Connecting with our healthcare partners and learning about the latest trends and challenges in the field helps us continually optimize our services and strengthen our strategic alliances. We’d be honored to meet with you in person at one of the many conferences we’re attending this fall or see you online at our upcoming CHIME webinar.…
In our current age of sustainability and ever- rising energy prices, microgrids are getting new attention as an excellent alternative solution, which makes sense because they are reliable round the clock on-site power generation for large facilities. Microgrids are distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, fuel cells, microturbines, and other…
Many hospitals and health systems are facing unprecedented losses in revenue. Addressing these severe margin pressures requires re-examining how to sustainably reduce expenses. Mike Machulsky, Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Pixel Health, shared his thoughts on navigating and implementing cost optimization strategies in today’s healthcare market. Understanding hospitals’ financial situation “Saving money right…
Many hospitals are facing economic challenges in today’s post-COVID era as revenues and reimbursements haven’t kept pace with the rapidly escalating costs of wages, inflation, drugs and supplies. To achieve financial viability without reducing services, many healthcare systems are exploring how to lower operating costs by leveraging tax credits and other fiscal incentives in the…
We recently hosted an educational webinar to discuss cybersecurity and understand how insurance coverage—coupled with a proactive IT approach to managing cyber risks—can help medical practices and healthcare systems respond to and recover from a cyberattack. From general liability and malpractice policies to first- and third-party coverage and sub-limits, participants learned about the nuances of…
As technology rapidly evolves, healthcare delivery organizations face a common challenge: a cluttered and complex portfolio of disparate imaging systems encompassing a broad range of services. Recognizing that these imaging applications and systems don’t work well together and lack EMR integration, many organizations are exploring the benefits of application rationalization to develop an enterprise imaging…
We’ve rebranded baytechIT as Pixel Health Technology Services to showcase our unique focus as a health-centric managed service provider (MSP) and value-added reseller. From identifying the root causes of IT issues to generating customized metrics and reports, learn how our IT solutions are continuing to support the unique clinical requirements and workflows of hospital groups…
To help healthcare facility executives and energy procurement managers advance their sustainability goals, we’ve gathered some of the key reasons why we believe our partnership helps simplify carbon reduction—from analysis and financing to implementation and monitoring. 1. Benefit from our experience executing sustainability programs in healthcare.At Pixel Health, we know healthcare is a highly complex…
The advent of digital pathology has created many opportunities for pathologists, providers and their patients, but implementing its supporting IT infrastructure requires a proactive, well-planned approach. Steve Merritt, Senior Solutions Director at Pixel Health, recently shared his insights on the technical challenges, workflow integration and other key considerations for maintaining privacy, managing costs and integrating…
More than 40,000 leaders, disruptors and changemakers are expected at the annual HIMSS global health information and technology conference in Chicago, April 17-21. We’re ready to connect and discuss the future of INFRAM as a partner with Ingram Micro (Booth 2279). To get a preview of the latest solutions expected at HIMSS23, we spoke with…
You’re invited to learn more about CHIME membership and RSVP to join the virtual focus group discussion: Happy, Healthy, and Engaged Patients and Clinicians – Making it Happen with Your Digital Front Door on Thursday, April 13 at 12 pm EDT. Improving the health and care in the communities starts with exchanging ideas and enabling…
We’re excited to participate in a dynamic and diverse panel of healthcare changemakers and invite you to RSVP to the HIMSS cHITchat* and join us on Tuesday, March 28th at 5:30 PM. During this cocktail reception and fireside chat at the Twelve Thirty Club rooftop terrace, you’ll mingle with other executives and gain new insights…
Everyone is at risk for falling for online scams. The stakes are even higher when patient data is involved. Even our own company, which specializes in healthcare technology, is a target for cyber criminals and one of our own employees was recently targeted by text-based phishing, known as “smishing.” Here are the steps she took…
Virtual nursing is not new, but its potential for transforming the delivery of healthcare is just beginning. To learn more about today’s most impactful applications, we spoke with Jon Hunt, Director, Client Services at Pixel Health, who shared his insights on the current state of virtual nursing and how it will continue to grow. …
Healthcare facilities and hospitals are focused on improving patient outcomes, but achieving these goals often requires carbon-intensive energy sources. Learn how the U.S. healthcare system has started to recognize its harmful impact and how this sector is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint and protect public health. Understanding the environment impact of healthcare systems…
Continuing our series of the best resources in healthcare to help you stay abreast of all that’s happening in our industry, we have compiled a list of healthcare influencers to follow in 2023. By following these leaders, you’ll learn firsthand from people who are working hard to make positive changes in healthcare every day. Our…
Keeping abreast of the constantly evolving healthcare industry landscape is tough. Even for those of us at Pixel Health who are steeped in the all the details that drive technology innovation, human-centered design, change management, and clinical quality, keeping up is a challenge. That’s why each year, we seek out the best sources and offer…
By Mike Machulsky, EVP, Business Development As healthcare organizations continue to pursue their digital transformations, IT teams may find themselves barraged with requests for the next shiny object or must-have platform from teams across their organization. Managing the volume and complexity of potential solutions can impede results. That’s why HIMSS Analytics created complementary maturity models…
As working from home has become the rule rather than the exception and your commute might just be the 10 steps from the bedroom to the home office, you may still find yourself searching for something to fill the silence between meetings. Look no further! We’ve compiled the top healthcare IT podcasts worth listening to…
2022 has been a year like no other (something we feel like we’ve been saying for the last 3 years). We made major energy breakthroughs with new developments in fusion energy. We moved to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter at lower prices ensuring access to hard of hearing and Deaf folks…
Automation, Amazon and making the job easier for the frontline clinical workforce are going to make healthcare news in 2023, according to Pixel Health Chief Revenue Officer Barbara Casey. Casey was a guest on a new episode of the Healthcare Rap podcast in which she shared her predictions for next year. With a background in…
By Patrick Allen, Managing Director, Strategy and Transformation Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part blog post on technology and workflow. Read Part 1 here. In the first part of this blog post, I discussed how healthcare systems often make the mistake of adopting new digital technology without considering their desired workflows. …
By Patrick Allen, Managing Director, Strategy and Transformation The lure of new healthcare technology can be hard to resist. It’s shiny and state of the art and promises to solve all your problems. It whispers, buy me and your troubles will disappear. Unfortunately, it often doesn’t work that way. We see clients all the time…
By Steve Merritt, Senior Solutions Director Multi-purpose tools are useful things. There’s a reason why the Swiss Army knife has been popular for more than 130 years. It’s simple, compact, easy to use and performs multiple tasks. Contrast that with the average clinician’s digital toolbox crammed with single-purpose tools, multiple devices and incompatible applications and…
By Kristene Erwin, Manager, Client Services The digital transformation of a healthcare system is an amazing thing. Done well, it produces better patient experiences and outcomes, eases the burden on clinicians and staff and allows operations to proceed with fewer interruptions and inefficiencies. When I manage these projects, it’s gratifying to see how deeply all…
by Neil Kudler, CMO When folks ask me what I do these days, I always say that I’m a physician – but that’s not exactly true. After 15 years of clinical practice, I left primary care internal medicine 15 years ago with hopes of improving care delivery as a physician administrator. For me, this career…
When a consultant is being a true partner to a client, they are like a sponge absorbing everything within the organization’s vicinity — from the people and the culture to the inner workings, technology, and processes. Working with the right HIT consulting partners can facilitate the selection of technology, simplify the process of using it,…
by Daria Rosen | Senior Manager, Client Services Having been in the technology field since the great Y2K non-disaster (remember that?), it’s been a while and for a woman with degrees in business, how I ended up in health care technology is a story that needs telling. It needs telling because in the United States,…
by Jennifer Unsworth | Senior Manager, Client Services According to LinkedIn, nursing is the fifth-most in-demand job in the country and the American Nurses Association reported that more RN jobs would be available than any other job in the US in 2022. So why is the country amid a nursing staff crisis? A new report…
by Barbara Casey, CRO A study came out a while back showing that those group brainstorming sessions in front of the whiteboard weren’t always the best way to encourage new ideas. According to the study, peer pressure, long a relic of high school classrooms, was still abundant in the professional ranks. People simply feared speaking…
