Patient Access

Brian Smith, chief pharmacy officer at Shields Health Services, says that, while automation and AI can speed up the prior authorization process, patients may face other barriers to care that require human intervention.

The retail giant's platform will now include obesity and weight management support from Wheel, Curai Health, Aaptiv, Berry Street and MyCare by Twin Health.

Brenda Hood, client experience analyst at HealtHIE Nevada, stresses that education and guidance can help ensure that tribal clinic staff understand and use digital health resources and EHRs effectively.

According to Tom Leary, HIMSS Foundation executive director, the foundation assists with costs associated with earning digital healthcare certifications to remove barriers for students from underserved communities.

University of Iowa Health Care's Josh Wilda says that TEFCA may be useful not only for providers, but to unify fragmented patient portals and give patients a single access point to retrieve their health data across systems.

The partners, through their commitment to the CMS Interoperability Framework, will allow users to access their medical records digitally.

Colorado Lt. Governor and Policy Influencer Changemaker Award recipient Dianne Primavera says belonging to the Colorado HIMSS chapter has enabled her to work closely with other state healthcare and policy leaders.

Health Equity Changemaker Awardee and Shift Collective co-founder Dr. Hannah Galvin says the collective is developing terminology value sets to allow patient data to be easily shared across the U.S., and, eventually, globally.

Ellipsis Health partners with PromptWell to boost enrollment in patient care programs, while CaryHealth teams up with HealthDyne to enhance medication management.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in Italy's healthcare data availability and interoperability, according to Elena Sini of Italy's GVM Care and Research, spurring a nationwide push to improve data quality, access and trust.