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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Spike in Remote Patient Monitoring Driven by Handful of Providers
New research found that the COVID-19 pandemic led to expanded use of remote patient monitoring, but the increase was largely driven by a small number of primary care providers.
September 09, 2022 - A study published in Health Affairs found that a small fraction of primary care physicians drove a more than four-fold increase in remote patient monitoring (RPM) use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though RPM was being used prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in care delivery amid in-person restrictions led to a significant rise in use.
In this study, researchers aimed to gather data regarding how RPM is used to help educate policymakers as they make decisions regarding regulations and reimbursement for the care modality.
Researchers collected data on medical claims for 20 million Medicare Advantage enrollees between Jan. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2021. They gathered several pieces of claim-specific information, including dates of service, associated procedure codes, motivating diagnoses, and de-identified provider IDs.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2022/08/why-mobilised-data-is-the-most-valuable-tool-in-healthcare/
Why mobilised data is the most valuable tool in healthcare
As chief clinical Information officer (CCIO) at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Martin Farrier feels there should be a shift in focus from what is inputted into an EPR system towards what is outputted, such that the information can be mobilised and enable improvements to care practices. Dr Farrier explains why mobilised data is the most valuable tool in healthcare and that this will especially be the case as we work to achieve the plans set out in the Data Saves Lives strategy in an Integrated Care System (ICS) context.
DHI News Team – 13 August 2022
Reflecting on the start of the pandemic, the data we held was collected for a single purpose and could only really be used for that purpose. We did not have the tools to extract data effectively and the data was too often entered in a way that could not be searched. Typically, that was as free text entry. Seeking to alter the way that we collect data can make it transferrable. The journey that data makes is important and its mobility enables it to be more than a single point.
Learning lessons from Covid-19
Covid-19 forced us to design systems that didn’t exist. Whilst they were needed for the recording of care, they were designed with the knowledge that the data generated from the system would be needed to plan services. Once we managed to develop the systems and configure our EPR to help create a database of Covid-19 patients that could be used and updated in real time, we were able to streamline our processes. This helped garner an accurate list of people at a time when this was unique. We could identify all the positive tests, and then cross-check that with the clinical notes and confirm true cases, admissions and outcomes.
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https://medcitynews.com/2022/09/how-hospitals-can-address-medical-device-vulnerabilities/
How hospitals can address medical device vulnerabilities
Historically, medical devices weren’t connected, and too often security is still an afterthought for manufacturers. But make no mistake: they are cyber assets, and often riddled with vulnerabilities and recalls.
By Tamer Baker
Sep 5, 2022 at 10:00 AM
Hospitals rely heavily on medical devices and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices to deliver high-quality patient care and improve outcomes. With an average of 10-15 medical devices per bed in a U.S. hospital, a 1,000-bed hospital could have up to 15,000 medical devices to manage. Unfortunately, with the proliferation of medical devices and IoMT comes an ever-increasing attack surface.
Cyberattacks on medical devices can lead to misdiagnosis or missed treatments, resulting in serious injury, or loss of life, as well as significant loss of business and reputational damage. Since these assets are critical to their mission, healthcare organizations must work diligently to secure them.
Cybersecurity challenges
Medical device and IoMT vulnerabilities strike fear in clinicians, biomedical engineers, CISOs and network security administrators alike, for good reason. Securing these assets poses many challenges.
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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/980269
Pandemic Led to Surge in Remote Patient Monitoring
Marcus A. Banks
Devices that remotely transmit people's weight, blood pressure, and glucose levels to physicians exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people were socially isolating, according to a study published September 6 in Health Affairs. This uptick was not evenly distributed, however, with a small number of primary care physicians generating the most billing claims.
The idea is that physicians will adjust patient care plans in response to these data feeds from remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices, the researchers said, adding that people with multiple chronic conditions, such as hypertension or uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, might benefit the most. But the researchers did not find pinpoint targeting of RPM services to people at greater risk.
At least one observer noted that the billing distribution was so lopsided — 0.1% of providers in this sample submitted 69% of the claims — that it could indicate fraud.
"People were probably billing these codes without actually doing very much real remote patient monitoring," Joseph Ross, MD, MHS, a professor of medicine and public health at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, who was not involved in the analysis but studies trends in clinical adoption of tools such as RPM devices.
