HealthTech's 2017 Must-Read Health IT Blogger List

The digital revolution is upon us, and nowhere is that more apparent than in healthcare, where artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and more are at the forefront of the advancing medical field.

While the challenges, benefits and standards around new health technology can be dizzying, experts and IT leaders from across the industry are lining up on sites across the internet to give you their best advice in tackling the technology transformation.

Although you don’t have to look far to find a blog on health IT, trying to sift out which one has the best information can be a Herculean feat. Lucky for you, we’ve spotlighted here the best of the best of bloggers and trendsetters in the health IT industry.

These 50 blogs include veteran picks from years past as well as new faces. The list is divided into four categories to better target where each blogger’s expertise lies. Interested in who made the list in previous years? Check out the 2016, 2015 and 2014 lists.

Did your blog make our list? Be sure to grab a Must-Read IT Blog badge and give your site an award for this momentous achievement! You can also bookmark this list as a launch pad for exploring new content as these blogs amass even more great posts throughout the year.

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Calling on his more than 25 years of experience as a healthcare lawyer and consultant, David Harlow tackles digital health law and policy, demystifying everything from HIPAA to compliance and privacy laws for Big Data analytics shops and health app developers.

With several writers at the helm, this blog from the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also known as the HHS IDEA Lab, seeks to humanize many of the issues facing healthcare IT professionals, touching on everything from the ongoing opioid crisis to the data revolution

Concerned about going paperless? The HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is here to help. This blog seeks to provide answers about the nation’s transition to electronic health records as well as create an ongoing conversation for healthcare providers around the changeover to digital records.

From the brilliant minds of those at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, this blog stays on the cutting edge, covering the latest updates, studies and innovation efforts across the healthcare IT spectrum.

Physician and health policy researcher Ashish Jha firmly believes that “an ounce of data is worth a thousand pounds of opinion.” On his blog, the researcher, who practices Harvard School of Public Health, seeks to bring data to discussions about health policy issues.

As the official blog for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, CMS administrators seek to address how eHealth, data analytics, EHRs and more can help to improve our ability to measure and deliver quality services to patients across the country.

Looking for a daily dose of the latest health IT policy moves? Look no further than news source Politico’s daily update on legislative moves around telehealth, precision medicine initiatives, EHRs and more.

Run by self-proclaimed standards geek Keith Boone, who co-chairs several committees in organizations such as IHE and HL7, this blog tackles the behemoth of healthcare interoperability and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR).

Senior leadership lend a less-formal voice to the mission of public health in this U.S. Food and Drug Administration blog that addresses many of the leading challenges and innovations surrounding the pharmacy industry.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a trusted voice in the health IT space, so it should come as no surprise that this blog, run by AHRQ leadership, calls on agency data and research to explore changes to the U.S. health system and provide insights on the research that informs health policy and care decisions.

@AHRQNews | Read the blog:  https://www.ahrq.gov/news/blog/ahrqviews/index.html

 

Boasting over 100 global contributors, this wildly informative blog has a mission to “serve as a platform for provocative ideas, thoughts, and solutions in the health sphere.” The writing addresses timely and often controversial health topics from former health officials, technology leaders, patient advocates, researchers, economists and more.

Confused about blockchain, interoperability or personalized medicine? Who better to explain the role of these new technologies in our complex health system than CIOs? With this publication, written by and for health CIOs, that is exactly what you’ll get.

Touting more than 20 years as a CIO in a multihospital health system, Will Weider shares his successes, failures, challenges and advice for others in health IT leadership positions.

CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, chairman of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), a professor at Harvard Medical School and a practicing emergency physician: Think one man can’t hold this much health expertise? Think again. John D. Halamka offers his experience and know-how in this lively blog.

After 30 years in the industry, Sue Schade shares her passion for healthcare IT management in this weekly blog. She covers critical issues facing healthcare IT, takes a look at the organizational transformations IT organizations face, and seeks to address the challenges health IT leaders are coming up against as they look to keep paths of opportunity open to all.

For a candid take on the latest in health IT, go no further than an anonymous source. Although there’s no name tied to this blog, it’s certainly not lacking in personality and expertise as the author, who works for a nonprofit hospital, seeks to sift out and provide context around the top HIT news.

As an organization dedicated to sharing, developing and accelerating ideas that improve health, Kaiser Permanente’s blog offers insights, like how to provide an integrated care delivery system, as well as updates on how the center is advocating for wellness.

Doctor and health collaboration company CEO Jacob Reider provides his take on big moves in the health IT space, addressing everything from self-driving health to data volume.

Proclaimed a “sandbox” for his evolving ideas, 33 Charts is the digital podium of Bryan Vartabedian, a pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital and one of healthcare’s most influential voices on medical technology.

Have questions about what the American Health Care Act could mean for your organization? Looking for tips on how to bridge the gap between innovation and budget? This blog from daily news publication Fierce seeks to provide down-to-earth information on how providers can solve challenges across the digital health spectrum.

Technically five blogs in one, the Journal of AHIMA is the official publication of the American Health Information Management Association. While the journal looks to keep professionals current on emerging issues around patient information, the blog seeks to provide context around data, documentation, coding, information governance and “legal e-speaking.”

Rallying a team around a new health IT deployment requires leadership and stellar management. For those of us that need tips in managing a team around these complex digital projects, the Healthcare Leadership Blog by Colin Hung and Joe Babaian offers advice on mentoring, leadership and how best to manage innovation disruption while engaging the health IT community in weekly conversations on policy, innovation and more.

Linda Girgis claims to be “just a family doctor speaking up from the frontlines of medicine,” but her blog demonstrates she is much more. She proves to be a candid representative for the medical community, touching on difficult topics, such as the opioid crisis, and balancing the benefits and challenges of emerging IT solutions, such as telemedicine.

 

If the emerging HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard leaves you a bit baffled, you’re not alone. Luckily, self-proclaimed “FHIR evangelist” David Hay is here to help you get in the know.

Few are more tapped in to health IT than Brian Ahier, whose blog covers important moves in the technology space as well as information on healthcare, technology and “government 2.0.”

Deploying electronic medical and health records can be quite a task, but making digital health records a reality everywhere could go a whole lot smoother with the expertise of John Lynn, founder of the Healthcare Scene blog network, which includes EMR & EHR, EMR and HIPAA and many others.

For IT expertise, look no further than Cisco. And for health IT insights around cybersecurity, EHRs and making your hospital ready for the digital revolution, Cisco’s health IT blog is certainly worth checking out.

Shahid Shah is a former CTO, medical device inventor and all-around health technology expert with a litany of awards to prove it. His blog dips into EHR adoption, patient engagement and portals, and the challenges and benefits with health technology.

IBM’s Watson is revolutionizing the health industry by introducing AI in practical ways in hospitals across the globe. In that same tradition, IBM’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Industries blog looks to keep professionals up to date on practical advice they can apply at their own organizations through tips, candid advice and interviews with influential health IT professionals.

The brainchild of David Lee Scher, a cardiologist, digital health consultant and former HIMSS board member, Digital Health Corner touches on trends, challenges and areas of opportunity for digital medicine in today’s health ecosystem.

Dr. Joseph Kvedar of Partners HealthCare is the go-to guy for connected health info. On his blog, he offers his insights on the often disparate connected health technology in healthcare organizations today and how health IT leaders can smooth the transition to mHealth.

Apple’s CareKit is a software framework for apps that aim to let users better understand and manage their medical conditions. The blog keeps readers updated on how CareKit is leaving its mark in hospitals across the country.

A blog from the team at mobile health technology company 3G Doctor, mHealth Insight looks to draw attention to important innovations and developments in the mHealth field, including wearables, telehealth and more.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of new devices and applications, but iMedicalApps calls on clinicians and academics to provide reliable reviews of new tech, much of which is pulled from their own experience in the field.

Intel is helping to advance digital health, and its blog is here to help you make sense of it all. Featuring several writers from across Intel’s health IT ecosystem, the subject matter hits on Big Data, cloud adoption, encryption, mobility and more.

Industry experts provide insights on coding, how to support data analytics and everything that runs the health IT gambit in this blog from 3M Health Information Systems, a company that works with providers, payers and government agencies to anticipate and navigate a changing healthcare landscape.

Staying secure in the digital age is especially imperative for healthcare organizations, but it certainly isn’t easy to do. Imprivata’s blog hopes to help professionals enact sharper cybersecurity measures and stay up to date on the ever-changing cyberthreat landscape.

This blog from Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, executive editor of health IT publication HealthcareInfoSecurity, covers the latest on the cybersecurity and privacy of healthcare information.

The nonprofit Health Information Trust Alliance believes that information protection should be a core pillar of the broad adoption of health information systems and exchanges, rather than an obstacle to it. The organization’s blog covers how IT leaders can keep info safe and taps CISOs at healthcare organizations across the country to talk on security culture and risk management.

The advancement in medical devices offers immense opportunity for organizations and providers, as well as growing cyber risk. This blog from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) touches on how to keep medical devices safe and secure as they continue to evolve.

 

With the “Silver Tsunami” approaching, the challenges and opportunities in aging are taking on a whole new significance. Aging2.0 is an organization set up to help support innovators for the 50+ market. Its blog covers the latest moves in the aging space.

Activist, artist speaker and author Regina Holliday is passionate about the benefits of health information technology and timely data access for patients. She speaks out about health IT and the healthcare system in this blog where “art, medicine, social media and pop-culture collide and create a patient voice in health information technology.”

Health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn covers trends and provides advice on the constantly shifting health IT space, looking to everything from tips on healthy living to how AI and analytics can improve patient care.

Technology is entering the senior space with surprising speed. Here, industry analyst Laurie Orlov tackles robotics, apps and gadgets as well as practical matters around integrating IT into senior lives.

Put together by experts truly passionate about the industry, the Health Care Blog is a true hub for everything in the health IT space. It takes on the tricky task of addressing the intersection of technology, business and policy to provide a full scope of the health IT landscape.

With thousands of authors contributing to KevinMD.com, the site acts as a sounding board for many in healthcare who pass through the health system but are rarely given a voice.

As the health industry undergoes major changes thanks to the digital revolution, NEJM Catalyst’s blog brings together healthcare executives, clinician leaders and clinicians to “share innovative ideas and practical applications” to build a better healthcare delivery system.

Covering analytics, patient engagement, care management and clinician network management, Chilmark Research’s analysts look to provide in-depth research on the emerging technologies that they feel have the greatest potential to improve healthcare.

No one is more tuned in to the world of health IT than Steve Sisko, a healthcare data, technology and services advisor who looks to provide insight and commentary around health IT and important voices in the community.