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/2021/01/live-testing-of-digital-covid-19-immunity-passport-launched/
Live testing of digital Covid-19 immunity passport launched
The UK is one step closer to a digital Covid-19 immunity passport after live testing of the technology was launched.
Andrea Downey – January 18, 2012
Biometric and identity management companies Mvine and iProov announced the trials of their Covid-19 immunity and vaccination passport on 13 January.
The digital passport enables a person’s test results or vaccination status to be registered and proved on an app without disclosing their identity, the companies claim.
It is hoped the passport will enable people to safely return to work, school and travel. The development of the passport was part-funded with £75,000 investment from Innovate UK following a government drive for innovative technologies to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
The passport, which uses facial verification technology, is set to be tested by directors of public health within the NHS, with two trials expected to be complete by 31 March 2021.
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What we still need to use AI safely and quickly in healthcare
The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare is often touted as a technology which can transform how tasks are carried out across the NHS. Rachel Dunscombe, CEO of the NHS digital academy and director for Tektology, and Jane Rendall, UK managing director for Sectra, examine what needs to happen to make sure AI is used safely in healthcare.
DHI News Team – 19 January, 2021
When one NHS trust in the North of England started to introduce artificial intelligence several years ago, hospital clinicians needed to sit postgraduate data science courses in order to understand how algorithms worked.
Like most healthcare organisations, the trust didn’t have a uniformed approach to onboarding algorithms and applying necessary supervision to how they performed.
It became a manually intensive operation for clinicians to carry out the necessary clinical safety checks on algorithms, requiring a huge amount of overhead and in turn significantly limiting the organisation’s ability to scale the use of AI.
AI needs supervision
AI in many ways needs to be managed like a junior member of staff. It needs supervision. Hospitals need to be able to audit its activity, just as they would a junior doctor or junior nurse, and they need sufficient transparency of how an algorithm works in order to provide necessary oversight and assess if and when intervention is needed to improve its performance and ensure it is safe.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/new-ai-model-can-predict-length-covid-19-hospitalization
New AI model can predict length of COVID-19 hospitalization
By using patient age, sex and daily clinical state, the machine learning model also predicts the probability of in-hospital mortality.
By Kat Jercich
January 22, 2021 01:40 PM
A group of Israeli scientists published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association this week showcasing how a machine learning model can predict the illness trajectory of COVID-19 patients by using individual characteristics.
The model predicts the patient's disease course in terms of clinical states – moderate, severe or critical – as well as hospital utilization.
"Given the danger of unprecedented burden on healthcare systems due to COVID-19, there is a need for tools helping decision-makers plan resource allocation on the unit, hospital and national levels," wrote the researchers.
WHY IT MATTERS
The researchers aimed to track how hospitalized COVID-19 patients might transition between clinical states. Such evolution, they note, does not always travel in a linear manner: a patient might, for example, spend five days in the hospital in a "severe" state before deteriorating to "critical" and eventually recovering.
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Numerous Announcements of COVID Vaccine Solutions is Encouraging
January 22, 2021
Over the past two weeks, Healthcare IT Today has received 100+ Press Releases and offers to interview executives from Health IT companies with COVID vaccine solutions. We have been deluged with information on apps, modules and platforms that will make the vaccination process smoother, faster, and more efficient. It is an encouraging sign.
We reached out to several companies to learn more about their solutions and to get a sense of where the industry is going.
The Ideal Vaccination Experience
Via email, Lisa Romano, CipherHealth‘s Chief Nursing Officer shared her 4-step ideal vaccination experience with us:
- Providers need to create awareness of their vaccine policies and procedures
- Providers need to prepare patients with proper information before they get vaccinated
- Providers need to schedule and communicate exactly when patients need to get the second vaccination
- Providers need to monitor patients after each round of vaccinations
Notice that Romano has 2 steps before allowing patients to schedule to get the vaccine. Step 1 is needed to ensure orderly administration of doses and step 2 is critical for patients to make informed decisions. Effective communication between providers and patients is key for both these steps.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/health-pros-pragmatic-over-perfect-for-increased-interoperability
Health Pros: Pragmatic Over Perfect for Increased Interoperability
Three healthcare professionals recommend a more pragmatic approach to functional interoperability, rather than chasing perfection.
