Here are a few I came across last week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/09/special-report-cloud-3/
Special Report : Cloud
The coronavirus pandemic has meant a number of NHS trusts have had to quickly adapt to new ways of working. Jennifer Trueland investigates how Covid-19 has brought home the benefits of cloud.
Rapid adoption of new working practices due to the pandemic has underlined the case for cloud technology in UK health services. The shift to remote consultations coupled with the working-from-home revolution has demonstrated the need for systems that are both robust and flexible – and has brought home the benefits and efficiencies of cloud.
But many believe that the NHS was already on a journey not just to greater acceptance of cloud, but to the tipping point where cloud-first becomes the default. And while most would agree that Covid 19 has had an influence, it is certainly not the only factor driving the move, with others including security issues highlighted by the Wannacry attack, and also the growth in collaboration across larger regional health and care economies, requiring flexibility and agility.
“I think we were already on this journey towards cloud,” says Chris Scarisbrick, sales director with Sectra.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/09/alcidion-launches-smart-clinical-asset-in-the-uk/
Alcidion launches ‘smart clinical asset’ in the UK
Australian health tech company Alcidion has launched a ‘smart clinical asset’ in the UK which it hopes will help the NHS.
Hanna Crouch – 7 September, 2020
Miya Precision integrates information from healthcare organisation’s current systems, uses it to automate routine tasks, care plans and pathways, and overlays existing data with advanced clinical decision support.
This allows hospitals to realise clinical workflow benefits from clinical noting, natural language processing, electronic observations, electronic prescribing, flow management, mobility and more – to align with their digital strategies.
It will enable the NHS to quickly adopt new and emerging technologies and algorithms, as well as address strategic priorities.
Miya Precision, which has been called a ‘smart clinical asset’, has already seen early adoption in the NHS, with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust the first in the UK to sign up.
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Government looks to digital ‘ID cards’ to enable easier access to services
The government plans to create digital “ID cards” for members of the public to make it easier for them to access services such as GPs.
Andrea Downey – 4 September, 2020
Number 10 revealed on Tuesday it plans to “update existing laws on identity checking to enable digital identity to be used as widely as possible”.
Increasingly people are required to prove their identity to access services, whether it is to buy age-restricted items on and offline or make it easier to register at a new GP surgery, according to a statement from the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport.
Details are yet to be ironed out but the government intends to consult on developing legislation for consumer protection relating to digital identity, specific rights for individuals, an ability to seek redress if something goes wrong, and set out where the responsibility for oversight should lie.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/machine-learning-can-predict-health-risks-of-future-pregnancies
Machine Learning Can Predict Health Risks of Future Pregnancies
A machine learning tool can examine women’s placentas after giving birth, identifying features that might indicate health risks in future pregnancies.
By Jessica Kent
September 09, 2020 - A machine learning approach can analyze placenta slides and inform more women of their health risks in future pregnancies, leading to lower healthcare costs and better outcomes, according to a study published in the American Journal of Pathology.
When a baby is born, doctors sometimes examine the placenta for features that might suggest health risks in any future pregnancies. Providers analyze placentas to look for a type of blood vessel lesion called decidual vasculopathy (DV). These indicate that the mother is at risk for preeclampsia, a complication that can be fatal to both the mother and baby in any future pregnancies.
Once detected, preeclampsia can be treated, so there is considerable benefit from identifying at-risk mothers before symptoms appear. However, although there are hundreds of blood vessels in a single slide, only one diseased vessel is needed to indicate risk. This makes examining the placenta a time-consuming process that must be performed by a specialist, so most placentas go unexamined after birth.
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Targeted cyberattacks on telehealth vendors skyrocketed along with adoption, report finds
Author Rebecca Pifer @RebeccaMPifer
Published Sept. 10, 2020
Dive Brief:
- As telehealth usage surged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so did targeted cyberattacks on telehealth providers, according to a new report from cybersecurity ratings firm SecurityScorecard and dark web research company DarkOwl.
- Researchers analyzed security alerts sent to IT staff at 148 of the most popular telehealth applications and found they jumped 30% for the period March through April this year, compared to the pre-COVID period of September 2019 through February 2020.
