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.
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/market-leaders-drive-certified-health-it-fhir-enabled-api-adoption
Market Leaders Drive Certified Health IT FHIR-Enabled API Adoption
The nationwide FHIR-enabled API adoption rate was 84 percent for hospitals in 2019, and most implementations came from a health IT market leader.
July 30, 2021 - Health IT market leaders drove much of FHIR-enabled API adoption in 2019, according to new ONC analysis.
As of 2019, 84 percent of hospitals and 61 percent of clinicians had adopted and implemented 2015 Edition certified API technology enabled with FHIR.
Researchers found that 83 percent of hospitals and 58 percent of clinicians adopted certified API technology from a market leader in 2019, representing 99 percent and 95 percent of all FHIR-enabled technology implementations, respectively.
“The findings show that health IT market leaders, who all support FHIR, drove much of the adoption of certified API technology enabled with FHIR in 2019,” Steven Posnack, MS, MHS, deputy National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Wes Barker, MS, HHS program analyst, wrote in an ONC Health IT Buzz blog post.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/remote-patient-monitoring-program-shines-in-treating-covid-19
Remote Patient Monitoring Program Shines in Treating COVID-19
Using remote patient monitoring to treat COVID-19 can help patients avoid hospitalization and recover quickly, according to Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers.
July 30, 2021 - Remote patient monitoring for patients with COVID-19 proved to be effective in preventing hospital admissions and improving recovery from the virus, according to a Kaiser Permanente study.
The California-based health system launched an RPM platform to treat infected patients at home, rather than in over-stressed hospitals and clinics, during the height of the pandemic. To evaluate its effectiveness, researchers at Southern California Permanente Medical Group studied 13,055 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and participated in the program between April 13, 2020 and February 12, 2021.
Patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and had moderate risk were eligible to enroll in the program, which monitored them at home. Like many remote patient monitoring systems, the program required patients to enter daily symptoms through an mHealth app, which care providers could monitor at the hospital.
Prior to participation, patients and caregivers received instructions via handouts and videos to ensure they understood how to use the technology. Kaiser Permanente provided some assistance to those who needed help understanding or accessing the technology.
-----
Mobile messaging platforms: the clinical and regulatory risks explored
It is known that during the pandemic, mainstream consumer messaging apps were used by clinicians in order to manage very high activity levels, but what happens when Covid-19 related activity levels subside? A recent Digital Health webinar looked into the clinical and regulatory risks of mobile messaging platforms.
DHI News Team – 29 July 2021
Mobile messaging systems are a vital tool to enable busy clinicians to manage heavy caseloads, but there is increasing concern about the clinical and regulatory risk to which some systems can expose users and their employers. A recent Digital Health webinar explored this topic and found that more than half of the 130 or so participants were concerned that the messaging platform they used for clinical work did not comply with GDPR. In addition, more than a third of participants were worried that decisions made using their messaging system did not link to their organisation’s electronic patient record (EPR).
These concerns about regulatory and clinical governance compliance are likely to be well-founded. Solicitor Darryn Hale, a senior associate specialising in health information law at DAC Beachcroft, told the webinar that use of generic messaging applications like WhatsApp to discuss patients’ clinical treatment would be unlikely to meet all legal and regulatory requirements.
Regardless of what it was designed for, any software or system being used to help decide patient care is likely to be regarded as a diagnostic medical device and therefore has to meet standards set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
------
NHS Digital gives patients easier access to who uses their data
A tool that makes it easier for patients to see which organisations can access their data has been launched by NHS Digital.
Hanna Crouch – 27 July, 2021
The Data Uses Register also reveals why such organisations (which could be public sector bodies, charities or commercial organisations) are allowed to use the data and what the expected benefits are.
They must all have a legal basis and legitimate need to use the data, which will only be used for health and care planning and research purposes, NHS Digital said in a statement.
In addition to this, the register also shows the data that NHS Digital has provided, both as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the many other uses of patient data that support health and social care.
This includes developing insights to design new NHS services for patients; improving the performance, effectiveness or efficiency of existing services; supporting NHS organisations by creating new tools and products to improve care; creating new treatments and supporting the NHS and local authorities in planning services.
-----
Virtual doctors brace for Covid’s new wave
The Big IdeaSTRENGTHENING THE DIGITAL LIFELINE: Telemedicine didn’t just provide a pandemic lifeline for patients and their doctors. It’s linking rural hospitals with offsite clinicians who consult on patient care and back up on-site doctors and nurses as Covid’s latest surge fills beds once again.
With the highly transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 now overtaking areas with low vaccination rates, demand for tele-ICU and tele-ER services is on the rise as hospital administrators try to shorten the length of stays and avoid transferring medically frail patients over long distances to higher levels of care.
Matthew Lyon, service chief of virtual care operations at Augusta University Health, in Georgia, said most hospitals his facility collaborates with remotely monitor one or two Covid patients. A month ago, it was one in every 10 or 12 hospitals.
Kelly Rhone, medical director of outreach and innovation at Avera eCARE, a leading tele-ICU provider in Sioux Falls, S.D., has begun seeing sicker younger patients at facilities her company connects with in the upper Midwest and Great Plains states.
------
The Sequoia Project Posts Draft TEFCA Interoperability Infrastructure
The ONC’s RCE for implementation of the TEFCA interoperability infrastructure has published a technical framework draft for stakeholder feedback.
July 29, 2021 - The Sequoia Project, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for implementation of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) interoperability infrastructure, published a draft of the Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) Technical Framework (QTF) for stakeholder comment.
The technical framework focuses mainly on QHIN-to-QHIN data exchange requirements. QHINS, designated by the RCE, will act as the central connection points within the network-of-networks under the Common Agreement.
“The publication of the draft QTF for feedback is an important milestone as we look to live, in production, exchange under the Common Agreement in 2022,” Micky Tripathi, PhD, national coordinator for health information technology, said in a public statement.
“The QTF will also evolve to support new standards such as FHIR in the future and we welcome industry feedback on a proposed FHIR roadmap which will be released in the near future,” Tripathi continued.
-----
Patients Support Greater EHR Data Exchange, Access to Health Information
Most Americans support enhanced federal health IT policies for EHR data exchange and secure patient access to personal health information.
July 29, 2021 - While most patients want greater access to personal health information and support enhanced provider-to-provider data sharing, federal health IT policy may be hindering EHR data exchange, according to a nationally representative survey conducted by Pew Charitable Trusts
Pew researchers conducted the survey in conjunction with Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates in June and July of 2020.
More than eight in ten adults (81 percent) reported that they support increased access to health data for patients and providers. Many of these respondents also called for greater safeguards to ensure their data is secure.
For instance, most respondents said that they want to use apps on smartphones, tablets, and computers to access their health information. However, after the survey pointed out that federal privacy protections do not apply to data stored on apps, the number of respondents concerned about data privacy jumped from 35 to 62 percent.
-----
Internet Access Limits Patient Portal use, Furthers Digital Divide
Data shows that smartphone internet access didn’t ameliorate internet access limits quelling patient portal use and deepening the digital divide.
By Sara Heath
July 29, 2021 - Having access to the internet solely through a smartphone internet plan, as opposed to wired broadband access, is linked to more limited patient portal access, underscoring a digital divide that is hampering equal access to patient engagement tools, according to research in JAMA Network Open.
The study looked at whether getting access to the internet by way of buying a smartphone internet plan would increase access to the patient portal. After all, limitations to traditional broadband access—both related to cost and geography—have often been cited as key issues hampering patient portal adoption and utilization rates.
“The digital divide stems from many factors, such as portal usability, digital literacy, internet access, and high broadband costs,” the researchers wrote in the study. “The latter have led many US residents (approximately 20%) to opt for smartphone-only internet access, especially individuals from minority racial/ethnic groups and adults with low income.”
-----
https://healthitsecurity.com/news/healthcare-data-breach-costs-surged-during-pandemic
Healthcare Data Breach Costs Surged During Pandemic
IBM Security and Ponemon Institute released a report on July 28, noting the surging costs of health data breaches.
July 29, 2021 - The cost of a data breach for a healthcare facility spiked during the pandemic, according to a new report.
“The 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report,” released on July 28, reports that costs associated with healthcare data breaches increased $2 million over the previous year.
“Healthcare breaches cost the most by far, at $9.23 million per incident – a $2 million increase over the previous year,” according to the report.
Healthcare, retail, hospitality, and the consumer/manufacturing/distribution sectors, are all industries which endured large operational changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These sectors experienced a “substantial increase in data breach costs year over year,” the report states.
The joint report from IBM Security and Ponemon Institute analyzed an estimated 100,000 records of data breaches experienced by over 500 organizations across the globe.
