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/klas-outlines-strategies-to-improve-clinician-ehr-satisfaction
KLAS Outlines Strategies to Improve Clinician EHR Satisfaction
KLAS outlined several strategies on how healthcare systems can improve clinician EHR satisfaction as part of a study conducted through its Arch Collaborative initiative.
January 13, 2023 - Improving clinician satisfaction with the EHR is a continuous process that requires healthcare systems to continuously measure, implement, and evaluate EHR experience for more targeted interventions, according to a recent KLAS Arch Collaborative report sent to journalists.
As a part of the survey, researchers collected response data from over 340,000 clinicians, revealing critical details about EHR areas of satisfaction and frustration to improve clinician EHR experience.
Ultimately, healthcare organizations should look to standardized organization-wide measurement as an initial first step in identifying challenges impacting EHR satisfaction.
Using data collected by the Arch Collaborative over the past five years, organizations can set benchmarks to understand the markers of high satisfaction.
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Vivoo launch smart toilet device to detect health conditions earlier
Wellness application Vivoo has announced the launch of a world first smart toilet clip on device that will help in the early detection of health conditions.
10 January 2023
The smart toilet clip on device, which was launched at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, incorporates a urine strip into its seat and can be attached to existing toilets. The strip automatically moves, aligning itself with a user’s urine stream and removing the risk of mess that can result when using handheld urine strips.
The urine strip is then analysed by an optical reader contained within the seat. Thanks to extensive R&D research, Vivoo was able to mimic the optical reader used in hospitals on a much smaller scale, fitting the reader within the hollow of a toilet seat, effectively bringing the lab into users’ bathrooms.
Miray Tayfun, co-founder and CEO of Vivoo, said: “The launch of Vivoo’s smart toilet at CES 2023 is hugely exciting. The toilet is a game-changer for healthcare and caring professionals, enabling users to perform urine testing and receive personalised wellness, health and nutritional recommendations without the mess. The product will be a revolutionary tool to detect early symptoms of certain health conditions.
“The toilet’s ergonomic design – created with user-experience at its heart – coupled with the moving urine strip will allow users to conveniently receive personalised wellbeing and nutritional advice, giving them the opportunity to take control over their own health and wellness via the recommendations provided by the Vivoo App.”
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January 10, 2023
Telehealth saves patients with cancer time and money
Fact checked by Mindy Valcarcel
Telehealth oncology services saved patients with cancer time, travel and money, according to study results published in JAMA Network Open.
The findings suggest expansion of telehealth services could effectively reduce financial burdens among those with cancer, researchers concluded.
Rationale and methods
As the cost of cancer care continues to increase, patients undergoing cancer treatment face significant stress, Krupal B. Patel, MD, MSc, FRCS(C), assistant member in the department of head and neck-endocrine oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, told Healio.
“Financial toxicity is now becoming an important topic in cancer care delivery and includes both objective financial burden and subjective financial distress,” Patel said. “Patients need to think about getting back and forth to the treatment site, time off from work, loss in income and loss of employment. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a substantial increase in telemedicine, driven by the need to give patients access to timely and high-quality care. Moffitt Cancer Center established a department of virtual medicine and experienced an increase of 5,000% in virtual visits in response to COVID-19.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/help-texts-launches-text-based-support-healthcare-workers
Help Texts launches text-based support for healthcare workers
The subscription-based service sends semi-customized supportive texts based on what users input about their experiences when signing up and without initiation.
By Andrea Fox
January 13, 2023 10:39 AM
A confluence of mental health and grief expert contributors, including therapists, nurses, doctors, authors, researchers and end-of-life professionals, have launched a text-based tool that they say can help address clinician burnout and fatigue.Reducing healthcare worker burnout
The company's FAQ says the service, developed by a worldwide team of care experts, is designed to complement other mental health services, like counseling or therapy.
In addition to receiving support texts, healthcare workers can also choose to invite two supporters, and Help Text will send "gentle reminders" about how they can provide support -- like running errands, making meals or doing tasks at home.
Help Text contributor Janae Sharp, founder of the nonprofit Sharp Index dedicated to reducing physician suicide and burnout, says that there is power in the interplay of social media, media and marketing to destigmatize mental health concerns.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2023/01/13/tools-technology-already-exist-for-hies-to-succeed/
Tools, Technology Already Exist for HIEs to Succeed
January 13, 2023
The following is a guest article by Sonia Chambers, Executive Director at West Virginia Health Information Network.