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How Home Healthcare Organizations Are Staying Connected
Home healthcare providers are no strangers to mobility. Cloud-based tools and digital patient access are taking their strategies to the next level.
Most older adults hope to age at home or within their current community. Some 77 percent of adults age 50 or older would prefer to remain in their current residence, according to a 2021 AARP survey. And that goal to age in place is well within reach as home healthcare organizations find support through digital transformation.
With about 10,000 in the U.S. turning 65 every day, demand is increasing for home care services. The care-at-home industry, which includes skilled at-home caregiving and medical care, is expanding rapidly to keep up. The CAH market is expected to reach nearly $294 billion by 2026, according to Brandessence Market Research.
CAH has been somewhat digitally mature for several decades now, but new technologies are helping make home care even more efficient for workers and beneficial for patient well-being, according to industry expert Keith Crownover, associate partner at Stoneridge Partners.
“What people don’t realize is that the home care industry has been automated to a high degree since the mid-1990s,” Crownover says. “Home care professionals have been remote workers forever. They were documenting electronically while the clinical space lagged somewhat.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-virtual-reality-turning-surgical-training-upside-down
How virtual reality is turning surgical training upside-down
"VR's level of genuineness gives users a truly authentic experience that you see and feel immediately," says one surgeon, who offers an in-depth look at the technology. "It's wildly impressive."
By Bill Siwicki
September 09, 2022 10:05 AM
The field of orthopedics is highly complex and continually evolving, particularly as the fast and furious pace of new surgical devices and technologies accelerates.THE PROBLEM
The importance of highly effective, accessible tools and resources, in addition to exposure to hands-on surgical training, is critical.
"Amid the digital acceleration of healthcare transformation, we can no longer rely on the age-old mantra, 'See one, do one, teach one,' to train the next generation of surgeons," said Dr. Cory Calendine, chief of orthopedic surgery at Williamson Medical Center and orthopedic surgeon and founder of the Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee.
"Rather, we should implore them to 'Do as many as possible,'" he continued. "In fact, the more practice a resident or attending surgeon can conduct, the more proficient they will become."
With the aggressive pace of new devices, technologies and techniques, it becomes ever more important to track and measure performance metrics. These shortfalls in proficiency can come with real consequences for patients, surgeons and their healthcare institutions.
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Direct line between hospital cyberattacks and patient mortality, report shows
The Ponemon Institute and Proofpoint study found that more than 20% of those healthcare organizations hit with a ransomware attack or other IT compromise experienced an increase in mortality rates.
By Mike Miliard
September 09, 2022 11:11 AM
A new cybersecurity report this week had some sobering statistics illustrating just how commonplace network attacks have become across healthcare.The survey, which polled more than 640 IT and security leaders, found that 89% of the surveyed organizations experienced an average of 43 attacks over the past year – averaging almost an attack each week.
WHY IT
MATTERS
Worse, the Ponemon Institute study, sponsored by Proofpoint, also found that cyber
incursions are now routinely impacting patient safety at U.S. hospitals and
health systems.
The report, "Cyber Insecurity in Healthcare: The Cost and Impact on Patient Safety and Care," showed respondents saying cyberattacks are routinely delaying procedures and tests – with 57% saying that results in poor patient outcomes and 50% citing increased complications from medical procedures.
Perhaps the most alarming stat was this one: of those health systems experiencing the four most common types of cyberattacks, 20% said they have subsequently experienced increased patient mortality rates.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/telehealth/oig-audit-backs-medicare-telehealth-integrity
OIG Audit Backs Medicare Telehealth Integrity
Analysis | By John Commins | September 08, 2022
However, 'high risk' providers billed the program for $127.7 million for telehealth services in the first year of the pandemic.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· The first year of the coronavirus pandemic saw massive infusions of federal money and relaxed oversight by HHS of telemedicine services.
· High-risk providers represent only 0.2% of the audit sample, but they billed Medicare and collected $127.7 million in FFS payments between March 2020 and February 2021.
· The American Telemedicine Association calls the report "another clear statement outlining the resounding success of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic."
First the good news.
Only 1,714 of the 742,000 providers who billed Medicare and Medicare Advantage for telehealth services for about 28 million beneficiaries during the first year of the pandemic "posed a high risk" to the program integrity, a federal audit shows.
Now the not-so-good news.
These high-risk providers represent only 0.2% of the audit sample, but they billed for about 500,000 beneficiaries and collected $127.7 million in Medicare fee-for-service payments for care provided between March 2020 and February 2021, according to an audit by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.
The first year of the coronavirus pandemic saw massive infusions of federal money and relaxed oversight by HHS of telemedicine services, as more than 28 million Medicare beneficiaries —about 2 in 5 — used telehealth in that first year of the pandemic, about 88 times more than in the previous year.
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https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/how-digital-transformation-driving-action-healthcare/
How digital transformation is driving action in healthcare
Country Lead, Healthcare, World Economic Forum
Director, Country Health Information Systems and Data Use (CHISU)
Global Health
· Digital transformation in healthcare is growing rapidly year-on-year.
· Health information systems are designed to manage healthcare data.
· CHISU project is helping countries in their digital transformation journey.
Digital transformation has been a hot topic in the healthcare industry in recent years. Spending on digital transformation surpassed $1.3 trillion worldwide and it is growing at a whopping 10.4% year on year. In a study conducted by Deloitte, around 92% of healthcare professionals and institutes achieved better performance from digital transformation.
It has become a common term in the media but many people still ask, “What does digital transformation actually mean?” Most tend to believe that it is all about the latest technology and systems, and forget that there are different aspects to consider, particularly how people and technology interact.
Digital transformation happens when interactions among institutions and clients help enable positive changes in the health information system. It is more of an organizational change and it enables improvement in health systems agility, thereby improving operational excellence and patient experience, as well as reducing costs.
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Patient Education, Nurses Cut Medication Adherence Woes by A Third
Patient education and nurse feedback programs helped Johns Hopkins Medicine address lapses in medication adherence for acute care, post-op patients.
By Sara Heath
September 08, 2022 - A group of researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine may have cracked the code on medication adherence, outlining two viable options involving patient education and nurse feedback to increase the number of patients taking life-saving medications after surgery.
Particularly, the researchers found that both a patient education bundle and a nurse feedback program helped reduce the number of patients foregoing a low-dose blood thinner after an operation.
Medication adherence to post-operative medications can be a big problem for healthcare organizations working toward better clinical outcomes. In post-surgery care, adherence to a low-dose blood thinner can help prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE)—or deep vein thrombosis (DVT)—but all too often, patients skip the medication.
“According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, VTE kills some 100,000 people each year, with approximately half developing their VTE associated with hospitalization,” study lead author Elliott Haut, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, stated publicly. “We’ve shown that an effective intervention can help bring those numbers down for patients who are hospitalized.”
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How Healthcare Cyberattacks Can Impact Patient Safety, Care Delivery
Surveyed healthcare security professionals reported adverse patient safety effects resulting from healthcare cyberattacks, including a hike in mortality rates and longer hospital stays.
By Jill McKeon
September 08, 2022 - Along with documented financial losses and reputational harm, healthcare cyberattacks have been known to endanger patient safety and adversely impact care delivery.
With the goal of understanding how various healthcare cyberattack types can impact patient safety, Proofpoint commissioned Ponemon Institute to survey IT and IT security professionals in the healthcare sector. The survey included self-reported responses from 641 experts in the field.
Patient Safety Implications
Specifically, researchers focused on four common types of healthcare cyberattacks: ransomware, business email compromise (BEC) attacks, cloud compromises, and supply chain attacks. Nearly 90 percent of all survey respondents said that their organizations had experienced at least one cyberattack in the past 12 months.
Although correlation and causation are difficult to determine with absolute certainty, the results showed that survey respondents with day-to-day experience in the field have felt the tangible impacts a cyberattack can have on patient care at alarming rates.
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Records systems for post-acute care settings rise in importance
Home care and LTC facilities look for more interoperability, analytics and care coordination to support transitions in patient care.
Sep 06 2022
Editor in Chief, HDM
As value-based care tales hold, more attention is being paid to transitions of care, and ensuring that patient information follows patients as they move between different care settings.
The transfer of patients to post-acute care often has been challenging because the industry has lacked sophisticated records systems organizations providing care in patients’ homes or in long-term care settings.
That’s changing with the emergence and evolution of post-acute care product suites, according to a recent report from KLAS Research. And these providers are pushing for technology that’s appropriate for the care they need to provide, as well as the interactions they need to have with larger health systems.
“Most providers in post-acute care settings want technology built for their specific area, but they face challenges with interoperability, analytics, value-based reimbursements and care coordination,” the KLAS report notes.
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https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/otolith-labs-finds-its-footing-20m-vertigo-treatment-wearable
Otolith Labs finds footing with $20M for vertigo-treating wearable
By Andrea Park
Sep 7, 2022 11:57am
Medical device startups are tasked with quite the balancing act: They’re developing new products while simultaneously fundraising to support that development and working with regulatory agencies to bring the products to market.
So far, Otolith Labs is staying steady. The Washington, D.C.-based startup—named for the organs of the inner ear—has built a nerve-stimulating wearable device that aims to relieve the symptoms of chronic vertigo. It already has the FDA’s ear since earning the agency’s breakthrough designation last year.
Next up, Otolith will launch a pivotal trial of the noninvasive Vestibular System Masking (nVSM) technology. If successful, the results will be submitted to the FDA for full clearance for the device to make its U.S. commercial debut. All of those efforts will be supported by series A funding announced Wednesday, which brought in $20 million for the company.
The entire round came courtesy of Morningside Ventures. It’s more than six times bigger than Otolith’s previous financing, which brought in $3.3 million in seed funding last year from a cadre of investors that included serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban, himself a subject of inner ear issues.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2022/09/08/chaos-continues-after-ransomware-hits-uks-nhs/
Chaos Continues After Ransomware Hits UK’s NHS
September 8, 2022
The following is a guest article by Itay Bochner, Director of Malware Analysis at OPSWAT.
Patients can’t get their medicine, psychiatrists can’t add reports to the system and provide their professional opinion in court, and only last week was the medical helpline number 111 restored. The manual logging of patient records is resulting in piles of paper documentation, which doctors are saying could take months to input into the online system once it’s restored.
The ransomware attack on Advanced, one of the UK’s biggest software providers for its National Healthcare System, is turning into one of the biggest cyberattacks ever to happen in healthcare. Over 20 days have passed since the health services’ cloud provider was attacked by ransomware. Since then, providers and patients have had no access to medical records – causing chaos and broader societal impact.
Even more alarming, Advanced estimated it could take a few more weeks before they see a full restoration of services, leaving many questions about why recovery is taking so long and what could’ve been in place prior to the attack to reduce recovery time.
Why the Wait?
While we can only speculate at this time, the lengthy recovery time could either be due to Advanced’s production environment and the last backup not being up to date. Another possibility could be that the backup is also infected with the malware, and recovering it will not help, forcing them to go way back or build it again.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2022/09/08/important-5g-benefits-for-healthcare/
Important 5G Benefits for Healthcare
September 8, 2022
It seems everywhere you look these days you see ads for 5G. It’s the “new thing” when it comes to telecommunications. It reminds me when “the cloud” was first introduced – not many people knew what it really was and yet leading vendors like Microsoft and IBM were pushing it. Cloud was this amorphous “thing” that could magically solve business problems. The same is happening with 5G right now. It’s tough to know what is real and what is hype. This is especially true about 5G + healthcare. How will the technology help? Where can it be used effectively?
These were the questions in my head when I sat down to read an e-Book from Corning titled 4 Reasons Why 5G and Healthcare Make Sense. I was somewhat familiar with 5G, but I didn’t know some of the details and what it meant for healthcare. The biggest surprise for me was that the 5G provided by the major telecommunications companies won’t likely be available at most healthcare facilities. Unlike 3G and 4G signals, which can penetrate the walls of hospitals and medical buildings, 5G signals from outside antennas are unlikely to be strong enough to be used by people inside. That means healthcare organizations will need to invest in the necessary infrastructure to make 5G available inside their buildings.
What does this look like? Download the e-Book for the details. For me, the core idea is that healthcare organizations need to seriously consider investing in a wireless-first 5G network with a fiber backbone. I see this very similar to when healthcare started to invest in WiFi. Forward thinking organizations started deploying WiFi early so they were ready for the need for higher speeds, new devices, and quicker response times. Not considering 5G for your healthcare organization is similar to ignoring WiFi. You might be able to do that for a short time, but it will eventually catch up with you.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/large-health-it-networks-unveil-plans-to-become-qhin-under-tefca
Large Health IT Networks Unveil Plans to Become QHIN Under TEFCA
Joining as a QHIN under TEFCA intends to provide greater interoperability offerings and allow organizations to participate in a network that works together to share clinical data.