by Barbara Casey, CRO On the heels of its quasi-national holiday, Prime Days, Amazon announced on Tuesday, July 26 that it is buying One Medical, a membership-based primary care practice with over 200 locations, for nearly $4 billion. Amazon, who has been flirting with healthcare for some time, is now making its presence felt with…
by Red Smith, President, baytechIT As all health systems know, providing for your organization’s IT needs is critical to not only running your business, but also caring for your patients. But most Managed Service Providers (MSPs) take a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t take into account the unique needs of your clinical environment. An IT support…
by David Will Healthcare providers across the country are looking for ways to reduce expenses across the enterprise. Budget pressures are increasing on several fronts including the growing requirements for cybersecurity protection and rising energy utility costs. Decreased staffing levels add to the financial strain, driving overtime expenses to support overworked staff and the need…
by Kathleen Harmon, MS, RN Managing the complexity of implementing a clinical communication mobility program can be a daunting challenge. There is no one-size-fits-all technology that is right for every care delivery unit and clinical workflow, nor is there one single vendor who can address the full spectrum of clinical communication and collaboration needs –…
On Thursday, June 16th, the Most Influential Women in Health IT Award recipients shared their insights, experiences, and advice on driving transformational change in Health IT in a HIMSS-hosted webinar. Pixel Health’s own Barbara W. Casey, CRO, shared her career journey, how she found her voice as a leader, her thoughts on encouraging more women…
by Kathleen Harmon, MS, RN As a former ED nurse, I often reflect on my direct care delivery experience and recall the feeling of being forced to work in a certain way when new technology was pushed into my workflow that often didn’t make sense. Technology often acted as a barrier, not an enabler for…
Healthcare continues to rapidly transform digitally, increasing the demand for new and better technologies to support clinician and patient workflows. To advance your health system’s digital transformation, it’s critical to first understand the information technology infrastructure supporting day-to-day operations, and then create a go-forward plan for advancement. But devising a comprehensive, sustainable infrastructure strategy can…
Healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) are increasingly the target of cyberattacks, with security breaches resulting in the theft of PHI and data corruption. Of the HDOs hit by ransomware in 2020, only 31% had their data fully restored. In 2021, 79% of all reported attacks targeted HDOs, a 45% increase over the prior year, more than…
Healthcare delivery organizations already know that cyberattack risks continue to escalate. Articles about ransomware attacks, data breaches, and phishing attacks on health systems continue to be in the news with increasing frequency, underscoring the critical need for healthcare delivery organizations to tighten cybersecurity. On March 17th the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published its first-quarter…
Renewable energy is key to the health of our planet and the communities that healthcare delivery organizations serve. The healthcare sector is responsible for an estimated 8.5% of America’s total greenhouse gas emissions according to MedPage Today. On average, hospitals use 31KWH of electricity and 103,600 BTUS of natural gas per square foot per year;…
Each year Pixel Health analyzes the top 10 healthcare news sources across the web. This year we were particularly focused on the range of articles each site had not only on the medicine side of healthcare but the patient experience side as well. These are the sites that made the cut. Dr. Kevin Pho Kevin…
Each year Pixel Health analyzes the top 10 healthcare news sources across the web. This year we were particularly focused on the range of articles each site had not only on the medicine side of healthcare but the patient experience side as well. These are the sites that made the cut. 33 Charts An expert…
When your smart thermostat fails, your home may get a little overheated. The breach of a security camera might result in a break in or a stolen package off the front porch. But failure of an Internet-connected heart monitor or the hacking of a device configured to remind an elderly patient to take their hypertension…
In the last 40 years, fictional projections of the future of healthcare have ranged from unimaginable technological advances to downright barbaric solutions (and at times a combination of both). We’re still light years away from anything as advanced as a tricorder a la Star Trek but we’re ankle deep in the science of mind controlled…
Tele-what? Telemedicine, telehealth—what do they actually refer to, and which one should you use? Both terms describe the remote delivery of healthcare services using telecommunications technology. Often used interchangeably, telemedicine tends to mean the delivery of remote care between provider and patient, whereas telehealth is a bit broader, encompassing a variety of digital technologies and methods for…
