What is BYOD? For those who may not already be familiar with it, BYOD stands for “Bring Your Own Device,” and it refers to the practice of allowing employees to bring and utilize their own computing/mobile devices—smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.—within the office/company to be used for business/work purposes, including allowing them to connect to a company’s secure network with said devices. A plethora of blogs and news articles on the topic of BYOD have been popping up all over the internet in recent years. While some articles express various apprehensions and concerns about BYOD, often claiming it presents an unsolvable security risk situation, a great many more of these articles point to BYOD as the “new normal,” a necessity of conducting business in the New Media Age. Whether for or against the practice of BYOD, however, it seems as if everyone is going to have to accept it at this point, because it looks like it’s here to stay.

In a February series of Nextech webinars, James H. Leach – CEO of Detroit-based E&M Consulting, a national supplier of training in medical documentation and coding, shared his perspective on ICD-10. Presenting separately to providers in ophthalmology, dermatology and plastic surgery, Leach began each webinar with a helpful pointer on reference materials and good advice about “diving in.” In his opening comments:

Hello, and welcome to the Nextech blog! Today we will be discussing key differences between ICD-9 and ICD-10. As you probably already know, the largest single difference between these two coding languages is that ICD-10 is far more expansive than the over 30 year old ICD-9 code set. ICD-9, with a total of 14,000 diagnosis codes and 4,000 procedure codes, is somewhat limited in its ability to describe and denote patient conditions and procedures. ICD-10 will be able to generate 68,000 diagnosis codes and 87,000 procedure codes. This added range of capability is due to an expansion of the coding structure. The transition, scheduled for October 1, 2015, is still a daunting undertaking for those who did not move to electronic medical records for Meaningful Use. Nextech has a unique approach to simplifying ICD-10 by building codes for you while you chart. Thanks for watching the Nextech blog, and be sure to check out our other ICD-10 resources.

Yelp is a popular application for crowd-sourced reviews of restaurants, retail stores and a wide array of other local businesses; however, it is also growing in prominence among healthcare providers. It utilizes a word-of-mouth approach to allow patients to give their opinions concerning patient engagement, quality of care and any other aspect of the practice, and it serves as an essential application for patients searching for everything from general practitioners to dermatology specialists.

Any individual who has spent a number of years as a medical professional will tell you that no two doctor-patient relationships are going to be exactly the same. Working in health care, you have the opportunity to interact with individuals from all backgrounds. So in order to provide the appropriate type of care, you'll need a varied and flexible skill set as a provider. Among the largest determining factors in how you interact with a patient is his or her age. Young patients or children will require a different sort of approach than adults, as will senior citizens. If your practice treats a wide range of patients, than it is particularly important to understand generational differences.

The meaningful use program was designed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with the aim of improving the efficiency, security and quality of EHRs. It has gone through some ups and downs as well as some delays since it began in 2011. Meaningful use stage 2 has been extended through 2016, and stage 3 has been delayed until 2017. At that point, providers who have completed at least two years of stage 2 can begin the next level of attestation. Many providers, however, know little about the third and final part of the CMS incentive program.

Integrating ICD-10 software is an overwhelming task for even the largest healthcare enterprises; however, it is especially daunting for small- and medium-sized practices that have limited resources. For that reason, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which requires that all providers covered by the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act comply with ICD-10 requirements by October 2015, provides the "Road to 10: The Small Physician Practice's Route to ICD-10." This manual serves as a guide down the path to ICD-10 implementation. One of the most important steps along the way is coordinating your efforts with your healthcare IT vendors, according to the CMS guide.

As technology continues to grow and evolve before our eyes, social media has permeated nearly every aspect of our daily lives. We look to it for information regarding the news, cultural events, our friends and everything in between. That said, it's no surprise that medical practices that may have never considered blogging several years ago are sprouting up on social media. If your practice is just starting out in this realm, though, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Take a look at these tips to ensure you're setting off in the right direction: