As we gear up for the holiday season and the start of 2018, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the past year and everything we’re grateful for. That’s why we want to give thanks to 10 blogs, and the people behind them, that we think do a superb job drilling down into the complexities of healthcare IT, and highlighting how exciting, innovative, and inspiring this industry can be.

After our combined decades of experience in the business, we know a great healthcare blog when we see it. Here are our 10 favorites:

Looking ahead to 2021, I am expecting an improvement from 2020.  I know that is not saying much, but there are a lot of crazy dynamics at play in the healthcare industry and the economy as a whole, so it’s very hard to say what to expect, except a lot of change.  That said, here’s what I am watching for in the year to come:

It has been more than a year since HHS proposed a set of rules to improve electronic healthcare data interoperability among payers, providers and patients. With the rules expected to roll out later this month, healthcare providers and payers will be required to implement open data-sharing technology to improve access to patient information. The rules require health plans to offer patients and clinicians access to their medical claims and health information, but providers will also be on the hook to increase patient access; as non-compliant physicians will be included in a public report that consumers could reference when selecting a provider. Here at Aria, these proposed rules have been a hot topic of conversation for a couple of our clients in particular.

For the 7^th consecutive year, our client Kyruus is hosting its Annual Thought Leadership on Access Symposium (ATLAS), an event that brings together health system and hospital leaders from across the country to collaborate on transforming patient access and the patient experience. Like many other events, ATLAS is going to be conducted virtually this year.  This setting actually allows Kyruus to bring in even more experts from across the industry, including C-level executives from top U.S. health systems like Banner Health, Geisinger, and Providence. Some other agenda highlights include:

April was a busy month for Aria. Not only did Boston experience summer-like temperatures, but the Boston Marathon was a great success and some of our professional sports teams made it to the playoffs. Aria’s clients had some pretty big wins as well, here’s a recap of April highlights!

April was another busy, but successful month here at Aria. While Aria’s executive team attended HITMC18, the rest of the company was back at home working hard on securing some great results for our clients. Here are a few highlights from the past month:

A frostbite-like rash on feet or hands is just one potential symptom of the novel coronavirus. If you search Google Images for the colloquial term, “COVID toe,” you’ll find dozens of photos of toes with reddish or purplish splotches – almost entirely on white skin. You’ll likely have to scroll and scroll before finding a single image of brown or black skin. (That is, if you find one at all.)

This spring, Aria had the pleasure of having two interns support the public relations team. Both Gaby and Alex worked directly with Aria account executives on a range of activities, including media monitoring, media research and social media support. Before their internship programs come to an end, we sat down with the colleague students and talked to them about their semester at Aria. Following is Gaby’s summary of her experience at Aria:

Aria Marketing today announced it has signed on three new healthcare IT clients, including Life Image, the world's largest global network for sharing clinical and imaging data powered by leading interoperability standards. The award-winning agency also expanded its team with strategic hires to support its increasing client base.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today named its first-ever Wellness Officer in an effort to advance the health and wellness of its employees. Senior account executive Ashley Owen will draw on her years of professional and personal experience in the health and wellness space to lead Aria’s wellness initiative in addition to carrying out her client responsibilities.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced that its Executive Vice President, Jessica Cohen, was selected to present a break out session at the annual Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Conference (HITMC), which takes place April 17-19 in Boston.

Healthcare-Focused PR Agency Continues to Grow to Support New Business in 2018

Boston, MA – March 27, 2018 – Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced it was named one of the Best PR Firms in Boston by Expertise. The recognition comes at a time of momentum for the company, as it brings on new clients, such PatientMatters, a company transforming the financial experience of care, and makes strategic hires to help support both new and existing clients.

Aria Marketing today announced it was named one of the Best PR Firms in Boston by Expertise. The recognition comes at a time of momentum for the company, as it brings on new clients, such PatientMatters, and makes strategic hires to help support both new and existing clients.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced it has been named one of the Best PR Firms in Boston by Expertise, a research organization and publisher of top-ranking local business lists. This recognition comes at a pivotal time for the agency as it continues to experience a rise in demand for its services in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As a thought leadership-driven healthcare PR agency, Aria is uniquely positioned to support the healthcare industry during this time of crisis.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced that its CEO, Scott Collins, was selected to participate in a breakout panel at the annual Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference (HITMC), which takes place January 31-February 3 in Las Vegas, NV.

Scott Collins, president of leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, Aria Marketing, has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Healthcare Leaders for his contributions to the healthcare industry by the International Forum on Advancements in Healthcare (IFAH). Collins received the award at the third annual IFAH held in Las Vegas, NV in June 2019.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, recognized 2019 as a pivotal year in which the company increased revenue by nearly 20% and added three leading healthcare technology companies to its client roster. In conjunction with these achievements, Aria also announced an employee retention rate of 93%.

Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced that for the 20^th consecutive year, it will be representing over a dozen healthcare technology and services companies at the Healthcare Information and Management System Society’s (HIMSS) Annual Conference, taking place February 11-15 in Orlando.

Each year, we look forward to the one and only event that is truly geared toward our niche (PR and marketing for the healthcare industry), the Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Conference (HITMC). This year, not only did Aria again sponsor and exhibit at the show, but I was selected to present alongside longtime client, Kyruus. During our session, we shared insights on how to curate and leverage data to highlight market leadership via an integrated public relations and marketing campaign. For those reading who were unable to attend our session, I included some of the highlights below.

The Aria team took a break (mostly) from the world of health IT PR for a full two weeks this holiday season. After a year of hard work, a crazy pandemic, and a transition to WFH, we took some well-deserved time to relax. Read about the team’s much needed R&R over the holidays: