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/clinical-workflow-optimization-key-for-ehr-usability-satisfaction
Clinical Workflow Optimization Key for EHR Usability, Satisfaction
Clinical workflow optimization allows health IT to support the distinct needs of providers and aid in EHR usability, athenahealth executive says.
October 15, 2021 - On a research mission observing numerous orthopedists years ago, Paul Brient, athenahealth’s chief product officer, said it was almost as if the doctors were doing different things altogether, despite their shared specialty. These stark differences, observed even across the same type of medicine, give prudence to the argument for stronger EHR optimization to streamline workflows.
“The biggest pain point that doctors have about EHR is that it gets in the way of patient care and doesn't provide net benefits,” Brient said in an interview with EHRIntelligence. “Many physicians are still in the belief, perhaps correctly so, that the EHR is not helping them in terms of patient care.”
Longer clinical notes, greater EHR inbox volumes, and an overall increase in the EHR workload in recent years have mounted clinician burden concerns.
Brient said that EHR vendors must create health IT that supports individual provider needs so instead of getting in the way of patient care, EHR systems can help providers improve care quality.
“The goal, like any workflow tool, is to make it so that the EHR workflow in the computer is the same workflow that the physician is following,” Brient said.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/how-health-systems-implement-ethical-artificial-intelligence
How Health Systems Implement Ethical Artificial Intelligence
Sanford Health’s artificial intelligence ethical principles are in line with AI guidance released by WHO.
October 15, 2021 - As artificial intelligence capabilities in healthcare continue to advance, regulations and policies need to be put in place to ensure health equality when exploring this new method.
This past June, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first global report on artificial intelligence in healthcare along with six principles to avoid health disparities. The report, Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health, results from two years of consultations organized by a panel of WHO-appointed international experts.
While artificial intelligence is a growing method in streamlining efficiently in healthcare, the WHO report cautions AI users of the pitfalls to avoid when implementing the technology.
Considering the guidance, many organizations and hospitals have begun implementing WHO’s recommendations. According to Sanford Health Vice President of Data Analytics Doug Nowak, the health system’s AI ethical principles already reflect many of the proposals in the WHO report.
“The six principles published by the World Health Organization are consistent with how our data analytics team approaches this work at Sanford Health. We are focused more specifically on augmented intelligence, recognizing its immense potential to inform clinical decision-making and meaningfully improve the health of our patients while also being careful about its limitations,” Nowak told HealthITAnalytics.
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New Study Offers Mixed Results for Telehealth in Addiction Treatment
A new analysis of telehealth use in addiction treatment programs finds that virtual care can boost access to care, but more proof is needed that these channels can improve retention and clinical outcomes.
October 15, 2021 - The American Psychiatric Association is tapping the brakes a little bit on the use of telehealth for addiction treatment, saying the potential is there but more proof is needed that virtual care improves retention or outcomes.
Healthcare providers specializing in addiction treatment pivoted to telehealth in record numbers during the pandemic, when in-person treatments were curtailed or postponed and stress and anxiety soared. Recent research by the University of California at Los Angeles and research firm RTI International found that while the platform vastly improved access to care, it hasn’t yet delivered better clinical outcomes than in-person treatment.
“Telehealth health may allow patients to more easily begin and stay in addiction treatment, which has been a longstanding challenge,” Tami L. Mark, PhD, MBA, a senior fellow at Maryland-based RTI International and the lead author of the study, published online this month in Psychiatric Services, said in a press release issued by the American Psychiatric Association. “However, research is needed to confirm this benefit. As providers pivot to hybrid telehealth models - offering both telehealth and in-person treatment - they need information to help target telehealth to the most appropriate services and patients.”
“This research underscores the importance of offering telehealth for addiction treatment and the dramatic need to conduct more empirical work to test out the concerns regarding telehealth articulated by agency staff and on surveys,” added Lisa Dixon, MD, MPH, the editor of Psychiatric Services, the journal of the APA.
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Remote Patient Monitoring Drives Engagement in Disease Management
Remote patient monitoring tools are effective for chronic disease management when they are paired with coaching that supports patient engagement.
By Sara Heath
October 15, 2021 - Remote patient monitoring technologies are effective for chronic disease management, so long as they are paired with other patient engagement strategies like health coaching, according to new data published in JAMA Network Open.
The study, which focused on at-home blood pressure monitoring programs, found that a program fusing health coaching with remote patient monitoring was able to lower blood pressure by anywhere from 53 to 85 percent, depending on the severity of condition at baseline.
