Here are a few I came across last week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/covid-19-intensifies-clinician-burnout-from-health-it-burden
COVID-19 Intensifies Clinician Burnout from Health IT Burden
While clinician burnout from health IT use has long been an issue, COVID-19 ushered in higher rates of physician mental health concerns.
August 06, 2021 - The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing issue of clinician burnout related to health IT use, according to a national survey from the Physicians Foundation.
Editor’s Note: The following article contains language about suicide.
The “2021 Survey of America’s Physicians, COVID-19 Impact Edition: A Year Later” found that the added stress of the pandemic resulted in greater clinician burnout.
Over six in ten (61 percent) of physicians experienced feelings of burnout during the pandemic, a significant jump from the 40 percent of reported physicians in 2018.
“Over the past year, the pandemic has shone a light on a problem that physicians have always faced: the stigma surrounding accessing mental health support and services for fear of looking weak or believing they will lose their license and credentials,” Gary Price, MD, president of The Physicians Foundation, said in a press release.
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Limited Broadband Poses a Significant Barrier to Telehealth Access
A new survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center detailing telehealth use during the past year finds that limited broadband and technology are still barriers to telehealth access.
August 06, 2021 - The pandemic has highlighted the benefits of telehealth, but individuals still face significant barriers to access, including a lack of broadband connectivity and access to the right technology, according to a survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC).
About one in three adults surveyed had a telehealth visit in the past year. And while the answers showed high levels of satisfaction, patients also reported considerable obstacles in accessing telehealth. Technology-related barriers were the most common.
BPC worked with Social Sciences Research Solutions (SSRS) to gather data through the SSRS Omnibus Survey. Between June 28 and July 18, 2021, researchers interviewed 1,766 adults ages 18 or older via telephone.
Among the survey respondents, 45 percent said that access to technology, including broadband and computers, is a barrier to telehealth. These issues particularly impacted rural residents and adults over the age of 65.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/patients-cite-privacy-cybersecurity-fears-with-vax-credentials
Patients Cite Privacy, Cybersecurity Fears with Vax Credentials
A new poll shows that Americans have doubts about the cybersecurity of a digital vaccine card.
August 06, 2021 - American and British adults are fearful of using a digital, COVID-19 vaccination card and vaccine credentials due to privacy cybersecurity concerns, according to results of an Anomali/Harris Poll.
The study gathered responses from more than 2,000 American adults and more than 1,000 British adults.
The Harris Poll found that three-quarters of those surveyed have cybersecurity fears of using a digital vaccination card.
“A majority of British and American adults predict that a disruptive cyberattack will follow digital vaccine card adoption, but they differ in other areas, such as confidence levels when it comes to how prepared each nation is to mount a defense,” a press release on the findings notes.
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Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care chooses Better openEHR
Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership has signed a deal for an openEHR platform for its regional medicines record.
Andrea Downey – 5 August, 2021
Using Better’s openEHR and the Better Meds software solution, the agreement aims to integrate services across the 1.8 million population it serves.
Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership (HCP) will now be able to offer a shared medicines record via a centrally managed system when a patient is transferred to different health providers across the region.
The contract is the first step in the region’s strategy to provide a consolidated medicines record platform that is accessible by any authorised healthcare professional in any of the region’s care settings.
Andrew Thompson, acting digital health lead and chief technology officer at the HCP said: “Like many developing integrated care systems, we have a range of disparate data sets all over the region, embedded in different systems. This makes it very hard for effective sharing of information and has the potential for issues if a patient is transferred across care settings.
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https://medcitynews.com/2021/08/report-digital-health-tools-maturing-as-research-funding-grows/
Report: Digital health tools maturing as research, funding grows
Consumers and benefits managers have a record number of digital health tools to choose from, according to a new report by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science.
By Elise Reuter
Aug 3, 2021 at 7:31 PM
As investors pour record amounts of funding into digital health companies, consumers and benefits managers have a growing number of apps to evaluate. A new report by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science puts this into numbers.
The report’s authors identified 150 digital therapeutics and digital care products that are commercially available. The former includes software that can be prescribed like medication, such as Akili’s mobile game to improve attention in kids with ADHD, while the latter includes programs to help people manage clinical conditions, such as Omada’s digital diabetes prevention program.
The idea of prescribing software is relatively new, and there are still lots of details to iron out, such as payment models and payer coverage. But the companies developing these tools are building out a growing body of evidence.
“We are finding evidence of a growing maturity of digital health tools in mainstream medicine,” Murray Aitken, executive director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, said in a news release. “While there has been a significant growth in apps and digital health tools since 2013, we are beginning to detect improved quality of the digital health tools in the management of health conditions.”
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Aug. 5, 2021 / 11:00 AM
Most in rural areas 'comfortable' with telehealth during pandemic, study finds
Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Nearly 80% of people living in rural areas who relied on telehealth to continue medical consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic were comfortable connecting with providers remotely, a study published Thursday by JAMA Network Open found.
A similar percentage would use the approach, which involves conducting appointments by phone or using online video calling, again, even when the virus is no longer a threat, the data showed.
People in rural areas who found telehealth useful tended to be those with "higher health literacy," meaning they were more knowledgeable about medical problems and their own conditions, researchers said.
Those people also had high-speed Internet access, which allowed them to use online platforms to connect with care providers, the researchers said.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ehr-automation-helping-reduce-clinician-burden
EHR automation is helping reduce clinician burden
At HIMSS21, an informaticist at Greater Baltimore Medical Center will explain how AI-powered documentation is enabling better patient outcomes and greater efficiency for physicians.
By Nathan Eddy
August 06, 2021 03:37 PM
Regulatory demands, quality reporting requirements, and value-based bundled payments have prompted provider documentation initiatives to improve accuracy, yet these programs often exacerbate the already enormous administrative burden on physicians.To address both documentation accuracy and physician satisfaction, GBMC Healthcare implemented a clinical decision support documentation improvement program that uses artificial intelligence enabled clinical intelligence embedded into speech-to-text dictation tools and EMR workflows.
Physicians are offered automated clinical insights in real time as they document so the complete patient story is captured.
Using the robust capabilities of GBMC's EMR, the physician's documentation workflow has been united with coding and other revenue integrity workflows to reduce retrospective documentation queries and rework.
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How Data Analytics Helped Flag Pediatric Care Gaps During COVID-19
Data analytics helped the hospital recognize a decline in well-child visits and vaccination rates early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
August 05, 2021 - As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in 2020, hospitals and providers had to determine a course of action to continue administering quality care to their patients. At Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital, data analytics indicated a decline in well-child and vaccination rates beginning in March of 2020.
To address COVID-19 concerns within Lurie Children’s clinically integrated network, Senior Vice President, Chief Integration and Business Development Officer Scott Wilkerson and Dr. Michelle Macy organized a COVID-19 weekly call.
Through the weekly calls with physicians, it became clear that there was a substantial decline in patients wanting to come to the office. Wilkerson said the hospital then started pulling data using analytic tools to verify what they were hearing in the calls. These analytic tools were essential in creating a response plan.
“If you don't have the analytics to show where you're at, you may not understand what's happening out there in the market. We were able to use the analytics to show there's been a big decrease, and then we quickly put together a response plan, including communication, radio ads, other types of communication channels, to respond to that,” Wilkerson told HealthITAnalytics.
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How to Write Open Clinical Notes for a Good Patient Experience
Open clinical notes that are empathic, informative, and rely on objective clinical information are most likely to yield a good patient experience.
June 28, 2021 - There is a new compliance mandate in healthcare, one that despite all of its good intentions for patients is leaving some providers worried about the healthcare experience. Requirements for open notes and patient access to clinical notes, as spelled out in the 21st Century Cures Act, are a new spin on an on old philosophy leaving healthcare providers balancing clinical documentation with a good patient experience.
