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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Digital Duds: The mHealth Wearable Market Looks to Sensor-Embedded Clothing
mHealth wearables have often focused on watches, wristbands and jewelry. Now the spotlight is shining on sensor-embedded clothing that can help providers track movement and other health data.
May 21, 2021 - The mHealth wearables industry has long been focused on activity bands and watches, even jewelry and smartglasses. Often overlooked is the concept of sensor-embedded clothing, but that form factor is now seeing interest from care providers who want a better way to monitor health on the move.
At Modesto Junior College in California, Jamie Derollo, an athletic trainer and the school’s director of sports medicine, is using a sensor-embedded sleeve to help athletes recover from injuries. The sleeve, developed by Denver-based Cipher Skin, helps her track arm movement and design a care plan around mobility exercises.
But that sleeve offers more opportunities. Along with tracking motion, the sensors gather biometric data that is then integrated into a telehealth platform, allowing care providers like Derollo to track not only physical performance but clinical outcomes.
“I’m just getting started, but there are a lot of possibilities with this,” she says. “It gives me insight and data that I haven’t had before.”
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/digital-health-literacy-considerations-for-rpm-in-senior-care
Digital Health Literacy Considerations for RPM in Senior Care
Boosting remote patient monitoring (RPM) use in senior care is going to require a strategy for addressing digital health literacy and patient navigation.
By Sara Heath
May 21, 2021 - As remote patient monitoring (RPM) gains a toehold in the healthcare industry, it will be essential for medical professionals to address the digital health literacy issues that could come with it, especially when using RPM for senior care.
After all, if there is one thing the pandemic underscored, it is the steep digital divide in healthcare. The influx of telehealth and remote patient monitoring use for chronic care management underscored who does and who does not have the ability to engage with digital technologies.
Recent data from Insights by Xtelligent Healthcare Media, for example, showed digital health literacy as one of the biggest barriers to patient engagement for senior populations. Thirty-seven percent of respondents strongly agreed that senior patients don’t fully understand telehealth, and 31 percent agreed.
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Study: Automated prior authorization may lower costs, improve care for cancer patients
May 20, 2021 7:10am
A new study from researchers at CVS Health finds that an automated prior authorization process may drive lower cost, more efficient cancer care.
The research, released for the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, found that from April to December 2020, 279 prior authorization requests were submitted by a large health system through the Novologix platform, a clinical decision support tool for prior auth.
Of those submissions, 83% were automatically approved in real time, according to the study. None of the submissions were ultimately denied, according to the researchers, and those not approved automatically were reviewed via a partnership with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
CVS developed Novologix to provide a more streamlined care management option for oncology treatment, based in the NCCN guidelines, and is available to all of its health plan clients, Roger Brito, divisional head of enterprise oncology at CVS Health, told Fierce Healthcare.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/few-fl-medicaid-docs-stuck-with-meaningful-use-attestation
Few FL Medicaid Docs Stuck With Meaningful Use Attestation
After receiving the first-year meaningful use EHR incentives, most Florida Medicaid providers dropped out of the program.
May 20, 2021 - Between 2011 and 2018, the state of Florida distributed nearly $100 million to healthcare providers that eventually did not maintain meaningful use status after obtaining first-year financial incentives, according to a study published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics. Only 43 percent of Florida Medicaid providers achieved meaningful use after receiving the first-year incentive.
Numerous studies have found the HITECH ACT to be directly responsible for the significant increase in provider EHR adoption rates. Incentivizing EHR adoption was based partially on the premise that EHRs would enhance patient safety and healthcare quality.
Florida Atlantic University researchers aimed to assess provider participation beyond the initial incentive of up to nearly $22,000.
Following the initial incentive in State 1 Meaningful Use, healthcare providers were eligible receive upwards of $8,500 annually if they participated in the remaining five years of that program. Such participation in Stages 2 and 3 Meaningful Use would entail utilizing certified EHR or health IT to improve care quality, patient safety, and clinician efficiency.
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https://www.statnews.com/2021/05/21/ransomware-hospitals-cybersecurity-health-records/
‘Swept under the carpet’: When health records are held ransom, patients are the hardest hit — and last to know
By May 21, 2021
Allison Savage waited years for surgery to remove the elongated bones at the base of her skull that have compressed her jugular artery, making her vision blur and head spin every time she leaned over to garden, fold laundry, or look at her computer.
“I have to rest up before I brush my teeth, and I have to rest up after,” said Savage, 54. Covid-19 postponed a second surgery to remove the bone on the right side of her neck; during the 14-month delay, her symptoms became “a nightmare.” “It feels literally like someone is strangling me,” Savage said.
Earlier this month, anxious about the upcoming procedure, Savage tried to check in with her doctors using her online patient portal with Scripps Health, a San Diego hospital and clinic system. It was shut down. Then, two of her appointments were cancelled last-minute. She called her doctors, but they, too, were locked out of patient record systems.
