The end of the year presents a prime opportunity to reflect on the challenges and accomplishments of the past 12 months and consider new opportunities for the coming year. When thinking about health information technology (HIT), there are many factors to consider, specifically around trends impacting the industry and how this year’s market shifts will impact our work in 2018.

Nextech is committed to protecting our customers both within our health care technology systems and through our communication channels. We recommend that our customers and all health care providers keep all systems updated with the latest security patches and perform annual security assessments. The Department of Health and Human Services offers an easy-to-use assessment tool to evaluate the security of your systems, data, policies and procedures.

The holidays present a prime opportunity to reach out and support those in need. As a company, Nextech is dedicated to helping their neighbors throughout the Tampa Bay area—and this commitment extends beyond just the holiday season. The Nextech employee wellness committee has overwhelmingly found that company staff place a high value on service work and are interested in programs that enable these activities.

More and more, health care providers are turning to mobile solutions to help with patient care. In fact, according to a recent Research2Guidance report, 80 percent of physicians use smartphones and medical apps within their practices. Further research by Wolters Kluwer Health states that physicians access drug information (72 percent) and communicate with nurses and other staff (44 percent) via their smartphones and look at medical research (63 percent) using tablets.

How your EMR & Practice Management Systems Play a Part in Contingency Planning Disaster. Catastrophe. Crisis. Most of us do not like the think about these things, and we often neglect to plan for them until they are upon us. But in the midst of recent events—Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, wildfires in California and one of the largest earthquakes in Mexico—it is important to recognize that contingency planning is something that should not be overlooked, waiting until a threat is imminent and we must react.

What Ophthalmologists Would do with More Time (Hint: It's not paperwork) Written by Todd Wahlberg & Jesse J. Jung, MD You'll find that there are many options of how to spend your newfound time when you document faster than you ever have before. Here, we'll explore some suggestions from East Bay Retina Consultants' Dr. Jesse Jung, an Vitreoretinal specialist who has already streamlined his clinical documentation processes with IntelleChartPRO.

Starting in 2018, all 57.7 million Medicare beneficiaries will receive new, updated Medicare cards by mail. This means that practices should prepare to update all Medicare patients' policy numbers over the next year.

EMR Slowing You Down? Ophthalmology practices everywhere are looking for ways to increase patient visits and ensure patient satisfaction. Some physicians look first to their staff to find the source of any delays, while many others—without investigation—assume they simply have no capacity to add new patients.