“This is the first peer-reviewed, published study reporting the long-term experience of a digital health application for blood pressure management, with a magnitude of association that is clinically meaningful,” Alexis Beatty, MD, MAS, a cardiologist and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and the lead author of the study, said in a statement emailed to journalists.
Using remote patient monitoring for chronic disease management is not a novel concept; healthcare professionals have employed mHealth tools for at-home care management for some time, but according to the researchers, improvements using technology alone have been negligible in hypertensive patients.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/10/is-the-nhs-investment-in-data-security-paying-dividends/
Is the NHS investment in data security paying dividends?
In a column for Digital Health, Davey Winder, explores whether data security in healthcare is doing its job correctly.
Davey Winder 12 October 2021
Time and time again I see warnings that healthcare is a prime target, even ‘the’ prime target, for cybercrime actors. The organised criminals behind ransomware attacks have both promised not to target healthcare during the Covid pandemic and, by their actions, proven these to be hollow words. Where healthcare is targeted and successful attacks confirmed, these appear to be far more plentiful involving organisations across the pond than domestically.
This is far from the only data security dichotomy on my mind though. There’s the fact that while the Information Commissioner’s Office has reported a stonking 3,557 data breaches across the UK health sector in the two years to March 31, most within the NHS, I see very little evidence of that data within the online criminal forums that trade in such things.
Intelligence reports reveal comparatively little UK healthcare data on underground markets
Which leaves me wondering if, seeing as I do see evidence of plenty of breached US healthcare data for sale, the NHS investment in data security is paying off? Writing about cybersecurity means that I get access to a lot of threat intelligence and most of the reports I see, as well as insight through threat intelligence feed databases, do little to suggest to the contrary.
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How do cyberattackers gain access to health systems? Often via smaller hospitals
That's one finding from new research from cybersecurity firm CyCognito, whose CEO discusses that danger and describes some risk-mitigation strategies.
By Bill Siwicki
October 15, 2021 10:50 AM
Smaller hospitals are often how cyberattackers and nation states gain access to health system networks to steal IP, deploy ransomware or scour data to sell on the dark web, according to new research from cybersecurity firm CyCognito.
The firm's latest research studied health systems with more than $1 billion in revenue and more than 19 hospitals.
Healthcare IT News interviewed Rob Gurzeev, CEO and founder of CyCognito, to discuss the results of his firm's latest research, including why smaller hospitals are entry points for bad actors, how health systems are increasing risk by not paying their smaller entities enough attention, exactly how threat actors are using these points for entry, and how health systems can get a handle on extended attack surfaces.
Q. Your research found that smaller hospitals are often the entry point for bad actors to get in and steal intellectual property, issue ransomware or sell data on the dark web. Why is this?
A. Our research looked at subsidiary organizations such as the smaller hospitals, clinics, healthcare service providers and facilities that a larger health system may acquire, or, at times, divest, as they grow. Baker Tilley, one of the world's largest accounting firms, reported that healthcare M&A activity was up 43% in the first half of 2021 versus the first half of 2020. With that increased M&A activity comes larger attack surfaces, along with more risk.
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Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Launch Coalition to Support Home-Based Telehealth, RPM
The Advanced Care at Home Coalition supports a relatively new platform for acute care delivery that encompasses remote patient monitoring, telehealth and in-person visits to treat patients at home.
October 14, 2021 - Several large health systems have formed a coalition to support strategies that use telehealth and remote patient monitoring to provide acute care for patients at home.
The Advanced Care at Home Coalition builds on both the surge in remote patient monitoring programs during the pandemic and the Acute Hospital at Home Program, launched in late 2020 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That program, which now involves more than 100 hospitals and health systems across the country, offers CMS waivers for a home-based care management plan to treat patients who would otherwise require hospitalizations for a broad range of acute conditions, including asthma, congestive heart failure, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Treatment plans combine RPM and telehealth with in-person care.
The coalition was launched by the Mayo Clinic, Medically Home and Kaiser Permanente, and includes Adventist Health, ChristianaCare, Geisinger Health, Integris, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Michigan Medicine (the University of Michigan), Novant Health, ProMedica, the Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, UNC Health and UnityPoint Health.
“Offering acute-level, hospital-quality care at home allows physicians and care teams to treat a whole person to meet their individualized care goals, while also helping address some of the social determinants of health,” Stephen Parodi, MD, executive vice president of The Permanente Foundation, part of Kaiser Permanente, said in a press release issued this morning. “This coalition supports a policy foundation for this more equitable future of healthcare.”
