Google answers Apple’s HealthKit with a fitness platform of its own and a new link is discovered between alcoholism and premature death. Find links to articles on these topics and more in today’s post.
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed a new rule stating people currently enrolled in state and federal exchanges under the Affordable Care Act would be automatically re-enrolled in 2015, Modern Healthcare reports. HHS hopes this initiative will reduce administrative burdens and disruptions in the marketplace, likely to be caused by a drop off of approximately 8 million people.
- In its 2014 Primary Care Consumer Choice Survey, The Advisory Board Company learned the clinic attributes deemed most important by 4,000 participants. The highest ranking item was a clinic’s ability to see walk-in patients within 30 minutes of arrival. A close second was the offering of lab tests and X-rays on site.
- To rival Apple’s HealthKit, Google recently announced its own health and fitness platform—Google Fit. HIT Consultant reports the technology will “utilize sensors on mobile devices and wearables via Google’s smartwatch to provide the consumer with a complete picture of their health and fitness.”
- MedPage Today shares startling findings from a recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the correlation between alcohol and early deaths. Among 20- to 64-year-olds, 9.8 percent of all mortality from 2006 to 2010 was attributable to excessive drinking. Representatives close to the study find the information to be an urgent call to action for all physicians.
- PCQuest lists seven open-source electronic health record tools for tracking medical data, creating electronic medical records, and utilizing medical billing applications. The tools run on common computer operating systems, or are web-based software, for virtually all practice settings, including teaching clinics, private practices, and enterprise-level entities.
Happy Independence Day! Have a wonderful weekend.