January 21, 2021 - Health IT experts should focus on identifying standards limitations and asking clinicians how to develop practical solutions to gain functional interoperability, according to University of California, San Francisco’s Julia Adler-Milstein, Aaron Neinstein, and Russell Cucina.
To ensure this happens, the trio wrote an op-ed in the Health Affairs blog that recommends a more pragmatic approach rather than attempting to perfect interoperability.
Interoperability allows clinicians to view outside patient data within their EHR. However, this data typically exists apart from their local patient data and it does not combine with the local medication lists, problem lists, or laboratory results.
According to the authors, when data is viewable but not combined, clinicians are not as likely to utilize outside data sources because of the effort it takes to combine local and outside data within the EHR.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/could-at-home-kits-overcome-covid-19-testing-access-hurdles
Could At-Home Kits Overcome COVID-19 Testing Access Hurdles?
Patients are overwhelmingly receptive to at-home test kits, something researchers said could improve COVID-19 testing access.
By Sara Heath
January 21, 2021 - Patients are remarkably receptive to both issuing and conducting an at-home COVID-19 test as part of contact tracing efforts, something experts pointed out could help expand COVID-19 testing access and prevent further logjams.
The data, presented in a research letter in JAMA Network Open, found that patients were especially willing to give at-home self-test kits to individuals in their orbit after they themselves have tested positive for the virus. This is notable, considering the stigma that could arise should someone test positive for the virus and have to tell their contacts they, too, may have been infected.
COVID-19 testing has presented something of a challenge during the pandemic. Although essential for identifying and ideally capping virus spread, COVID-19 testing access can be somewhat elusive. Appointment testing slots can be hard to come by, test sites may be geographically out-of-reach, and some tests are even cost-prohibitive, or at least the fear of high bills are prohibitive.
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Low Patient Portal Adoption Could Stymie COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
Healthcare organizations leaning on the patient portal for COVID-19 vaccine rollout should assess which patients have and have not registered for the tool.
By Sara Heath
January 20, 2021 - Up to 45 percent of patients ages 50 and older don’t have a patient portal, the very tool most providers across the country are using to communicate with patients about the COVID-19 vaccine, according to new data out of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.
This could seriously hamper provider efforts to notify patients as they become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and, at some organizations, take the next steps to schedule a vaccination.
The data, coming from U of M’s National Poll on Healthy Aging, showed that 45 percent of adults ages 65 to 80 don’t have a patient portal account; 40 percent of those between 50 and 80 don’t have an account.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/3-key-strategies-to-mitigate-health-it-ehr-clinician-burnout
3 Key Strategies to Mitigate Health IT, EHR Clinician Burnout
Researchers conducted a systematic review of multiple databases to uncover the top ways to mitigate EHR-related clinician burnout.
January 20, 2021 - Clinician burnout can be mitigated by health IT and EHR optimization, EHR training, and care team expansion, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
Furthermore, other burnout factors such as physician specialty, practice setting, regulatory pressures, and how physicians spend their time can affect clinician burnout rates.
“Arguably, the primary drivers of burnout for physicians have been related to electronic health records and overwhelming inefficiencies in clinical practice that significantly and negatively impact workflow and patient care,” wrote the study authors. “Physicians experience high fatigue with short, continuous periods of EHR use, which is also associated with inefficiency of EHR use (ie, more clicks and more time) on subsequent cases.”
Because EHR design and usability are both leading causes for clinician burden, the study authors conducted a systematic review of multiple databases in 2018 and 2020 to identify potential workplace interventions to mitigate burnout. While many researchers have assessed the cause of burnout in the past, there’s been little evidence about mitigation strategies.
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Data Analytics Shows Little Gain in COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization
A data analytics model revealed that prioritizing vaccination of high-risk individuals has only a minimal impact on the number of COVID-19 deaths.
By Jessica Kent
January 20, 2021 - Using data analytics, a team of researchers simulated a representation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the town of New Rochelle, New York – and found that it may not be effective to prioritize high-risk individuals for vaccinations.
In a study published in Advanced Theory and Simulations, a group from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering describes the development of an open-source platform that comprises an agent-based model (ABM) for the entire town of New Rochelle.
New Rochelle was one of the first outbreaks registered in the US, the researchers noted. The size of the population in New Rochelle is also comparable to that of most American cities, making the town a crucial focal point for the study.
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Biden's COVID-19 plan depends on a data-driven approach for efficacy, equity
The strategy includes a proposed executive order that will direct federal agencies to ramp up collection, sharing and analysis of data to "support an equitable COVID-19 response and recovery."
By Kat Jercich
January 21, 2021 03:17 PM
President Joe Biden released a comprehensive COVID-19 national strategy on his first full day in office, providing a road map aimed at guiding the United States out of the pandemic.
The wide-ranging plan is organized around seven main goals, many of which rely on data-sharing as a core tactic.
"We can and will beat COVID-19. America deserves a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is driven by science, data, and public health – not politics," read the strategy's executive summary.
WHY IT MATTERS
Biden's plan hammers on the importance of data gathering and sharing as primary tenets of an effective COVID-19 response.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/biden-plans-regulatory-freeze-amid-flurry-health-hires
Biden plans regulatory freeze amid flurry of health hires
The changes herald a major overhaul for agencies struggling to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
By Kat Jercich
January 21, 2021 12:01 PM
President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday night that he plans to issue a regulatory freeze on many of former President Donald Trump's last-minute new or pending rules.
The freeze is likely to affect a variety of much-publicized U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rulemakings – including proposed major HIPAA Privacy Rule changes, mandated regulatory reviews and efforts to streamline interoperability and prior authorization.
The Biden administration also announced a flurry of new HHS and other health-related hires, heralding a major overhaul for the agency.
WHY IT MATTERS
Trump's HHS enacted several rules after the former president lost the 2020 election, raising questions even at the time of their longevity.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/micky-tripathi-named-biden-administration-lead-onc
Micky Tripathi named by Biden administration to lead ONC
As National Coordinator for Health IT, the interoperability veteran will bring deep standards expertise as the rubber hits the road on nationwide API-based data exchange.
By Mike Miliard
January 21, 2021 09:37 AM
As the United States got a new president on Wednesday afternoon, it also got a new National Coordinator for Health IT. Longtime industry veteran and interoperability pioneer Micky Tripathi was named to the role January 20 as part of a slate of new HHS appointments.
He'll succeed Dr. Donald Rucker, who led ONC for four years as the agency made interoperability its mandate and crafted an ambitious set of new rules under the 21st Century Cures Act.
Tripathi has long been a familiar face as a proponent of standards-based interoperability – and an expert with deep knowledge of the nuts and bolts behind it.
He was the longtime CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, a pioneering group that launched way back in the pre-HITECH Act days of 2005 and became a national exemplar as the healthcare industry moved from manila folders to electronic health records.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Data Manipulated Before Leak to Impair Public Trust
The hackers who stole COVID-19 vaccine data last month, modified the information before leaking it online to undermine public trust; email hacks, a security incident, and data extortion complete this week’s breach roundup.
January 19, 2021 - The hackers who stole COVID-19 vaccine data belonging to Pfizer and BioNTech from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a regulatory agency, and leaked the information online in December, first manipulated the exfiltrated data beforehand to undermine public trust in the vaccine.
EMA confirmed the threat actors behind the attack had posted the stolen data online last week. Several days later, the investigation revealed the data had been altered prior to the leak.
The reports around the hacking incident came to light in early December, which found hackers accessed and exfiltrated data related to the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. EMA is tasked with vaccine assessments and approvals for the EU.
The highly targeted attack struck on December 9, which gave the attackers access to some documents tied to the regulatory submission for the impacted pharmaceutical companies that were stored on the compromised server.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/in-brain-imaging-deep-learning-beats-standard-machine-learning
In Brain Imaging, Deep Learning Beats Standard Machine Learning
Deep learning models were able to detect patterns and discriminative features in brain imaging better than standard machine learning algorithms.
By Jessica Kent
January 15, 2021 - Properly trained deep learning models could offer better insights from brain imaging data analysis than standard machine learning approaches, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
Structural and functional MRI and genomic sequencing have generated massive volumes of data about the human body. Scientists can gather new insights into health and disease by extracting patterns from this information. However, this is a challenging task as the data is incredibly complex and relationships among types of data are poorly understood.
Deep learning technology can characterize these relationships by combining and analyzing data from many sources. While these algorithms have demonstrated their ability to solve problems and answer questions in several different fields, researchers noted that critical commentaries have negatively compared deep learning with standard machine learning approaches for analyzing brain imaging data.
But these conclusions are often based on pre-processed input that deny deep learning the ability to learn from data with little to no preprocessing – one of the main advantages of the technology.
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Micky Tripathi tapped as Biden's National Coordinator for Health IT
Jan 20, 2021 4:55pm
Micky Tripathi, a recognized name in the health tech world, has been tapped as the new National Coordinator for Health IT under President Joe Biden's administration.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted the leadership changes on its website Wednesday but has yet to issue a press release.
Tripathi will replace the outgoing Don Rucker, M.D., who held the position since April 2017. ONC provides counsel for the development and implementation of a national health information technology framework.
Tripathi could not be reached for comment.
Health IT executives welcomed the news of Tripathi's appointment on social media.
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‘We know this is real’: New clinics aid virus ‘long-haulers’
NEW YORK (AP) — COVID-19 came early for Catherine Busa, and it never really left.
The 54-year-old New York City school secretary didn’t have any underlying health problems when she caught the coronavirus in March, and she recovered at her Queens home.
But some symptoms lingered: fatigue she never experienced during years of rising at 5 a.m. for work; pain, especially in her hands and wrists; an altered sense of taste and smell that made food unappealing; and a welling depression. After eights months of suffering, she made her way to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center — to a clinic specifically for post-COVID-19 care.
“I felt myself in kind of a hole, and I couldn’t look on the bright side,” Busa said. She did not feel helped by visits to other doctors. But it was different at the clinic.
“They validated the way I felt,” she said. “That has helped me push through everything I’m fighting.”
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/hhs-to-award-funding-to-boost-immunization-information-systems-hies
HHS to Award Funding to Boost Immunization Information Systems, HIEs
HHS will allocate upwards of $20 million in investments to increase patient data sharing between immunization information systems and health information exchanges (HIEs).
January 19, 2021 - The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it will distribute funds across the country to enhance patient data sharing between health information exchanges (HIEs) and immunization information systems.
Under the Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public Health Agencies via Health Information Exchange (STAR HIE) Program, each recipient aims to boost HIE services and specifically vaccination services. As a result, their respective connected public health agencies can exchange, access, and utilize crucial patient data during public health emergencies.
Additionally, it aims to support communities that were hit hard by COVID-19.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/data-analytics-tool-distinguishes-cancer-cells-from-normal-cells
Data Analytics Tool Distinguishes Cancer Cells from Normal Cells
The tool leverages data analytics technology to accurately differentiate between cancer cells and normal cells found in tumor samples.
By Jessica Kent
January 19, 2021 - A data analytics tool can evaluate complex gene expression information and distinguish cancer cells from normal cells in tumor samples, according to a study published in Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers have historically studied tumors as a mixture of all cells present, many of which are not cancerous. With the emergence of single-cell RNA sequencing in recent years, researchers are able to analyze tumors in much greater resolution. Scientists can examine the gene expression of each individual cell to better understand the tumor landscape, including the surrounding microenvironment.
However, it’s difficult to distinguish between cancer cells and normal cells without a reliable computational approach, researchers noted. To improve upon older methods, a team from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center developed a new data analytics algorithm called the CopyKAT (copy number karyotyping of aneuploid tumors) model.
CopyKAT increases accuracy by adjusting for the newest generation of single-cell RNA sequencing data. The tool could help researchers more easily evaluate the complex data obtained from large single-cell RNA sequencing experiments, which deliver gene expression data from many thousands of individual cells.
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Cerner PAC stops donating to elected officials who 'incited violence' in Capitol
The company had donated to the 2020 campaigns of a dozen federal legislators who went on to object to the presidential election results.
By Kat Jercich
January 20, 2021 12:49 PM
Cerner confirmed this week that it had suspended political donations to any "candidate or official who took part in or incited violence last week in Washington D.C."
"Cerner continuously evaluates its bipartisan political contributions, ensuring the candidates and officials we support align with our values and vision for the future of healthcare," a Cerner spokesperson told Healthcare IT News.
Cerner did not respond to requests for comment about which specific candidates it was no longer supporting.
