PWeR, Inc.

3Mar, 2016

HIMSS 2016 Part 1

By: Charity Darby | Tags: consumers, EHR, EMR, healthcare, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), HL-7, MU-2, technology, technology companies

Every year, the best and the brightest in the health information technology industry, via the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) annual meeting, meet for a week. This year, it’s in Las Vegas, Nevada. An amazing experience I have enjoyed on more than one occasion. The convention is attended by sizeable healthcare delivery systems, clearly large and small technology companies. Almost always missing; actual healthcare providers. The sad news of that is, everyone is building and demonstrating technology that impacts the providers more than anyone. In the 3 times […]
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25Feb, 2016

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Sharing Patient Data, What is next?

By: Charity Darby | Tags: cloud, communication, doctor, EHR, EMR, health information, interconnectivity, medical records, sharing, taxes, technology

As all American’s begin the process of assembling financial records to file their personal income taxes, it has come to mind, how easy the process has become to pay our personal taxes. Today the information flows in and flow out via your computer. You can now synchronize you credit cards and checking account in the cloud and prepare your financial statements and then file your taxes online. Yet, currently 50% of all medical offices still have paper medical records. Of those, approximately 50% that have meaningful use software, an even […]
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18Feb, 2016

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Cloud Computing and Tech Spending

By: Charity Darby | Tags: : cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, capital spending, connecting, equipment, investment, Microsoft Cloud, records, tech spending, technology

This week the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article that was full of good news for most, but concern for others; and this, in our opinion, is just the beginning of the technological shift we are all witnessing. The article was entitled “Cloud Computing May Be Hampering Tech Spending: Analyst Report” . As a long-time proponent of technology; for instance, cloud SaaS models (Software as a Service) for electronic medical records and most other computer-centric services; this got our attention fast. The article discussed what seems to be a […]
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11Feb, 2016

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Medical Robots

By: Charity Darby | Tags: cloud-based computers, EHR, EMR, generations, healthcare, medical robots, PWeR, real time, robot assistance, robots, technology

Technology is going to transform healthcare! On this week’s blog, we are expressing the news and our perspective, and it has generally been focused on the cross-roads and technology. Recently, we have been adding another dimension; generational economics and healthcare. I love to read about our industry, and with more than 10 patents issued, and another 20 pending, technology and innovation drive me. A friend of mine once called me a futurist, and to this day I wonder if that was a good thing, or a bad thing? We have […]
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4Feb, 2016

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Healthcare and Economics; Pt. 1

By: Charity Darby | Tags: demographics, economics, healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, technology

Today we are going to recognize something that has been apparent to anyone who reads this modest blog. In the last 3 blogs I admitted that my favorite subjects are healthcare, technology and demographics, with a not so small dose of economics. To me, they are hugely influential, and in my world, they are interconnected. An industry that is as large as healthcare has its own economic dynamics, and like a Red Giant star, it seemingly affects everything around it. Previously mentioned, I once read that in the mid-2000s General […]
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28Jan, 2016

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The NEW Trancession

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Generation X, healthcare, investment, recession, security, technoloy

Two weeks ago, we discussed the lack of investment in healthcare technology, Monstrous Digital Healthcare Gap in the U.S. In last week’s Blog, we discussed a few items that lead away from, and then back to, healthcare and technology, The Next Digital Revolution. Today, I will try to bring both ideas together, and more importantly, get a little deeper in to the economics of our generations, and where healthcare is. Next week we will do the big numbers. First, I am no economist, and for sure I am no financial analyst; but there […]
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21Jan, 2016

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The Next Digital Revolution; Life, Health and Jobs

By: Charity Darby | Tags: computers, digital, EHR, EMR, global economics, healthcare, medications, records, technology

Once again, I find myself sliding some topics I selected to discuss to the back burner. The daily headlines are so amazing to an innovation and technology addict, such as myself. This past week, a friend of mine sent me a link to a website, and the title just hit me and gave me a “Back to the Future” moment. The site was SingularityHub.com and the title was “Digital Diagnosis: Intelligent Machines Do a Better Job than Humans.” It was not a question, but a statement. They had me hooked. […]
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13Jan, 2016

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Monstrous Digital Healthcare Gap in the U.S, and Beyond.

By: Charity Darby | Tags: data, EHR, healthcare, healthcare IT, investment, report, technology, university healthcare forum

I have addressed this subject previously in numerous presentations and speeches going back to the late 1990’s, and at a university healthcare forum in 2008. Last month the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) published a report that reminded me of the problem, and prompted me to move half a dozen other blog discussions to the back burner. In the April 24, 2008 university healthcare forum, I discussed that the per capita investment in technology by healthcare ranks 9 out of 10 industries with only the food processing industry lower. This MGI […]
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6Jan, 2016

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U.S. Drug Cost, A State of Emergency?

By: Charity Darby | Tags: consumers, drug spending, Food & Drug Administration, prescription drugs, private insurers, treatment

This blog follows the prior blogs regarding pharmaceutical costs. This will be the last blog on this subject for now. We want to talk about the exiting things 2016 holds for healthcare and technology and, it is possible to write about the pharmaceutical issues in the U.S non-stop. We have previously discussed the incredibly innovative, lifesaving and life extending drugs, typically originated on American soil. The facts are, as mentioned in the previous blog, the U.S. government/taxpayer, insurance company and patient, pay more for most pharmaceuticals than in any other […]
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28Dec, 2015

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America’s Unique Drug Problem

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Government, HHS, M.D, Market, Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authority Act of 2015 (MACRA), Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drugs, President-elect Trump, technology, telemedicine, Thomas E Price, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), U.S.

We in the U.S. spend more on prescription drugs than any other country on earth. Put another way, we spend per capita more on pharmaceuticals alone than the following countries spend in TOTAL on healthcare (normalized in U.S. dollars) – Ukraine, Peru, Iran, Columbia, South Africa, Mexico, Poland and Russia. This brings an interesting perspective. In 2014, U.S. drug spending was up 12.2%; however, actual out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs is actually down 14% since 2007. Where is this difference being spent? Government and private insurance programs. The argument is […]
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