On Friday we talked about how meaningful data can help physicians and other providers improve care and achieve business success. This Monday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that HHS, CMS, and ONC have released new federal health data as part of a mission to create a more transparent health care marketplace and to help researchers and consumers make informed decisions. This release of information highlights the importance of monitoring your facility’s data, improving clinical and financial performance metrics, and ensuring that numbers are accurate. As health care data becomes more public, it is likely that more consumers will turn to metrics when choosing care options and providers. It is therefore critical that health care facilities not only deliver the highest quality care but also maintain accurate data that reflects their success. Some notable information released includes: Selected hospital outpatient data that gives average charges for outpatient... read more

On the White House Blog this week, United States CTO Todd Park speaks of a data-powered revolution in health care. He argues that data-powered tools change the way that clinicians and health care facilities respond to patient need and provide care – for the better. As Park puts it, “[Data-powered IT tools] are helping clinicians and patients get the latest and greatest evidence-based, life-saving best practices at their fingertips. And much more.” As we move into an increasingly evidence-based health care system, it becomes critical for providers to embrace data for numerous reasons. Meaningful data allows clinicians and hospital staff to make informed decisions to improve quality of care. In his post, Park talks about how data-powered IT tools are “enabling clinicians to analyze their patient population, understand who needs help (including and especially patients who haven’t been able to come into their office), and proactively reach out and give those patients the care... read more

Describe your professional background and what brought you to work at LUMEDX. I was trained as a radiologic technologist. I worked in hospitals for 10 years, seven of those in the cath lab. I got an opportunity to work for a device company and was ready for a change. I took it, and have been on the vendor side for 23 years now. Is there an average day for you? Every day is a bit different. I travel to hospitals to do demos for cardiology departments looking to purchase a CVIS. Those demos can be a couple of hours to a week. When I am not on the road, I do demos via WebEx (a web conferencing application). I also train new employees, and work with engineering and product development. I have been at LUMEDX for 14 years, so I do a bit of everything. How have health IT and hospitals changed since you’ve been in the industry? Healthcare has changed a great deal over the last 25 years. Departments used to be able to purchase what they wanted with limited oversight. Economic... read more

We know many visitors to our website are interested in career positions. The following is a guest post from the blog of consulting firm ProLango featuring LUMEDX Technical Recruiter Josh Jozwik offering tips on what to do and what not to do when applying for a position at LUMEDX. By Paul Anderson There are job seekers who research company e-mail addresses and spam them with their resumes with the hopes of getting a job. These techniques won’t help you land an interview with LUMEDX, a medical software company in Bellevue, says Josh Jozwik, a technical recruiter for the company. Jozwik says job seekers need to avoid the traditional job-hunting techniques if they’re looking to get an interview with his company. Here are other things he says job seekers should avoid: Cover letters: Most cover letters sent to LUMEDX offer little or no value to Josh or his hiring team. Many cover letters he sees tend to be templates found on traditional resume books. If you’re going to send a... read more

(Top left: Training session for new users presented by Linda Grdina of Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Top center: LUMEDX team members Senior Marketing & Events Coordinator Joelle Mitchell and Senior Director–Client Relations/Inside and Vertical Sales Gwen Korney. Top right: Senior Product Education Trainer John Nicholls and Clinical Registries Manager Katrina Craig. Bottom row, left: Linda Grdina and Joelle Mitchell. Bottom row, center: Reception in San Francisco's Hotel Nikko. Bottom row, right: John Nicholls and Joelle Mitchell.) This week was a special one for LUMEDX and many of our users. Converging in San Francisco's Hotel Nikko in the days before NCDR.13 and ACC.13, users of LUMEDX software arrived from all over the United States to network, learn about new updates to the product suite and get some additional training. It was also a chance for those of us at LUMEDX to... read more

(Photo credit: Credit: Flickr/Mr. Cacahuate) Ninety-four percent of hospitals responding to a recent survey experienced a data breach in the past two years, according to the Ponemon Institute. Forty-five percent of these hospitals indicated that their data was breached more than five times – an increase from 2010 when the percentage of respondents indicating more than five breaches was 29 percent. With the potential for penalties under HIPAA, the cost of notifying stakeholders and civil suite awards, the possibility these hospitals could be stuck with millions in costs due to data breaches is staggering. Even more discouraging, those hospitals that had not joined a health information exchange (HIE) cite low or lack of confidence in data security as the number one reason they were reluctant to share information within organizations. As the move to electronic health records (EHR) continues, what measures is your organization taking to ensure patient data security? read more