Long before it was a compliance issue, open clinical notes was a key philosophy in the healthcare industry. The practice’s main advocacy organization, OpenNotes, has been around for over a decade, with the exercise of sharing open clinical notes becoming particularly popular around the meaningful use days.
Meaningful use, or the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, asked healthcare providers to enable patient data access, usually via a patient portal, as part of regulatory compliance.
Although that access did not pertain to open clinical notes specifically, it did spark a vast movement toward patient engagement that largely hinged on transparency and communication in healthcare.
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Despite High Spend, US Ranks Lowest on Access to Care, Health Equity
The US ranked last in health equity, access to care, and health outcomes, despite spending the most on healthcare spending compared to other wealthy countries.
By Jill McKeon
August 05, 2021 - The United States ranked last in The Commonwealth Fund’s reported measurements of health equity, access to care, administrative efficiency, and healthcare outcomes compared to ten other wealthy nations.
This year’s edition of The Commonwealth Fund’s annual “Mirror, Mirror” report assessed 11 similarly wealthy countries and compared 71 performance measures of healthcare systems across five domains. The US ranked last in all except care process, where it ranked second.
The US achieved poor results in all but one category, despite the fact that it still spends more of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare than any other nation.
Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia were the top-performing countries overall, followed by the UK, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Canada, and the US.
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https://www.fastcompany.com/90658934/virtual-reality-covid-drugs
08-03-21
These scientists are using virtual reality to develop COVID-19 treatments
Looking at molecules in 3D arms scientists with important information that’s hard to glean from traditional 2D formats.
Last year, when Italy was under siege from COVID-19, scientists at Exscalate4Cov, a public-private consortium of 18 institutions across Europe led by Italian pharmaceutical company Dompé farmaceutici, had just begun the hunt to find a therapeutic for COVID-19. Eight scientists, all located throughout Europe, met in a virtual room to discuss potential molecules. Each scientist held up a 3-D rendering of a molecule they simulated and walked the others through it. Inside this space, scientists could together scour these molecules, pulling them apart, enlarging them, and binding them to possible compounds. They asked each other questions and on a virtual whiteboard, sketched out possibilities for success and failure in each compound. This virtual setting also allowed them to compare molecules side by side.
Armed with $3 million in funding from the European Union, the group crowdsourced suggestions for treatments and analyzed those suggestions using supercomputers. By October they had submitted their first candidate for a Phase III clinical trial in Europe: a generic osteoporosis medication called Raloxifene.
The trial is now completed. “We’re waiting for the final results, but we are very confident on the possible success of the clinical trial,” says Andrea Beccari, lead scientist at Exscalate and head of research and develop platforms at Dompé farmaceutici. The outcome will not only determine whether Raloxifene will work against COVID-19—but it could also inform new drug design.
To create a new drug, scientists first look at how a disease enters human cells and then engineer a mechanism for interfering with that infection. Traditionally, they’ve done this on paper, sketching out proteins and simulating how a molecule or compound might bind to it. Current software often doesn’t provide enough visual landscape for scientists to understand the full scope of how molecules, especially those with multiple binding sides, relate to one another. That’s why Exscalate worked with a company called Nanome, which hopes to accelerate drug development by giving scientists a way to visualize molecules in three-dimensional space on an Oculus headset.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/healthcare-data-breaches-rise
Healthcare data breaches on the rise
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a wide range of vulnerabilities for bad actors to take advantage of, a new report shows.
By Kat Jercich
August 05, 2021 09:14 AM
An identity breach report from the risk protection services vendor Constella Intelligence found that the COVID-19 pandemic presented a variety of new ways for bad actors to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the digital ecosystem.
The 2021 Identity Breach Report noted that, although the healthcare sector did not make up a huge percentage of the analyzed data breaches, the industry did experience a 51% increase in the total volume of records exposed when compared with 2019.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the fragility of our online infrastructure," said Constella Intelligence CEO Kailash Ambwani in a statement. "As people continue to rely on digital solutions and [work] from home, both companies and individuals must take new precautions to protect themselves from potential threat actors," Ambwani said.
WHY IT MATTERS
For the report, Constella analyzed a significant portion of the more than 8,500 breaches and leakages (representing nearly 12 billion records) it detected in underground marketplaces in 2020.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/new-study-pitches-telehealth-as-safer-than-the-doctors-office
New Study Pitches Telehealth as Safer Than the Doctor’s Office
In a nod to the value of telehealth in primary care, researchers have found that a person visiting the doctor's office shortly after a visit from someone with the flu has a much higher chance of getting the flu as well.
August 04, 2021 - A new study makes a strong case for telehealth as an alternative to the doctor’s office, particularly during flu season.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and the university’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and athenahealth have found that people who visit their doctor’s office after someone infected with the flu has visited that office are much more likely to come down with the flu themselves. That same increase wasn’t seen in people seeking treatment for issues like urinary tract infections.
The study, published this month in Health Affairs, suggests that primary care providers embrace virtual visits as a means of reducing that chance of infection.
“It’s a widely accepted fact that patients can acquire infections in hospital settings, but we show that infection transmission can happen when you visit your doctor’s office, too,” Hannah Neprash, an assistant professor at UM’s School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors, said in a news release issued by the university.
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Patient Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Balloon by 10% Since 2020
Researchers also estimated patient out-of-pocket healthcare costs could continue to grow 9.9 percent through 2026.
By Sara Heath
August 04, 2021 - Patient out-of-pocket healthcare costs are up 10 percent since last year, with the net total of patient financial responsibility coming in around $491 billion in 2021, according to Kalorama Information.
What’s more, the company estimated a 9.9 percent increase in out-of-pocket healthcare spending through 2026, amount to some $800 billion in patient spending.
This growth follows previous increases in out-of-pocket healthcare costs, the report continued. In 1980, the average annual patient financial responsibility came in at about $250 per patient. That figure ballooned to $1,650 by 2021, the researchers said. That shakes out to cost increases between $40 and $50 each year.
Healthcare consumers have particularly felt this pinch as it relates to health payer premiums, which the research firm said have in fact outpaced growth in overall prices and worker earnings.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/combatting-social-determinants-of-health-with-policy-changes
Combatting Social Determinants of Health with Policy Changes
A new report from Trust for America’s Health makes a case for using health equity-focused policy interventions to combat social determinants of health.
By Jill McKeon
August 04, 2021 - Tackling care disparities and social determinants of health calls for policy interventions centered on health equity, economic mobility, access to care, affordable housing, safe learning environments, and health-promoting excise taxes, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health.
Trust for America’s Health, a non-partisan advocacy organization, outlined federal and state-level policy recommendations in its report, all aimed at improving health equity while reducing healthcare spending and care disparities.
"The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the role that social and economic conditions play in health and gives policymakers an opportunity to build an improved social supports and public health system," J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE, president and CEO of Trust for America's Health, explained in a press release.
"Focusing solely on individual behavior will not solve America's health crisis. Building healthy and thriving communities and advancing health equity require improving the social and economic conditions that shape health. Only then will everyone have a fair and just opportunity to enjoy optimal health."
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/healthcare-data-breaches-most-common-threats-to-date-in-2021
Healthcare Data Breaches Most Common Threats to Date in 2021
A new study reports an increase in data breaches in 2021.
August 04, 2021 - Data breaches in the first six months of 2021 increased slightly in the United States and healthcare data breaches remain at the top of the most-breached sector list, according to a new report.
Risk Based Security released its 2021 data breach and vulnerability reports on August 4.
“Unfortunately, it’s not surprising to see the Healthcare sector once again in the top position as the most breached economic sector,” the report notes. “Healthcare has been at or near the top of the chart since at least 2017.”
Inga Goddijn, executive vice president of Risk Based Security, said in an interview with HealthITSecurity that healthcare providers are an attractive target for cyberattacks, which is dangerous for the industry.
The 2021 Mid Year Data Breach QuickView Report studied 1,767 publicly reported data breaches in the first half of 2021.