-----
Opportunity Trifecta: ISA, SVAP and Draft USCDI Version 3 Feedback Period Now Open
Avinash Shanbhag and Andrew Hayden | July 28, 2021
On the heels of the release of United States Core Data for Interoperability USCDI Version 2 (USCDI v2), ONC has also opened a single, synchronized feedback period for the Interoperability Standards Advisory(ISA), the Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP), and the draft United States Core Data for Interoperability Version 3 (USCDI v3). Taken together, ISA, SVAP, and draft USCDI v3 enable ONC to engage with the health care community to advance health IT standards that support high priority target areas such as the COVID-19 public health emergency, equity and support for underserved communities, and the interoperability standards priorities “target areas” referenced by the 21st Century Cures Act. Some of these include quality of patient care, clinical research, privacy and security, patient safety, usability, and patient access to electronic health information.
Interoperability Standards Advisory
Since its inception in 2015, the Interoperability Standards Advisory has grown to become an online encyclopedia of standards and implementation specifications that can be used to meet specific interoperability needs in health care. The annual ISA review and comment period is an opportunity to provide comments, suggest revisions, and propose additions to the ISA before we take a “snapshot” and publish the 2022 ISA Reference Edition. Are there particular standards or specifications that are missing or in need of an update? Now is your chance to comment!
-----
https://www.fastcompany.com/90659763/vaccine-passports-hacking-privacy
07-29-21 6:00 am
Americans are afraid their vaccine passports could get hacked
Some are calling for broad digital privacy legislation to ensure health information is kept safe.
Efforts to get Americans to adopt digital vaccine proof have been slow. A new Harris Poll reveals that 80% of Americans are worried that getting a COVID-19 digital passport could put their personal data at risk.
Among the majority of Americans who have cybersecurity concerns about the new digital vaccine credentials, the survey found that slightly more than half were uneasy about the potential for identity theft. On top of that, less than half of Americans believe that either businesses or the government are prepared to defend passport apps against a potential cyber attack.
The overall disquiet about digital vaccine systems aligns with how likely Americans are to actually get a digital vaccination card. Only 68% of Americans say they are likely to sign up for one, according to a recent Harris Poll conducted in collaboration with cybersecurity platform Anomali. Just 45% say they were very likely to use a digital vaccination certification.
Most states and the federal government have stopped short of requiring their employees to get vaccinated. Only San Francisco has so far issued a vaccination directive for city employees. Both New York State and California are telling workers to get vaccinated or else face weekly COVID-19 testing. President Biden has now made a similar mandate for federal workers. Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs is planning to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for frontline health workers.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/google-health-ux-lead-designing-ehrs-work-clinicians
Google Health UX lead on designing EHRs that work for clinicians
A user experience manager at Google discusses technology fatigue, machine learning's role in electronic health record design, workflow optimization and more.
By Bill Siwicki
July 29, 2021 10:42 AM
Given that existing health IT tools – especially electronic health records – notoriously are not very user-friendly, many healthcare information technology vendors are spending time and resources designing IT that makes clinicians happy.
One such vendor, Google Health, recently introduced Care Studio, software designed to streamline healthcare information for clinicians. It brings together information from different EHRs, and lets doctors and nurses browse and search in one streamlined interface.
Google Health has a wide array of IT design expertise. Healthcare IT News has tapped that expertise, interviewing Melissa Strader, UX manager at the company. She discusses keys for designing EHRs for clinicians, getting past tech fatigue, understanding clinician behavior and workflows, and machine learning's role in EHR design.
Q. What are some keys for designing EHRs for clinicians, given current tools are often not very user-friendly?
A. In the last few decades, health IT solutions have done a great job at digitizing healthcare information and processes. Today's EHRs are powerful tools and are built to address many needs, including supporting hospital administrators, IT teams, billing departments and more.
-----
https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/07/29/no-downtime-procedure/
No Downtime Procedure
July 29, 2021
“Showed up for my #Covid19 test today at @cvspharmacy .
When I got to the window they told me they couldn't test me because their system was down. Why didn't they notify me before I showed up? Why can't they associate my test with my information-which they can see-& fill-in later?”
Have you ever been on the patient side of this? I know I have and it’s infuriating. Especially when the healthcare organization doesn’t communicate effectively with you what’s happening and what could happen. Of course, the real problem here is that they probably don’t know what’s going to happen. Especially an organization as large as CVS.
Although, the problem is just as bad on the other side. The worker at CVS is likely just as frustrated as the patient. Downtime is no fun for any party.