WHY IT MATTERS
Questions have continued to swirl around the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, in which hundreds of violent rioters stormed the building and forced federal legislators to temporarily halt the certification of the presidential election results.
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Jan 20 2021
President Joe Biden's plan to control the COVID-19 pandemic on day one
Biden is expected to issue a national mask mandate and create an office of COVID-19 response, headed by the new coronavirus czar.
Susan Morse, Managing Editor
As President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office today, he begins an aggressive agenda as president, including a number of executive orders aimed at getting the COVID-19 pandemic under control.
One is a national mask mandate on federal property and on airlines, trains and other public transit systems.
Another executive order Wednesday will create an office of White House COVID-19 response, headed by Jeffrey Zients, the new coronavirus czar, according to The Wall Street Journal, goals include securing more protective equipment for workers, increasing testing and vaccinations, and reopening schools.
The first 100 days of Biden's presidency is expected to include a push for his previously announced $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, which calls for investing $20 billion in a national vaccine program and $50 billion for testing.
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https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/yale-develops-mobile-app-to-boost-patient-care-access
Yale Develops Mobile App to Boost Patient Care Access
The mobile app will offer Yale Health System patients and visitors access to their medical records, virtual care, and directions to guide them to select care locations.
January 19, 2021 - Yale New Haven Health System recently tapped Gozio Health to develop a digital mobile app so patients can access virtual visits, book appointments, and view their electronic health records, physician databases, and more.
The app will offer a GPS-like experience for Yale New Heaven Health patients and visitors with directors to guide them from their home to their parking spot and on to their point-of-care at select locations.
Additionally, patients will have access to their MyChart patient portal, medical records, and virtual care.
“Yale New Haven Health recognizes the intrinsic value of building a mobile solution that serves as a direct conduit to patients and provides them with immediate access to health care services,” Lisa Stump, CIO of Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine, said in the announcement.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/clinicians-most-trusted-for-covid-19-vaccine-patient-education
Clinicians Most Trusted for COVID-19 Vaccine Patient Education
Patients trust clinicians for COVID-19 vaccine patient education more than public health or government entities.
By Sara Heath
January 15, 2021 - Most Americans want to hear from their medical providers about the COVID-19 vaccine, with recent polling showing that patients trust their providers the most for driving vaccine patient education and scheduling outreach.
The survey of over 2,000 US adults, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Updox, revealed that 87 percent of patients want hear from their healthcare providers about the COVID-19 vaccine. Thirty-four percent of patients said they trust their providers the most when it comes to vaccine information, making medical providers the most trusted entities in the race to get the public vaccinated, the survey showed.
This is a key finding, as healthcare leaders across the country attempt to tap into patient engagement and empowerment strategies that could spark vaccine uptake. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is underway, albeit at a walk more than a run, and medical providers are working to motivate their patients to get the two-doses that could yield a herd immunity and a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel.
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How to Overcome Mistrust for Lasting Community Health Partnership
A consistent presence helped VCU Massey Cancer Center overcome mistrust and build a strong community health partnership during the pandemic.
By Sara Heath
January 19, 2021 - At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to discuss the public and population health toll without hearing about community health partnership.
Across the nation, medical leaders sought to connect with patients—especially those who had been traditionally underserved by healthcare—and deliver them messages about the novel coronavirus and how to prevent spread in their communities.
That type of connection is important, according to Robert Winn, MD, the only African American director of the Richmond-based VCU Massey Cancer Center, because it gives medical experts the chance to meet patients where they are.
And he should know.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/ehr-vendor-cerner-eyes-developing-a-1-billion-data-business
EHR Vendor Cerner Eyes Developing a $1 Billion Data Business
Cerner exceeded its data business goals in 2020 and is looking to explode in 2021 and beyond.
January 15, 2021 - For the last 18 months, Cerner has focused on developing a category-defining data business and as the company continues to attack that sector, the EHR vendor executives said they are striving towards building a $1 billion data business.
Cerner executives joined the 39th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference to look back at its 2020 accomplishments during COVID-19 and what the vendor is working on for 2021.
With Cerner EHRs implemented in one-third of US hospitals, the vendor believes it can bring compelling points of differentiation when it comes to a data-based strategy.