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Fed program uses APIs to support public health data exchange
Health agencies were overwhelmed with data flowing in at the start of the pandemic, but now have help from technology.
Oct 14 2021
Diana Manos
When the coronavirus hit last year, state and local health departments were suddenly overwhelmed with incoming data and unable to scale their systems for the load.
But a new initiative was stood up, and it serves as an example of how wide varieties of data can be managed to support public health.
The efforts were borne out of the wide range of data flooding in to agencies, said Amy Gleason, team lead of the Pandemic Ready Interoperable Modernization Effort (PRIME), a partnership of the White House’s Digital Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New pop-up point-of-care testing sites, unfamiliar with public health reporting, struggled to report data. It was far from ideal, Gleason said at session last month in the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Tech Forum, in a session entitled, “Leveraging Modern APIs to Solve National Needs.”
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EHR outages and patient safety: Protecting yourself from liability
October 14, 2021
The Facebook outage is a reminder of how crucial it is for physicians and health care facilities to protect themselves in such an event.
On October 4, 2021, the social media platform Facebook and its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp experienced an unprecedented system outage lasting over six hours.While the computer glitch inconvenienced 18 million users and adversely affected small businesses dependent on the technology for sales, it’s doubtful that anyone died. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said when system outages affect healthcare facilities.
For example, a recent lawsuit alleges that a 2019 computer crash at a Mobile, Alabama hospital contributed to the brain injury and subsequent death of a newborn baby. According to reports, when Springhill Medical Center lost access to computer systems due to a ransomware cyber-attack, staff lost functionality of critical monitoring systems including those in the obstetrics department where patient Teiranni Kidd was in labor. The suit alleges that because electronic fetal monitoring systems were down, doctors were unable to diagnose and treat the fetal distress that ultimately led to serious brain injury and later death of the baby.
Responding to the lawsuit, Springhill denied responsibility for the baby’s injuries, pointing the finger instead at Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, the obstetrician on duty. The hospital argued that the doctor chose to deliver the baby despite knowing that the computer systems were down at the facility, and that if she felt it was a risk, she should have transferred the patient.
While the answer to who is ultimately responsible for this outcome will be examined by the legal system, it begs the question of how physicians should handle patient care during a catastrophic system failure. After all, what doctor hasn’t been faced with a waiting room full of patients and a sudden unexpected EHR outage?
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76% of patients leave physician's office unsatisfied, turn to the internet to supplement visits
– 13 October, 2021
Most patients use the internet to research their health concerns after leaving their physician's appointment unsatisfied, according to an October report by the American Health Information Management Association.
Six study insights:
- Seventy-six percent of respondents said they don't leave their physician's office on a positive note. Respondents reported feeling disappointed by questions and answers exchanged, confused about their health and needing to do more research online.
- Eighty percent of respondents are likely to research their medical recommendations online after an appointment with their physician.
- Twenty-two percent of respondents said they don't feel comfortable asking their physician certain health questions.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/interoperability-still-pain-point-downside-risk-agreements
Interoperability still a pain point for downside risk agreements
A new KLAS report shows hospital executives consistently describing two technology factors as key to their progress with population health and shared savings: strong integration and timely customization.
By Kat Jercich
October 14, 2021 12:26 PM
A new report from the KLAS analytics firm examined the role downside risk contracts can play when it comes to improving outcomes and saving money.
By working with population health management vendors, KLAS explored the ways organizations can use technology and buy-in to make "significant progress" toward value-based reimbursement.
"Success with downside risk requires a lot of effort from provider organizations and their vendor partners, and both parties must be willing to put in the necessary work," observed researchers. "Leading organizations have collaborative relationships with their IT vendors and work in tandem with them to develop needed technology."
"In some cases, organizations supply data to help train models, or they may develop functionality internally that is then integrated into the technology platform. This kind of development requires heavy internal investment from the provider organization," they added.
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Provation: 26 Years of Improving Productivity and Reducing Burden
October 14, 2021
Clinicians want less screen time. To achieve that, they need software that is easy to use AND fits into their workflow. For 26 years, Provation has been working closely with their clinician customers to build a solution that makes their daily lives easier, reduces administrative burden, and allows them to spend more time with patients.
Origin Story
Provation was started by a group of clinicians at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis. These clinicians wanted to create a better way to articulate and communicate the procedure they just performed on a patient to other members of the care team.
At the time they were using a dictation solution to record their notes and those notes were stored separately from the images taken during the procedure. On top of that, there were no standards on how clinicians should record medical procedures.