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While revenue jumped 10% in Q2, Cerner looks to slim down costs by cutting jobs, offices
Aug 2, 2021 7:45am
Reversing four back-to-back quarters of decline, health IT company Cerner's top line jumped nearly 10% to reach $1.46 billion in the second quarter, up from $1.3 billion a year ago.
Despite the revenue growth, the company's second-quarter net income plummeted 75% from a profit of $134.7 million during the same quarter a year ago to $32.7 million.
Cerner's restructuring charges dragged on its margin during the quarter as the company reported an operating margin of 3.4%, falling from 11% in the second quarter of 2020. The expenses reflect impacts from employee separation costs, an impairment related to sold properties and eliminating redundant products, Chief Financial Officer Mark Erceg said during the company's second-quarter earnings call Friday.
The company incurred $54 million of employee separation costs due to a sizable reduction in force and $68 million in costs related to the sale of one of its major office campuses.
The company laid off 500 employees in the quarter and eliminated 300 open positions, which will result in $70 million in annualized savings, Erceg said.
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https://hai.stanford.edu/news/open-source-movement-comes-medical-datasets
The Open-Source Movement Comes to Medical Datasets
Hoping to spur crowd-sourced AI applications in health care, Stanford’s AIMI center is expanding its free repository of datasets for researchers around the world.
Aug 2, 2021
Edmund L. Andrews
Medical datasets can cost millions of dollars to acquire, which limits their use. A new platform at Stanford AIMI will offer datasets at no cost. | Laurence Dutton
In a move to democratize research on artificial intelligence and medicine, Stanford’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging (AIMI) is dramatically expanding what is already the world’s largest free repository of AI-ready annotated medical imaging datasets.
Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly pervasive tool for interpreting medical images, from detecting tumors in mammograms and brain scans to analyzing ultrasound videos of a person’s pumping heart.
Many AI-powered devices now rival the accuracy of human doctors. Beyond simply spotting a likely tumor or bone fracture, some systems predict the course of a patient’s illness and make recommendations.
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02108-2
NEWS
02 August 2021
A simple text has the power to increase COVID vaccinations
People who received a short ‘nudge’ by mobile phone were more likely to get a jab than were those who did not.
A short text message reminding people to book a COVID-19 jab can boost vaccination rates by several percentage points, according to a study of more than 90,000 people in California.
A reminder sent one day after individuals became eligible for the jab boosted appointments and vaccination rates by 6 percentage points and roughly 3.6 percentage points, respectively, compared with rates in a separate group that did not receive the reminder, researchers report on 2 August in Nature1. A second reminder to those who still hadn’t booked a vaccination appointment a week later boosted appointments and jabs by another 1.7 and 1.1 percentage points, respectively.
These small gains, if applied to a large population, could speed up vaccinations for millions of people, the authors say. “The most surprising thing is how powerful such a low-cost intervention can be, and I don’t think we’re using it enough,” says Daniel Croymans, a physician at UCLA Health, the health system affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, and a co-author of the study.
Hesitancy takes hold
Even in some countries where vaccines are plentiful, public hesitancy has stalled their uptake. And a partially immunized population is a fertile breeding ground for new viral variants — some of which might eventually evade existing vaccines.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/microsoft-requires-covid-19-vaccinations-person-work
Microsoft requires COVID-19 vaccinations for in-person work
The tech giant follows Google and Epic, which have also rolled out their own vaccine mandates over the past week.
By Kat Jercich
August 04, 2021 11:49 AM
This week Microsoft announced that it would require all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to return to work in person.
The tech giant also said it would push its return to in-office work back by nearly a month, to October 4.
As reported by the Seattle Times, the company will "require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors, and any guests entering Microsoft buildings in the U.S."
WHY IT MATTERS
Microsoft had originally planned to open its offices back to in-person work in July before announcing two different delays.
Now, in addition to the new October reopening, it says caregivers of immunosuppressed people or children who are too young to receive a vaccine can continue to work from home until January.
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https://www.idgconnect.com/article/3627238/canada-emerging-as-global-hub-for-healthcare-ai.html
Canada emerging as global hub for healthcare AI
There are growing signs that Canada is emerging as a global hub of expertise in AI for medicine and healthcare applications. A number of innovative projects and technologies have been launched in this area in recent months – and several observers predict there is considerable potential for continued expansion.
IDG Connect | Aug 2, 2021 10:30 pm PDT
In recent years, Canada has nurtured a strong reputation as a global centre for AI research and development and cemented its position as a pioneer in this area through the establishment of world-renowned centres of excellence such as MILA and AMII, as well as the Vector Institute in Toronto. Building on this success, there are now growing indications that the country is also becoming a global leader in AI for medicine and healthcare applications.
A great deal of this progress is being spearheaded by universities, through initiatives like the recently established Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM). As Muhammad Mamdani, Director at T-CAIREM and professor at the University of Toronto, which hosts the Centre, explains, the Centre aims to: establish a leading education program in applied artificial intelligence for medical and health science professionals; create a robust health data environment ‘enabling timely access to high quality health data to fuel innovation and quality improvement and support education programs’; and foster multidisciplinary, collaborative research in artificial intelligence in medical and health sciences and ‘encourage clinical translation.’ In moving towards these goals, T-CAIREM has three themes - Education, Research, and Infrastructure - each linked to a range of key outputs (see Table 1).
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-clinician-engagement-can-fuel-ehr-implementation-success
How Clinician Engagement Can Fuel EHR Implementation Success
Strong executive and clinician engagement in health IT design and EHR implementation helps mitigate clinician burnout, MEDITECH CEO says.
August 02, 2021 - With 32 years of health IT experience under her belt, Michelle O’Connor, MEDITECH president and CEO, has found the secret sauce to EHR implementation success: clinician engagement.
A well-crafted EHR implementation project plan should engage physicians from the early stages of the health IT’s design to its eventual rollout, O’Connor told EHRIntelligence.
Insight from practicing physicians is extremely valuable, O’Connor noted, as it helps ensure that the EHR system is designed in a way that is beneficial to end-users.
While EHR systems aim to aid clinicians in providing streamlined care, research has revealed that the health IT can lead to clinician burnout. Usability issues may include burdensome EHR documentation processes, cluttered interfaces, or a high number of EHR alerts.
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Population Health, COVID-19 Vaccine Rates Impacted by Racial Disparities
To protect population health and eliminate racial disparities, children in diverse communities should have equal access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
August 03, 2021 - Researchers have determined that vaccinating children ages 12 and older is a critical component of protecting population health against future COVID-19 surges. However, data shows that racial disparities could exist among children, further creating health inequality.
On May 10, 2021, children ages 12 and older became eligible for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. As of July 26, more than 5.6 million 12-15-year-olds (37 percent) and 3.6 million 16-17-year-olds (48 percent) received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
However, there is little to no data reflecting vaccination rates among children in racial/ethnic populations, especially troublesome as children return to school in the fall.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not publicly released data on the racial/ethnic composition of individuals vaccinated by age, some states are reporting their own data.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/amga-patient-data-access-rules-may-tarnish-patient-experience
AMGA: Patient Data Access Rules May Tarnish Patient Experience
The group said ONC should allow for a 24- or 72-hour grace period for patient data access and test result access to allow for patient-provider communication.
By Sara Heath
August 03, 2021 - The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) may consider amending its information blocking rules to allow providers to delay patient data access and test result access by 24 to 72 hours in an effort to preserve a good patient experience, according to AMGA.
These comments come after healthcare professionals have had a few months to get used to the information blocking provisions, created as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. The provisions require healthcare providers to offer immediate patient data access and access to open clinician notes. ONC said this will improve patient engagement and transparency in medicine.
AMGA said it agrees with those principles, but in practice the rule has caused rifts in the patient-provider relationship. Particularly, the point of contention comes when a patient gets a test result before her clinician can explain that result to her in person or at least via telehealth.
“AMGA strongly supports information sharing and the need for patients to have quick access to test results and other clinical findings,” AMGA President and CEO Jerry Penso, MD, MBA, said in a public statement. “The problem with ‘immediate resulting’ is that patients are learning about cancer diagnoses or other serious conditions from a computer, not a person. The rules unintentionally are favoring speed over compassion.”
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/health-it-security-challenges-persist-for-hospital-systems
Health IT Security Challenges Persist for Hospital Systems
Cybersecurity remains a challenge for healthcare systems.
August 03, 2021 - Basic health IT security and cybersecurity remain a struggle for many healthcare systems in the United States, according to a new report.
The “Maturity Paradox: New World, New Threats, New Focus,” report, published by CynergisTek on July 28, states that “most hospitals critically lack the ability to secure their supply chain systems.”
CynergisTek, a cybersecurity consulting firm, reviewed just under 100 assessments of healthcare providers, including hospitals, physician ractices, accountable care organizations (ACOs), and business associates, according to a press release on the report.
“These assessments measure organizations’ security posture against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF), a standardized framework first published in 2014 intended to help protect American critical infrastructure,” it stated.
The fourth annual report stated that supply chain management was the second-lowest scoring assessment it examined.
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Aug 02 2021
AI, quantum computing and other technologies poised to transform healthcare
One of the big factors accelerating technological innovation is the healthcare workforce, which has been stressed during the pandemic.
Jeff Lagasse, Associate Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges in healthcare, but challenges can sometimes breed innovation. Technological innovation in particular is poised to change the way care is delivered, driving efficiency in the process. Efficiency will be key as hospitals and health systems look to recover from the initial, devastating wave of the pandemic.
Ryan Hodgin, chief technology officer for IBM Global Healthcare, and Kate Huey, partner at IBM Healthcare, will speak about some of these technological innovations in their digital HIMSS21 session, "Innovation Driven Resiliency: Redefining What's Possible."
The technology in question can encompass telehealth, artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, chatbots, apps and other elements that have become mainstays of healthcare during the course of the pandemic.
In a way, science fiction is becoming science fact: Technologies that were once in the experimental phase are now coming to life and driving innovation, particularly quantum computing. The power of quantum computing has the potential to transform healthcare just by sheer force of its impressive computational power.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/epic-launch-epicshare-himss21
Epic to launch EpicShare at HIMSS21
The EHR vendor will also feature updates from its Epic Health Research Network, along with focuses on interoperability, patient access, population health and analytics.
By Kat Jercich
August 02, 2021 02:34 PM
Epic will launch EpicShare, aimed at providing a space for decision-makers to learn and share tips about health IT, at the 2021 HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas this year.
The new site, available at EpicShare.org, is intended to offer insights and details on healthcare organizations' experiences so that other groups can replicate what works well.
"Every day we hear about the impressive ways healthcare organizations use technology to improve health outcomes for patients, strengthen their communities, and reduce the cost of care," said Eric Helsher, vice president of customer success at Epic.
The site will also include editorials from executives, curated news articles and stories from Epic CEO Judy Faulkner.
"EpicShare brings the best of these strategies and insights together every week so that healthcare leaders can learn from each other and replicate successful approaches," Helsher added.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cb-insights-report-global-telehealth-investment-still-rise
CB Insights report: Global telehealth investment is still on the rise
Researchers found a 169% year-over-year increase in global telehealth investment, with the top five deals alone worth $1.5 billion.
By Kat Jercich
August 03, 2021 03:42 PM
A new report from CB Insights found that global telehealth investment rose for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q2 of 2021 – with teletherapy deals representing a substantial share.
The State Of Telehealth report found that much of the growth was pushed by accelerating digital transformation initiatives, as well as patient experience prioritization.
At the same time, stakeholders and thought leaders voiced concerns about health inequity, and lobbyists mounted the pressure for long-term regulatory reform.
