What do you consider a "real-time" transaction?

Image Courtesy of Eligible

There's a fantastic write-up from Eligible, a company I've had the pleasure of working with recently, on the state of "real-time" transactions in the health care sector.

With the passage of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), our government created a set of standards defining the kind of transactions that your doctor, your insurance company, Durable Medical Equipment Providers (DMEs) and a whole host of other participants in the health care sector carry out while delivering your health care to you (and making sure it's paid for...)

Image Courtesy of CMS

While most of the attention around HIPAA tends to be focused on the Security, Privacy, and Breach of Notification Rules, this legislation was the first time any of the participants in the health care sector attempted to create a single unified standard defining what types of information should be included, for example, when a doctor's office sends an electronic request to an insurance company to verify what kind of coverage you have before providing you with services.

Watch the Best Video Introduction to Gamification & Explanation of its Pros & Cons from Penny Arcade

It's a funny and informative introduction to gamification and I guarantee you will laugh out loud at least once :)

This may actually be the first simple explanation I've ever seen of any of the potential positives AND pitfalls of using gamification as a strategy.  Clocking in at around 6 minutes, it's a great introduction to share with people who are interested in learning about the basics of gamification.

The fantastic work done on this particular episode deserves to be called out: