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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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.
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HHS Makes Strategic Moves to Achieve Ultimate ‘Artificial Intelligence Ambition’
By Brandi
Vincent,
Staff Correspondent
January 26, 2021
The department’s chief AI officer shed light on what went into a new guiding document—and what’s next.
A recently produced enterprise artificial intelligence strategy is now in place to guide the Health and Human Services Department’s ongoing and upcoming efforts involving the technology.
The 7-page document outlines a strategic approach to broaden tech fluency and accelerate AI-centered pursuits across HHS—and it also establishes an AI Council to help facilitate the massive health agency’s overall implementation.
“Ultimately, this strategy is the first step towards transforming HHS into an AI fueled enterprise,” it reads.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/covid-19-telehealth-boom-stymied-clinical-decision-support-alerts
COVID-19 Telehealth Boom Stymied Clinical Decision Support Alerts
The increase of telehealth visits during COVID-19 negatively impacted the volume of clinical decision support alerts within the EHR workflow.
January 28, 2021 - Increased telehealth adoption and use during COVID-19 had a negative impact on clinical decision support (CDS) alerts, often resulting in missed alerts by clinicians, according to a study published in JMIR Publications.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth use skyrocketed as overcrowded hospitals worked to create social distancing to help limit the spread of the virus. Telehealth also helped primary care clinicians maintain relationships with patients when outpatient services were paused.
Telehealth triggers a dramatic difference with the EHR workflows, the communication between clinicians, and the different types of patient data that is available to clinicians.
Because of these differences, CDS alerts might be triggered at different times, or not trigger at all during telehealth visits. Effective alerts such as admission, discharge, and screening reminders can enhance clinical efficiency by opening up communication through the EHR.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/patient-data-registry-approach-may-enhance-rare-disease-research
Patient Data Registry Approach May Enhance Rare Disease Research
A new type of patient data registry could provide researchers with quality information on rare diseases, accelerating treatment development.
By Jessica Kent
January 28, 2021 - Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have designed a new kind of patient data registry to advance rare disease research.
In a paper published in Cell Reports Medicine, the team describes an innovative patient data registry they developed for Castleman disease, a rare condition involving flu-like symptoms and sometimes life-threatening vital organ dysfunction.
The registry, called ACCELERATE, enables patients with Castleman disease can enroll directly. This patient-powered approach significantly increased enrollment and the availability of data compared to the traditional approach in which physicians at a few designated sites can enroll their patients.
As part of the new registry, researchers request and extract data from the full medical record for each patient who enrolls instead of relying on physicians or patients to enter data. This substantially increases the quantity of data included.
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Northwell machine learning model can predict COVID-19 respiratory failure
To develop the predictive tool, Northwell researchers used EHR data and demographic information to help triage those who need the most interventions to reduce mortality.
By Mike Miliard
January 29, 2021 03:55 PM
Researchers at Northwell's Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research have developed an AI-powered predictive tool they say can assess patients for their risk of respiratory failure within 48 hours.
WHY IT
MATTERS
New research, led by assistant professors Theodoros Zanos and Dr. Douglas
Barnaby of the Feinstein Institutes, and published in the Journal
of Medical Internet Research, showed accuracy in identifying
at-risk patients for earlier interventions such as critical care consultation
and closer patient monitoring.
The project centered on electronic health record data from 11,525 patients who were admitted to 13 Northwell hospitals in spring of 2020, when the pandemic was peaking in the New York area. Of those patients, 933 (8%) were placed on ventilators within 48 hours of admission.
To develop those predictive clinical tools, Northwell researchers also used other EHR data, such as vitals and labs, along with demographic information.
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Report: Healthcare Most Targeted Industry for Cyber-Crime in 2020
Analysis | By Scott Mace | January 29, 2021
8 million healthcare records were exposed, and common computer security vulnerabilities grew by 6%.
Healthcare accounted for the largest share of publicly disclosed data breaches in 2020, according to a report recently released by cyber-security firm Tenable.
To reach the conclusion in its 2020 Threat Landscape Retrospective, Tenable analyzed public breach disclosures from January to October 2020 to identify trends in breach data.
In the first 10 months of 2020, Tenable found 730 breach events resulting in over 22 billion records exposed. Tenable divided the data between 11 industry categories to determine which sectors were most affected.
Healthcare and education accounted for the largest share of data breaches analyzed (25% and 13%, respectively). By themselves, healthcare breaches alone accounted for nearly 8 million records exposed. Other frequent targets included computer systems maintained by government (12.5%) and technology (15.5%) companies.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/how-to-improve-patient-portal-adoption-registration-rates
How to Improve Patient Portal Adoption, Registration Rates
Organizations need targeted patient outreach to drum up patient portal adoption and registration rates for better practice management.
