacks targeting the supply chain are an increasingly prevalent threat in the healthcare industry, especially as the modern healthcare supply chain contains significant digital elements, such as the patient engagement vendors that provide public-facing digital tools. These third-party apps and patient-facing tools process sensitive patient data and connect with a healthcare organization’s source systems on the supply chain. As such, they are tempting targets for cybercriminals, who can sell this data on the black market or lock it up with ransomware until they are paid.

Healthcare Cybersecurity: Securing Your Digital Supply Chain & Patient-Facing Tech
Jennifer Garces de Marcilla
The Role of mHealth Solutions In Patient ...

Patient education is about more than simply spreading knowledge about the disease. It can also empower patients to better live with their condition and avoid complications–an approach known as therapeutic patient education[¹]

The Role of mHealth Solutions In Patient Education
Guest Post
How to Increase Patient Adoption of Digital ...

Digital technology can do wonders when it comes to streamlining the work of delivering efficient quality care to patients. The use of patient portals, EHRs, mhealth apps, and wearable tech can all empower patients to be more active in their healthcare, get faster treatment, and access preventative care earlier on. But with all the capabilities of modern technology, we find that many patients are slow to adopt digital tools. If this is the case for your healthcare organization, we recommend the following tips to increase adoption.

How to Increase Patient Adoption of Digital Tools
Guest Post
Technology Integration Challenges in Connected ...

Technology has a lot of potential to improve efficiency and health outcomes in the complex practice of healthcare, from time-sensitive interventions in the hospital environment to long-term preventative measures among patient populations. Diagnostics, data management, patient engagement, and personalized medicine all stand to benefit from greater technology integration in a holistic, connected care model. Despite this, there are many hurdles that prevent technology from being adopted as quickly or effectively as it could be. Let’s take a look at the challenges contemporary healthcare organizations face.

Technology Integration Challenges in Connected Care
Guest Post
The 7 Essentials Steps For a Secure Patient ...

Healthcare services are meeting patient demand by becoming increasingly digitized. These digital healthcare services are often developed by third parties and access electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management (RCM) systems, and other databases that include sensitive and legally protected information. While these electronic services are beneficial to both patients and providers, they create an increasingly complex software supply chain, with more potential vulnerabilities that are being targeted by hackers[¹]. Healthcare providers can find it difficult to manage effective oversight of these supply chains - including the relationships between different software tools, who has access to what data, and where there might be potential weaknesses.

The 7 Essentials Steps For a Secure Patient Portal

340B DOES Benefit the Patient!

340B DOES Benefit the Patient!

Congress created the 340B program in 1992 to help uninsured indigent patients gain better access to prescription medications and to allow health centers stretch scarce federal resources.  The 340B program is vitally important for safety net providers and their most vulnerable patients.  It lowers drug costs for providers, allowing them to pass along these savings to their patients and maintain and expand other health care services.  Congress intended for covered entities to use the benefit of the discount to reach more eligible patients and provide more comprehensive services, and the 340B program has met these essential goals.

“The NLRB said what? We were certain our Human Resources functions were legal”

“The NLRB said what? We were certain our Human Resources functions were legal”

Do your policies and/or employee handbook forbid your employees from sharing information about their own wage and benefit packages with other employees? If so, it’s important to note that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has a different opinion and your health care facility might be found in violation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As a consultant providing services to health care organizations on matters of human resources and health care compliance, I often find employers with policies that put them at risk. 

Your Employment Budget is too Precious to Waste on the Wrong People

Your Employment Budget is too Precious to Waste on the Wrong People

As every one of my clients has heard at one time or another, I plan on writing a book some day, and it’s going to have a chapter entitled “management spends 95% of its time on the 5% of its employees that provide the least value.”   I will certainly need a more pithy chapter title at some point, but be patient with me for now.   Some time into our discussions, people eventually nod their heads and say “yes, that’s true,” and then often launch into a conversation about the number of times that has happened to them.  Unbeknownst to them (but beknownst to us!) we are now adding on to the time we’ve wasted on those same people, well after they are gone.   The corollary to the chapter title is an exercise in simple math, which breaks down to: “we spend almost no time on our best people.”

I could just stop there.

But I won’t.

More than 7 Million Enrolled, But Who Will Provide Their Care?

More than 7 Million Enrolled, But Who Will Provide Their Care?

More Than 7 Million Sign Up for Health Coverage, the headlines boast.

However, just as millions of Americans are obtaining insurance coverage through the federal health law, many primary care doctors are retiring early, converting their practices to concierge or joining large healthcare and hospital groups. The primary care physician, also known as a “provider,” may be headed toward extinction. 

The Importance of a Gift Acceptance Policy for an FQHC - Part 1 (Scope and Purpose)

The Importance of a Gift Acceptance Policy for an FQHC - Part 1 (Scope and Purpose)

FQHC Associates is often asked about the role private philanthropy can play in the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) arena.  Traditionally, FQHCs have two main sources of revenue: federal grants and patient service fee revenue.  Although many FQHCs maintain fundraising as a revenue stream, they can be hesitant to pursue larger estate gifts, restricted gifts or gifts of complex assets.  These charitable gifts, whether current or planned (e.g. a gift from the donor’s estate) can further diversify a center’s revenue stream.  However, if the FQHC is not careful, that surprise gift that looks like a “game changer” can also be a hindrance to the organization’s mission.  That is why a strong gift acceptance policy is crucial.

 
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