That said, at this point not having a downtime procedure is inexcusable. I don’t care if you’re CVS or the solo practice on the corner. We all know that downtime is possible and we need to be prepared. Downtime can happen in so many ways, that a healthcare organization must be prepared. In fact, the number of ways that downtime can happen continues to grow. We used to have all local networks and so the number of points of failure was smaller. Even then, downtime was bound to happen. It’s a feature of technology. A power supply dies. A network connection fails. A disk runs out of space and brings the server down.
-----
Most Americans Want to Share and Access More Digital Health Data
Survey can inform federal policies to expand use of electronic health records, protect patient privacy
July 27, 2021
Overview
Americans’ medical histories have largely been digitized over the past two decades as hospitals and physician’s offices moved from paper-based to electronic health record (EHR) systems.1 Congress has invested billions of taxpayer dollars to accelerate this transition, authorizing federal rules to expand individuals’ access to their health records and to help clinicians share data and coordinate care for patients they have in common.2
To build on this progress, policymakers need to know how Americans perceive these issues and the extent to which they will embrace wider adoption of data exchange and access. Do patients want their personal health information made more accessible for themselves, and across multiple providers and even via third-party apps? What kind of information are they comfortable sharing? How confident are they that their data will be protected? What role do they want the federal government to play?
This brief presents the results of a nationally representative survey conducted in June and July 2020 for The Pew Charitable Trusts that was designed to inform lawmakers and regulators as they work to further modernize the U.S. health care system by enhancing patient and clinician access to data held in thousands of EHR systems across the nation. (See the methodology for more information about the survey.)
Among the survey’s major findings:
- Eighty-one percent of adults support increased access to health information for patients and providers.
- More than two-thirds of adults want their clinicians to exchange some health information that federal data-sharing polices don’t currently require, such as advanced care plans or end-of-life preferences, images (such as X-rays), and family medical histories.
- Most Americans want their data to be both more accessible and better protected. For example, although most respondents want to use apps on smartphones, tablets, and computers to access their health information, those who expressed serious privacy concerns nearly doubled—from 35% to 62%—when they were told that federal privacy protections do not cover data stored on apps. Many said that extending these laws could help alleviate their apprehension.
- Across political party lines, most adults—82% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 51% of Republicans—support additional federal measures to improve the accurate exchange of records between health care providers.
- About 4 in 10 survey respondents said the coronavirus pandemic made them more likely to support efforts that enable data-sharing among a patient’s providers and let people download their personal data from EHRs to apps on smartphones and other devices.
- By a roughly 2-to-1 margin, respondents were comfortable with their health providers scanning patient fingerprints or assigning individuals a unique number or code to ensure that different EHR systems correctly match records for the same person, a long-standing challenge of data exchange.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/va-will-stop-cerner-ehr-rollouts-until-next-year
VA will stop Cerner EHR rollouts until next year
Officials told House representatives that the agency would not schedule any further deployments in the next six months.
By Kat Jercich
July 28, 2021 04:53 PM
The Department of Veterans Affairs will not continue to deploy its Cerner electronic health record at any more sites for at least the next six months, officials said.
VA Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks Dr. Carolyn Clancy told House members at a hearing this past week that the agency would be initiating reviews for IT and physical infrastructure requirements at every facility in the system.
Then, she said, the VA would deploy based on site readiness.
"The secretary is optimistic that at the end of this calendar year 2021, he will be able to discern a new deployment schedule," Clancy said.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/who-warns-about-risks-ai-healthcare
WHO warns about the risks of AI for healthcare
New ethics guidance cautions against overestimating the benefits of technology.
By Tammy Lovell
July 28, 2021 11:33 AM
A World Health Organisation (WHO) report has cautioned against overestimating the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for health at the expense of core investments and strategies to achieve universal health coverage.
The new guidance, Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health, is the result of two years of consultations held by a panel of international experts appointed by WHO.
It argues that ethics and human rights must be put at the heart of AI’s design, deployment, and use if the technology is to improve the delivery of healthcare worldwide.
Although there are many opportunities for AI, the report points out associated challenges and risks, including unethical collection and use of health data, biases encoded in algorithms, and risks to patient safety, cybersecurity, and the environment.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/how-voice-tech-will-change-healthcare-delivery
How Voice Tech Will Change Healthcare Delivery
Analysis | By Mandy Roth | July 28, 2021
Conversational AI technology is spurring a wave of innovation between tech companies and healthcare organizations.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Conversational AI technology will reduce physicians' administrative demands and create greater patient engagement.
· Voice tech uses are being explored in the exam room, OR, and patients' homes.