By Sara Heath
January 27, 2021 - How to Improve Patient Portal Adoption, Registration Rates
Patient portal adoption and registration have been a critical goal for healthcare organizations ever since the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs launched the technology into the limelight.
And although those programs no longer exist—at least in their previous form—and there aren’t as many federal dollars hanging on having at least one unique patient view, download, or transmit her own medical data, the push for high adoption rates still persists.
Healthcare organizations still use the patient portal to accomplish a number of tasks, like securely message their patients, get appointments on the books, and coordinate across an entire suite of tertiary patient engagement tools.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/api-adoption-can-accelerate-interoperability-patient-data-exchange
API Adoption Can Accelerate Interoperability, Patient Data Exchange
API adoption can streamline patient access to data, promote the use of clinical decision support tools, and boost both interoperability and patient data exchange between providers.
January 27, 2021 - Application programming interface (API) adoption in healthcare will give clinicians and patients access to patient data and allow third-party applications access patient information and boost patient care, according to Ben Moscovitch, project director of Health Information Technology at Pew Charitable Trusts.
Although EHR adoption is becoming more widespread throughout the healthcare industry, interoperability and patient data sharing still pose challenges to providers.
As a result, a portion of the ONC final rule calls on medical providers and device developers to promote patient data access using third-party apps and APIs.
ONC proposed to adopt the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard as a foundational standard and requested comment on four options to determine the best version of FHIR to adopt.
Ultimately, ONC adopted FHIR Release 4.
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Cybercops derail malware botnet, FBI makes ransomware arrest
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — European and North American cyber cops have joined forces to disrupt what may be the world’s largest network for seeding malware infections. The operation appears to strike a major blow against criminal gangs that have used that network for years to install ransomware for extortion schemes and to steal data and money.
Separately, the FBI announced the arrest Wednesday of a Canadian as part of a bid to disrupt a ransomware gang that has targeted the health care sector, but has also hit municipalities, law enforcement and school districts, mostly in the United States. The FBI said it seized nearly half a million dollars in cryptocurrency.
European Union police and the judicial agencies Europol and Eurojust said Wednesday that investigators took control of the infrastructure behind the botnet known as Emotet. A botnet is a network of hijacked computers typically used for malicious activity; this one has effectively served as a primary door-opener for cybercriminals since 2014.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/nist-shares-risk-based-guide-to-information-exchange-security
NIST Shares Risk-Based Guide to Information Exchange Security
Newly proposed NIST guidance tackles the use of information exchange channels, providing insights on risk-based considerations to protect and manage shared information.
By Jessica Davis 27 January, 2021
NIST released a proposed guide designed to support the use of information exchange channels, which provides insights on risk-based considerations to protect data throughout the sharing process and case studies around the effective management of exchanged information.
For healthcare, the guide could support health information exchanges (HIEs), as well as the increased data sharing between entities in support of the COVID-19 response. The NIST insights could be used in conjunction with recent guidance from the Office for Civil Rights, which outlines HIPAA-compliant disclosures of protected health information through HIEs.
Managing the Security of Information Exchanges details the needed security to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of exchanged data to reduce the risk of compromise. NIST stressed the importance of similar levels of protections used at the entities sharing data.
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Salesforce launches Vaccine Cloud to help public sector and businesses manage COVID-19 vaccinations
Salesforce Vaccine Cloud will include new tools to help governments, healthcare organizations and businesses deploy and manage their COVID-19 vaccination programs.
As COVID-19 vaccination programs ramp up around the globe, governments, healthcare organizations, and businesses are grappling with the task of delivering billions of vaccine doses to citizens, patients, and workers. Salesforce wants to help customers manage those efforts, and today announced Vaccine Cloud.
"The biggest challenge the world faces right now is orchestrating the distribution of billions of vaccine doses. Technology can play a critical role in ensuring it's done efficiently, effectively, and equitably," said Bret Taylor, President and COO of Salesforce, in a company statement. "We're proud to be supporting organizations through their recovery and helping to protect people from the effects of COVID-19."
Vaccine Cloud is the evolution of Salesforce's efforts to help customers respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, the company announced Work.com, a website and toolset designed to help companies safely re-open their facilities and manage employee wellness. In September, the company launched Work.com for Vaccines, which was designed to help public sector customers distribute, track, and measure their vaccination programs.
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Allscripts, Microsoft & Chicago innovation center choose winner for EHR improvement challenge
– 28 January, 2021
The Chicago-based ARC Innovation Center at Sheba Medical Center on Jan. 27 selected DeepScribe, an artificial intelligence-powered medical documentation company, as the winner of its innovation challenge.
In March, Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, signed on as a tenant of a new medical innovation center under development at the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Chicago.
In December, ARC Innovation Center at Sheba Medical Center, along with Microsoft and Allscripts, hosted an innovation challenge asking health IT developers to answer the question, "How might we use technology and innovative solutions to create the electronic health record of the future to reduce the burden on nurses?"
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Radiological Images Take Another Step Toward Easy Sharing
Analysis | By Scott Mace | January 26, 2021
Carequality and RSNA pilot programs with early adopters will start by midyear.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Early adopters will include imaging companies such as Life Image, Philips, Nuance, and Ambra Health.
· With new COVID-19-driven needs to share images, EHR software vendors will follow later as image exchange transaction volumes ramp up.
· Image exchange transactions are being defined based on the DICOM and HL7 FHIR standards.
Traditional electronic medical record sharing has not included images, but that is changing, according to officials at Carequality and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The catalyst, as so often is the case lately, is COVID-19. Survivors of COVID-19 may have long-term damage to their hearts and lungs. Radiological images, whether in the form of CT scans, MRIs, or images generated by ultrasound waves, offer important clues to properly manage the health of these patients.
Previously, image-sharing between different silos of healthcare information technologies was very much a hit-and-miss proposition.
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Predictive Analytics Warns of Potential Complications from COVID-19
A predictive analytics tool continuously monitors patients with COVID-19 and accurately forecasts possible clinical issues before they occur.
By Jessica Kent
January 26, 2021 - A team from UVA Health has developed a predictive analytics tool that can determine COVID-19 patients’ risk of experiencing an adverse event over the next 12 hours.
The tool, called CoMET, uses continuous monitoring and analytics algorithms to help clinicians measure patients’ stability and risk for clinical issues, as well as decide which actions should be taken to protect patients’ health.
CoMET creates a graphic representing risk on a large LCD screen, informed by minute-to-minute data drawn from a patient’s EKG, laboratory results, and vital signs. Using models updated every 15 minutes, the software can give clinicians enough time to get ahead of a potential crisis before it occurs.
For patients with COVID-19, whose prognoses can rapidly change, the system is especially valuable.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/science/mass-vaccine-drives.html
Five Past Vaccine Drives and How They Worked
As governments begin rolling out the biggest vaccine drives in history, a look at mass vaccination campaigns of the past offers insight into mistakes.
· Jan. 25, 2021
Scientists developed vaccines less than a year after Covid-19 was identified, a reflection of remarkable progress in vaccine technology. But progress in vaccine distribution is another story.
Many questions that arose in vaccine rollouts decades ago are still debated today. How should the local and federal authorities coordinate? Who should get vaccinated first? What should officials do about resistance in communities? Should the hardest-hit places be prioritized? Who should pay?
Some answers can be found in the successes and failures of vaccine drives over the past two centuries.
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Nearly half of adults older than 65 don't have online medical accounts that could connect them with COVID-19 vaccines
by Tina Reed
Jan 27, 2021 11:52am
Older adults are being prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines because they are among the most vulnerable to complications from the novel coronavirus.
But they are also less likely to be using the tech tools such as online patient portals that would help notify them about vaccine availability and appointment scheduling, according to newly analyzed data from National Poll on Healthy Aging, based at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.
Nearly half (45%) of individuals between the ages of 65 and 80 said they had not set up an account with their health provider’s online portal system, the analysis found.
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Healthcare has made big gains in interoperability, KLAS Research and CHIME report
Jan 27, 2021 9:30am
Healthcare providers and technology vendors have made steady progress in some areas related to interoperability and leaps forward in others, according to a new report.
Two-thirds of providers (67%) report they often or nearly always had access to needed patient records in 2020, a report by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and KLAS Research found. Compare that to four years ago when providers said they could reasonably access information from exchange partners on a different electronic health record only 28% of the time.
Providers now report they've seen improvements in EHR functionality and usability for tasks like locating and viewing records. The biggest gains seen were between partnering organizations using different medical records systems, according to the report.
Many providers also are increasingly optimistic that these changes will allow record exchange to have a greater impact on patient care in the future, according to the report, which was based on data from a 2020 interoperability survey, with comparisons to a prior large-scale interoperability study in 2017.
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Industry Voices—Forget credit card numbers. Medical records are the hottest items on the dark web
by Paul Nadrag, Capsule Technologies
Jan 26, 2021 3:55pm
The thought of a ransomware attack on your hospital or health system may keep you up at night. You could be losing even more sleep recently as COVID-19 seems to have spurred a new wave of attacks against hospitals, according to the FBI and other federal agencies.
There is, however, an even more devastating threat from this cybercrime that could affect your institution and patients for years to come: stolen medical records. In many ransomware cases, the hacker will secretly download patient records to sell on an underground area of the internet, commonly referred to as the dark web.
Why? Stolen records sell for as much as $1,000 each, according to credit rating agency Experian. Cybersecurity firm Trustwave pegged the black-market value of medical records at $250 (PDF) each. Credit card numbers, on the other hand, sell for around $5 each on the dark web, according to both sources, while Social Security numbers can be purchased for as little as $1 each.
The long money is in medical records
The reason for this price discrepancy—like any other good or service—is perceived value. While a credit card number is easily canceled, medical records contain a treasure trove of unalterable data points, such as a patient’s medical and behavioral health history and demographics, as well as their health insurance and contact information.
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Jan. 20, 2021 / 1:55 PM
COVID-19 cases, deaths highest in regions with greatest income inequality
Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Regions of the United States with greater levels of income inequality have higher rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, according to an analysis published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open.
Based on data from 3,141 of the 3,142 counties across the country, researchers linked income inequality to 2% to 4% higher coronavirus infection rates and 7% higher death rates.
The findings suggest that in regions where gaps between rich and poor are larger differences in access to quality healthcare could "harm population health," the researchers said.
"Income and racial inequalities are the two greatest social challenges our country is faced with today," study co-author Timothy F. Liao told UPI.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-ehr-informatics-can-drive-ehr-usability-for-new-clinicians
How EHR Informatics Can Drive EHR Usability for New Clinicians
Two health IT experts shared their top EHR usability tips for young clinicians who are getting their first real experience with the technology.
January 26, 2021 - Enhanced EHR usability leads to higher EHR adoption rates, fewer clinical errors, lower clinician burnout, increased financial flexibility, and improved patient safety. However, EHR users from across the country report significantly different user experiences with the technology.
EHR usability is “The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specific users can achieve a specific set of tasks in a particular environment, HIMSS says on its website. “In essence, a system with good usability is easy to use and effective. It is intuitive, forgiving of mistakes and allows one to perform necessary tasks quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of mental effort.”
Two veteran health IT professionals talked about implementing EHR informatics into training, the importance of EHR user feedback, and how EHRs are advanced, but not advanced enough to be on a smartphone.
EHR informatics as a discipline
Quality EHR training is essential to provider users, especially those new to the technology. An effective EHR training program can improve EHR usability which also reduces the likelihood of clinician burden and boosts satisfaction.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/experts-share-2021-digital-health-predictions
Experts share 2021 digital health predictions
Health leaders and tech experts give their verdict on what to expect from the industry this year.
By Sara Mageit
January 27, 2021 08:24 AM
With millions back in stringent lockdowns due to the new rampant coronavirus variant, and the roll-out of a monumental global vaccination programme - it's likely that 2021 will be another seismic year for digital health. Healthcare IT News speaks to health leaders about their predictions for the uncertain 12 months ahead. We hear about the impact it will have on NHS primary care, the increase of mental health virtual care and the growing concerns over health data security.
Dr Minal Bakhai, a GP and NHS England and NHS Improvement’s national clinical director for Digital First Primary Care Programme
“General Practice is rising to one of the greatest challenges the NHS has ever faced. Building on the huge strides we have made in digital access, total triage and remote consultations, 2021 holds exciting opportunities to help us deliver more flexible, co-ordinated, personalised care. With two million online consultation requests a month, over 90% of practices enabled with online-consultations and 99% of practices with video-consultations, this is only the start of our journey.
“Key to success in 2021 will be taking the time to optimise the changes we’ve implemented and reduce variation in digital readiness, capability and infrastructure across our systems. Where we get it right, using digital tools to augment face-to-face consultations can improve patient experience, reduce inequalities and prioritise care for those most in need, importantly providing benefit to all our patients, not just digital users.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/01/27/is-a-free-telehealth-solution-really-possible/
Is a Free Telehealth Solution Really Possible?
January 27, 2021
I still think back to my early days here at Healthcare IT Today when Practice Fusion came on stage offering a free EHR. It was a pretty astounding thing since most EHR were charging hundreds of thousands or even billions of dollars for their EHR. The idea of a free EHR just blew people’s minds.
What people didn’t realize was that there are a number of powerful business models that allow for free. The two most common are advertising/data and what we now call freemium. The first is something you’re likely familiar with since it’s how you’re able to use Google, Facebook, and Twitter for free along with millions of other sites and services. Google provides a free search service in exchange for the opportunity to advertise to you. Same with Facebook and their social media platform. In a more controversial way, some of these services will also sell your data in exchange for using their free system.
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Racial Disparities Increase In Urban Mortality Rates, Health Inequity
Most cities have higher rates of racial disparity in mortality rates than the national average, pointing to the need for city-level health inequity data.
January 25, 2021 - Despite increased attention to social determinants of health and access to care, racial health disparities persist in mortality rates across the country, according to a new report published in JAMA Network Open.
The cross-sectional study analyzed 26 million death records from the National Vital Statistics System, spanning from 2008 to 2019. From this data, researchers calculated all-cause mortality rates for the general population, the Black population, and the White population in the country’s 30 most populous cities.
Overall, the annual national mortality rate among Black populations was 24 percent higher than White populations, resulting in 74,402 excess Black deaths every year.
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How Patient Outreach Technology Supports Vaccination Coordination
Patient outreach technology is helping one provider manage their vaccine efforts and navigate patient care.
By Sara Heath
January 25, 2021 - Getting the COVID-19 vaccine rolled out safely and efficiently is proving a logistical nightmare for the healthcare industry, pushing the need for coordinated patient outreach to the forefront.
Nearly everyone is going to benefit from the shots, meaning providers and healthcare leaders need to figure out the most equitable way to get a limited number of doses out to people. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s (CDC’s) recommended priority lists are helping a little bit with this, but there’s still some gray area regarding exactly who will get their vaccine when and how to actually get an appointment.
That’s not to mention the added foil of a two-dose vaccine, which will require significant patient outreach and management legwork on the part of providers.
And through all of that, the healthcare industry is acutely aware of the patient experience factor at play. Like the rest of medical care, patients want their vaccines now and they want it to be an easy process.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/25/tech/covid-vaccine-google-maps/
Google Maps will soon display Covid-19 vaccination sites
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business
Updated 1719 GMT (0119 HKT) January 25, 2021
New York (CNN Business)Google Maps will soon display locations that offer Covid-19 vaccinations, further bolstering awareness of the virus — and how to avoid it.
The feature is rolling out in the coming weeks, beginning in four states: Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Google (GOOGL) announced Monday that searches for "vaccines near me" have increased five fold since the beginning of the year and it's implementing this feature to ensure it's "providing locally relevant answers."
The results, which will also be shown in search results in designated information panels, include details about whether an appointment is required, if the vaccine is only available to certain groups and if there's a drive-thru. Google said it's working with "authoritative sources" for the information, including local governments and retail pharmacies. Information about vaccine sites will roll out to other states and countries later.
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/practicemanagement/informationtechnology/90884
Biden's New ONC Head Wins Plaudits From Predecessors
— Micky Tripathi will bring a blend of experience and policy knowledge, they say
by Joyce Frieden, Washington Editor, MedPage Today January 25, 2021
WASHINGTON -- Micky Tripathi, PhD, MPP, the new head of the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has the right blend of government and on-the-ground experience needed for the job, according to two of his former colleagues.
Tripathi's biggest asset is the "breadth of experience he has in the real world as well as the understanding of policy," said Farzad Mostashari, MD, founder and CEO of Aledade, a company in Bethesda, Maryland that helps primary care doctors start up and run accountable care organizations. "He knows about EHR [electronic health record] adoption, he knows about interfaces -- the non-sexy, hard, grinding work -- but he also is always among the people pushing the front in terms of 'We can make the system better.'"
Tripathi, whose appointment does not need to be confirmed by the Senate, comes to the ONC after serving a number of years in various information technology (IT) jobs. He worked in the federal government early in his career, serving as an operations research analyst at the Department of Defense from 1988 to 1992, and then as a project manager at the Center for Naval Analyses, a nonprofit research and analysis firm, from 1992 to 1994. He also did a 1-year stint as president and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange.
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https://journal.ahima.org/patient-identification-remains-advocacy-priority-for-2021/
Patient Identification Remains Advocacy Priority for 2021
By Lesley Kadlec, MA, RHIA, CHDA, and Kate McFadyen
AHIMA has long voiced support for appropriations bill language that would ignite a patient identification conversation in healthcare.
AHIMA recognizes that, at its core, accurate patient identification enhances data integrity, facilitates patient care, and improves overall patient safety. However, the lack of a national strategy addressing patient identification, hindered by a line within the federal budget that bans any funds from being used to promulgate or adopt a unique patient identifier, has long been a barrier to accurate patient identification. Addressing this issue will continue to be a top priority for AHIMA in 2021.
As a part of our advocacy agenda, AHIMA is committed to working with health information professionals, the Patient ID Now coalition, and our federal partners to address this important issue. As a founding member of the Patient ID Now coalition, AHIMA has helped to bring together organizations that share a commitment to advocating for the removal of section 510 from the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, which would then allow the US Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) the flexibility to work with the healthcare sector to develop a nationwide patient identification strategy.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/hipaa-and-remote-work-top-compliance-risks-address
HIPAA and remote work: Top compliance risks to address
Compliance is a serious, enforceable matter – and must be properly addressed in the context of the workplace challenges and changes that have emerged amid the pandemic.
January 26, 2021 02:43 PM
The modern workplace is in the midst of a massive transformation. An estimated forty-four percent of employees are currently working from home, and a recent survey reported that employers expect the number of full-time workers who remain at home permanently to triple from pre-pandemic figures.
The implications of this shift will not only impact productivity and company culture, but touch policies and operations across finance, HR, IT and countless other business functions. The stakes are arguably even higher in the healthcare industry, which in addition to contending with many of the same challenges of other industries, must also consider how a remote workforce impacts HIPAA compliance.
In the survey mentioned above, respondents were spread somewhat evenly across industries, with fifteen percent from the healthcare sector. Only two out of every ten respondents said they have provided adequate tools and resources to support employees working remotely long term. This has the potential to create an array of challenges to fulfilling HIPAA requirements.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/compliance-onc-and-cms-rules-could-offer-growth-opportunity
Compliance with ONC and CMS rules could offer growth opportunity
As health systems prepare for new interoperability and price transparency regs, Deloitte describes steps they can take to make that work a cornerstone of a broader competitive strategy around consumer experience and cost.
By Mike Miliard
January 26, 2021 11:00 AM
It's understandable if many hospital IT leaders view compliance with a pair of new rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as chores that must be managed to stay on the right side of the law.
But the CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule, which took effect on New Year's Day, and ONC's Cures Act rules around information blocking and patient access (which start to take effect in April) offer new growth opportunities for health systems that approach them in the spirit they were drafted, a new report from Deloitte shows.
WHY IT
MATTERS
"These rules are driving increased data-sharing, and a bigger push is
likely to follow," said Deloitte researchers in the report.
"We expect the rules to increase competition once consumers are given access to pricing information that can be used to make healthcare decisions and to move the industry toward a consumer-centric future of health. We also anticipate them to drive improved care coordination and quality with clinicians and consumers getting the information they now lack for diagnosis and treatment decisions."
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Interoperability progress, but still 'much to be desired,' says KLAS-CHIME report
Although the EHR market has made notable changes for the better, there's still ample opportunity for vendors and providers alike to work toward more robust data exchange, a new report shows.
By Kat Jercich
January 26, 2021 09:33 AM
A KLAS-CHIME white paper released Tuesday found that the rate of provider organizations achieving "deep interoperability" has doubled since 2017, with roughly two-thirds of provider organizations often or nearly always having access to needed records.
"The overall rate leaves much to be desired, but signs of progress are visible," wrote report authors. The report examined trends in interoperability overall, finding that electronic health record connections with outside systems have improved, that ambulatory clinics and smaller hospitals are connecting more than ever before, and that national networks have reached a tipping point.
At the same time, said report authors, there is still ample room for improvement.
WHY IT MATTERS
Deep interoperability, as defined by the authors, refers to the percent of interviewed organizations that:
- often or nearly always have access to needed data through any interoperable means.
- are able to easily locate specific patient records or have them automatically presented to clinicians.
- have the retrieved patient data fully integrate into the EHR's native data fields or in a separate tab or section within the EHR.
- feel retrieved patient data often or nearly always benefits patient care to the extent that it should.
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Legacy Applications and SolarWinds – 4 Reasons Why CIOs Need to Move on from Them
January 26, 2021
The SolarWinds attack was not only an attack on the Software Supply Chain. It also had secondary consequences. To illustrate this, we will use the example of Microsoft Active Directory, the authentication technology utilized by most corporate networks, which was also affected by it. The goal of this example is to show how accommodating one legacy technology can put an entire network at risk. This includes newer secured applications. According to the late John F. Kennedy, a rising tide lifts all boats. It only took one well-placed hole to sink one like the Titanic.
One of those holes was that all the password hashes on a network were visible to platforms managed by vulnerable versions of their Orion network management software. The CISA advisory indicated that affected organizations need to remove legacy encryption support for Kerberos, the security technology that underpins Microsoft Active Directory. The technology Microsoft uses to verify messages as authentic is based on an older cryptographic hashing algorithm, SHA-1, that NIST has specifically approved for the purpose. The effect of using legacy algorithms was that every password on the network became easily hackable due to lax security.
Vulnerable shops had the MD5 hashing algorithm enabled for communication with previous versions of Windows. According to Microsoft, the use of MD5 allows machines running Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 to authenticate to Active Directory Networks. MD5, according to the Internet Engineering Task Force, is so old and insecure that NIST does not recommend it or advertise its usage. MD5 is so old that it is not used to help secure web browser communications in the current version supported by Microsoft 365, Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2. SHA-1 is moving toward obsolescence, and we expect a future update to Windows 10 to disable it by default when Microsoft implements newer technologies in Active Directory.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/onc-awards-20-million-boost-vaccination-info-sharing
ONC Awards $20 Million to Boost Vaccination Info Sharing
Analysis | By Mandy Roth | January 26, 2021
CARES Act funds will boost public health and HIE ability to track adverse events and long-term health outcomes.
Nearly $20 million will be awarded by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology to support U.S. COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
The funds will increase data sharing between health information exchanges (HIEs) and information systems tracking immunizations.
Money for this comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed by President Trump on March 27, 2020.
ONC's Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public Health Agencies via Health Information Exchange, or STAR HIE, will be expanded in this effort to further share vaccination-related data.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/digital-medicine-how-its-shaping-future-healthcare
Digital Medicine: How It's Shaping the Future of Healthcare
Analysis | By Mandy Roth | January 26, 2021
UC Davis Health digital medicine leader Ashish Atreja, MD, shares the growing impact of digital therapeutics, the value of unifying platforms to prescribe digital solutions to patients and share research, and why he's an 'intrapreneur.'
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· The way most physicians are engaging with telehealth is not an ideal path forward; replacing one-to-one visits with one-to-many transactions will shift workflow dynamics.
· Technology that delivers the ability to treat multiple patients simultaneously will create value and improve workflow.
· Platforms that bring disparate elements together help physicians sort through the proliferation of digital options available.
How does a gastroenterologist become one of the nation's leading voices in digital medicine? In 2000, on the first day of a Cleveland Clinic gastroenterology residency, Ashish Atreja, MD, MPH, was asked to see a patient with a lung transplant. He had never managed a patient with that condition, no one was available to guide him, and standard textbooks didn't address the topic.
Someone directed him to UpToDate, an online clinical decision support resource, which had the latest information about treatment.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/sharing-medical-imaging-data-to-enhance-care-quality-efficiency
Sharing Medical Imaging Data to Enhance Care Quality, Efficiency
Carequality and the Radiological Society of North America have started an initiative to share medical imaging data and improve care quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Jessica Kent
January 25, 2021 - Medical imaging data has always played a critical role in healthcare delivery, allowing researchers and providers to collect meaningful information for better decision-making.
Since the dawn of COVID-19, medical imaging data has become even more important for healthcare insights. Scans of a patient’s chest and lungs can reveal whether a patient has the virus, as well as the severity of their condition, David Mendelson, MD, senior associate in Clinical Informatics and vice chair of Radiology IT at Mount Sinai Health System, told HealthITAnalytics.
“In the case of COVID-19, a lot of decisions are initially based on chest x-rays and chest CTs. The critical clinical feature of COVID is whether the lungs are involved, as opposed to just a flu-like illness. So, if a patient has an abnormal chest x-ray, that patient's likely going to receive care very quickly,” he said.
“However, any time a radiologist sees an abnormal exam of any type, the next thing they ask is, ‘Can I see an exam you had previously when you were healthy, if it happens to exist, so I can compare it?’” added Mendelson, who is also a member of the Radiology Informatics Committee of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/2021-will-bring-ai-social-determinants-of-health-into-focus
2021 Will Bring AI, Social Determinants of Health into Focus
In the new year, the healthcare industry will leverage artificial intelligence and social determinants of health data to enhance clinical decision-making.
By Jessica Kent
January 22, 2021 - After a turbulent, momentous year, many rang in 2021 eager for a fresh start. In healthcare, however, some things will remain the same: namely, the significance of artificial intelligence and social determinants of health data.
Listen to the full podcast to hear more details. And don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
In a recent episode, Healthcare Strategies analyzed these trends and other major expectations for 2021.
Throughout the pandemic, organizations leveraged AI and data analytics tools to track disease spread and assess patient risk. The crisis pushed academic institutions, health systems, and vendors to develop and refine their AI and machine learning capabilities, setting the stage for even more advanced technologies in 2021.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/broader-genetic-testing-may-improve-breast-cancer-risk-assessment
Broader Genetic Testing May Improve Breast Cancer Risk Assessment
Conducting hereditary cancer genetic testing in the general population could enhance breast cancer risk assessment for women.
By Jessica Kent
January 21, 2021 - To improve breast cancer risk assessment, providers should perform genetic testing in women who aren’t at high risk of developing the disease, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers noted that hereditary cancer genetic testing has typically been available only for a specific population of women.
“Traditionally, genetic testing of inherited breast cancer genes has focused on women at high risk who have a strong family history of breast cancer or those who were diagnosed at an early age, such as under 45 years,” said Fergus Couch, PhD, a Mayo Clinic pathologist.
Additionally, current estimates of breast cancer risk provided to women who are found to have a breast cancer mutation are appropriate only for those at high risk – not for women from the general population.
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Condition-Specific mHealth Devices Best In Chronic Care Management
Smartphones are the most used device for chronic care management, however condition-specific mHealth devices are most effective.
January 22, 2021 - While connected health apps and devices are commonly used for chronic care management, condition-specific mHealth strategies are most effective, based on results from a new Health Union survey.
Connected health is popular among people living with chronic conditions, with more than eight in 10 respondents using at least one mHealth device to manage their health and wellness.
The Connected Health 2020 survey results showed that 70 percent of respondents who used condition-specific mHealth devices found them effective at managing health and wellness. These strategies include medication adherence devices, pacemakers, and blood sugar monitors.
However, the survey revealed that just 28 percent of respondents who use devices or apps not specific to their condition found them effective.
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Industry Voices—COVID-19 vaccine development was a historic achievement. We'll need cutting-edge technology to make sure it ends the pandemic
Jan 22, 2021 9:35am
After nine months of suffering, isolation and economic downturn on an unprecedented international scale, the expedited development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines has shown us the light at the tunnel’s end. Having an end in sight is not the same as getting there, however: Inoculating the majority of American citizens in a matter of months would be complicated under the best of circumstances.
And, as a recent Gallup poll reports, more than a third of us think taking a vaccine is a leap of faith too far.
This high evidence bar for safety—especially for diverse populations and settings underrepresented in clinical trials—cannot be compromised. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, people are most worried about possible side effects, and they lack trust in the government to ensure vaccine safety and effectiveness.
The only way to address the public’s skepticism is to assess data on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in near real time, with technology built for the purpose of producing real-world evidence (RWE). While RWE has long been used for post-marketing safety studies, the pandemic has created new urgency for unlocking what our everyday interactions with the healthcare system tell us about what health treatments work best for whom, when.
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Ginger study finds virtual mental health services are crucial to help address rising anxiety rates
Jan 25, 2021 1:00pm
Anxiety rates are soaring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The share of adults reporting anxiety or depression has increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with four in ten adults age 18 and older (40%) reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression in July, according to research from Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Now, a new study indicates that on-demand mental healthcare that includes virtual services can be effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety, which is an extremely prevalent condition, but has received notably less attention than other mental health conditions from research, clinical, and public health perspectives.
The study published Monday in The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) found that behavioral health coaching can be just as effective as clinical tele-mental healthcare services for anxiety reduction, said Dr. Dana Udall, chief clinical officer at Ginger.
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Anti-Vaccine Activists Peddle Theories That Covid Shots Are Deadly, Undermining Vaccination
Liz Szabo January 25, 2021
Anti-vaccine groups are exploiting the suffering and death of people who happen to fall ill after receiving a covid shot, threatening to undermine the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
In some cases, anti-vaccine activists are fabricating stories of deaths that never occurred.
“This is exactly what anti-vaccine groups do,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases specialist and author of “Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science.”
Anti-vaccine groups have falsely claimed for decades that childhood vaccines cause autism, weaving fantastic conspiracy theories involving government, Big Business and the media.
Now, the same groups are blaming patients’ coincidental medical problems on covid shots, even when it’s clear that age or underlying health conditions are to blame, Hotez said. “They will sensationalize anything that happens after someone gets a vaccine and attribute it to the vaccine,” Hotez said.
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Are We At the End of the Healthcare Interoperability Tunnel?
January 25, 2021
In a recent message I got from EHNAC, they had this great image at the start of their email:
Then, they had this line below it which really caught my attention:
Interoperability has been an important topic in healthcare for over a decade. Are we there yet? No. Are we closer than we were? Absolutely.
No doubt, EHNAC’s real message here is that they’re working hard on healthcare interoperability and they’re seeing progress. A look at the EHNAC Officers and Commissioners shows they have some great people working on the challenge that is healthcare interoperability. Although, I couldn’t help but ask myself the question:
Are we nearing the end of the healthcare interoperability tunnel?
Or maybe in a more direct way…
Are we ever done with healthcare interoperability?
The simple answer is that healthcare interoperability is never “done”. At least not if you define it as all of the information being exactly where it needs to be at any time across any system. At least I don’t think it will ever be “done” in my lifetime. The good news is that we don’t have to be “done” for interoperability to provide value. In fact, there are a lot of healthcare data exchanges that are providing value in healthcare right now. The challenge is that there are still holes in health data exchange that are frustrating to patients and doctors.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/01/22/weekender-1-22-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Micky Tripathi is named National Coordinator.
- The co-founder of The COVID Tracking Project says that the recently implemented HHS Protect COVID hospital status database is working well and urges the Biden administration to continue its use.
- Philips announces plans to acquire medical device integration vendor Capsule Technologies for $635 million in cash.
- ONC says it will invest $20 million in vaccine-related interoperability projects.
- An appeals court vacates MD Anderson’s $4.3 million civil money penalty for losing three unencrypted mobile devices that contained the PHI of 35,000 patients, challenging HHS’s ongoing interpretation of HIPAA requirements and its method of setting penalty amounts.
- Cerner replaces its chief client and services officer and chief legal officer and hires a CFO.
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Enjoy!
David.
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