Scripps Health had been hit with a ransomware attack that led to an IT network outage and forced its staff to divert critical care patients to nearby hospitals and revert to pen-and-paper recordkeeping. For Savage, the outage couldn’t come at a worse time. “I just needed reassurance, and no one from Scripps would talk with me or help me,” she said. “It’s scary.”
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GAO tells Congress to halt expanding telehealth until there's more research
– 20 May, 2021
The Government Accountability Office testified in front of Congress that government agencies should wait until after the pandemic, when there is more research, before expanding telehealth coverage for Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to a May 19 report.
Telehealth capabilities were vital during the start of the pandemic, but now it's deemed safe to return to a physician's office. Some officials from GAO are concerned that there have not been enough studies proving that virtual visits are just as effective as in-person visits.
In addition, telehealth visits can increase CMS' spending if virtual visits are reimbursed the same as in-person visits. There is also an increased risk of fraud, waste and abuse that GAO has previously noted because some program safeguards have been suspended.
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Doctors provide free telehealth services for COVID-19 patients in India
The services are being provided to keep mild cases out of emergency rooms.
May 21, 2021 04:02 AM
Volunteer doctors from the US-based American Association of Physicians of Indian-Origin and Hindu faith-based group Sewa International have been offering teleconsultations and medical advice to COVID-19 patients in India via the eGlobalDoctors platform.
WHAT THEY DO
Over 100 volunteer physicians from both AAPI and Sewa International have joined its platform, according to eGlobalDoctors Chairman Dr Sreeni Gangasani. The healthcare website, which registered at least 2,000 COVID-19 patients, has been visited more than 100,000 times since the start of May. About 500 patients have already received medical counselling.
Sewa International's team of volunteers is helping to match patients to doctors who speak the same language and placing them into virtual consultation rooms. They are also helping to connect patients who do not have video access and access to the internet.
"Sewa's work on the ground is streamlining the process by reaching the people who are most in need – even those from smaller, rural areas," Dr Gangasani said.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/uk-launches-implementation-plan-genomic-healthcare-system
UK launches implementation plan for genomic healthcare system
The plan focuses on expanding the diversity and reach of genomics in the UK as well as improving patient diagnosis, treatment and sickness prevention.
May 21, 2021 01:04 AM
UK Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has today announced the launch of the Genome UK 2021-2022 implementation plan.
Following the Genome UK policy paper published in September 2020, the plan outlines 27 priority actions for the next year that will help the UK to advance its ambition to become “the world’s most advanced genomic healthcare ecosystem”.
WHY IT MATTERS
The plan outlines 27 commitments to further genomics in the UK, with 5 key goals:
- A partnership between Genomics England and NHS England/Improvement to enable faster and more comprehensive genomic testing of cancer
- Whole genome sequencing for patients with rare diseases
- Ensure diverse datasets through bespoke screening programmes so that everyone in the UK can benefit from genomic databases
- The advancement of Our Future Health research programme, supported by £79 million from UKRI
- Develop global standards and policies for sharing genomic health data securely
Genomics England projects that support the implementation of the Genome UK strategy will receive £17 million from the government, it was announced in April. This will be used in part to increase data from ethnic minorities in particular genomic cohorts, which could enhance diagnosis and treatment of those in the BAME community.
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A week from hell as health service grapples with cyberattack
The HSE has had its hardest year dealing with Covid. Now it has had its hardest week
21 May, 2021
Paul Cullen Health Editor
Fifteen months into a pandemic, just when it seemed things were looking up, along came the cyberattack to upend the health service and deliver the week from hell.
“The hardest six days of my working life,” was how paediatric radiologist Dr Gabrielle Colleran described her state of exhaustion after a week of shutdowns and work-arounds in the Dublin hospitals where she works.
“A major disaster,” said Dr Vida Hamilton, who as the HSE’s national clinical adviser for acute operations played a central role in trying to prevent the system coming to a complete collapse. “We know nothing about the individual. We have no charts, no record number.”
This experience of “flying blind” was widespread across the system; from oncologists deprived of scan information about their patients in the operating theatre to psychiatrists in clinics making decisions about vulnerable people without access to their records.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/tripathi-lets-do-great-things-with-ehr-systems-interoperability
Tripathi: Let’s Do Great Things With EHR Systems, Interoperability
ONC leader Micky Tripathi said the federal agency wants healthcare stakeholders to open up interoperability.
May 20, 2021 - The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is maintaining its focus on information blocking, interoperability, and coordination between federal agencies, according to Micky Tripathi, national coordinator for health IT.
“We built this foundation of EHR systems and we are now able to pause and ask the question ‘what is it that we want to do with these systems now?” Tripathi posited at the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) 2021 Conference.
“There is still hard work to do and there are still adoption issues in parts of the healthcare delivery system that haven’t benefited directly from the federal government incentives,” Tripathi said. “But in terms of hospitals and the ambulatory side, they were able to benefit from those incentive programs and do the hard work of implementation.”
Now that ONC and healthcare stakeholders laid the foundation, Tripathi urged the industry to think deeply and “jump ahead” to do great things with EHR systems.
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Patient Data Sharing Concerns Warrant Public Health Messaging Plan
Most Americans are not interested in patient data sharing or using digital COVID-19 mitigation tools, indicating the need for public health messaging.
May 20, 2021 - More than half of adults are not interested in patient data sharing for COVID-19 mitigation efforts such as contact tracing and case identification, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open that calls for targeted public health messaging.
Consumer digital tools used to collect COVID-19 data, like the Apple-Google digital contact tracing program, allow for public health insight to reduce COVID-19 transmission. However, these tools introduce consumer privacy concerns.
The cross-sectional survey study gathered insight from 3,547 adults regarding the use of consumer digital health data for COVID-19 control purposes. Respondents were given nine different use cases that included case identification, digital contact tracing, policy setting, and quarantine enforcement.
Willingness to share digital health data was low, ranging from 28 percent to 43 percent depending on the scenario. Respondents showed the greatest support for the use of smartphone data for contact tracing.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/text-message-patient-outreach-supports-healthy-behavior-change
Text Message Patient Outreach Supports Healthy Behavior Change
Nearly a quarter of young adults who vape quit using the device after enrollment in a text message patient outreach program for healthy behavior change.
By Sara Heath
May 19, 2021 - Text message patient outreach and coaching has proven effective for promoting healthy behavior change in young adults, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The text message campaign helped nearly a quarter of young adults quit vaping, while only about 18 percent of those not receiving text messages made the same step toward healthy behavior change.
Nicotine use among young people is becoming a bigger problem again, with the rise of vaping precipitating an increase in nicotine dependence. But considering the novelty of vaping devices, the researchers said there’s a limited evidence base suggesting how to motivate healthy behavior change and smoking cessation.
Text message patient outreach and patient motivation could be effective, particularly with this population, the researchers posited. Cellphone ownership is nearly ubiquitous, especially among young people.
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The Telehealth Security Impact: Now and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic
IEEE and Impact Advisor leaders share best practice policies for encryption, risk remediation, and security reviews to reduce possible telehealth security impacts beyond COVID-19.
May 20, 2021 - The COVID-19 response resulted in a virtual care boom that’s expected to last well beyond the pandemic. As telehealth continues to support the shift in healthcare, ensuring a minimal security impact will be crucial in light of critical infrastructure attacks and exploits.
The Department of Health and Human Services enforcement waivers around remote tech will end with the close of the national emergency. Beforehand, providers should review existing policies and procedures to ensure the protection of patient data and their privacy.
Overall, telehealth platforms don’t necessarily pose new threats to the enterprise. Instead, the risk stems from the accelerated implementation of new technologies without adequate due diligence to prevent introducing new vulnerabilities to the network, explained Mike Garzone, vice president of Impact Advisors.
For Rebecca Herold, CEO and found of The Privacy Professor and member of IEEE, a nonprofit technical organization, the swift deployment of new technologies may have started with insufficient planning and consideration of cybersecurity and privacy risks.
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https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210514.126700/full/
Centering Equity In The Design And Use Of Health Information Systems: Partnering With Communities On Race, Ethnicity, And Language Data
May 19, 2021 10.1377/hblog20210514.126700
Our ability to identify, track, and address the disproportionate morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color is contingent upon capturing meaningful race and ethnicity data. Yet, at the first peak of the pandemic, only 24 states had reported the race and ethnicity of people who had died, with two states having greater than 40 percent missing information on race and ethnicity.
In response, federal entities mandated state reporting of race and ethnicity data for COVID-19 testing, morbidity, and mortality. Despite these mandates, and advocates calling for comprehensive data collection and reporting for public health surveillance, there continues to be a lack of and poor-quality race and ethnicity data. During the first month of the US vaccine rollout, race and ethnicity data were missing for 48 percent of people, even though collection was required.
This inability to implement comprehensive changes in collection and reporting has resulted in ongoing and significant impediments to the clinical and public health care system responses to the current pandemic and is the result of structural racism embedded within our US health information systems.
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Artificial intelligence has been of little use for diagnosing covid-19
Technology | Comment 19 May 2021
IS THERE no problem artificial intelligence can’t tackle? Methods such as deep learning are finding uses in everything from algorithms that recommend what you should purchase next to ones that predict someone’s voting habits. The result is that AI has developed a somewhat mystical reputation as a tool that can digest many different types of data and accurately predict many different outcomes, an ability that could be of particular use for solving previously impenetrable problems within healthcare.
However, AI is no panacea. Too often, it is turned to too quickly and in an impulsive way, resulting in claims that it works when it doesn’t. This has become increasingly apparent during the covid-19 pandemic, as many AI researchers try their hand at healthcare – without much success.