This group of enterprising clinicians teamed up with young, eager programmers and in the basement of HCMC, they created a system that would allow everything about a procedure to be stored in a single place. They named their product Provation – as in productivity via innovation.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/cerner-ceo-ehr-usability-key-for-digital-health-transformation
Cerner CEO: EHR Usability Key for Digital Health Transformation
The health IT vendor’s new president and CEO, David Feinberg, MD, MBA, said EHR usability is key for advancing the digital health transformation.
October 13, 2021 - During the opening keynote at the 2021 Cerner Health Conference, the health IT vendor’s new president and CEO, David Feinberg, MD, MBA, said that EHR usability is key to the success of the digital health transformation.
“Cerner and frankly other EHR companies have done an incredible job of automating processes in digitizing medical records for more than 40 years,” he said. “In itself, that's a huge accomplishment. Digitized records, for one, need to be usable. They need to be measured by how they enable caregivers to spend even more time at the bedside and less time at the terminal.”
EHR optimization, for example, is set to cut down on clinician burden by streamlining workflows, Feinberg offered.
“Banner Health this summer worked with Cerner to improve their intake form so their nurses could spend more time helping patients and less time documenting,” Feinberg noted.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/5-strategies-to-improve-healthcare-cyber-resiliency
5 Strategies to Improve Healthcare Cyber Resiliency
Seasoned security expert and CynergisTek CEO Mac McMillian shares tips on improving healthcare cyber resiliency and safeguarding your organization against a cyberattack.
By Jill McKeon
October 13, 2021 - Cyber resiliency is the armor that healthcare organizations need to defend against cybercriminals. Equipped with the tools to prevent, prepare, and respond, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of becoming a cyberattack victim.
Mac McMillan, CEO of CynergisTek, has over 40 years of experience in security in risk management. McMillan suggests that organizations change the way they approach cybersecurity and focus on strengthening enterprise-wide security through actionable strategies.
“We have to focus on being more resilient,” McMillan emphasized. “Focus on the ability to detect, to respond, and to react in a way that allows us to either avoid to some degree or mitigate what happens when we get hit with a cyberattack.”
McMillan shared five strategies organizations should consider in order to improve healthcare cyber resiliency to prevent future cyberattacks.
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AHIMA, AMIA, EHRA Release Preliminary Report About Operationalization of the Definition of Electronic Health Information
CHICAGO – September 20, 2021 – The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) announced today the release of a preliminary report that examines key issues related to the operationalization of the definitions of electronic health information (EHI) and designated record set (DRS).
How these definitions will be operationalized by clinicians and developers are critical to successful compliance with the Cures Act Final Rule. The Cures Act Final Rule includes interoperability requirements related to information blocking and health IT certification, both of which rely on the definition of EHI, which is grounded in the definition of the designated record set as defined by HIPAA.
Last year, AHIMA, AMIA, and EHRA formed a task force to develop recommendations for a consensus-based approach to operationalizing the definition of EHI. Advancing a consensus-based approach to the definition of EHI will assist actors — including providers, health information exchanges, health information networks, and health IT developers — in complying with the Cures Act Final Rule and setting expectations on what data is EHI.
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Withings goes head-to-head with Apple, nabbing FDA OK for smartwatch to detect afib, sleep apnea
by Andrea Park
Oct 12, 2021 12:56pm
There’s a new medical-grade smartwatch in town, and it just might give the long-dominant Apple Watch a run for its money.
About a year after first becoming available in Europe, the ScanWatch from French medtech device maker Withings has received an FDA clearance, paving the way for a U.S. debut slated for early November.
Unlike the Apple Watch, which unveiled its FDA-cleared ECG app to detect signs of atrial fibrillation in 2018—three years after the device’s initial rollout—and then, in 2020, added on a pulse oximeter to measure blood oxygen levels, those and other health-tracking features are available from the get-go in the ScanWatch’s first iteration.
Withings’ FDA clearance covers its clinically validated ECG and pulse oximeter features. In addition to detecting indicators of abnormal heart rhythms and respiratory disorders, respectively, their readings are also combined with movement and pulse measurements in an algorithm that can detect breathing disturbances while a wearer is sleeping, a possible sign of sleep apnea.
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https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/withings-scores-fda-clearance-smartwatch-ecg-and-spo2-monitoring
Withings scores FDA clearance for smartwatch ECG and SpO2 monitoring
The ScanWatch was first unveiled in January 2020 and is currently on the European market.