WHY IT MATTERS
The telehealth train has continued to chug along, despite dire warnings from health advocates about what might happen if the public health emergency expires without any action from Congress.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/surescripts-event-notification-ehr-integration-targets-coordination
Surescripts Event Notification EHR Integration Targets Coordination
New event notification EHR integrations from Surescripts are set to boost provider-to-provider communication for enhanced care coordination.
August 02, 2021 - Surescripts has announced the launch of new health IT solutions that aim to improve patient follow up, medication adherence, and care coordination through electronic health record (EHR) event notifications.
Surescripts’ new Care Event Notifications EHR integration alerts providers of patient hospital admission, discharge, or transfer (ADT).
Additionally, an enhanced Medication History for Populations service now includes patient notifications to allow providers, including care managers, to reach out to patients experiencing gaps in care, significant care events, or medication adherence issues.
The health IT tool also offers updates for certain prescription activities. For instance, providers are alerted within their EHR system if a patient does not pick up their prescription,, if no refills remain, or if a different provider prescribes a new medication to the patient.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/what-are-the-benefits-of-predictive-analytics-in-healthcare
What Are the Benefits of Predictive Analytics in Healthcare?
How providers can use predictive analytics to enhance healthcare by assisting in decision-making, improving patient outcomes, and providing relief for healthcare workers.
August 02, 2021 - Through the implementation of artificial intelligence, predictive analytics in healthcare has served as a critical component of advancing care and improving outcomes.
With the assistance of predictive analytics, physicians have used the system to aid in the medical decision-making process and to evaluate big data efficiently. By integrating predictive analytics into the healthcare system, providers have seen benefits for both themselves and patients.
Decision-Making Process
Predictive analytics has proven to be a significant asset in the medical decision-making process. Patients respond differently to all types of treatment, especially chronic diseases. University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers are creating a blood test that can predict if a certain treatment method for HPV-positive throat cancer is working months earlier than standard imaging scans.
"Currently, the only way doctors know if a treatment is working is for the patient to get an imaging scan every few months to see whether their tumors are shrinking," oncologist Paul Swiecicki, MD said in a press release.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/giant-sucking-sound-digital-health-consolidation
The 'giant sucking sound' of digital health consolidation
The ongoing wave of mergers and acquisitions makes sense for startups and their VC backers. What does it mean for CIOs at their health system customers?
August 02, 2021 11:15 AM
Ross Perot may have popularized the term during his unsuccessful presidential bid in the nineties as a reference to the adverse effects of NAFTA on American jobs, but "giant sucking sound" may be an apt metaphor today for the rapid consolidation of digital health companies.
Recent reports indicate explosive growth in venture capital funding for digital health startups, around $15 billion for the first half of 2021, with no slowdown in sight. The story from the other side is that these same startups are exiting through liquidity events at an equally fast clip.
Amwell's announcement of the acquisition of two digital health companies is the latest in a series of M&A moves that have continued to accelerate since Teladoc and Livongo merged last year in an $ 18.5 billion deal.
On the face of it, the two companies are in unrelated spaces. Silver Cloud is a behavioural health company that has developed digital care models equivalent to face-to-face encounters. Conversa is a chatbot technology company that uses conversational interfaces for digital pathways to support a wide range of clinical needs – from pre-admission patient education and preparedness to post-acute monitoring and chronic care management.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/07/30/weekender-7-30-21/
Weekly News Recap
- HIMSS21 attendees will be required to wear masks following CDC’s updated guidance and state and local emergency orders.
- Two HIMSS21 exhibitors announce that they have decided not to participate based on COVID conditions in Las Vegas.
- Cerner’s Q2 revenue and earnings beat Wall Street expectations.
- Avera Health sells its 230-employee telemedicine services company to a private investment firm.
- Amwell acquires a digital mental healthcare company and an automated virtual care vendor for a combined $320 million.
- England’s System C acquires medication management vendor WellSky International and renames it CareFlow Medicines Management.
- Clinical data and genomic platform vendor Sema4 goes public via a SPAC merger at a valuation of $3 billion.
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Enjoy!
David.
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