· The ability to accurately capture medical language and produce searchable fields in the EHR is crucial to progress.
This article appears in the July/August 2021 edition of HealthLeaders magazine.
Over the last 17 months, a tsunami called telehealth revolutionized the healthcare industry, becoming an "overnight" sensation due to a global pandemic that forever changed the way healthcare is delivered. Meanwhile, in the background, another remarkable development is quietly gaining traction. The whisper many are hearing is the power of voice technology, or to be more accurate, conversational artificial intelligence (AI). While still in its infancy, it holds the potential to deliver the next significant wave of innovation in healthcare.
"Conversational AI technology allows people to use natural voice or text to interact with systems," says Brian Kalis, managing director, health strategy at Accenture. "There's been a growing trend of artificial intelligence moving beyond a back-end tool for the healthcare enterprise to the forefront of the clinician and consumer experience."
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/artificial-intelligence-assists-with-ehr-data-organization
Artificial Intelligence Assists with EHR Data Organization
A recent study looked at how artificial intelligence systems can be used to sort through electronic health records.
July 27, 2021 - According to a recent study, physicians devote 62 percent of their time per patient reviewing electronic health records (EHRs), with the most time-consuming portion being clinical data review. To increase efficiency, researchers studied the development of an artificial intelligence system to assist with reviewing patient information.
As EHRs became increasingly common, physicians have spent more time studying these data bases to review clinical data. With more data being stored in EHRs, users could experience a type of information overload. By incorporating artificial intelligence technology to work with these EHRs, physicians will avoid burnout and improve the patient experience.
In this prognostic study, researchers created an AI system to organize patient records and improve data retrieval. To ensure that the system was fast and accurate, a nonblinded, prospective study took place at Stanford University.
Recruitment emails were sent to all physicians in the gastroenterology division, and 12 of them agreed to participate in the study.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/examining-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-audio-only-telehealth
Examining the Benefits and Challenges of Audio-Only Telehealth
The recent debate over audio-only telehealth coverage centers on the value of the phone call. Is it a proper method for healthcare delivery, and should doctors be reimbursed for it?
July 27, 2021 - With the pandemic limiting access to in-person healthcare, audio-only telehealth has surfaced as a popular platform for care delivery. But it’s not good for all (or even many) services, and that’s forcing providers and lawmakers to take a close look at what can and can’t be done by phone.
COVID-19 pushed the modality – basically defined as telehealth without the video - into the spotlight, but the debate over its value has been going on for much longer. And it’s tied to a long-standing barrier to telehealth expansion and one of the oft-mentioned social determinants of health: broadband.
Advocates have long argued that telehealth will struggle in parts of the country where broadband is either unreliable or unavailable, because patients won’t be able to access an audio-visual platform and providers won’t want to spend the money creating one. But in those areas – often rural, with their own challenges to accessing care – they will and do connect by phone.
And in that context, a landline telephone might be the only way for someone to get in touch with a care provider.
-----
The Pandemic Made Telemedicine an Instant Hit. Patients and Providers Feel the Growing Pains.
Hannah Norman July 26, 2021
Crystal Joseph pays for two telemedicine video services to ensure that her small therapy practice in Silver Spring, Maryland, can always connect with its clients.
She’s been burned before. During one hours-long service outage of SimplePractice in late May, PsycYourMind, which offers mental health counseling and group sessions for Black patients, lost about $600 because of missed appointments. Livid, Joseph requested a small credit from the telemedicine service, which costs $432 monthly for her team of clinicians and trainees. SimplePractice refused, she said.
“What they offer is phenomenal, especially being founded by a therapist,” said Joseph, a licensed clinical professional counselor. “But with a private practice, if you don’t get paid, you don’t eat.” For some sessions, she was able to hop onto her backup, VSee, which costs her $49 each month. Some of her peers use Zoom. But even though Joseph keeps links to both her SimplePractice and VSee accounts in her email signature, a last-minute switch-up can feel messy for clients, and she never charges a no-show fee when it’s an “act of God.”
Major health systems, clinics and private practices alike pivoted swiftly to telemedicine when the covid-19 pandemic forced the nation to shelter in place and patients could no longer safely venture into health care settings. But the video services were not equally prepared for the titanic influx in users, said Kapil Chalil Madathil, an engineering professor at Clemson University who has researched how easy — or difficult — telemedicine platforms are to use.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himss-announces-launch-digital-platform-accelerate
HIMSS announces launch of digital platform Accelerate
The purpose-built platform aims to connect health industry professionals with peers, thought leaders, professional development tools, networking opportunities and curated content.