You learn a lot by watching. Nectar’s Director of Client Services, Teresa DeLappe, did a lot of observing and learning during the 15 years she spent working across the healthcare continuum at Harborview Medical Center (HMC) in Seattle, Washington. She was fascinated by the growing technology dependence of healthcare organizations yet at the same time,…
“People who live in glass houses should take out insurance” and right now, the winds are blowing at hurricane strength. Between two years of COVID and the seemingly daily headlines of breaches and ransomware attacks, healthcare organizations are reeling. According to a report from Comparitech, attacks in 2020 were double those in 2019, impacting…
Why is it that the words “digital transformation” and “failure” are so often tied together in the same sentence? Why did McKinsey come out with a report that said 70% of digital transformation projects are bound to fail? A recent Forbes article put the number at 84%. Digital transformation can be an exhausting, seemingly never-ending…
In a post-COVID world, IT executives are no longer worker bees, they’re driving the organization’s financial future Another noteworthy consideration is that while most corporations prefer executives to have an MBA or similar degree, it’s not unheard of for a company to put a promising leader who doesn’t have an MBA on the track to…
INFRAM and INFRAM+ puts IT in the center of the strategic financial decision-making process It garners invaluable input and support from clinicians, executives, and administrators Proprietary strategic mapping correlates INFRAM results with clinical goals and provides an IT roadmap for budget and leadership consensus building INFRAM+: More Than Just Another Assessment In part three of our series, we look at how INFRAM+, a proprietary…
An INFRAM assessment is primarily tactical. INFRAM+ ties directly to clinical strategic initiatives A three-to-four day on site analysis involves IT and primary department, executive, and clinical stakeholders Proprietary strategic mapping ties specific technologies to specific clinical goals INFRAM+: Taking INFRAM from Tactics to Strategy Not seeing the forest through the trees is a common mistake in the IT business. In part one of our…
INFRAM+: Tactics vs Strategy In part 1 of our three–part series, we look at the HIMSS Analytics Infrastructure Adoption Model (INFRAM) as a foundational building block. INFRAM is fast becoming the healthcare industry standard for evaluating a hospital or health system’s infrastructure stability and manageability in five key areas. Mobility Security Collaboration Transport Data Center The resulting Baseline Achievement Report is just that, a baseline. INFRAM scores don’t provide a…
T-Mobile recently confirmed that a threat actor stole the full names and driver’s license information for 40 million people last week. While AT&T is currently denying it, another Threat Actor claims to have stolen the names, phone numbers, physical addresses, email addresses, and Social Security numbers for 70 million of their customers. Ransomware makes…
If you’re like me, you probably learned to count to ten in kindergarten. But when it comes to a company’s telecommunications infrastructure, you’d be surprised how many corporate executives have trouble with simple addition. As a company grows, telco, like other IT investments, often gets treated as the necessary evil. “The new guy needs a…
The good and beleaguered folks from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) threw their annual party in Las Vegas with less than half of the usual pre-COVID crowd in attendance. But while the crowds were small and many of the major vendors were absent from the exhibition floor, HIMSS put the spotlight on…
Las Vegas is set to roll out the silicon carpet for HIMSS21, the healthcare technology party of the year. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has selected “Be The Change” as the theme for this year’s conference. We asked our Pixel Health team going to HIMSS 2021 to expand on what this year’s conference,…
It’s a given in this day and age that technology is the root of a lot of how Healthcare gets done. You’ll often hear doctors say “we are run by the IT department.” In many instances, that’s true. So why are the IT experts the last people invited to the party when evaluating a…
You can tell a lot about a company by the way they describe themselves. And when it comes to Value Added Resellers (VARs) of hardware and software, those descriptions separate the winners from the widget salesmen. We conducted a highly unscientific survey of VARs large and small and almost without exception, the structure of…
If we’re to believe the pundits, 2021 looks to be a rebound year for merger and acquisition activity in the healthcare industry. And not a moment too soon. COVID-19 hit the Mergers & Acquisition business big time in 2020. According to Bain and Company, overall healthcare disclosed deal value decreased by a whopping 37% (-$339B)…
The pandemic was good for something. COVID-19 prompted expanded government reimbursement and the lifting of some regulations, resulting in an enormous amount of money flowing into digital health applications and start-ups. According to the Digital Health Funding report from venture capital firm Rock Health, COVID-19 “created what felt like a fast forward button for digital…