By Laura Lovett
October 12, 2021 11:42 am
Roughly a year after the ScanWatch landed regulatory clearance in Europe, Withings finally received an FDA clearance for the wearable’s ECG and SpO2 monitoring features.
Customers in the U.S. can now use the ECG feature for atrial fibrillation detection (AFib). The watch was designed to alert users if AFib is suspected. Users can then use the tool to take a 30-second ECG reading.
The new clearance also enables SpO2 monitoring, which can check blood oxygen levels. According to the company, this measure can help detect respiratory disorders like COPD or COVID-19. The watch is also fitted with an algorithm that analyzes blood oxygen levels, heart rate, movement and respiratory rate in order to pinpoint night breathing disturbances, which is an indicator of sleep apnea.
Like previous Withings watches, the tool also lets users monitor their heart rate, sleep and fitness activity heart rate. The company is planning to roll the device out in North America in November and charging $279 for the tool.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/docs-who-spend-less-time-ehr-are-more-likely-leave-their-jobs
Docs who spend less time in the EHR are more likely to leave their jobs
Researchers in a new JAMA study said the finding is "counterintuitive" and raised necessary questions about the link between clinician burnout and employee retention.
By Kat Jercich
October 13, 2021 12:48 PM
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open this week found an association with electronic health record usage patterns and physician turnover.
But contrary to researchers' hypothesis, their analysis found that less time in the EHR – especially inbox management – was associated with provider departure.
"Low demand for a physician’s service, time on the EHR and inbox, and rates of teamwork on orders may very well be lead indicators for physicians preparing to leave practice," said the researchers.
WHY IT MATTERS
The study, led by researchers from the Yale School of Medicine, sought to examine the links between physician productivity, EHR use and physician turnover.
They did so by retrospectively examining vendor-derived EHR use data from 314 nonteaching ambulatory physicians from a New England practice network.
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Lessons Learned and Insider Tips from Four Former Healthcare CIOs
October 13, 2021
The following is guest article by Mark VanderKlipp, Senior Consultant at TiER1 Healthcare.
On September 22, Healthcare IT Today hosted a virtual panel of dynamic and inspiring former Healthcare CIOs who shared lessons learned, career secrets, and advice for current IT leaders. Moderated by Founder and Chief Editor of HealthcareScene.com John Lynn, the panel included Former CIO at MHS, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Sue Schade; Former CIO at Scripps Health, Seattle Children’s, and Steward Healthcare, Drex Deford; Former CIO at Mayo Clinic, Christi Heath, and MaineHealth Abdul Bengali; and Former CIO at Intermountain Marc Probst. TiER1 Healthcare sponsored the panel and participated in virtual table discussions with attendees.
Each panelist lives up to the billing of “Former CIO,” even though they are still well connected and, as we learned over the course of the conversation, have several past professional postings in common. When asked what they feel they can say now as opposed to when they were occupying those positions, they noted the reality of an “interim” posting: the expectation is that you are going to bring all your expertise, including perspective gained from past experiences, and tell it like it is. Rather than tempering your responses to maintain your position, they suggest embracing the role and the imperative to “tell them their baby is ugly.” They encourage all CIOs—employed or interim—to speak up assertively and continually grow in their role.
One way that’s done is by focusing on your changing role as CIO. There was an era where healthcare followed a fee-for-service model, so the CIO had a different mindset, requiring different skillsets focused on technology and reliability, which the panelists referred to frequently as “making sure the trains run on time.” Now that healthcare is transitioning to a pay-for-value structure, the mindset needs to shift: to be transformational and innovative, to be a business partner to our peers in the C-Suite.
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NCVHS panel hears potential and peril of standards adoption
Diverse opinions in moving to new standards for prior authorization show the challenge facing the healthcare industry.
Oct 11, 2021
Prior authorization remains a pain point for a variety of players in the healthcare industry. While efforts to automate information exchange are underway, there’s still concern about whether any changes can be rapidly assimilated by all players the industry.
Presentations at a listening session before the Standards Subcommittee of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics in late August highlighted both the need to find ways to solve vexing data exchange issues in the industry while concurrently gaining support from all participants.
At the listening session, HL7 and representatives from one of its accelerator programs made the case for further inclusion of HL7’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource in national efforts to expand the use of healthcare standards to increase industry efficiency.
That accelerator program, the Da Vinci Project, is already working on a set of standards and related implementation guides that could support an automated approach to prior authorization.
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Health Misinformation and the Integrity of Data—What Is the Role of HI Professionals?