July 27, 2021 11:03 AM
HIMSS, parent company of Healthcare IT News, announced on Tuesday the launch of its new purpose-built digital platform – Accelerate – aimed at connecting health industry professionals with each other and with thought leaders, professional development tools, networking opportunities and curated content.
Accelerate is intended to support HIMSS members, partners and the global health ecosystem by fostering collaboration and innovation.
"Global operations, decades of experience and thousands of members provide HIMSS with the critical scale and expertise required to execute such an ambitious pursuit," said Hal Wolf, CEO of HIMSS, in a statement.
"With unparalleled relationships among healthcare providers, industry executives, and public entities, Accelerate will be a digital platform that convenes a variety of health stakeholders," he said.
-----
Early Identification of COVID-19 Surges Using Epic EHR Data and Call/Email Data
July 27, 2021
A recent study was just published in the BMJ Open journal by lead author Vincent Liu, MD, MS, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The whole study is a fascinating read, but the basics of the study was trying to predict COIVD-19 surges before they happened. They developed CHOTS (COVID-19 HotSpotting Score) to increase the lead time to as much as 6 weeks before COVID-19 surged versus the individual indicators that only provided 1-3 weeks lead time.
Here’s what’s included in the CHOTS score:
CHOTS includes 4 major variables — cough and cold calls, relevant subject headers from patient emails, positive COVID-19 test rates, and current COVID-19 hospital census — along with 6 minor variables, including COVID-19-related calls to the call center, both routine and urgent clinic visits for respiratory infections, clinic and urgent clinic COVID-19 visits, and respiratory virus tests ordered.
You can see how many of these data elements were easily available in Kaiser’s Epic EHR. However, a few of them stood out to me when I first read it. Things like calls to the call center and secure emails aren’t often available in the EHR or in any system a healthcare organization may have in place. Or at least that data isn’t in a format that can be easily combined with EHR data to replicate this score. Of course, Kaiser is unique in that they have all of this data available to them in Epic.
-----
Artificial Intelligence EHR Integration Cuts Down on EHR Screen Time
Clinicians said they believed that the artificial intelligence EHR integration could save them over 14 minutes for each new patient encounter.
July 26, 2021 - An artificial intelligence (AI) EHR integration helped physicians extract patient health information more efficiently, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers recruited 12 gastroenterology physicians/fellows at an academic medical center to analyze how an AI integration affected EHR use time and data accuracy.
The AI tool extracted relevant patient health data and displayed it alongside the original record.
Each clinician received an AI-optimized patient record and a standard patient record. Using each record, clinicians had to answer 22 questions that required them to find clinically relevant information in the assigned record. Clinicians reviewed records from June 1 to August 30, 2020.
The AI system cut EHR use time by 18 percent; standard record review took 12.8 minutes on average, while AI-optimized record review took clinicians 10.5 minutes.
-----
COVID Telehealth Patient Satisfaction High, In-Person Still Preferred
While telehealth patient satisfaction was high during the pandemic, 82% of US adults still prefer in-person doctor’s visits, a new survey reveals.
By Jill McKeon
July 26, 2021 - While 87 percent of respondents reported high telehealth patient satisfaction rates during the pandemic, 82 percent still prefer in-person doctor’s visits, according to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Neurocrine Biosciences.
The survey of over 2,500 US adults conducted between June 29th and July 2nd, 2021, was consistent with other findings, showing that although patients can appreciate the convenience of telehealth, it will never be a replacement for in-person care. Over 80 percent of respondents reported that telehealth appointments met some but not all their health needs.
Over 70 percent of respondents reported receiving in-person care since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic began, while 41 reported taking part in telehealth appointments.
Three-quarters of respondents had primary care visits through telehealth, and 25 percent received mental health services through telehealth. Specialties like ophthalmology, rheumatology, and oncology had low telehealth presence.
-----
https://patientengagementhit.com/news/how-to-implement-social-determinants-of-health-referral-tools
How to Implement Social Determinants of Health Referral Tools
Virginia-based Sentara Health recently employed social determinants of health referral tools that help connect patients to social services.
By Sara Heath
July 26, 2021 - In a past life working as a nurse, Sherry Norquist, MSN, ACM, remembers going through her Rolodex when one of her patients presented with social determinants of health referral needs. She’d collaborate with her colleagues to find the best social services referral she could, give the patient a phone number, and send them on their way.