It is no wonder many people think healthcare is a promising area for AI as hospitals generate lots of data, which deep learning relies on. The partnership has already borne fruit, with AI systems able to help identify cancer earlier and better predict which treatments people will respond to.
In the initial stages of the pandemic, there was a deluge of publications attempting to do the same for covid-19. In particular, there are hundreds of papers claiming that machine-learning techniques can use chest scans to quickly diagnose covid-19 and to accurately predict how patients will fare.
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May 19, 2021
What Type of Stent Did I Get, Where? Most Heart Patients Don't Know
WEDNESDAY, May 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- When someone comes in for a new heart stent, it's critical that the medical team doing the procedure knows several key facts about previous stents the patient has had.
But fewer than half of patients receiving a stent were still carrying the stent card that has those details with them, a new study finds.
Most of them — about 88% — do carry their phones, according to study author Dr. Jordan Safirstein, who suggests keeping stent info on smartphones.
"Stent design has advanced significantly since the mid-1990s, with the evolution of new polymers and advanced drug-eluting stents," said Safirstein, director of transradial catheterization for Morristown Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, in New Jersey.
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Waikato doctors go old school while teams face 'demanding' task of recovering IT systems following cyber attack
A doctor at Waikato Hospital says staff are going back to processes used 20 years ago to make it through a cyberattack that’s crippled its IT systems.
And an IT expert says cybersecurity teams face a hugely “demanding” process to recover the DHB’s infected software.
The doctor, who Stuff has agreed not to name, said hospital staff were using whiteboards as a way to record patients’ names.
Without electronic systems, it was “very challenging” to keep track of patients in a busy emergency department with 80 to 90 patients.
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Many U.S. adults balk at their contact tracing info being used to fight COVID-19
Conservative individuals were less supportive of using digital data to mitigate transmission than moderate or liberal ones.
By Kat Jercich
May 20, 2021 04:04 PM
Throughout the pandemic, health departments and private companies touted the potential for contact-tracing apps to help control the spread of COVID-19.
But more than a year in, many of those initiatives have failed to gain meaningful traction – and new research suggests that public interest (or lack thereof) may have played a role.
The study, published this week in JAMA Network Open, found that approval among U.S. adults was generally low for the use of consumer digital data for activities such as case identification, digital contact tracing, policy setting and quarantine enforcement.
"Understanding consumer views on digital privacy is critical as the world confronts the immediate challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and considers preparedness for future pandemics," wrote researchers.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/humans-top-digital-scribes-for-better-ehr-documentation
Humans Top Digital Scribes For Better EHR Documentation
Clinicians scored digital scribes well behind hybrid models and human scribes when it came to EHR documentation.
May 19, 2021 - Human scribes still trump digital scribes in EHR documentation, according to a study published in the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library.
A digital scribe is not currently capable of widespread adoption because of a lack of accuracy, completeness, and medical synthesis, clinician respondents said.
Healthcare organizations are beginning to adopt and implement digital scribe solutions to ease the burdensome EHR documentation process. A digital scribe aims to automate the clinical summary during a patient-physician interaction.
But that’s not exactly the case, recent data showed. In a simulation with 24 clinicians, researchers let participants interact with anonymous digital scribes from behind a one-sided mirror. Researchers analyzed clinician interaction with the scribe, perception about note quality, and workflow impact.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/epic-systems-dominates-2020-ehr-implementation-market-share
Epic Systems Dominates 2020 EHR Implementation Market Share
Only Epic Systems and Azalea Health had a positive net change in EHR implementation market share during 2020.
May 19, 2021 - Nearly 150 hospitals implemented Epic Systems EHR throughout 2020, which further contributed to Epic’s stronghold on the EHR implementation market share, according to a recent KLAS report.
Additionally, EHR adoption was up in 2020 despite COVID-19. KLAS revealed large organizations fueled EHR purchasing, along with standalone community hospitals.
“Contracting naturally took a back seat as COVID-19 cases ramped up and the country went into lockdown,” KLAS explained.
“It rebounded some in Q3 and then spiked in Q4 as organizations reinstated budgets and revived tabled HIT initiatives. Decisions by large organizations (>10 hospitals) often take several years, and most of those that were paused in 2020 are back in full swing, with Epic, Cerner, and MEDITECH leading in consideration.”
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ama-launches-initiative-to-redefine-the-value-of-virtual-care
AMA Launches Initiative to Redefine the Value of Virtual Care
The American Medical Association has introduced a new framework to improve the way payers and providers assess the value of virtual care.
May 19, 2021 - The American Medical Association has announced a new initiative that is designed to help healthcare providers and payers better understand and measure the value of virtual care.
“Understanding the value of virtual care is vital to inform decision making that facilitates the shift to digitally enabled care models that blend the best features of in-person care with those of virtual care,” AMA Board Member Jack Resneck Jr., MD, said in a press release.