“We think that the profile of our client base is particularly differentiated, including the fact that we have a high density of community hospitals and health systems that don't traditionally have an opportunity to participate in clinical trial activity,” said Donald Trigg, president of Cerner.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/560-healthcare-providers-fell-victim-to-ransomware-attacks-in-2020
560 Healthcare Providers Fell Victim to Ransomware Attacks in 2020
In 2020, Emsisoft data shows 560 healthcare provider facilities fell victim to ransomware attacks, of an overall 2,354 US entities hit by the malware variant.
January 19, 2021 - In the midst of responding to COVID-19, the healthcare sector faced a significant number of ransomware attacks in 2020 with 560 healthcare provider facilities falling victim to the malware variant, according to the latest Emsisoft State of Ransomware report.
The last quarter of 2019 saw an unprecedented number of ransomware incidents in the healthcare sector. And while the number of reported successful attacks petered off during the first half of 2020, those numbers drastically increased through a coordinated ransomware wave that began in September.
Overall, Emsisoft data shows at least 2,354 US government, healthcare, and schools were impacted by ransomware attacks in 2020.
The education sector saw the greatest number of successful attacks with 1,681 schools, colleges, and universities impacted by the threat. Federal, state, and municipal governments and agencies reported 113 successful attacks.
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‘Slippery slope territory’: Health officials propose waiving regulatory review of medical AI tools
By Casey Ross
January 16, 2021
Days before leaving office, President Trump’s top health official is proposing to permanently exempt from regulatory review a wide swath of artificial intelligence products used to help physicians detect serious conditions such as cancer and respiratory disease on medical images.
The proposal, posted to the Federal Register on Friday and signed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, asserts that FDA review of several categories of products, including AI imaging devices, is not necessary because they are seldom associated with reports of adverse events.
But notice of the proposed policy change raised alarms among health technology experts who said careful review of these products is essential to ensuring they meet basic performance standards before they are adopted in clinical practice.
“It seems like very slippery slope territory to remove regulation,” said Karandeep Singh, a physician and professor at University of Michigan Medical School who researches the use of artificial intelligence in health care. He said adverse events in such products can be difficult to detect and are seldom reported, because they are used to help guide clinicians, rather than directly diagnose or treat a patient.
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Creating sustainable healthcare solutions and addressing the 10/90 gap
The right to health, not just the access to healthcare, requires a holistic understanding of how we can provide a better quality of life for the individual and society, argues Bogi Eliasen, director of health, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.
By Bogi Eliasen
January 19, 2021 02:01 AM
The COVID-19 pandemic has reached all parts of the globe, affecting tens of millions of people: healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor. However, the most badly affected parts of the world are also the ones where access to healthcare is not universal and is often tied to financial capacity. This has clearly highlighted the weaknesses of health systems throughout the world, but especially those that provide universal health coverage (UHC) in legislation (de jure) rather than in practice (de facto) to their populations. It is important to highlight the fact that this revelation is not new, as health challenges have always disproportionately affected those in weaker positions in terms of socioeconomic standing, especially in countries with less developed health systems.
'Vaccine nationalism'
Fortunately, towards the end of 2020, multiple COVID-19 vaccines were approved and are beginning to be distributed across the globe. However, the distribution presents its own set of challenges due to both cooling requirements as well as inequalities. Richer countries were and still are generally faster to negotiate access to vaccines with providers. The WHO has warned against “vaccine nationalism” as high-income countries are much better positioned than their less fortunate counterparts. The tragic reality is that it will take years to vaccinate poorer parts of the world because of lack of both resources to negotiate purchasing and infrastructure to distribute the vaccines.
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Addressing telehealth's cybersecurity risk will be an industry-wide problem
Experts at the American Telemedicine Association's EDGE policy conference on Tuesday said that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and should be treated as such.
By Kat Jercich
January 19, 2021 03:19 PM
Experts have repeatedly predicted that telehealth would present a major challenge for healthcare cybersecurity in the coming year.
But it's not enough to know telehealth is likely to be an issue. The real task is working collaboratively to address those dangers.
At the second installment of the American Telemedicine Association's EDGE policy conference on Tuesday, leaders in the healthcare space reiterated the importance of cybersecurity as a patient safety issue.