September 07, 2022 - As the Sequoia project expects to open the TEFCA QHIN application on October 3, several organizations have announced their intentions to apply.
TEFCA, published earlier by ONC, outlines a standard set of principles, terms, and conditions to support the development of a Common Agreement, which establishes the technical infrastructure and governing approach to support data exchange between healthcare organizations.
These networks connect to support health information exchange and further interoperability nationwide.
CommonWell Health Alliance
Health data sharing network CommonWell Health Alliance has announced its plan to become one of the first Qualified Health Information Networks (QHIN) in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/hie-participation-supports-data-exchange-for-64-of-shared-patients
HIE Participation Supports Data Exchange for 64% of Shared Patients
Researchers noted that national HIE initiatives, such as TEFCA, could help close data exchange gaps.
September 07, 2022 - Almost four-fifths of hospitals participated in health information exchange (HIE) networks in 2018, supporting data exchange for about two-thirds of shared patients, according to a study published in Medical Care.
Researchers used a combination of data sources to measure electronic connectivity between US hospitals. Unlike prior measures based on whether a given hospital does or does not participate in an HIE network, the study analyzed connectivity from the network perspective (i.e., when a hospital is connected to some hospitals but not others).
The researchers found that both community and vendor/national HIEs covered a substantial percent of shared patients, lending support to the national policy strategy that has fostered the development of these networks.
However, almost all remaining patients were treated at hospitals where both hospitals participated in different HIE networks, or one organization participated in a network while the other did not.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/adverse-event-rate-similar-for-remote-in-home-physician-visits
Adverse Event Rate Similar for Remote, In-Home Physician Visits
New research shows a small difference in the number of adverse events among patients receiving in-home physician visits and those receiving remote care.
September 07, 2022 - While researching the outcomes associated with various types of physician visits, a study published in JAMA Network Open found that the benefits of in-home physician visits did not widely differ from those associated with remote physician visits.
Although the recent growth in remote care is widely regarded as beneficial for patients and providers, questions surrounding its benefits compared to in-home care methods remain.
For the study, a group of researchers examined data from 172 patients at an academic medical center, all requiring hospital-level care for various conditions, including infection, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma. All data used in the study was gathered from Aug. 3, 2019, to March 26, 2020.
To measure and compare the results associated with in-home and remote care, researchers studied the number of adverse events, such as accidents and injuries, using it as the primary unit of measurement. The number of adverse events was measured using Poisson regression at a noninferiority scale of 10 events per 100 patients.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/clinical-diagnoses-similar-during-telehealth-in-person-visits
Clinical Diagnoses Similar During Telehealth, In-Person Visits
New research shows that diagnoses provided during a video-based telehealth visit matched the in-person reference standard diagnoses in 86.9 percent of cases.
September 07, 2022 - While comparing diagnostic consistency between different methods of care, a JAMA Network Study found high levels of diagnostic concordance between telehealth and in-person visits overall.
Although many providers see telehealth as immensely useful, the reliability and accuracy of the care modality can be unclear. To investigate the relationship between virtual and traditional in-person care methods, researchers used clinician diagnostic concordance as a unit of measurement.
The sample used in the study contained data from 2,393 participants from an academic integrated multispecialty healthcare institution. The median age of the participants was 53, and 57.7 percent were female.
Of the 2,393 cases, 2,080 (86.9 percent) displayed diagnostic concordance between virtual and in-person visits. Researchers also used the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, to compare concordance among different conditions. Researchers found diagnostic concordance levels as low as 64.7 percent for conditions related to the ear and mastoid process and as high as 96.8 percent for neoplasms.
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https://www.statnews.com/2022/09/06/google-tuberculosis-artificial-intelligence/
Google debuts a new AI tool in the global fight against tuberculosis
By Casey Ross Sept. 6, 2022
Tuberculosis kills 1.4 million people every year, primarily in places where poverty and deprivation conspire to make people uniquely vulnerable, and unable to get lifesaving care in time.
Google is now joining a global fight to snuff out the disease, using AI to automate its detection — and expedite treatment — in communities where physicians are in short supply. A new study published Tuesday in Radiology, the journal of the Radiological Society of North America, found that its AI model performed as well as radiologists at detecting tuberculosis on chest X-rays.
Google is not the first to develop an AI system to detect TB, nor is its tool likely to make a dent in death rates anytime soon. But outside experts said its early results are especially promising given their consistency across diverse populations of patients. The model met or exceeded performance standards set by the World Health Organization when tested on historical patient data drawn from China, India, the United States, and Zambia.
“Unlike much of the data published about AI, (Google’s) study was large and used different training sets, which showed their system is robust,” said Edith Marom, the head of thoracic imaging at Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Israel.
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Healthcare AI company Iodine Software teams with TruCode to improve hospitals' clinical documentation
Sep 7, 2022 09:00am
Iodine SoftwareArtificial IntelligenceBilling and Codingmachine learning
Health tech company Iodine Software and coding software platform TruCode are collaborating to upend clinical administration using artificial intelligence.
Austin, Texas-based Iodine Software developed artificial intelligence-powered software solutions to address automation for clinical administration and revenue cycle management. The company's AwareCDI Suite identifies and captures mid-revenue cycle leakages, like discrepancies in reimbursement and clinical documentation, to make sure healthcare services are accurately coded and to optimize revenues.
Through the partnership, Iodine Software will integrate TruCode's coding resources directly into its AwareCDI suite. The combined solutions will provide clinical documentation improvement teams with easy access to detailed diagnosis and procedure code reference information directly in their workflows, in addition to access to complete official code books, according to the company.
The technology will help support accurate capture of documentation and code assignment resulting in appropriate claim reimbursement, accurate reporting of patient outcomes and reduced claims denials, according to the companies.
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Pandemic-era telehealth expansion reduced opioid overdoses, study shows
By Annie Burky
Sep 2, 2022 01:00pm
Expanded use of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with reduced risk of opioid overdoses, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found.
The study split 175,000 Medicaid beneficiaries between those who initiated opioid use disorder (OUD) care before the pandemic and after the outbreak. Patients in the COVID-19 pandemic group were more likely to receive OUD-related telehealth care and corresponding medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), experts said. Those who received telehealth care were also more likely to retain medical treatments. Beneficiaries who were Black or lived in the south were less likely to receive telehealth services, the study found.
“The expansion of telehealth services for people with substance use disorders during the pandemic has helped to address barriers to accessing medical care for addiction throughout the country that have long existed,” said Wilson Compton, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and senior author of the study, in a press release. “Telehealth is a valuable service and when coupled with medications for opioid use disorder can be lifesaving. This study adds to the evidence showing that expanded access to these services could have a longer-term positive impact if continued.”
Roughly 1 in 8 beneficiaries in the pandemic group received OUD-related telehealth services compared with 1 in 800 in the prepandemic group, the research revealed. Access to telehealth services was associated with better treatment retention and lower risk of medically treated overdose in the pandemic group compared to those not receiving telehealth services.
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Concerns about the future of AI are deterring students from pursuing radiology, survey shows
Hannah Murphy | September 02, 2022 | Education & Training
The way medical students perceive emerging technology has a significant impact on decisions regarding their future medical careers, new survey data show.
According to the new data, students believe that emerging technologies (ET), such as artificial intelligence, could eventually render some specialties obsolete. In fact, 23% of the 532 students surveyed shared that they would not consider pursuing a career in diagnostic radiology, as they feel it would limit their future job prospects.
The survey data were published recently in Academic Radiology, where corresponding author of the paper Michael K. Atalay MD, PhD, of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at Rhode Island Hospital, Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University, and colleagues discussed how current beliefs surrounding technological advancements will affect the future of medicine:
“Although it is impossible to predict how the practice of medicine will evolve due to technological advancements, current perceptions will likely affect the paths that medical students take as they attempt to plan their careers. The perceived impact of ET on various specialties may have subtle or substantial impact on decision-making.”