“The AMA’s framework fills a critical need to inclusively define and measure the various benefits generated by virtual care as decision makers design new care models, prioritize investments, and determine appropriate coverage and payment policies in the future,” he added.
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Google debuts AI-powered app to help consumers identify common skin conditions
May 19, 2021 10:00am
Consumers frequently turn to Google to search for information on skin, hair and nail issues, to the tune of 10 billion search queries each year.
But users only find relevant information online related to a rash on their arm or a mole on their wrist about 13% of the time, according to Peggy Bui, M.D., product manager at Google Health, the tech giant’s health and wellness division.
Google is using its artificial intelligence chops to help consumers, and potentially doctors, better identify dermatologic conditions using just smartphone or digital cameras.
At Google's annual I/O developer conference Tuesday, the company previewed its AI-powered dermatology assist tool, which is a web-based application. Users upload three well-lit images of the skin, hair or nail concern from different angles. The tool then asks a series of questions about the user's skin type, how long they've had the issue and other symptoms that help the tool narrow down the possibilities.
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Mitre proposes national strategy on digital health to 'level the playing field' for healthcare access, technology
May 18, 2021 2:00pm
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of digital health tools and telehealth to expand access to care at a time when patients were encouraged to stay home and prevent the spread of the virus.
"Digital health technologies such as telehealth certainly weren’t invented during COVID-19, but their potential to deliver care was most certainly tested and proven," said Jay Schnitzer, M.D., chief medical and technology officer at Mitre Corporation, a national research and development center.
But the pandemic also laid bare the health inequities faced by many populations and amplified the risks of further exacerbating the "digital divide," Schnitzer said.
The U.S. is now at an inflection point as there is an opportunity to take lessons from the pandemic to better prepare for the next global health emergency while also leveling the playing field around access, technology and care for all populations.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/report-finds-10-pharma-manufacturers-high-risk-ransomware
Report finds 10% of pharma manufacturers at high risk for ransomware
The cyber risk platform Black Kite also found that vendors – especially data management platforms – can expose their business partners to vulnerabilities.
By Kat Jercich
May 19, 2021 02:44 PM
The cyber risk platform Black Kite released a new report this week finding that one in 10 global pharmaceutical manufacturers are at a high risk of suffering a ransomware attack.
The report, published on Tuesday, evaluated the cybersecurity posture of the 200 largest global pharmaceutical companies and 166 associated third-party vendors.
"We have seen how ransomware attackers can shut down a gasoline pipeline in the past week. Imagine if a ransomware attack halted a manufactured COVID-19 vaccine hostage or stopped the production of vital chemotherapy drugs,” said Bob Maley, Black Kite’s chief security officer, in a statement.
WHY IT MATTERS
Billions of people worldwide rely on the pharmaceutical industry, sometimes for daily medications.
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Providers Prepared For Information Blocking Rules, But Aren’t Sure They’ll Boost Interoperability
May 19, 2021
New research data from KLAS suggests that while providers generally feel comfortable with their preparations for complying with new information blocking rules, they’re not sure their efforts will be much help in winning their ongoing interoperability battles.
The new rules from ONC went into effect April 5 of this year, arising from requirements imposed by the 21st Century Cures Act. To see how providers were coping with these requirements, KLAS reached out to 42 provider organizations and asked them about their attitudes and expectations around complying with the rules.
When asked about their readiness to comply with information blocking requirements, 21% of respondents said they were very prepared, 50% prepared, 17% neutral, 7% unprepared and 5% very unprepared.
Among those who felt prepared, their reasons included that they felt they’d had sufficient time and resources to plan in advance, and also, had resources in place and were ready to go. Another subset of respondents said they are preparing now and will be cutting it close.
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Intermountain Clinicians Benefit From Self-Serve Analytics Software
Analysis | By Scott Mace | May 19, 2021
Spur-of-the-moment care and research is enabled by posing questions in plain English.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· The software taps 25 years of data warehouse data and 3 million current patients' EHRs to advance medical knowledge.
· The ability to quickly get answers to queries helps Intermountain attract cutting-edge clinical trials on new therapeutics.
· Reducing readmissions is one area benefitting from the new patient timeline-oriented tool.
Clinicians and researchers are benefitting from new self-serve analytics software in use at Intermountain Healthcare.
The Utah-based system, which operates 24 hospitals and 215 clinics in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada, has been using software from MDClone to investigate everything from cardiology to genetics to hyperbaric medicine, according to officials at the health system.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/why-a-behavioral-healthcare-facility-transitioned-to-an-ehr-system
Why a Behavioral Healthcare Facility Transitioned to an EHR System
Prior to its recent EHR implementation, clinicians at Rogers Memorial Hospital were forced to utilize a hybrid EHR model.
