In the chaotic initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of small businesses (including many specialty practices) in the U.S. found themselves forced to close their doors. To retain staff and avoid furloughs, many specialty practices had no choice but to submit applications to secure Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), that would make it possible for them to keep paying their employees during a period when revenue was reduced to almost nothing.

According to a report from Grandview research, the market for patient engagement solutions is expected to grow by 4x between now and 2026, reaching $56.92 billion USD. Patient engagement has become increasingly important in recent years, driven by a number of factors. First and foremost, you have two young and tech-savvy generations (millennials and Gen Z) coming into adulthood and expecting more personalized online options from their care providers. At the other end of the generational spectrum, there is the last of a large aging population of baby boomers entering their later years, many of whom desire to “age in place” without losing the personal touch they’ve come to expect from their care providers. In response to the surging demand these factors have caused, the healthcare industry is experiencing a boom in patient engagement solutions.

Halloween is upon us once again, little gremlins. This year’s Halloween was supposed to be legendary. It’s on a Saturday… on a full moon (a rare blue moon, to be exact)... and marks the end of Daylight Savings Time. Rarely is there such a perfect setting for Halloween antics! Alas, it was not meant to be. With social distancing and such, this year’s Halloween celebration won’t be the epic party that so many of us anticipated. But hey, at least we get to keep wearing masks for the rest of the year… so there’s that, I guess? In the ongoing horror show of 2020, what are most of us doing on a Halloween where we can’t have huge costume parties? Howl at the big blue moon, I guess… and binge watch scary movies, of course! In honor of the most sacred Halloween tradition of huddling together to watch horror movies, we give you the Top 10 ICD-10 Codes for Horror Movie Survivors.

In case you weren’t aware, October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. For those in the healthcare industry, unfortunately, cybersecurity awareness is something many are still lacking. According to a report from Hervajec Group, the healthcare industry is expected to spend $65 billion on cybersecurity from 2017 to 2021. All that money being spent, and yet healthcare remains one of the most frequently targeted and worst performing sectors when it comes to cyberattacks and data breaches. Why is that? Well, it is likely because while so much of that money is being spent on technology (antivirus software, firewalls, etc.), not enough time and money is being invested in the training of people.

In a blog article back in November of last year, we took a close look at the ongoing problem of physician and staff burnout in healthcare, as well as how EHR should be reducing the problem instead of adding to it. However, that was 2019. Needless to say, 2020 has turned out to be a completely different ballgame and the world we now live in is a very different place. Unfortunately, when it comes to burnout and mental health issues among healthcare workers, this situation has only worsened.

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released a broad update to CPT codes for 2021, including guidance for several new codes related to COVID-19. This update to the CPT code set was reviewed and approved by the CPT Editorial Panel convened by the AMA. This is seen as a rather significant event because it is the first AMA overhaul of office visit and outpatient E/M coding in more than 25 years. These new code changes range from 99201 to 99215 and are proposed to be adopted by CMS on January 1, 2021.

Having a specialty-specific EHR is important. However, subspecialty features are sometimes left out of EHR designs. Glaucoma specialists have their own particular needs, and the best EHR should be designed to meet them. For example, it can sometimes be difficult for glaucoma specialists to analyze patient trends over time in order to determine how they are responding to treatment. Also, it can be inefficient when you have to navigate through multiple areas of a patient’s chart to document glaucoma-related data.

Advancements in health IT have come to encompass a wide range of specialized EHR functionalities, including tools designed to address various specialty-specific documentation needs. However, many EHR and Practice Management (PM) solutions remain limited in this regard. A 2015 survey found that 77 percent of respondents were working with EHR solutions that were not designed for, or suited to, their specialties. The same study also found that 80 percent of physicians at the time were dissatisfied with their current EHR solutions. How things have changed in just five short years.