Recent Articles

  • Analyst: Health IT budgets up as industry moves beyond EHR phase

    Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied Healthcare

    Forty percent of healthcare providers' IT budgets are growing, but only 25 percent of providers with growing budgets attribute the growth to electronic health records. Providers are beginning to see ways to optimize the business for accountable care, adding analytics and care management, and moving away from massive enterprise EHR projects, according to a new IDC Health Insights report examining the results of the 2015-2016 Healthcare Provider Technology Spend Survey.

  • Making homework meaningful and fair

    Savanna Flakes Education

    Do your students take homework seriously? Are you finding that daily student homework completion is low? There is a lot of buzz and frustration from parents and students regarding homework. Homework or "practice makes perfect work" should be tasks students deem as valuable to success, and practice that students can complete successfully and independently, with support as necessary from the home.

  • A new understanding of spelling impairment after stroke

    Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied Healthcare

    ​After a stroke, many people face communication challenges. Stroke's impact on language and speech can be significant and difficult. Some people have trouble speaking. Some have difficulty understanding words spoken by others. Reading, writing and math skills may also be affected.

  • Working to minimize drug diversion

    Dr. Abimbola Farinde Pharmaceutical

    The issue of drug diversion — the illegal theft of controlled drugs — continues to increase at an alarming rate across the U.S. A complex and multifaceted problem, drug diversion must be addressed before it reaches epic proportions. The current dilemma for healthcare officials is how to implement the right practices across a wide variety of locations for many years to come.

  • What happens when success is your only option

    Michelle LaBrosse Business Management, Services & Risk Management

    When you run a small business — as small as even just yourself — does failure ever really occur? I hear often in the media about this or that business being "too big to fail," but isn't "too small to fail" more realistic? I ask this question of myself, more rhetorically than anything. I've been running a small business in one form or another for almost 30 years now. Yes, I've stopped offering some services and stopped making some products. At one point, I took a job with a paycheck — but even then I still had a small business going on the side.

  • The steady rise of nurse practitioners in primary care

    Joan Spitrey Healthcare Administration

    ​Jan. 31 was the last day for uninsured Americans to sign up for healthcare insurance under the Affordable Care Act to avoid tax penalties. According to preliminary early reports, more than 12.7 million Americans have signed up for coverage in 2016.

  • Boutique fuels and America’s gas supply

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    In this new ear of cheap fuel, resistance to the EPA's "boutique fuel" requirements — which stipulate a unique recipe for fuel sold in a particular state — has quieted. The regulators can breathe a sigh of relief for now. But what are these "boutique fuel" requirements? What is their purpose? And are they more hassle than they are worth?

  • A helicopter noise standoff in Los Angeles

    Mark Huber Transportation Technology & Automotive

    The subject of helicopter noise in the Los Angeles Basin is an emotional topic for those on both sides of the issue, but events over the last year threaten to send it on a collision course with reality. First, a little background.

  • 5 hot travel trends for 2016

    Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

    ​If you are planning your travel calendar for 2016, here are some interesting points to note. Travel is going to be easier with more apps to ease the way. Of course, that will not come as a surprise for most of us. We can also expect a lot more convergence in the industry as a whole with travel agents and hotels gearing up for partnerships. ​With Uber and Airbnb leading the way, this too is a definite reality for the near future.

  • How to develop and implement a preliminary notice policy

    Nate Budde Construction & Building Materials

    ​The construction industry runs on credit. As such, most credit departments (and some smaller financial teams) have credit policies that guide when to extend, and how to collect, credit. A preliminary notice policy sits within your credit policy, describing how to incorporate and protect mechanics lien rights. Specifically, this type of policy details when and how to secure debts using preliminary notices (sometimes called notices to owner or pre-liens), and it expresses your team's philosophy toward lien rights.