"We've been measuring the risks and the threat for telemedicine-type services for many years," said Christopher Logan, director of healthcare industry strategy at VMWare.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, "healthcare already had a cyber target on its back," said Logan.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/covid-19/how-operation-warp-speed-created-vaccination-chaos
How Operation Warp Speed Created Vaccination Chaos
Analysis | By ProPublica | January 19, 2021
States are struggling to plan their vaccination programs with just one week's notice for how many doses they'll receive from the federal government. The incoming Biden administration is deciding what to do with this dysfunctional system.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· The problem of unpredictable numbers has persisted as states continue to grapple with last-minute adjustments to their allocations.
· The states are responsible for deciding how to distribute their doses to local vaccination sites, and they usually have only two days to figure that out.
· After receiving their allocations on Tuesday, each jurisdiction must then submit its orders in VTrckS by Thursday. Shipments arrive the following week.
This article was published on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 in ProPublica.
By Caroline Chen, Isaac Arnsdorf and Ryan Gabrielson
Hospitals and clinics across the country are canceling vaccine appointments because the Trump administration tells states how many doses they'll receive only one week at a time, making it all but impossible to plan a comprehensive vaccination campaign.
The decision to go week by week was made by Operation Warp Speed's chief operating officer, Gen. Gustave Perna, because he didn't want to count on supplies before they were ready. Overly optimistic production forecasts turned out to be a major disappointment in the rollout of the H1N1 vaccine more than a decade ago, also leading to canceled appointments and widespread frustrations with the government's messaging.
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OSF Healthcare Develops Telehealth Protocols for Sepsis Treatment
The Illinois health system has created a toolkit that addresses how rural hospitals and clinics can use a telehealth platform to connect with specialists for the treatment of sepsis and septic shock.
January 15, 2021 - OSF Healthcare and Northwestern University have developed a protocol for using telehealth to treat patients with sepsis in rural hospitals.
Using a four-year, $750,000 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Peoria, IL-based health system partnered with Northwestern and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria’s Jump Simulation program to develop a toolkit that addresses how a telemedicine care can be used in a small Emergency Department or ICU to connect with specialists to help treat patients dealing with severe sepsis and septic shock.
The research may provide a model for hub-and-spoke telemedicine networks like eICUs that help small and rural hospitals treat acute care patients on-site.
William Bond, MD, an emergency department physician and Jump Simulation’s director of research, says the program’s goal is to “better connect patients in the ER to caregivers in the telehealth realm who would eventually be overseeing their care in the intensive care unit at those sites.
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Stakeholders Discuss Biden Healthcare Agenda Ahead of Inauguration Day
Analysis | By Jack O'Brien | January 18, 2021
Ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, HealthLeaders spoke with numerous stakeholders about the Biden healthcare agenda and what actions to expect from the new administration.
President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president Wednesday afternoon and healthcare executives are paying careful attention to how the incoming administration will address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic along with other outstanding issues facing the industry.
Biden has already given indications for what his administration will prioritize on its healthcare agenda, namely introducing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, a plan to distribute 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days, and building on the existing structure of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
On Friday, the Association of American Medical Colleges released a statement that the organization was "grateful" for the Biden administration's recognition of the "immediate need to combat the coronavirus pandemic" through its proposed stimulus package.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/01/15/weekender-1-15-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Health and technology leaders, including Epic and Cerner, announce their participation in the Vaccination Credential Initiative, which hopes to provide patients with digital proof of their COVID-19 vaccination.
- QGenda acquires Shift Admin.
- Walgreens announces plans to develop an extensive customer engagement, care integration, and health marketplace platform.
- Flo settles FTC charges that it shared the ovulation data of 100 million users with Facebook, Google, and other companies while telling them it was keeping that information private.
- AdventHealth says its replacement of Cerner, Athenahealth, and Homecare Homebase will cost $660 million.
- Federal prosecutors say that Theranos destroyed its laboratory information system database that it had hoped to use to prove fraud and use of unreliable tests.
- ONC releases United States Core Data for Interoperability Draft Version 2 for public comment.
- Central Logic acquires Acuity Link.
- Tech-enabled Medicare Advantage insurer Clover Health begins trading on the Nasdaq in a reverse merger with a SPAC that values the company at $7 billion.
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Enjoy!
David.
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