- In the starkest difference, the healthcare industry overall saw a 77% decrease in IP reputation security alerts caused by malware infections, part of successful phishing attempts or other attacks. The same incidents in telehealth vendors jumped 117%, suggesting cybercriminals moved away from targeting healthcare organization networks in favor of third party supply chain vendors instead.
Dive Insight:
The pandemic and resulting regulatory changes resulted in snowballing telehealth use beginning in March, as patients avoided doctors' offices and hospitals for non-emergent health concerns, leery of potential virus transmission.
As a result, telehealth providers have experienced an almost exponential surge in targeted cyberattacks, according to the new report.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/should-healthcare-reassess-meaningful-use-baseline-criteria
Should Healthcare Reassess Meaningful Use Baseline Criteria?
Researchers did not find a direct correlation between EHR use that fulfills meaningful use criteria and patient satisfaction, safety, and spending.
September 10, 2020 - Following the introduction of the HITECH Act’s meaningful use program, EHR implementation was not directly associated with the increased hospital value-based purchasing (HVBP) measures of patient satisfaction, safety, and spending, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
These results may motivate health IT leaders to reevaluate EHR implementation criteria in the future to increase the baseline measurement.
Medicare’s over $30 billion in spending to incentivize EHR adoption was based partially as an assumption that EHRs would enhance patient safety and healthcare quality.
Although the majority of hospitals exceed meaningful use’s baseline requirements, researchers aimed to examine whether EHR implementation beyond the baseline would increase patient satisfaction, efficiency, and safety, resulting in a potential meaningful use performance threshold increase in the future.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/europe/global-standards-local-implementations
HIMSS & H2.0 Europe Digital 2020
'Global standards with local implementations'
Global health leaders are optimistic their new consortium can crack interoperability as the pandemic has highlighted the need to work together. This positive outlook was expressed by two influential healthcare leaders on an HIMSS virtual panel.
September 10, 2020 11:47 AM
HIMSS, HL7 International and IHE international announced the formation of the Global Consortium for eHealth Interoperability earlier this year during the closing keynote of today's programme at HIMSS & Health 2.0 Europe Digital Conference. Their main objective is to enable national governments, health systems and stakeholders to use interoperability standards and implementation guidance to improve clinical and financial outcomes. They want to address barriers and accelerate the deployment of the latest API-based interoperable standards, which ensure data can be accessed in a unified secure manner.
Dr Erik Gerritsen, Secretary General, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, The Netherlands and Dr Don Rucker, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), HHS Office of the Secretary, US, were speaking at the Evening Keynote: Building a Global Consortium for eHealth Interoperability session, moderated by Catherine Chronaki, General Secretary, HL7 Europe and the President Elect of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI).
Construction is part of a bigger ecosystem
According to Gerritsen, “Optimism is a moral duty” if you want to achieve global eHealth interoperability. He said the pandemic has strengthened the case for global interoperability and he explained why this consortium would succeed: “Construction is part of a bigger ecosystem that is getting more and more aligned, and together with our American friends, we will connect this construction with the global digital health partnership, which are the national digital health authorities from about 30 countries.
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How a homemade dashboard helped resume 3,000 necessary surgeries during COVID-19
Elective but necessary surgeries were banned for a time. To properly catch up, Phoenix Children’s Hospital built a visually informative, interactive, actionable dashboard using Microsoft’s Power BI software.
By Bill Siwicki
September 11, 2020 11:52 AM
With the increasing spread of COVID-19 infections, the governor of Arizona declared a moratorium on “elective surgeries” on March 19, 2020, in order to conserve hospital PPE supplies and build capacity for potential COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization.
The moratorium lasted for six weeks and was finally lifted on May 1, 2020. The end of the suspension resulted in a backlog of more than 3,000 surgical procedures at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
THE PROBLEM
“While it is true that elective surgeries are typically nonurgent, many of these are medically necessary and important for a child’s health and well-being,” explained Dr. Vinay Vaidya, chief medical information officer at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
“Besides the delay in surgery for the patient, deferring all elective surgeries put a major financial strain on hospitals across the country. The challenge we had to address was how to resume the thousands of deferred surgeries, in addition to the new surgeries that were being added each day.”
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Google Investment Suggests That Telehealth To Play Structural Role In Healthcare Delivery’s Future
September 11, 2020
A few weeks ago, my colleague John Lynn offered some data on how in-person visits have fared versus telehealth visits at UCHealth over the last several months.
