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Ask the Expert: EMV, Encryption and Reducing Your PCI Scope

Tony Hansen is a Payment Card Industry Professional (PCIP) at Providence Health Systems. Providence is the third largest not-for-profit health system in the U.S., operating 34 hospitals in five states. Earlier this year, Tony met with a group of Epic Users about the importance of EMV and how encryption helps reduce PCI scope and protect against the threat of fraud and stolen personal data.

Below are the insights and advice Tony shared regarding some of the most frequently asked questions about

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Clearinghouses are Becoming Obsolete

Recent healthcare news announcements indicate that another major clearinghouse has disappeared. This is a trend that started a few years ago and will continue. In fact, of the top clearinghouses from five years ago, only a portion are still in business, some of which are in the process of exiting the business through strategic sales by their equity investors.

Why are clearinghouses disappearing?

Technology Barriers
One of the major factors contributing to the disappearance of clearinghouses is the fact that most clearinghouses are

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True Availability – Part 2: Cloud Protection

Guest Blogger: Chris Seib, Co-Founder & CTO, InstaMed

Last week, I highlighted some common oversights by businesses when leveraging a private cloud that increase the risk of long-term data outages, and detailed the best practices and tips to use in discussions with current or potential vendor partners in order to protect your business. Below is Part 2 of this post, focusing on disaster recovery, business continuity and security.

Disaster Recovery

Even with high degrees of local redundancy in a private cloud data center,

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8 Things ACOs Need to Know About Healthcare Payments

What Is an ACO?

An ACO (accountable care organization) is a healthcare organization made up of providers and payers who come together to give coordinated, patient-centered care. In the public sector, ACOs earn incentives for delivering high-quality care and reducing healthcare costs for Medicare and Medicaid patients. In the private sector, ACOs focus on achieving a high level of wellness and satisfaction for all patients.

What You Should Know About ACO Payments:

1. Increase focus on collecting from patients. As providers work to

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Electronic Payments: 4 Requirements to Integrate EFT with ERA

Healthcare reform is a major factor driving change in payer-to-provider payments, including the medical loss ratio (MLR) requirement in PPACA. To reduce administrative costs and meet the MLR mandate, payers are implementing more efficient payment delivery methods. One such method is the offering of ERA/EFT, which combines both the payment and the healthcare payment information to enable provider funding, posting and reconciliation. While many payers have been sending providers ERAs (electronic remittance advice) for years, it’s time for payers to

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