The records of an estimated 4.5 million patients of Community Health Systems (CHS) potentially have been compromised by computer hackers. Community Health Systems, which operates 206 hospitals across the U.S. announced earlier this week that its data security was compromised when hackers broke in and stole patient data. 

The Obama Administration is still actively engaged in redefining healthcare in the U.S.  During this period of change, radiologists are seeking out a more prominent seat at the table as contributors in defining and directing patient care and ultimately, in improving patient health outcomes while reducing overall healthcare costs.

Marcus J. Hampers, MD, MBA, is on the clinical staff in the emergency department of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H., and also on the teaching staff at the affiliated Geisel School of Medicine, but he is not practicing much emergency medicine these days. Instead, he is leading the rollout of a network of 10 urgent care centers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, two of which opened in June, with two more scheduled to open this month.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently announced that healthcare spending costs rose 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014, which was the largest quarterly increase in more than 30 years. The continued rise in healthcare spending costs has a direct effect on the entire United States population, but most directly effects consumers via overall higher healthcare costs including higher insurance premiums. 

In an environment where radiologists are consistently being asked to do more with less, a simple increase in production is no longer a viable remedy to a problem. Practice managers and physician owners need to work smarter, instead of just harder. Using business intelligence data for predictive analytics, they are beginning to run their practices more efficiently, but also more effectively, challenging the status quo and using data to affect change. 

After a two-week hiatus, the Open Payments system has reopened, and physicians can resume reviewing payments reported by vendors under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

Like water in the desert, data has become the new currency in health care.  Data availability has become so important that two payors are investing $80 million in a health insurance exchange in California that will include information on more than a quarter of that state’s 38 million residents.

As providers move toward managing—and assuming financial risk for—patient populations, the American Hospital Association has called on Congress to increase access to patient data across the care continuum, while protecting the privacy of patients.