In March, before the COVID-19 pandemic flared up, UCHealth was delivering less than 100 video visits per week, according to John’s source. That volume exploded up to about 20,000 video visits per week during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis. Now, things have calmed down considerably, but the system still delivers about 8,000 video visits per week. While this number may still fall further, my instinct is that the baseline has changed.
I’ve given considerable thought to what this means for the longer term, and the obvious takeaway is that even if UCHealth’s experience is typical – with telehealth volumes falling dramatically from levels seen during the peak of the pandemic, the market has seen a permanent expansion.
Now, we know that at least one Big Tech player agrees. A couple of weeks ago, its Google Cloud subsidiary announced that it had agreed to a multi-year deal with Amwell, a telehealth company providing care via employers.
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Half of US Adults Fear Medical Bankruptcy, High Healthcare Costs
Fear of medical bankruptcy afflicts young people and non-White people at higher rates than White individuals over age 50.
By Sara Heath
September 09, 2020 - Fifty percent of adults in the US harbor at least some concern that they could fall victim to medical bankruptcy due to high out-of-pocket healthcare costs, according to new poll results from West Health and Gallup.
This is up five percentage points from January and February of 2019, when 45 percent of patients said they were concerned a medical emergency could bankrupt them.
These concerns afflict some patient populations more than others, the survey of just over 1,000 US adults showed. For example, 64 percent of non-White respondents said they were concerned or extremely concerned about going bankrupt as the result of a significant health episode. This is up from 52 percent of non-White respondents who said the same in the 2019 poll.
Younger patients, too, have more pressing fears about medical bankruptcy. Fifty-five percent of the 18-to-29 cohort and the 30-to-49 cohort said they are at least concerned about incurring insurmountable medical debt; this is up from 43 and 46 percent, respectively, in 2019.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/can-ehr-natural-language-processing-detect-opioid-misuse-codes
Can EHR Natural Language Processing Detect Opioid Misuse Codes?
Human reviewers could identify roughly 70 percent more patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) than an EHR algorithm.
September 08, 2020 - Human reviewers can identify patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) more consistently than EHR natural language processing, even if EHR diagnostic codes cannot define the diagnosis, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Additionally, researchers found the benefit of coding for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-5) criteria from EHRs to generate a DSM-5 severity score that is further associated with OUD patients.
According to researchers, opioid addiction rates and opioid-related deaths have been increasing since 2012. However, OUD is commonly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed during patient-physician consultation.
Physicians commonly utilize questionnaires from DSM-5 OUD criteria or dialogue, based on impairment, opioid cravings, and high levels of usage. If a patient hits two of the 11 criteria, then the patient is diagnosed with an OUD. However, these criteria typically revolve around self-reports from patients.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/08/health/stay-at-home-orders-coronavirus-study-wellness/index.html
Stay-at-home orders tied to drop in Covid-19 spread
Updated 2101 GMT (0501 HKT) September 8, 2020
(CNN)When people obeyed stay-at-home orders this past spring, it reduced the spread of Covid-19, according to new research published Tuesday.
"These findings suggest that stay-at-home social distancing mandates, when they were followed by measurable mobility changes, were associated with reduction in Covid-19 cases," the researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison wrote in the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
They used location data from more than 45 million cellphones between March 11 and April 10 to work out daily travel distance and time spent at home across all 50 states. This helped them judge how well people obeyed social distancing mandates.
It looks like they did, to some degree.
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Isolation, Loneliness of Lockdowns Is Tough on America's Seniors
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors are among those most at risk for dying from COVID-19, and so they've been urged to socially distance during the pandemic.
But experts fear this isolation, while protecting them from a potentially fatal infection, might be wearing away at their health in other ways.
"By older adults being less socially engaged and less active, they are absolutely seeing changes in physical function and in cognitive sharpness," Dr. Carla Perissinotto, associate chief of geriatrics clinical programs at the University of California, San Francisco, said during an HD Live interview.
Social isolation has been associated with a 50% increased risk of developing dementia, according to a report released earlier this year from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Isolation is hard on the body as well, the report says. Loneliness has been associated with a 59% increased risk of functional decline and a 45% increased risk of death.