By Lauralyn Kavanaugh-Burke, DrPH, RHIA, CHES, CHTS-IM
In 2018, Dictionary.com declared “misinformation” the word of the year. Initially referring to the realm of politics, misinformation can be used in any domain. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation has played an integral role in the world’s response to this scourge. Since “information” is health information management’s middle name, it is imperative that we endeavor to ensure that all health information that passes through our respective control or influence have the utmost integrity.
One of many new terms to become prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic is “infodemic.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defines infodemic as “too much information, including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak.”1 Due to the vast amount of information, good and bad, confusion about COVID-19 is rampant.
Data Quality Characteristics
As health informatics and information management professionals, we are all familiar with the 10 characteristics of data quality: accuracy, accessibility, consistency, comprehensiveness, currency, definition, granularity, relevance, precision, and timeliness. In our jobs, within whatever realm we work, we strive to achieve all of these characteristics so that sound business and medical decisions can be made, relevant research can be performed, and meaningful mitigation activities can be enhanced.
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AI in radiology is just getting started, but these 4 lessons can help practices prepare
Matt O'Connor | October 11, 2021 | AI & Emerging Technologies
Radiology departments are just beginning to deploy artificial intelligence tools in real-world clinical practice. But learning from these early adopters can help pave the way for others in the specialty.
That’s what Massachusetts General Hospital imaging experts said in a new opinion piece published Saturday in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Practices of the future will likely be outfitted with multiple AI tools, presenting a new and challenging experience for clinicians.
Tarik K. Alkasab, MD, PhD, and Bernardo C. Bizzo MD, PhD, both with the Boston health giant, hope reports from those on the front lines can benefit others who may run into similar experiences.
“As a specialty, we are just at the beginning of learning best practices for this new work, and we will need to both communicate among ourselves and with the vendors who support us to develop standard methods for incorporating them comfortably into our practice,” Alkasab and Bizzo wrote.
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5 clinical decision support platforms ranked by KLAS
- Friday, October 8th, 2021 Print | Email
COVID-19 cost pressures, system updates and the urge to standardize care have pushed hospitals and health systems to reevaluate their existing clinical decision support tools, according to a recent KLAS Research report.
For its CDS Point of Care Reference 2021 report, KLAS interviewed thousands of healthcare professionals over the past year to understand their satisfaction with and perceptions of their clinical decision support platforms.
Here are five clinical decision support platforms' overall product scores, based on a 100-point scale. Scores with an asterisk represent a platform that had limited data for the analysis.
- EBSCO Information Services: 91.7
- EBSCO & IBM's DynaMed and Micromedex: 89.1*
- Wolters Kluwer: 87.9
- IBM Watson Health: 87.4
- Elsevier: 84.0
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/mission-social-equity
On a mission for social equity
As vice president of Tencent Healthcare, Dr Alex Ng’s personal quest is to support the underprivileged and underserved in healthcare.
By Tammy Lovell
October 12, 2021 07:00 AM
Dr Alex Ng discovered during his early medical career in a role as chief resident at the Middlemore hospital in New Zealand that he wanted to support those who are underprivileged.
The hospital was a referral unit for tertiary and quaternary care for the South Pacific islands, which allowed him to witness the impact of social inequality on medical care.
He was so inspired by this experience that he chose to with the Flying Doctors in the Australian Outback as his medical elective, to see a different side of rural healthcare.
"I think that started the whole journey. Then it was my work at the Gates Foundation, where the core underpinning of what the foundation stands for is to actually serve the underprivileged and underserved," he explains.
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Cyber experts warn of 'aggressive' threat actor targeting healthcare
Analysts from Mandiant Intelligence say FIN12 has been behind multiple ransomware attacks on hospitals and other provider organizations dating back at least to October 2018.
By Kat Jercich
October 12, 2021 11:34 AM
The security firm Mandiant Intelligence has raised the alarm about FIN12, the threat actor behind ransomware attacks disproportionately affecting the healthcare sector.
Mandiant characterized FIN12 as "aggressive" and "financially motivated," specializing in ransomware deployment while relying on other bad actors to gain access to victims.
"FIN12’s operations provide illustration that no target is off limits when it comes to ransomware attacks, including those that provide critical care functions," wrote researchers in the report.
"Almost 20% of directly observed FIN12 victims were in the healthcare industry, and many of these organizations operate medical facilities," they added.
WHY IT MATTERS
According to Mandiant, FIN12-orchestrated ransomware attacks reach back years, to at least October 2018.
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COVID-19, artificial intelligence and the benefits of multi-method modeling
The idea is to integrate different methods of modeling to overcome the limitations of individual research approaches – and to gain the most public health insights from each.
By Bill Siwicki
October 12, 2021 12:46 PM
Dr. Lauren Neal, leader of research and consulting firm Booz Allen's health AI practice, is a proponent of taking a multi-method approach to modeling COVID-19 disease dynamics in artificial intelligence.
She believes a multi-method approach provides a better understanding of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases – how they spread and impact communities, with the goal of being better prepared for future public health threats.
She also believes a "virtual laboratory" can be used to investigate a wide range of what-if scenarios, and easily adapted to future high-consequence public health threats.
Healthcare IT News sat down with Neal to talk about these approaches and how AI can help with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Speculation of $10 Billion Epic Deal with NHS England – Would That Help?
October 12, 2021
In a recent speculative piece by Jon Hoeksma on Digital Health, he looks as what a national deal with Epic could look like for NHS. The speculation was started when current director of transformation at NHS England, Ian O’Neil, met with Judy Faulkner from Epic. Plus, Tim Ferris, new head of digital transformation at NHS England, joined from Massachusetts General Hospital which deployed Epic back in 2016 and supposedly Ferris is a fan.
Clearly, this is speculation, but the article does note that 5 NHS acute trusts already have Epic including Cambridge University hospitals. However, there are 133 other acute trusts in England that use something else. What was fascinating was to hear the reason for why a previous effort to have a single EHR solution (they call it EPR or electronic patient record) called NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) failed after working on this effort from 2003-2011.
In subsequent reports and investigations of the NPfIT the National Audit Office concluded that the top-down national approach had failed to recognise the very different local circumstances between hospitals and failed to secure the support and commitment of local clinicians.
Looking at this reasoning, I’d be very careful if I’m NHS to implement Epic across all of NHS. Epic has a very high quality product, but they are also inflexible with many of their approaches. If NHS hospitals like their autonomy and have different local circumstances, that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/with-a-new-leader-ocr-to-focus-on-risk-analysis-hipaa-enforcement
With A New Leader, OCR to Focus on Risk Analysis, HIPAA Enforcement
OCR’s appointment of a new director signifies a shift for the office and presents implications for the future of HIPAA enforcement and security and privacy regulations.
By Jill McKeon
October 11, 2021 - HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced the appointment of a new director, Lisa J. Pino, who will take over the office’s oversight of civil rights enforcement, HIPAA regulations, security, privacy, and breach notification rulemaking.
Pino will follow Roger Severino, OCR’s former director under the Trump Administration, and Robinsue Frohboese, the office’s acting director between administrations.
Pino’s resume includes time as the executive deputy commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, where she led New York’s COVID-19 operational response, and a previous role as a senior executive service official at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
At DHS, Pino led cyber breach mitigation efforts surrounding the largest breach in federal history. Prior to DHS, Pino served as the deputy administrator of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and as the department’s deputy assistant secretary for civil rights.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/biden-to-convene-30-nation-meeting-to-combat-ransomware
Biden to Convene 30-Nation Meeting to Combat Ransomware
President Biden announced that the United States will bring together 30 countries for a meeting to discuss and combat ransomware and cybercrime.
By Jill McKeon
October 11, 2021 - President Biden announced that the United States would assemble a meeting of 30 countries to discuss how to combat and mitigate ransomware and cyber threats. The action builds upon Biden’s executive order issued in May aimed at improving the nation’s cybersecurity in the wake of multiple cyberattacks on US critical infrastructure entities.
“This month, the United States will bring together 30 countries to accelerate our cooperation in combatting cybercrime, improving law enforcement collaboration, stemming the illicit use of cryptocurrency, and engaging on these issues diplomatically,” explained a White House press release.
“We are building a coalition of nations to advocate for and invest in trusted 5G technology and to better secure our supply chains. And, we are bringing the full strength of our capabilities to disrupt malicious cyber activity, including managing both the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence.”
In July, the Administration issued a National Security Memorandum outlining the steps that stakeholders and critical infrastructure entities should take to safeguard their operations against malicious hackers.
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ONC announces new interoperability program for federal partners
by Dave Muoio
Oct 8, 2021 4:15pm
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has rolled out a new initiative that seeks to standardize the healthcare data sets federal agencies with specific needs that aren’t being addressed by the current baseline.
Called USCDI+, the initiative builds on the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI), the first version of which was adopted as part of the ONC’s 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule.
This new process will support federal partners “who have a need to establish, harmonize and advance the use of interoperable datasets that extend beyond the core data in the USCDI in order to meet agency-specific programmatic requirements,” ONC wrote in an announcement blog post.
Coordinating this identification and establishment process through the formal USCDI+ initiative will allow ONC to ensure any additions to federal partners’ data requirements are built from a singular USCDI foundation, the office wrote.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/language-healthcare-it
The Language of Healthcare IT
Throughout her career, Dr Hyeoun-Ae Park of Seoul National University has researched the use of standardised terminologies, vocabularies, and detailed clinical models in electronic health records.
By Tammy Lovell
October 11, 2021 04:14 AM
Healthcare providers need to embrace digital transformation “for patient safety, faster claims for national health insurance reimbursement and to produce quality data for better care and research,” according to Dr Hyeoun-Ae Park, Emeritus dean at the Systems Biomedical Informatics Research Center of Seoul National University.
Dr Park is one of the speakers at the HIMSS21 APAC Conference discussing Healthcare of tomorrow today: Building futureproof health systems.
One of her consistent research themes is the use of standardised medical terminologies, and most recently she has been working on a project to introduce and disseminate the international standard SNOMED CT in Korea. This includes “training and educating policy makers, decision makers, implementers and mappers on what, why, when and how to use SNOMED CT,” Dr Park says.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/what-cybersecurity-tools-and-strategies-are-gaining-importance
What cybersecurity tools and strategies are gaining in importance?
The CEO of CynergisTek discusses findings from the consulting firm's annual cybersecurity report, and talks about the future of security in healthcare.
By Bill Siwicki
October 11, 2021 11:59 AM
The healthcare industry has labored through a challenging 18 months brought on by COVID-19, especially healthcare organizations that faced a record number of cyberattacks, which only compounded their ability to efficiently and effectively care for patients.
Unfortunately, these attempts by malicious actors to compromise healthcare systems and patient data show few signs of slowing. As a result, it's more important than ever for healthcare organizations to implement systems and measures to protect themselves against digital attacks.
To help guide healthcare CISOs' and CIOs' efforts, Healthcare IT News interviewed Mac McMillan, who recently returned to the CEO role at CynergisTek, the cybersecurity consultancy he cofounded.
McMillan discusses the current healthcare security, privacy and compliance landscape, and how healthcare organizations can ensure safe operations and protected patient data in the long term. He also talks about key findings from CynergisTek's annual report on healthcare systems' cybersecurity, and industry trends and the future of healthcare cybersecurity.
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Broadband Access and Connectivity for Telehealth and RPM
October 11, 2021
Telehealth comes with a number of important challenges. COVID did teach us that none of those challenges can’t be overcome. However, it’s not hard to see that many healthcare organizations are slipping back into old habits. You’ll often hear me talk about the powerful force that is “how we’ve always done it.” However, in the case of telehealth, the real key for me is the telehealth value equation.
The cliff notes version of the telehealth value equation is that telehealth is better for patients (often dramatically better), but it’s not for doctors. In fact, as payment parity has been slipping away, telehealth can often be much worse for a doctor. However, even if payment is the same, telehealth does very little to relieve the doctor from what they’re required to do during a visit. That’s not a good recipe for success.
While these are challenges, they are challenges that aren’t technically hard to overcome. Just pay doctors more for telehealth (or at least the same). However, even with payment parity, telehealth still faces other challenges that I keep hearing about. It’s hard for many of us that are largely affluent and live in big cities to understand, but many people don’t have access to broadband internet. No internet makes telehealth a real challenge. In fact, there’s no telehealth value equation without connectivity.
Deanna Larson, President of Avel eCare in South Dakota, recently testified about this challenge at the Senate’s telehealth hearing. Larson shared something really amazing about the role telehealth has played during COVID:
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https://histalk2.com/2021/10/08/weekender-10-8-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Virgin Pulse announces that it will acquire Welltok.
- Healthcare Triangle revises its $40 million IPO plans down to $21 million.
- Carbon Health acquires remote patient monitoring tools vendor Alertive Healthcare.
- Evolent Health acquires Vital Decisions.
- Cerner launches RevElate, which will be its single go-forward patient accounting system.
- Three large health systems launch Graphite Health, a non-profit that will help member organizations with digital health solutions.
- Quality measurement and clinical intelligence platform vendor Apervita shuts down.
- David Feinberg, MD, MBA takes the helm as president and CEO of Cerner.
- Cerner, reversing its previous position, will require US employees to be vaccinated by December 8.
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Enjoy!
David.
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