May 18, 2021 - Despite climbing EHR adoption rates across the healthcare industry, adoption and EHR implementation within the behavioral healthcare sector is woefully behind, leaving many clinicians to use outdated paper charts.
Mental and behavioral health are growing and indispensable fields of medicine. According to a recent Commonwealth Fund brief, roughly 25 percent of US adults report a mental health diagnosis, such as depression or anxiety, or experience emotional discomfort. Additionally, the US has the highest suicide rate and second-highest drug-related death rate compared to other high-income countries.
But according to the ONC Health IT Dashboard, only 49 percent of psychiatric hospitals have certified EHRs, compared to 89 percent of rehabilitation centers, 87 percent of children’s hospitals, and 59 percent of long-term care hospitals.
Rogers Memorial Hospital, a behavioral healthcare hospital in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, was one of the countless behavioral healthcare facilities without a dedicated EHR. Brian Kay, director of clinical effectiveness at Rogers, hypothesized two major ailments to behavioral health EHR adoption.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/developing-an-automated-de-identified-data-ehr-tool
Developing an Automated De-Identified Data EHR Tool
The automated de-identified data EHR tool outperformed six other tools and methods during this study.
May 18, 2021 - Researchers leveraged an ensemble learning approach to develop and integrate an automated EHR tool that produces de-identified data by flagging personally identifiable information in clinical notes and replacing that data by concealing identifiers, according to a study published in Patterns.
Certain types of information comprise personally identifiable information (PII), making the use of that data in research projects subject to privacy and security concerns. Specifically, identifiable information can include names, all geographic data (state, address, zip code, etc.), birth date, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and other information to identify a specific individual.
More recently, individuals are starting to understand the importance of sharing their respective data to help researchers in the future, so long as that information is kept private and secure. With the rise of patient data sharing and the promise of precision medicine, it will be critical for medical professionals to generate de-identified patient EHR data.
Researchers leveraged ensemble learning, which combines several machine learning techniques into one predictive model, and incorporated deep-learning models and rule-based methods to create what they called the nference de-identification system. The solution detected identifiers and transformed the identifiers into plausible surrogates to further change the identifier.
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ONC Prompts Health IT Leaders to Make Interoperability Outcome Goals
A project launched by ONC aims to gather health IT leader insight on goals regarding the development of interoperability over the next ten years.
May 18, 2021 - ONC called for health IT leaders to consider where health IT interoperability has taken them and where they hope to see the industry go in a recent post announcing its “Health Interoperability Outcomes 2030” project.
ONC will use public feedback from health IT industry leaders to create a prioritized set of interoperability outcomes that health IT leaders hope to achieve by 2030. Insights will be published in the fall.
“Over the next few months, we’re looking for your take on aspirational and achievable ‘health interoperability outcome statements,’” Steven Posnack, deputy national coordinator for Health IT, wrote in the post. “Your perspectives will help shape our thinking and what we, as a nation, seek to achieve this decade.”
Posnack said that while the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) of 2016 will continue to play a significant role in ONC work as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, health IT leaders also have a “remarkable opportunity to look ahead” at the beginning of a new decade.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/using-real-time-data-analytics-to-enhance-care-in-the-nicu
Using Real-Time Data Analytics to Enhance Care in the NICU
Real-time data analytics tools help providers at Stanford Children’s Health deliver comprehensive, compassionate care to newborns.
By Jessica Kent
May 18, 2021 - Across the healthcare industry, leaders are increasingly leveraging real-time data analytics tools to advance insights and improve decision-making.
In high-risk care settings, these tools are especially critical. Patients who require a step above standard care often improve or deteriorate rapidly, and providers need solutions that allow them to continuously monitor these individuals.
In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), real-time data analytics technologies are just as essential. While the same level of risk exists in the NICU as it does in other intensive care units, clinicians are also tasked with providing care to extremely delicate patients.
“The patients we care for are very different from any other patient in ICU settings, even in pediatrics,” Lance Prince, MD, PhD, chief of neonatal and developmental medicine at Stanford Children’s Health, told HealthITAnalytics.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/healthcare-ransomware-outages-scripps-ireland-hse-and-nz-hospitals
Healthcare Ransomware Outages: Scripps, Ireland HSE, and NZ Hospitals
In the last few weeks, ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector have led to system outages and EHR downtime at Scripps Health, New Zealand hospitals, and Ireland's health system.
May 18, 2021 - Healthcare remains a key target for ransomware hacking groups, as seen in recent research data and multiple hospital system outages. Scripps Health is continuing recovery efforts two weeks after an attack, while Ireland’s health system and multiple New Zealand hospitals are currently operating under EHR downtime procedures.
In light of the continued targeting in healthcare, covered entities and relevant business associations should review ransomware mitigation, tech, and mediation guidance provided by NIST, Microsoft, and the Office for Civil Rights.
Scripps Health Attack
On May 1, a ransomware incident drove San Diego-based Scripps Health into EHR downtime procedures. In the days that followed, critical care patients were diverted to nearby hospitals, while its patient portal, website, and systems were taken offline.
The ransomware impacted the health system’s servers, disrupting care and services at two of the four main Scripps hospitals and its backup servers based in Arizona. Telemetry data went down at the majority of care sites, as well as medical imaging access.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-can-be-effective-alternative-seniors-study-shows
Telehealth can be an effective alternative for seniors, study shows
Researchers examined more than 300,000 virtual visits for patients older than 60 over the course of three years.
By Kat Jercich
May 18, 2021 02:24 PM
A wide-ranging study published in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare this past month found that telehealth can be an effective modality of care for patients over 60, particularly when deployed in the confines of their existing primary care provider.
When researchers, including a team from the West Health Institute, which focuses on addressing the care needs of seniors, analyzed 313,516 telehealth visits across three healthcare organizations, they found that virtual encounters successfully resolved urgent and non-emergent needs in the vast majority of cases.
"While the median rate of visit resolution for telehealth visits was lower than clinically comparable in-person visits, telehealth was effective in resolving urgent, non-emergent conditions a high percentage of the time," read the study.
WHY IT MATTERS
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a new spotlight on the potential for telehealth to complement in-person care – especially for people who may face mobility challenges in going to a brick-and-mortar office.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/apac/patients-first-malaysias-digital-health-transformation
Patients first: Malaysia's digital health transformation
This HIMSS Digital Maturity Series webinar featured experts sharing their digital transformation stories and thoughts on how to advance toward a digital health ecosystem.
May 18, 2021 09:00 PM
COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of Malaysian healthcare systems. During the 'Building a Successful Digital Transformation Roadmap in Malaysia' webinar held on 6 May, Derrick Chan Kum Keong, CEO of Sunway Medical Centre Velocity, shared how they were able to design a digital health ecosystem that prioritises patients.
Bruce Winzar, executive director for Innovation and Digital Services and regional CIO of Australia-based Bendigo Health, also joined the session to share insights that his organisation gained in their digital health journey.
Empowering patients through systems interoperability
Derrick shared about his work at a diagnostics company prior to joining SMCV, where systems are integrated to provide patients with access to their records. In turn, this empowers patients to use their records at their own discretion.
"To be able to connect other systems together give us a lot of flexibility because we are empowering the patient to be able to bring their records to wherever they want, such that it doesn't hamper them in terms of critical medical treatment," he said.
Emphasising patient data privacy, Derrick mentioned that medical facilities must seek patients' approval first before drawing their information from the system. "The patients themselves must be the ones [to send] medical records or images to the clinicians… so they still hold authority and control over their own medical records," he continued.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/telehealth/pediatric-telemedicine-gains-traction-during-pandemic
Pediatric Telemedicine Gains Traction During Pandemic
Analysis | By John Commins | May 18, 2021
While many of the 2,000 parents nationally who responded to the survey still have reservations about pediatric telemedicine, most said they were satisfied with their experience.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· The survey suggests that the transition to virtual care was facilitated by the "new normal" that the pandemic created, with children attending school remotely and communicating with family and friends on Zoom.
· Another factor was that parents often had no recourse but to use virtual care during the pandemic. About half of respondents said they weren’t given an "in-person" option because of fears of contagion.
· For the one-in-three parents who chose virtual care, reducing exposure was the primary reason, and another third of parents chose telehealth for convenience. These virtual physician visits were a first for many parents, but 90% said they were satisfied with the visit.
A new survey of parents suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has made telehealth an acceptable alternative for many pediatric care visits.
One in five parents responding in a just-released C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health say their child had a virtual health visit over the past year for either check-ups, minor illnesses, mental health or a follow up – a marked increase in remote care for children.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/clinical-layout-is-key-to-patient-interaction-ehr-screen-gazing
Clinical Layout is Key to Patient Interaction, EHR Screen Gazing
Widespread EHR adoption has negatively impacted patient interaction, resulting in increased EHR screen gazing during appointments.
May 17, 2021 - Health systems can integrate an automated EHR screen gaze and dialogue tool to track provider-patient interactions, according to a study published in JMIR Publications. Clinical layout is vital to provider-patient interactions and providers tend to screen gaze at a higher rate when the EHR is out of peripheral vision.
Provider-patient communication is critical to driving patient safety, satisfaction, and outcomes. However, according to numerous studies, communication is impacted by EHR adoption and usability. EHR prevalence can have a negative impact on eye contact, decrease active listening, and provide interruption during an appointment.
Researchers integrated an automated tool and utilized the computers’ camera and microphone to detect and classify screen gaze and provider-patient dialogue during medical appointments. Recent advancements in machine learning allowed researchers to evaluate pose and voice activity, researchers said.
In both semi-inclusive and fully inclusive layouts, the tool detected the clinician gazing at the EHR while having a patient conversation, the clinician conversing with the patient while looking away from the EHR, and the doctor gazing at the EHR without conversing with the patient. Any other form of dialogue or gazing was considered out of scope, the study authors said.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/bias-a-chief-barrier-to-artificial-intelligence-in-healthcare
Bias a Chief Barrier to Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
The potential for algorithms to perpetuate bias and exacerbate disparities is a critical hurdle for artificial intelligence in healthcare.
By Jessica Kent
May 17, 2021 - To ensure the safe and effective use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, researchers and developers will need to work to eliminate bias in these tools, according to a perspective paper by Stanford University researchers.
As artificial intelligence tools grow more prevalent in the medical field, leaders need to make sure these technologies benefit all populations and demographics.
“The white body and the male body have long been the norm in medicine guiding drug discovery, treatment and standards of care, so it’s important that we do not let AI devices fall into that historical pattern,” said Londa Schiebinger, the John L. Hinds Professor in the History of Science in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford.
“We’re hoping to engage the AI biomedical community in preventing bias and creating equity in the initial design of research, rather than having to fix things after the fact.”
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/ransomware-attacks-surge-102-in-2021-as-triple-extortion-emerges
Ransomware Keeps Healthcare in Crosshairs, Triple Extortion Emerges
A Check Point report on ransomware attacks seen in the first half of 2021, shows a 102 percent increase from 2020’s numbers, as hackers begin employing triple extortion to increase profits.
May 14, 2021 - The rate of ransomware attacks seen across the globe so far in 2021 has increased by 102 percent, when compared to the same period in 2020. A new Check Point report also revealed nefarious hackers are increasingly using triple extortion attempts to increase their profits.
Since April 2021, the healthcare and utility sectors have been the most targeted by ransomware threat actors. During that time, researchers observed an average of 1,000 entities impacted by ransomware attacks each week: a 21 percent increase during the first trimester of 2021 and 7 percent rise in April, alone.
Check Point researchers warned the attacks show no signs of slowing down.
he report follows the DarkSide ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which prompted a federal agency alert and an executive order from the Biden Administration meant to tackle ransomware and supply chain cyberattacks.
DarkSide ransomware actors took credit for the attack. The actors work within a Ransomware-as-a-Service model, where partner cybercriminals use the variant and pay its developers a percentage of the profits.
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HIMSS, HLTH conferences will require attendees, exhibitors to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19
May 17, 2021 11:00am
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include information about HLTH's vaccination requirement.
If you want to set foot inside the Venetian-Sands Expo Center in August for HIMSS21, or even the HLTH conference in Boston later this year, you will have to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced Monday morning that it has adopted a “vaccination required” approach for all attendees, exhibitors, and HIMSS staff for HIMSS21, slated to take place August 9-13 in Las Vegas.
HIMSS21 will be the largest on-site healthcare conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The HIMSS21 "campus" includes events at the newly expanded Wynn meeting space, the Venetian-Sands Expo Center and the newly built Caesars Forum Conference Center.
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May 14, 2021
Report: Increasing investment, access will help restore ‘weakening’ primary care system
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently issued a report on how to make “high-quality primary care” available to all patients in the United States.
“Primary care is weakening in the United States and eroding, particularly in underserved and rural areas,” Bob Phillips, MD, MSPH, a co-chair of a committee that produced the report, said during a recent webinar hosted by the Primary Care Collaborative.
He added that primary care makes up “about 5% of total health care spending, which is lower than most countries and starving our capacity to deliver on health equity.”
In the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report, experts outline five objectives — payment, access, workforce, digital health and accountability — that need to be fulfilled to achieve high-quality primary care for all:
Payment
According to the report, Medicaid, Medicare, commercial insurers and self-insured employers should “pay for primary care teams to care for people, not for doctors to deliver services.” This will require payers to use payment models that focus on promoting high-quality primary care, “not on their ability to achieve short-term cost savings,” the report stated.
Phillips said that payers using a fee-for-service model should move towards a “hybrid model” of reimbursement that is part fee-for-service and part capitated.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/05/14/weekender-5-14-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Patient payments platform vendor Cedar announces that it will acquire competitor OODA Health for $425 million.
- ONC will spend $80 million of American Rescue Plan funds to train public health professionals to modernize the public health data infrastructure.
- “Hospital at home” and decentralized clinical trials platform vendor Huma raises $130 million.
- Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente make a rumored $100 million investment in Medically Home.
- Regulators in England block Imprivata’s planned acquisition of digital identity vendor Isosec.
- Amwell’s Q1 results send shares down sharply as investors fear a growth slowdown.
- CPSI acquires TruCode.
- Aetion, which offers a real-world evidence platform for drug companies and payers, raises $110 million.
- “Hospital-at-home” company Huma raises $130 million.
- Walmart Health acquires telehealth provider MeMD.
- Health Catalyst’s Q1 results beat expectations.
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Enjoy!
David.
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