“I used to be a registered nurse. I was a case manager,” Norquist, now the director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Sentara Healthcare, told PatientEngagementHIT in an interview. “I worked in many of our hospitals, and I'll use this term 'back in the day' when I was in the emergency rooms, we used to have to use telephone books. We used to joke around about who had the best little black book to call every possible resource that we had at our disposal.”
“In the past, to be quite honest with you, we wouldn't always know about the resources or have them,” Norquist continued. “Or when we called, the phone might not get answered.”
-----
July 23, 2021
Connectivity, digital tools becoming the ‘sixth vital sign’ in health care
Determining someone’s digital health connectivity may be just as important as measuring their blood pressure, pulse or body temperature.
In a commentary published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, David C. Klonoff, MD, medical director of the Diabetes Research Institute at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in San Mateo, California, and colleagues wrote that a patient’s ability to connect with digital health platforms should be considered the “sixth vital sign” for providers.
Klonoff is medical director of the Diabetes Research Institute at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in San Mateo, California.
Klonoff proposed a 10-question, yes-or-no patient survey of virtual care affordability, device accessibility, data privacy and security, with each affirmative answer indicating greater connectivity.
“The barriers to connectivity, in terms of economic and technical, are coming down rapidly,” Klonoff told Healio. “A big barrier, though, is a person’s own interest — they have to be motivated. Certain people who don’t want to use computers, don’t want to use smartphones, are missing out on access to information and treatment plans that would otherwise be available. It’s a combination of having the right hardware and software and reimbursement, but importantly, having the right motivation.”
Klonoff spoke with Healio about the digital connectivity questionnaire, benefits for patients, and how digital tools are transforming the health care industry.
-----
07-23-21
A third of popular cancer articles on social media contain misinformation, study finds
The study examined cancer falsehoods on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit, but much of the engagement with cancer misinformation happens on Facebook.
Health misinformation runs rampant on the internet, but it’s not limited to COVID-19. New research published in The Journal of The National Cancer Institute found that a third of the most popular articles on social media concerning treatment for common cancers contain factual inaccuracies.
“A lot of the misinformation we identified were claims that the current cancer treatments that we have are ineffective or more toxic than they actually are, as well as statements that there are other ‘cures’ that are basically unproven or disproven that include extreme diets or herbal remedies, folk remedies,” says Dr. Skyler Johnson, Huntsman Cancer Institute physician-scientist and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Utah, who led the study.
Using a webscraping tool, Skyler and a group of researchers pulled 200 of the most popular articles on lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer found on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit between January 2018 and December 2019. Two domain experts from National Comprehensive Cancer Network reviewed the posts and assessed them for misinformation and potential for harm. Of the articles identified as misinformation, 83% contained harmful content. Engagement with potentially harmful content, which predominantly took place on Facebook, was also higher than articles deemed safe or benign. Johnson says that most of the articles containing harmful content originated from new age websites and not from reputable news media.
-----
AI tools improve patients' understanding of EHR notes, study shows
Patients may have gained access to their EHR notes, but that doesn't mean they have an easy time understanding what those notes mean, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Researchers recruited 174 patients waiting for appointments at Lowell (Mass.) General Hospital. The research team showed them their EHR notes, either with or without the help of an AI-powered tool designed to help patients understand EHR notes. The tool, called NoteAid, provides medical jargon definitions patients can view by hovering their mouse over a term.
The study found patients who used NoteAid earned significantly higher health literacy scores compared to those who didn't.
-----
https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/26/clinical-decision-support-replication-algorithms/
Researchers analyzed 4,063 papers on tools to help guide care. Only 12 were replications
By Katie Palmer July 26, 2021
Clinical decision support is one of digital health’s great promises. Faced with a surplus of information about a patient’s history and symptoms, algorithms built into electronic health records can provide important alerts and reminders, automated prescription suggestions, and even diagnostic support — hopefully, helping patients receive the right care.
But those systems don’t always hold up after their initial testing. Most recently, work pointed to flaws in an algorithm to predict the risk of sepsis, integrated into Epic’s electronic health record platform. A recent STAT investigation found those shortcomings extend to other Epic algorithms, including those used by hospitals to predict how long patients will be hospitalized or who will miss appointments.
A critical check on such systems is the replication of the original research. But those kinds of gut checks are few and far between, according to new work from Enrico Coiera, director of the Center for Health Informatics at Macquarie University in Sydney. Over six months, he and colleague Huong Ly Tong dredged up all the journal-published papers they could find analyzing the outcomes of clinical decision support systems. They found 4,063 — and of those, only 12 were replications.
