With the advent of Value Based payment models, where healthcare organizations work to improve outcomes at the same or lower cost, the need to know what happens today, becomes an imperative.

This issue highlights American Heart Association's latest forecasting report that has already received a significant amount of coverage, and our recent policy statements on payment and delivery system reform, the Supplementation Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Active Transportation.   Payment and delivery system reform is a critical part of the ongoing effort to transform our health care system to provide the best prevention, treatment, care, and rehabilitation to our CVD patients. The SNAP policy statement positions the AHA for the first time with Farm Bill reauthorization and state advocacy on the special importance of this program in fighting hunger, while acknowledging that we need to address diet quality and access to healthy foods and beverages for low-income consumers.  Active transportation is an ongoing area of advocacy work at all levels of government where we want to assure people have the opportunity to safely bike, walk, and roll through their communities and to their destinations to be healthy and more physically active. 

Learn How CRM Solutions Can Guide Providers in This New Era of Healthcare!

Despite the significant cost of prescription (Rx) drug abuse and calls from policy makers for effective interventions, there is limited research on the effects of policies intended to limit such abuse. This study estimates the effects of prescription drug monitoring (PDMP) programs which is a key policy targeting the non-medical use of Rx drugs.

This blog post describes the aftermath of May's WannaCry ransomware epidemic. We are still seeing new victims every day and we want to educate many vulnerable companies around the world.

This report investiages the challenges associated with data acquisition and management, use-case examples, privacy and security concerns, and the future outlook of the market for precision medicine and genomics including: Integrating genomics with clinical practice; data management and storage strategies, getting data ready for analytics, implications of data sharing, exploring and mining unstructured and non-clinical data, and data storage strategies. Find out how leading organizations such as Vanderbilt University Medival Center and Mayo Clinic are utilizing data in both clinical care and research.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) supports expanded use of telemedicine as an appropriate and efficient means of improving health, when conducted within the context of appropriate standards of care. Payment models should support patient freedom to choose how they wish to receive services. Additionally, payment models should support the physician’s ability to direct the patient toward the appropriate service modality in accordance with the current standard of care.