Security software vendors would be wise to heed those old pop music lyrics in selling their wares to America’s CISOs. Our own Terry Grogan voiced her opinion in a new article for CSO digital magazine. What she “really, really wants” is a trusted security partner, not a sales pitch. Read it here
During the Jewish holiday of Passover, it’s traditional for the youngest child to ask the four questions, seeking to understand the symbolism behind the story of the exodus from Egypt. “Ma Nishtana” they ask in Hebrew. Why is this night different from all other nights? That phrase popped into my head as the Colonial…
PACS is so turn of the century. When we used to talk about Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), it tended to be a very siloed discussion. The conversation centered around medical imaging technology used for storing, retrieving, presenting, and sharing images, but Cardiology had their own and Pathology, Radiology, the ED, and other surgical…
“Do what you do best and outsource the rest,” says Peter Drucker, one of the great management consultants of the 20th century. But it’s not always so simple. When it comes to deciding whether a medical practice should maintain its own IT staff, I often answer with a quote of my own: “It’s complicated.” …
Kevin Mitnick, Adrian Lamo, Albert Gonzalez, Mathew Bevan, and Richard Pryce. Are these guys household names in your household? These five (and dozens of others), are among the most notorious hackers on the planet, people who spark fear into the hearts and minds of the most sophisticated technology organizations on the planet. These online villains…
I know, I might be accused of heresy for even bringing it up. But the statistics are so alarming these days, it’s a discussion that needs to be held at the very highest level of every healthcare organization in America. For security’s sake, isn’t it time to get rid of email? There, I’ve said…
While technology is often the catalyst for change, we need to recognize that it is only one of the many tools and influences built into the human aspect of delivering healthcare. The healthcare sector is not moving fast enough to embrace cloud computing, AI, big data, and new technologies and processes to improve outcomes for…
After a week of dealing with attacks on Microsoft Exchange servers, I got in my car, turned on the radio, and heard that classic song by the Talking Heads. David Byrne says he wasn’t really singing about a house on fire but instead, about breaking free from whatever was holding you back. And I thought……
Recently, a fellow CISO asked a group of us if we “punished employees who consistently failed to recognize phishing emails.” This created a great discussion with most folks agreeing that punishment rarely works and often has negative effects (including potential for legal action). After all, hackers take advantage of people’s willingness to be helpful or…
Talk to any Chief Information Security Officer and they’ll tell you that the weakest link in their organization is always the individual. Take smartphones for example. They’re designed with security in mind but that protection is compromised each and every day. 70 million smartphones are lost each year, with only 7 percent recovered Users are…
The “bad guys” constantly look for ways to trick users into giving up information or download malicious software that will steal information. One of the easiest ways for them to do this is to get you to click on links that show up using a search engine. Given the popularity of Google search, bad actors…
I’ve talked a number of times about Phishing and we’ve talked about Smishing. Today, I want to touch on the subject of Vishing. Vishing is Phishing using voice. This isn’t new. You’ve all either received or know of folks who’ve received, phone calls from folks pretending to be from “Microsoft Support” or “Visa”. You may…
Phishing, scams increase significantly over the holidays. This year, there is even a greater risk from these scams because folks are doing even more online now, due to Covid-19, than any other holiday season. While a large number of these scams are related to online shopping, free gift cards, credit card offers, and even shipping…
No, this isn’t a typo. SMiShing is the SMS version of phishing scams but instead of a bad email, you get a bad text message on your smartphone. While smishing has been around for years, its use has increased significantly since March, all thanks to the Coronavirus. According to the FTC, 52,500 Americans have filed…
Yes, we are talking about Phishing… again! The complex methods used by Threat Actors today makes me long for the days when malicious emails were comprised of either very poor English, or someone telling me that I was being gifted $1,000,000 by some person I never heard of in some far away country! The current…
Multifactor authentication (MFA) or Two-Factor authentication (2FA) works on the principle of “something you know” plus “something you have (or are).” “Something you know” is your username and password. “Something you have” can be a smartphone, USB security key, your fingerprint or face, or other physical object in your possession that can be used to…
October is Cybersecurity month, so there’s no better time to talk about the scary reality of constant hacker attacks and threat actor tricks. While one should always be vigilant, every day, every email, this month you need to be especially diligent. The cybercommunity has seen a significant increase in the last few weeks of the…