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https://journal.ahima.org/page/field-notes-patient-portal-a-technological-tool-for-health-literacy
September 06, 2022 · Health Data · Privacy and Security
Field Notes: Patient Portal – A Technological Tool for Health Literacy
Organizational Background
The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is a biomedical research hospital and the delivery setting for NIH intramural clinical research protocols. The hospital contains 200 inpatient beds, 93 day hospital stations, 15 outpatient care clinics, and more than 1,600 research laboratories. The CC admits patients from all over the world for clinical trials and natural history studies and provides hospital services-based support for 17 of the 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) of the NIH Intramural Research Program. This large portfolio of research studies requires an acute focus on patient safety, timely and effective clinical care, and thorough clinical and research documentation. To support these patient care and research activities, the NIH utilizes an electronic health record (EHR) solution called the Clinical Research Information System (CRIS). The CC also utilizes a patient portal to ensure patients have access to information from their EHRs.
The CC’s unique, clinical research environment provides support for research participants (patients) from across the globe. Many of these patients have rare, life-threatening illnesses, conditions, and diseases. These patients have great knowledge about their diseases, often seeking out care from a variety of healthcare organizations. CC patients often travel long distances seeking help, often as their last hope when dealing with these very rare diseases or debilitating chronic conditions. They have a history of having many medical procedures and testing completed with a high volume of results to keep track of and monitor. They want to be knowledgeable about their health status and be able to access medical information and results quickly and easily.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/cvs-to-acquire-home-health-provider-signify-health-for-8b
CVS to Acquire Home Health Provider Signify Health for $8B
After winning a bidding war, CVS will buy Signify Health in an all-cash transaction, gaining access to its nationwide clinician network and analytics solutions focused on home-based care.
By Anuja Vaidya
September 06, 2022 - CVS Health plans to purchase home healthcare company Signify Health in a deal valuing approximately $8 billion.
Rumors of a potential deal surfaced early last month when the Wall Street Journal reported that CVS Health was going to make a bid for the company, sending Signify Health's stock soaring. It then emerged that CVS was competing against UnitedHealth Group, Amazon, and Option Care Health, among others, for the company. According to Bloomberg, as of Aug. 22, UnitedHealth Group had submitted the highest bid for Signify Health, followed closely by Amazon.
But CVS Health won, making a deal to buy the company for $30.50 per share in cash.
Signify Health includes a network of more than 10,000 clinicians nationwide that determine patients' clinical and social needs through home-based visits, connecting them to follow-up care and community-based resources to meet those needs. It also offers analytics solutions to help healthcare organizations establish and grow value-based payment programs and drive care into the home.
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ottawa-hospital-experiencing-critical-network-154626065.html
'Critical' network failure at all 3 campuses of The Ottawa Hospital resolved
Sat, September 3, 2022 at 1:46 a.m.
Operating rooms were on hold and some appointments were cancelled after a critical network failure Friday morning across all The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) sites.
According to information provided to hospital staff and obtained by CBC News, a "hardware issue" was discovered at about 5 a.m. Friday, resulting in a network failure that affected multiple software systems.
As a result the hospital entered into a critical infrastructure failure code grey, which remained in place Friday afternoon.
Affected systems included: EPIC (an electronic health records management system), PACs (picture archiving and communication systems), Cerner (a suite of medical software), Rhapsody and SPOK Mobile paging.
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8 changes to make to your EHR that can save hours every day
Tanya Albert Henry
Contributing News Writer
Want to eliminate up to 50% of a physician’s EHR workload? Achieving that goal may be simpler than you think.
Membership fights burnout
The AMA is tackling the key causes of burnout through advocacy, research and the development of resources. Join the movement to fight burnout and help us provide relief for physicians.
The AMA’s de-implementation checklist outlines processes or requirements that add little or no value to patients and their care teams, but place unintended burdens on clinicians. Items on the checklist—part of the AMA STEPS Forward® open-access toolkits—can be sorted into items that don’t need to be done by someone with an MD or DO and items that don’t add any value to patient care and can be eliminated entirely.
Often, taking five minutes to change the way your EHR functions can free up an hour or two of time that was being wasted daily—time that can be spent with patients in the exam room. In turn, the found time can reduce physician burnout, said internist Marie Brown, MD, the AMA’s director of practice redesign.
“Stop doing unnecessary work so you can get back to doctoring,” said Dr. Brown, who has experienced firsthand the positive impact de-implementation can have. “Making changes will give doctors more time to spend with their patients and more time to build trust with their patients. They’ll also take less work home.”
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Enjoy!
David.
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