7 Hot Takes From the Week in Health Tech

Every week, thinkers and doers publish tech and healthcare insights that could change how you approach your organization, medicine, data, and more. The problem is, these bright ideas are typically spread across the internet, making it difficult for the casual reader to track them all. That’s where Healthcare Analytics News™ comes in.

We plan to sift through the noise and select the most interesting or actionable opinions in tech and health information technology (IT), for publication on this website toward the end of every week. That means these pieces will serve as a one-stop shop for all of the newest ideas poised to transform healthcare and the world.

>> LISTEN: Return of the Luddite

This article, of course, is the first installment in this series, and it kicks off this experiment with 7 ideas you need to read. The number will change every week, depending on what’s out there. Some stories will come from us, and others from afar. But we promise to bring you the most relevant and captivating links every week—because the future of healthcare depends on the gathering and exchange of information.

1. EMRs Make Up $30B Market That No One Seems to Like

My colleague Ryan Black analyzes the ballooning value of the electronic medical records (EMRs) business, looking at how the government helped launch adoption rates. At the same time, however, clinician frustrations seem to have been on the rise. So what gives? Is it time for standards or federal pressure? Either way, the market is slated to continue to grow, gaining another $10 billion in the next 4 years.

2. The Importance of Integrated Care in Fighting Opioid Use Disorder

As the opioid epidemic rages across the United States, it’s important to explore new ways to combat this public health crisis. The fourth item in this opinion piece offers an intriguing, tech-driven way forward. It’s all about further melding telehealth into the care plan, a potential boon for patients who are difficult to treat.

3. On the Other Side of Physician Burnout

How this devastating but ultimately redeeming piece begins is sure to grip the reader—its initial pacing is direct, quick, and effective. But this personal examination of one doctor’s own burnout dives much deeper than the generalities that usually hover above discussions surrounding physician mental health. What’s more, it touches on the role played by tech, specifically EMRs, in creating this challenge.

4. To Fight Phishing, Let’s Look at Fatigue

Penned by yours truly, this column is meant to sound yet another alarm on phishing and the dangers it poses to healthcare and beyond. I home in on security fatigue, a phenomenon in which computer users abandon all cybersecurity practices, and I argue that a larger type of exhaustion may set in as phishing emails continue to stuff our inboxes. But there is a way forward.

5. Google’s Selfish Ledger Is an Unsettling Vision of Silicon Valley Social Engineering

Most of our readers understand, or even preach, the power of big data and analytics. But sometimes it’s helpful to pursue another perspective—to understand how, if taken to an extreme, these technologies could harm humankind. This analysis breaks down a strange and uncomfortable video produced by Google. The company says it was a speculative exercise, but the eerie, invasive events within preview a future gone awry.

6. Curating a New Conversation in Health Tech

So, which ambitions and ideals drove the people behind the first-ever HLTH conference? Here, we sit down with an organizer to discuss what the team wanted to accomplish and how. Which voices do they hope to amplify, and why? The resultant video clip is enlightening, as it also shines a light on the lack of women in health IT.

7. Too Important to Ignore: Leveraging Digital Technology to Improve Chronic Illness Management Among Black Men

Finally, this forward-thinking commentary argues for more research regarding high-tech tools and how they can help black men with long-term diseases. It’s especially important because health disparities have placed this population in an undesirable situation, and existing public-health measures aren’t working. So, the experts claim, it could be key for healthcare pros to leverage tech that these patients are already using.

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