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New tool could 'help UK doctors spot high-risk Covid patients in seconds'
Study claims risk calculator will help clinicians with expected influx of patients this autumn
Natalie GroverThu 10 Sep 2020 08.30 AEST
Last modified on Thu 10 Sep 2020 08.42 AEST
A risk calculator that takes seconds to produce a score indicating a Covid-19 patient’s risk of death could help clinicians make care decisions soon after patients arrive in hospital, according to a large study conducted by a consortium of researchers across the UK.
As UK Covid-19 cases rise, schools reopen and the weather gets colder, doctors at UK hospitals are expected to see an influx of coronavirus patients.
Patients with Covid-19 behave very differently to patients with other conditions such as flu and bacterial pneumonia, said Dr Antonia Ho of the University of Glasgow, one of the study’s authors, and it is very challenging for doctors managing this unfamiliar disease to accurately identify those who are at high risk of deterioration or who can ride out their illness at home.
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Telehealth and clinical decision support: ideal synergy for patient- clinician engagement
Pairing telehealth and clinical decision support could be a true game-changer, enabling patients and clinicians to make decisions together along the care continuum of complex diseases.
By: Siemens
September 10, 2020 09:00 AM
In the months and years to come, as we reflect on all that has changed in our lives due to the pandemic, patient engagement and telehealth will be among top subjects for healthcare.
Multi-year studies published between 2017 and 2019 showed that telehealth, while definitely a welcomed concept for home-bound or time-constrained patients, clinicians managing chronic diseases, and/or payers and providers looking to mitigate population health incentives, was still very much in its infancy.1
Prior to the pandemic, an analysis of claims data showed that only about 2.4% of enrollees in large employer health plans had used a telehealth service.2
A report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on July 28, 2020, indicates that in April 2020, 43.5% (average across both rural and urban areas) of Medicare primary care visits were provided via telehealth as compared to 0.1% in February 2020.3
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https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/europe/femtechs-sexual-health-revolution
Femtech's sexual health revolution
Panelists at the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Digital Conference discuss how digital health can help women learn more about their sexual health and wellbeing.
By Laura Lovett
September 10, 2020 10:52 am
Historically, women’s health has not been a dinner conversation topic, especially when talking about sexual health and pleasure. However, the panellists at the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Digital Conference argue that it's important to have conversations in order to advance the femtech industry.
Today we are seeing the emergence of tools that help women better understand and improve their sexual health, but this tech is still overcoming taboo.
“Previously we had an industry that was polarised. We had family planning and porn,” Dominnique Karetsos, CEO and cofounder of Healthy Pleasure Group. “And if it wasn’t for the likes of Lioness and MysteryVibe and all these wonderful brands that interrupted and brought this conversation into [the] mainstream along with the me too movement.”
Lioness is just one example. This femtech startup was created in 2013, and designed with the aim of helping women gain insights into what is happening to their bodies when they are having an orgasm.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-biggest-threat-healthcare-cybersecurity-says-report
Telehealth is biggest threat to healthcare cybersecurity, says report
A new study from SecurityScorecard and DarkOwl sees increased risk across application and endpoint security, IP reputation, patching cadence and network security.
By Kat Jercich
September 10, 2020 11:09 AM
Although a new report suggests that the healthcare industry slightly improved its security posture this year compared to last, it warns that increased provider reliance on telehealth since the COVID-19 pandemic now presents a new slate of risks to patient data.
The report, released Thursday from SecurityScorecard and DarkOwl, found that telehealth systems have experienced an enormous increase in targeted attacks.
"The rapid pace at which telehealth applications were rolled out during the pandemic made them attractive targets for cybercriminals," said Sam Kassoumeh, COO and cofounder of SecurityScorecard in a statement provided to Healthcare IT News.
"Our report findings illustrate that in order for the healthcare industry to protect patient and provider data, vetting and enforcing security protocols around new technology providers remains paramount," he added.
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Why Teamwork Is Key to Addressing Social Determinants of Health
Healthcare organizations setting out on a social determinants of health program must rely on community partners to effectively meet patient needs.
By Sara Heath
September 08, 2020 - “It takes a village” takes on a whole new meaning when you apply it to healthcare. For Desha Dickson, associate vice president of Community Wellness at Reading Hospital, it takes a literal village — or in her words, community — to identify high-risk patients and successfully connect them to social determinants of health solutions.