Part of the problem is that the field has yet to build a culture that values scientific best practices, said Coiera, whose systematic review was published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. STAT spoke with him about how to right that ship, and whether patients are at risk as unreplicated algorithms proliferate.
-----
Relentless cyber attacks are putting financial pressure on hospitals: Fitch Ratings
Jul 26, 2021 9:00am
A historic jump in the number and severity of cyber assaults on hospitals during the last 18 months will cause "material revenue and expense pressures" on nonprofit hospitals and health systems, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.
The sector is viewed as a target-rich environment due to the large amount of sensitive data that healthcare entities maintain for patient care and operations.
Cyber-crime accelerated during the pandemic as cybercriminals took advantage of the crisis, causing immense disruption to the healthcare sector at a time when it was facing enormous patient care demands. Ransomware pay-outs and efforts to protect or harden healthcare systems and cyber defenses are affecting hospital financial flexibility by increasing ongoing operating expenses, according to Fitch Ratings.
Attacks may also hinder revenue generation and the ability to recover costs in a timely manner, particularly if they affect a hospital’s ability to bill patients when financial records are compromised or systems become locked. The recovery time and costs associated with breaches of critical data not only pose significant financial burdens but also hamper the ability of healthcare institutions to provide care, which could ultimately have human costs, Fitch analysts wrote.
-----
Google Cloud rolls out technology to map medical records data to FHIR standard
Jul 22, 2021 2:46pm
Large tech giants are jumping into a growing interoperability solutions market as new federal regulations spur the healthcare industry to open up and share medical records data.
Google Cloud rolled out a new tool called the healthcare data engine, currently in private preview, that helps healthcare and life sciences organizations harmonize data from multiple sources, including medical records, claims, clinical trials and research data.
It gives organizations a holistic view of patient longitudinal records, and enables advanced analytics and AI in a secure and compliant cloud environment, according to Google Cloud executives.
Data was a lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic," Joe Corkery M.D., director of product management at Google Cloud, said during a recent call with reporters. "We can now see the full potential and vision of data interoperability."
------
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-protect-against-social-engineering-attacks
How to protect against social engineering attacks
A CISO previews her HIMSS21 presentation and offers tips for recognizing the methods and tactics used by bad actors to exploit target-rich provider sites.
By Bill Siwicki
July 26, 2021 11:21 AM
Malicious hacking using social engineering against healthcare has multiple goals. The most obvious ones are to steal money or data, or to deliver ransomware. Health systems are particularly susceptible, because many of the basic critical security controls are not in place within these highly integrated delivery systems.
In this preview of the upcoming HIMSS21 educational session entitled "Social Engineering in the Healthcare Environment," speaker Kathleen Ann Mullin, CISO at Tampa, Florida-based Healthmap Solutions, talks about how a healthcare provider organization recognizes hacker motivations, how healthcare CISOs and CIOs detect the common methods used by social engineers to victimize healthcare organizations, and how CISOs and CIOs prepare for the impacts of malware, including ransomware.
Target-rich environments
All healthcare organizations are target-rich environments for the value of their health, payment and insurance information, as well as for their methods of treatment and research information.
"In order to recognize a hacker's motivation, a healthcare provider needs to understand where their organization sits in the context of all organizations and healthcare," Mullin explained. "Do they have a strong and mature information security program? Is the organization an industry leader? Do they have a large market share? What country or region are they in? Are their leaders active in the media? Or social media?
-----
https://histalk2.com/2021/07/23/weekender-7-23-21/
Weekly News Recap
- The VA tells the House Veterans Affairs Committee that it won’t bring any more sites live on Cerner for at least six months.
- A law firm files an information blocking complaint against a hospital, Meditech, and Ciox Health, claiming that it could not get a machine readable PDF of a client’s medical records.
- WebMD acquires The Wellness Network
- The New York Times says IBM Watson failed to achieve its goals of business transformation and IBM rejuvenation, noting specifically that Watson’s healthcare “moon shot” failed in multiple health systems.
- The Senate confirms as VA deputy secretary Robert Remy, JD, whose job responsibilities include overseeing its Cerner project.
- A study of 500 hospital websites finds that 471 of them have not posted their prices as federal transparency rules require.
- Clinical data and registry vendor OM1 raises $85 million.
- As HIMSS21 approaches, a COVID-19 resurgence in Las Vegas causes the Venetian, Palazzo, and Sands to again require employees to wear masks.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment