Patient Engagement

At the HIMSS Pop Health Forum in Chicago this week, Cleveland Clinic Chief Experience Officer Adrienne Boissy, MD, made the case that health apps alone are not a strategy – and in fact can hinder positive patient experience if they're not deployed wisely.

Experts recommended first identifying barriers, then plugging technology where it fits best. And don’t forget about clinicians when embarking on patient engagement initiatives.  

Fair Health Cost Lookup CT enables users to estimate costs for medical and dental procedures based on geographical region and it provides resources that explain the fundamentals of health coverage. 

Harun Rashid, CIO of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, describes how new patient engagement initiatives at his organization are helping patients, parents and care teams improve treatment plans together.

Penn Medicine deploys the platform Penn Signals to improve patient outcomes through analytics.

Just weeks ago, the groundbreaking new game was a contender for most successful health app. Now, daily Pokémon Go users are dipping in number and that is troubling for the fate of fitness trackers, wearables and other devices. 

A pair of studies engaging heart failure patients showed that remotely collected data is not more effective than the usual care. Even still, researchers said there are valid reasons to implement remote monitoring technologies.  

Cloud-based IT developer athenahealth announced Aug. 29 that it has acquired the care coordination platform Patient IO to expand the company's focus on patient-centered care.

The hope is that radiology optimization and predictive modeling will pay dividends, with innovations scalable to other health systems.

Livongo Health has made a name for itself in assisting with the care of patients with diabetes. And according to its CEO, Glen Tullman, it has plenty more work to do in this field before it expands the use of its technology and services to other chronic illnesses.