As Chilmark has grown, so has our areas of research which is best represented in the following four research notes that our analysts put together for Chilmark Advisory Service (CAS) clients. The following four abstracts provide you perspective on some of the most critical and pertinent developments int his market sector.

We will be at HIMSS this year and likely have a few copies of this Monthly Update in our bags. If you want to get together to discuss the CAS service, just let us know, but be quick as our calendars for this event are rapidly filling up.

Fair Warning For Healthcare CFOs
The office, duties, and functions of healthcare CFOs will begin a major upgrade this year. Such changes have been a long time coming, but with only three years to take on Risk Assumption ACOs (RAAs), time is short. The difference between what is coming in, in fees for service, or capitation fees, has become dangerously close to what it costs to “keep the lights on.” Something has to be done. Fortunately there is plenty of mature software and a number of best practices CFOs can borrow from other industries to insure the solvency of our healthcare system. The four primary domains where CFOs should begin are:

1. Formalized Budget & Planning
2. Activity-based Costing
3. Performance Monitoring and Measurement
4. Contract Management

EHR Data is More Untrustworthy Than You Think
The healthcare industry, in its rush to adopt medical records and fervor to keep medical records HIPAA-compliant, has completely underinvested in ensuring the quality of the data that is entered into those medical records. Poor data quality stemming from human error and a pervasive lack of validation has enormous consequences for treatment decisions at the point of care and for secondary uses of patient data, particularly analytics. This research note takes a close look at the problem of data quality and what other industries have done to address it.

Keeping Track of Wearable Health Tech
Up until now, the $2 billion wearable tech market has focused primarily on wellness and fitness, and barely skittered around the edges of the broader healthcare market. In the past, devices such as quantified-self tools, fitness peripherals, movement trackers, and the like were not up to the task of tracking complex healthcare data but this is rapidly changing. Thanks to a confluence of growing interest, increasing market maturity, more robust, multi-dimensional devices and good timing, Chilmark Research believes wearable tech stands ready to make significant inroads into a value-driven healthcare market.

Learning to Like Direct
Despite a strong market and federal incentives, this is an uneasy time for HIE vendors, and Direct (Direct Secure Messaging) tops the list of HIE headaches. Direct doesn’t just sequester data in silos. In many HIE vendors’ view, it sends clinical information to some bunker underneath the silos of healthcare data. Add to this the fact that the legion of EHR-enabled providers is growing and these providers want information from their HIEs, including secure messages sent through Direct, integrated into existing EHRs. From a workflow perspective, this makes sense, but established EHR vendors have little to no incentive to make things easy for the new HIE kids. This article looks at Direct and what its rise portends for the future of HIE vendors and their product development and go to market strategies.

 Each month, subscribers to the Chilmark Advisory Services (CAS) receive an update of our research on the most transformative trends in the healthcare IT sector. Exclusive to CAS subscribers, monthly updates are part of the continuous feed of information and analysis we generate to keep subscribers on top of the rapid-fire changes in this market.