That much has become clear in the years in which Reading Hospital, located in Berks County, Pennsylvania, has been dedicating itself to address social determinants of health and barriers to care for its patients.
As a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Accountable Health Community grant recipient, the hospital has become well-versed in assessing and then addressing social needs for patients. And the biggest lesson learned?
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What Patient Demographics Use Patient Portal Appointment Scheduling?
Those using the patient portal for online appointment scheduling skew younger and Whiter, leading experts to be concerned about care access equity.
By Sara Heath
September 08, 2020 - Young, White patients with commercial health payer coverage are more likely to use the patient portal for online appointment scheduling than others, according to the latest data in JAMA Network Open.
Patients using the patient portal for online appointment scheduling, otherwise known as direct scheduling, were also more likely to have a least one comorbidity and to have a history using the technology before the study period.
Direct scheduling based in the patient portal has long been viewed as a strategy to improve patient access to care in a convenient way. The technology is available 24 hours per day, and lets patients bypass a call center that could tie them up for a prolonged period.
“This offering may have additional benefits, especially in the primary care setting, such as promoting continuity with one’s usual primary care physician (PCP),” the researchers said. “Conversely, direct scheduling might worsen disparities in access to care via the so-called digital divide.”
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Artificial Intelligence May Help Develop COVID-19 Treatments, Tests
Artificial intelligence is helping researchers at universities across the country design effective COVID-19 treatments and testing methods.
By Jessica Kent
September 08, 2020 - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, artificial intelligence tools have played a significant role in tracking, controlling, and predicting the spread of the virus.
Now, researchers are leveraging artificial intelligence tools to develop more effective treatments and testing for coronavirus.
A team from the University of Washington Bothell used deep learning to build a software tool that could help design vaccines.
Called DeepTracer, the tool is able to analyze a three-dimensional image of a virus protein molecule and trace the connections of its atoms.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-kaiser-permanente-developed-an-ehr-registry-using-patient-data
How Kaiser Permanente Developed an EHR Registry Using Patient Data
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northern California gathered data from roughly 5 million patients to develop an EHR-based registry that assesses alcohol use.
September 04, 2020 - EHR data collected during a patient visit can be leveraged to develop an EHR registry of patients with excessive alcohol use that can be optimized and updated in real-time, Kaiser Permanente researchers reported in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
An EHR registry consisting of patient data could medical professionals address specific high-risk patients. In this case, researchers can utilize the registry to assess alcohol use and recovery methods.
Although alcohol abuse is a significant problem in the US, there were no current EHR-integrated registries that assessed these issues.
Researchers used EHR-based data from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) to source alcohol screening data from its roughly 5 million patients to develop an alcohol registry.
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Doctors rate telehealth as the most promising technology during COVID-19, survey finds
Philips Future Health Index reveals younger doctors’ insights into digital health during the pandemic.
By: Philips
September 09, 2020 10:40 AM
Research published this week by Philips gives an insight into doctors’ experience of COVID-19 and how they believe the healthcare industry should change in response.
The Future Health Index (FHI) Insights: COVID-19 and Younger Healthcare Professionals survey supplements the main FHI 2020 global report, The Age of Opportunity.
It captures feedback from 500 doctors under the age of 40 in five countries: France, Germany, the US, China and Singapore.
The survey reveals that during COVID-19, younger doctors changed their attitudes towards the relative benefits of different health technologies.
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https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/google-cloud-provide-dod-ai-enabled-cancer-diagnostic-system
Google Cloud to provide DoD with an AI enabled cancer diagnostic system
The project is intended to help physicians improve the accuracy of cancer diagnoses using artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
September 08, 2020 11:49 am
In collaboration with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Google Cloud will supply Department of Defense medical facilities with a prototypical artificial intelligence digital-pathology system.
The project is intended to help physicians improve the accuracy of cancer diagnoses by providing DoD medical centers with augmented reality microscopes with overlaid AI technology.
The prototype will utilize TensorFlow, an open-source machine learning platform, and the Google Cloud Healthcare API to assist military doctors in detecting cancer.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-working-beyond-our-wildest-dreams-chicago-s-rush
Telehealth working ‘beyond our wildest dreams’ at Chicago’s Rush
On-demand video visits at Rush University Medical Center have earned a Net Promoter score of 89 so far this year, with more than half of them related to concern over coronavirus.
September 09, 2020
Prior to the pandemic, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, had been using Adobe Media Server integrated with its Epic electronic health record for telehealth video visits. The technology was thoroughly tested both onsite and offsite, with employees working from home, and had a high connection-failure rate of about 30%.
THE PROBLEM
Rush was relying on the patient’s home Internet connection to be good enough to connect, and five to six years ago it was common that home Internet was not good enough to stream content, even in the big city environs of Chicago. Unfortunately, there was very little troubleshooting staff could do once they realized that a patient’s Internet was not high-speed, and that led to many awkward calls between the IT helpdesk and patients.
Another barrier: Adobe Media Server relied on Flash player to be installed on a patient’s web browser, which was a fairly common plug-in for older PCs using standard browsers. But the world was moving to new browsers like Chrome and mobile applications and tablets, and Flash was no longer a standard.
“Not only did the patient need it installed, it also needed to be the right version, and Flash was so finicky that it would not auto-update; sometimes it needed to be uninstalled and reinstalled to take,” explained Marisa Truesdell, information systems manager at Rush University Medical Center. “Moving to telehealth technology from Vidyo was like night and day compared to the amount of patient technical issues and calls we received with Adobe Media Server.”
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Judge dismisses data privacy suit against University of Chicago and Google
The lawsuit had alleged that de-identified data from University of Chicago Medical Center patients, used for machine learning projects, was still identifiable given Google's data mining and AI capabilities.
By Mike Miliard
September 09, 2020 01:14 PM
Back in 2019, Healthcare IT News reported on a unique privacy case involving Google and the University of Chicago Medical Center – which had been named as defendants in a class action suit alleging that they'd failed to properly de-identify data used for machine learning research and predictive analytics projects.
The suit's plaintiff, Daniel Dinerstein, who was a patient at UChicago in 2015, alleged that, while Google and UCMC claimed the medical records used were de-identified, such a claim was "misleading."
Given that the data provided to Google by the university "included detailed datestamps and copious free-text notes," he alleged, the tech giant's expertise in data mining and artificial intelligence made it "uniquely able to determine the identity of almost every medical record the university released."
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How health systems worldwide can build and benchmark their digital maturity
More than ever, the global COVID-19 crisis has shown the imperative of a connected, secure and outcomes-driven healthcare ecosystem, and the HIMSS Digital Health Indicator can help.
By Mike Miliard
September 09, 2020 08:45 AM
For all the progress made over the past decade when it comes healthcare IT infrastructure and digital savvy – and despite the myriad innovations happening each day in all corners of the global health ecosystem – there are still significant gaps and blind spots in most health systems worldwide.
A look at the numbers shows that many healthcare systems around the globe "have not been achieving all of the outcomes of their mandate – which is to keep citizens healthy and well," said Dr Anne Snowdon, executive director of clinical research at HIMSS Analytics.
Consider the fact that medical errors are still a leading cause of death, more than two decades after the US Institute of Medicine's landmark To Err is Human report kickstarted efforts to consign paper-based processes to the dustbin of history.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/patients-vastly-unaware-of-insurers-access-to-online-health-data
Patients Vastly Unaware of Insurers’ Access to Online Health Data
Reports show health insurers routinely scour public and private sources for consumer generated health data. But 90 percent of patients are unaware of the practice, a MITRE-Harris survey finds.
September 03, 2020 - Just one in 10 American patients believe health insurance companies have access to their personal spending and streaming habits, although reports have shown insurers routinely search private and public sources for consumer-generated health data, according to a recent MITRE-Harris Poll survey.
Reports from ProPublica and Politico have highlighted the common practice used to help insurers build customer profiles and predict potential healthcare costs of consumers. Insurance companies will review lifestyle or behavior data pulled from purchasing, membership, or online activity, according to the recent MITRE report.
In response, researchers from MITRE and the Harris Poll conducted an online survey of 2,065 US adults in June, to assess potential privacy issues and consumer concerns about these practices.
About 60 percent believe the practice is acceptable for their insurer and 52 percent said it was acceptable for their employer, if the personal data reviewed by these entities were designed to tailor health promotion activities to the member or employee.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/epics-faulkner-has-high-hopes-for-forthcoming-cosmos-technology
Epic’s Faulkner Has High Hopes for Forthcoming Cosmos Technology
Faulkner believes the company’s Cosmos technology will be a breakthrough for evidence-based medicine at the point of care via Epic EHR technology.
September 03, 2020 - In a recent interview with Cleveland Clinic, the CEO and founder of Epic Systems shared her optimism for the company’s forthcoming product, Cosmos, and its implications for clinical decision-making at the point of care.
Faulkner was the most recent guest of Cleveland Clinic’s Ideas for Tomorrow, a virtual speaker series in which she described the EHR company’s work past and present, including how Epic has supported providers and patients over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cosmos is the database that we have that we're pulling in electronic health information from our customers with their agreement, and we expected to have 50 million records in there by the end of 2020, but we're not at the end and we already have 60 million in there with more coming every day,” Faulkner told host Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic, MD, during the Wednesday evening live stream.
“What we can do with Cosmos…is exciting,” she continued. “And someone said that this will be the biggest change in healthcare since penicillin. I don't know if that's true or not, that's quite a claim, but we have heard multiple times that there's only about 10 percent evidence-based medicine.”
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Over 30 million people told Facebook if they had the coronavirus or wore masks — and now it will be used for science
Published Fri, Sep 4 20208:00 AM EDT Updated Fri, Sep 4 20209:31 AM EDT
Key Points
- On Facebook, a survey from Carnegie Mellon University has been circulating to collect data about the pandemic.
- More than 30 million people responded, more than anyone expected.
- A group of academics are tasking researchers around the world to figure out how to use the information to predict the next Covid-19 hotspot.
When Carnegie Mellon researchers had the idea to put together a survey asking the general public about their coronavirus symptoms, the scientists knew they needed to collect millions of data points to learn anything meaningful.
So they asked Facebook, which has a public team that specializes in using analytics for humanitarian causes called “Data for Good,” for its help.
The survey, which went live to Facebook’s billions of users about six months ago, has so far collected data from more than 30 million people around the world. The survey asks whether they tested positive for the virus, if they wear masks and practice socially distancing as well as if they’re currently experiencing symptoms. Respondents also share data about their demographics, like their age, as well as their mental health status and preexisting medical conditions.
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Fighting COVID-19: Collaboration, trust and standardisation
‘Critical care in critical settings – the human factor makes the difference’ was the theme of the recent HIMSS Dutch Community webinar that was moderated by Conchita Kleijweg, manager expertisecentrum Nictiz.
September 08, 2020 02:37 AM
Recent months have witnessed the world change dramatically. We've been overwhelmed by a pandemic, the economy has been hit hard and the healthcare system is under pressure. The solution for these kinds of challenges can be found in IT, but technology alone is not enough. People really make the difference as articulated by Dave Tjan, intensivist and medical manager Acute Care at Ziekenhuis Gelderse Vallei, Joyce Simons, senior managing consultant healthcare at Berenschot and Robert Stegwee, strategic consultant for Health IT during a recent HIMSS Dutch Community webinar, which is also available on demand. Whether it concerns intensive care (IC) capacity, facilitating the high demand for coronavirus tests or processing lab results, the human aspect is a crucial one.
Insights on the human factor
Dave Tjan talked about the importance for a clinician to have a timely conversation with patients - together with their family members and significant others - about their future and what they consider to be important regarding healthcare and treatment, ideally resulting in shared decision-making. This process is called Advance Care Planning (ACP). He said: “A good conversation about end-of-life care should become a normal part of modern medicine, we have to break that taboo.
"COVID-19 was a crisis situation and thus too late for this conversation. With vulnerable patients, it should take place during the stable stage of their disease. You want to place the control in the hands of the patients in consultation with their clinician and prevent inappropriate or futile care. ACP may lead to a written advance care plan (e.g. no resuscitation or IC/hospital treatment) and the appointment of a surrogate decision maker,” Tjan continued.
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COVID-19 has pushed digital health forward, but challenges still persist
At the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Conference, experts discussed impact of digital technologies on the COVID-19 responses in Europe and some existing challenges in pushing digital health further.
By Dean Koh
September 08, 2020 05:21 AM
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen unprecedented impact on global level, not just on an economic scale but also putting health systems around the world on their limits. At the opening panel of the HIMSS & Health 2.0 Europe Digital Conference titled Leveraging Digital Health to Predict, Prevent and Manage Future Health Crises, moderator Hal Wolf, President & CEO, HIMSS, together with the four panelists spoke about the impact of digital technologies on the COVID-19 responses in Europe, and the ongoing work that needs to be done ensure access and inclusivity in the provision of digital health.
The acceleration of digital health transformation
“COVID-19 has given impetus for countries to accelerate the adoption of digital health,” said Dr Hans Kluge, Regional Director for Europe, WHO, Denmark. Digital adoption had to be done at an unprecedented speed - telemedicine for the delivery of healthcare really got scaled up. He added that in the WHO European region, 30 out 53 countries have some manner of digital contact tracing for COVID-19 despite privacy challenges and issues around the use of secondary data.
Dr Paivi Sillanaukee, Director General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland explained that COVID-19 has accelerated digital health transformation in her country. She noted that the increase in online health information has been of enormous help in Finland and citizens have gained reliable, up-to-date information from these platforms. This also led to the decrease of in health line calls and required healthcare workers, which in turn has helped the health service system to cope better.
“Two to seven per-cent of doctors were ready to offer video-consultations (prior to the pandemic), but now it’s closer to 60%,” said Dr Gottfried Ludewig, Director 'Digitalisation and Innovation', Federal Ministry of Health, Germany. The country’s contact tracing app called Corona Warn-App has seen about 17.5 million downloads and Dr Ludewig noted that the app has a connection to laboratories which offer COVID-19 testing, which helps inform people much faster than before after they have been tested.
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Countries worldwide share perspectives on pandemic-era digital innovation
In a discussion on the opening day at the HIMSS & Heath 2.0 European Digital Event, healthcare leaders from Australia, India and the UK swapped tips and best practices.
By Mike Miliard
September 07, 2020 11:32 AM
The COVID-19 crisis has shown in no uncertain terms the value and criticality of having a digitised and connected healthcare ecosystem: one that enables easy access to near-real-data, supports the demands of virtual care, prioritises patient experience and protects patient data.
Every nation's experience with this pandemic has been different – just as their own efforts to advance and innovate their information and technology infrastructures have their own unique imperatives.
But certain best practices are universal, and by sharing perspectives internationally, countries around the world are benefiting from others' hard-won experience.
Today, as part of the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Digital Conference, healthcare leaders from Australia, India and the UK compared notes about their own respective experiences building digital maturity as they simultaneously responded to a global pandemic.
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https://www.cnet.com/health/how-eicus-are-helping-hospitals-deal-with-coronavirus-overload/
How eICUs are helping hospitals deal with coronavirus overload
These remote-monitoring facilities were already helping the sickest patients get access to critical-care specialists. COVID-19 has further proved their value.
Sept. 6, 2020 5:00 a.m. PT
Blink and you'd think nurse Clark Wurth is an air traffic controller. He dons a headset as he sits in front of six huge monitors flashing with alerts and colorful moving charts.
Blink again -- as Wurth zooms in on a COVID-19 patient on a respirator -- and you're transported to a hospital ICU bed. You can make out the smallest details, like the texture of the patient's blanket and the pads placed on her pressure points for when she's turned into the prone position to help increase the amount of oxygen getting to her lungs.
Wurth is caring for the patient, a woman in her late 40s in acute respiratory failure at Sutter Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California, from 20 miles across the bay, in San Francisco, at one of the Sutter Health medical system's two electronic intensive care units, or eICUs.
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https://histalk2.com/2020/09/04/weekender-9-4-20/
Weekly News Recap
- Analytics-powered remote patient monitoring vendor Biofourmis raises $100 million.
- Nordic lays off 72 employees.
- The US Coast Guard goes live on DoD’s Cerner-powered MHS Genesis.
- Personal health record and real-world evidence vendor PicnicHealth raises $35 million in Series A and B funding rounds.
- TigerConnect acquires Adjuvant’s physician scheduling tool.
- AMA releases CPT 2021.
- Ascension Health announces plans to lay off 223 IT employees and outsource their jobs.
- Konica Minolta will pay $500,000 to settle false claims act charges related to its acquired Viztek Exa EHR.
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Enjoy!
David.
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