The following is an excerpt from an article on Forbes. It was written by Glenn Watt, the Corporate Information Security Officer at Medidata Solutions. What are we talking about when we talk about data security? We are really talking about how we maintain the confidentiality of data to make sure only approved people have access to see that data, as well as the integrity of the data to ensure only authorized people can modify the data if needed. The third area is to ensure data availability to its owner at a time and place of their choosing and that no one is blocking that availability. So data security boils down to confidentiality, integrity and availability.

The following is an excerpt from an article on Information Management. It was written by Bob Violino. Electronic health records (EHR) uptake in the U.S. has accelerated dramatically as a result of government initiatives and the considerable resources healthcare providers have invested over the past five years, says research firm Frost & Sullivan. Electronic health records have become the heart of health IT, the firm says, and U.S. clinicians use them on a daily basis.

The following is a sneak peek of our new ICD-10 infographic, ICD-10 Readiness: Is Your Practice Prepared? ICD-10 is back, and medical practices everywhere are racing to get ready for the big, upcoming change taking place on October 1, 2015. Although the new version of ICD will make a medical professional's job a lot easier, it is no doubt going to be tough to prepare for this advance. Our ICD-10 Readiness Infographic can help you prepare by showing you: Up-to-date, helpful statistics to see where you stand amongst others How to make a smooth transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 before the deadline The typical costs of the ICD-10 process

The following is an excerpt from an article on ICD10 Monitor. It was written by D'Arcy Guerin Gue. We all know that the official deadline for implementing ICD-10 has been moved to Oct. 1, 2015. Any healthcare organization that singles out that date as its primary focus, however, is placing itself at grave financial risk. While there are some portions of ICD-10 that simply cannot be implemented in production early, like sending ICD-10 codes on claims, there are others that can – and simply must – be implemented earlier.

The ICD-10 compliance deadline of October 1, 2015, is less than a year away, and it is crucial that your team is fully ready for the switch. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decided to extend this deadline due to the complexity of the process of getting your entire healthcare facility ready to make this change. ADSC cares about the readiness of you and your colleagues. As a result, we want to help you prepare for this large scale transition by providing you with these 3 resources we have put together.

The following article is an excerpt from Healthcare IT News. It was written by Barbara Allen. There’s no question the transition to ICD-10 will bring with it a significant loss in coder productivity. If left unaddressed, this loss of productivity will cause hospitals to get bills out more slowly. And if addressed incompletely, it will cause hospitals to incur excessive expense in increased coder headcount. Fortunately, there is still time to greatly narrow the productivity gap to protect revenue and to minimize the need to add coding resources that are increasingly difficult to secure. The key is to move quickly and with precision in addressing the root causes of productivity loss.

The following excerpt is from an article by Eugene Heslin. It originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report. As Kimberly Leonard points out in her article (“Doctors Say Electronic Records Waste Time,” Sept. 8, 2014), doctors are frustrated with the time it takes to use electronic health records. This is only natural. Moving from paper to digital communication is a different way of communicating and takes time to become proficient.

The following excerpt is from an article by Julie Bird. It originally appeared on Fierce EMR. Primary-care clinics recovered their financial investments in electronic health record (EHR) systems in 10 months on average, a recent study found, in part because EHRs allowed them to see more patients.

The following article is an excerpt from ICD-10 Monitor. It was written by Sherry Wilson and Tina Greene, co-chairs of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) Property & Casualty Subworkgroup. Even Captain Obvious knows that you need to “book reservations” early for external ICD-10 testing. A successful organizational transition to ICD-10 by the compliance date of Oct. 1, 2015 will require good planning. Preparation is crucial to allow your organization to leverage its ICD-10 investments to meet compliance requirements and achieve a strategic testing advantage. It is highly likely that those stakeholders who do not engage in early external ICD-10 testing, including payers as well as other trading partners, will be faced with a last-minute rush of requests to test from multiple stakeholders.

The following is an excerpt from an article by Carl Natale. This article originally appeared on Government Health IT. Next week marks another ICD-10 milestone: One year left to go. For those of you just deciding to take it seriously now, start with education. Educate Thyself You can start with some free resources to help you understand what the ICD-10 transition means for your medical practice.