A favorite criticism of EHRs is that they are glorified billing platforms, rather than clinical tools. Despite being sold to — and subsequently, by — the federal government as being healthcare’s ticket into the modern age, and to leveraging big data, EHRs haven’t so far facilitated the kinds of analytics initially touted as the new…

In our tech-driven age, a new business model, known as software as a service (SaaS), has come into vogue. The premise is essentially to replace the cost of acquiring and maintaining hardware, licensing software, or trialing different digital solutions by more or less “renting” access to applications through subscription plans. It isn’t entirely unlike the…

We know divorce negatively affects health. Stress correlates with, or even underlies, many of the top health risks Americans face, from depression to heart disease. Divorce is always stressful, so it is no shocker it can carry significant risk for the health of a couple going through proceedings. Conversely, we also know that divorce is…

When Henry Ford arranged production of his vehicles on an assembly line, he was laying the foundation for industrial robots to take over the bulk of construction and assembly from humans. It doesn’t matter that such advanced robots didn’t exist when the assembly line revolutionized manufacturing; the important thing is that it standardized the functions…

With coverage and access being thrown into question–again–by the incoming administration, it is important to not lose sight of the essentials of continuing healthcare’s 21st century migration. There are a lot of details that get magnified by competing interests, but which miss the big picture of how healthcare is evolving, and must continue to evolve…

Doctors complain about having to compete with–or, more often, correct–Doctor Google, and patients searching for medical answers online. But for every suspect Google search result or WebMD symptom check, there are untold swarms of social posts, shares, and comments that further dilute the reliability of online medical information. With the bluster and fury of the…

Psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously enjoyed quoting Nietzsche’s observation, “He who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how.” The more lay expression, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” covers similar ground. When we have a Why for doing something, the How can be cultivated. Determining how to do…

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, affects more than 60% of the U.S. population and is one of the single most common causes of hospitalization. It can manifest as anything from an acute but isolated experience of heartburn to a chronic condition eroding the esophageal lining and compounding into all manner of other gastrointestinal and digestive…

Making changes to healthcare–its delivery, its costs, its administration–always seem to focus on pushing providers around. While surgery is performed with a scalpel, healthcare reform is bluntly pursued by means of obtuse financial incentives: lower pay for doctors who don’t play ball, and day-to-day survival for those who go along to get along. The motivation…

Guest Editorial What an amazing time to be alive. Not only are we mere months away from Star Trek making its vaunted return to network television, but all indications are that we are on the cusp of having one of the most iconic bits of Star Trek technology available in real life: the tricorder is…

Guest Editorial I’d like to spend a moment here to take back the word “provider” in the healthcare context. It seems I can’t go a day without hearing at least one (and often more) members of a care team rebel against being lumped together not by specialty, credential, or title, but by the vague term…