This past year has been a landmark year for healthcare IT, government regulations and the growing use of electronic health records within medical practices. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, 2016 could be just as big. At the Bipartisan Policy Center event on interoperability and information sharing in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo detailed her hopes of implementing a nationwide health information exchange for the coming year.

When patients are in search of the right doctor or medical practice for their health needs, where do most go to evaluate their choices? The Internet. Review sites provide important information and feedback from current and/or former patients about specific practices, but the practice's website can also have a significant impact on the prospective patient's impression of that clinic. Therefore, it's vital that specialty practices, especially ones that rely more on elective procedures, have an engaging and impressive website. Here are three tips to help you accomplish just that.

According to data compiled by IBM X-Force Interactive Security Incidents, just shy of 100,000,000 healthcare records have been compromised by data breaches in 2015. And the vast majority of these breaches were experienced by practices operating in the United States. To make matters worse, the healthcare industry continues to be one of the leading sector for data breaches. Healthcare data breaches accounted for 8.4 percent of all cybersecurity incidents in 2015 (according to the IBM data). While a sizable chunk of those who experienced incidents (38.9 percent) chose not to disclose the cause, there was still enough data in the study to identify the top five most frequent cybersecurity threats that resulted healthcare data breaches in 2015.

Every year, Black Book Market Research releases 2015 healthcare industry surveys across multiple specialties, ranking the top electronic health record vendors in each specialty. We’re thrilled to announce that Nextech was ranked as the No. 1 Plastic Surgery EMR vendor in Black Book’s 2015 Plastic Surgery Survey! This newest accolade adds to what has already been a very exciting year for Nextech as we’ve introduced new tools, solutions and improvements since January. Our recognition as the top Plastic Surgery vendor further proves our position as the market leader in Plastic Surgery software.

Tomorrow marks two months since the official implementation of ICD-10 across the country. Much was made about the transition with detractors loudly vocalizing their concerns about the negative consequences ICD-10 would bring on medical practices. But what does the data say? KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms in the United States recently conducted a survey of nearly 300 healthcare IT professionals via a webcast to gauge just how successful or problematic the ICD-10 transition has been.

Every year, Black Book Market Research releases 2015 healthcare industry surveys across multiple specialties, ranking the top electronic health record vendors in each specialty. We’re thrilled to announce that Nextech's MDIntelleSys solution was ranked as the No. 1 Ophthalmology EHR vendor in Black Book’s 2015 Ophthalmology Survey! This newest accolade adds to what has already been a very exciting year for Nextech as we’ve introduced new tools, solutions and improvements since January. Here are the additional top rankings Nextech received from Black Book’s 2015 Ophthalmology Survey.

Ever wonder what state uses an electronic health record the most? Well, now we know. A survey conducted by Black Book Market Research analyzed how many medical practices -- of any size, specialty and location -- utilized their "EHR beyond basic functionalities" in each state.

A recent study conducted and released by NetSfere Enterprise Messaging took a close look at how messaging apps are being used in today’s business world. Some of the study’s findings regarding security practices are, unfortunately, rather disturbing. Based in these findings, it would seem that many healthcare businesses and organizations who handle PHI (providers, practices, insurers, and payers alike) are playing HIPAA-Russian roulette when it comes to the use of mobile SMS/MMS tools.