Infrastructure is available nationally for states to leverage and customize locally for their unique Health Information Exchange needs
Health
information exchanges (HIEs) are well-situated to help healthcare organizations
achieve three core goals of value-based care: providing better care for
individuals, reducing healthcare costs, and improving population health
management strategies. But establishing an HIE and finding success can be a tremendous
challenge for some states to establish in large measure because they
require complex and expensive technical infrastructure.
Fortunately, that infrastructure doesn’t need to be built from scratch for
every state. Our experience at the West Virginia Healthcare Information Network
(WVHIN) in collaborating with another nonprofit called CRISP Shared Services
(CSS), which originated through the Maryland-based HIE CRISP — offered us important
insight. Many of the tools and technology already exist for any state to build
or enhance an existing HIE quickly, while still leveraging local expertise for
individual communities.
Resources for All States
CRISP was one of the first HIEs in the nation and invested tremendous resources to develop the infrastructure it has, which is now available to other HIEs. Although West Virginia is located close by, states as far away as Connecticut and Alaska are taking advantage of the CRISP infrastructure through CSS, which enables and supports each local jurisdiction to improve patient outcomes by implementing solutions that best serve the needs of their unique communities.
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Northwell Health Launches AI-Based Chatbot to Reduce Maternal Mortality
The New York City-based health system has released an artificial intelligence-based chatbot to identify urgent needs and extend virtual care for pregnant women.
January 12, 2023 - Known as Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats, a newly released chatbot at Northwell Health aims to lower morbidity and mortality rates among pregnant women by using artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology and virtual care resources.
The largest healthcare provider in New York State, Northwell Health comprises 21 hospitals, around 900 facilities, and over 12,000 affiliated physicians. It treats more than 2 million patients on an annual basis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 861 women died from maternal causes in the US in 2020, higher than the 754 reported in 2019. Maternal mortality rates are far higher for women of color, with Black women experiencing maternal death rates of 55.3 deaths per 100,000 lives, which is 2.9 times the rate for White women. The press release also noted that about 26 out of 100,000 women die during childbirth in the US.
“Far too many pregnant and birthing people in this country suffer harm or even die because of problems that are entirely preventable. Northwell is committed to doing whatever is necessary to reduce those risks,” said Dawnette Lewis, MD, director of the Center for Maternal Health at Northwell, in a press release. “By bringing together high-tech innovation and high-touch clinical care, the Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats will help keep women and babies safe.”
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/cybersecurity-risks-spike-within-cloud-based-apps-report-shows
Cybersecurity Risks Spike Within Cloud-Based Apps, Report Shows
More than 400 distinct cloud applications delivered malware in 2022 as cloud adoption continues to rise, Netskope data shows.
By Jill McKeon
January 12, 2023 - Cloud adoption has been on the rise in the healthcare sector for years for good reason as more organizations lean into digital transformation. According to Vantage Market Research, the healthcare cloud computing market is expected to reach $128.19 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 18.74 percent from 2021 to 2028.
But despite rapid adoption, cloud technologies are not immune to security threats.
According to new data from Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) company Netskope, more than 400 distinct cloud applications delivered malware in 2022. That figure is nearly triple the amount observed in 2021. Netskope leveraged anonymized usage data collected by its Netskope Security Cloud platform to inform its insights.
“Cloud malware delivery increased in 2022 after having remained constant in 2021, caused by an increase in the total number of apps abused to deliver malware and the quantity of malware downloads coming from the most popular apps,” the report noted.
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https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/jpm23s-medtech-tidbits-reporting-san-francisco
JPM23's Medtech Tidbits: Reporting from San Francisco
Jan 11, 2023 11:11am
SAN FRANCISCO—After years of stops, starts and stops again, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference has returned to the city by the bay in full form. Below we've compiled the biggest medtech news so far, bite-sized—from both inside and outside the Westin St. Francis—including acquisitions, collaborations, presentations and stray observations.
Read on for a glimpse into our reporter's notebook, and be sure to check out the daily roundups from our colleagues at Fierce Biotech, Fierce Pharma and Fierce Healthcare.
Medtronic’s self-described “aggressive transformation” is underway, with a strategy that looks to change not only the medtech giant’s operating model but also the company culture. Speaking with investors Monday, CEO Geoff Martha talked about how Medtronic eliminated its group and region structures, centralized its global operations and installed a new performance-based incentive program—to say nothing of setting up three divisions for spinoffs into new companies in the past year. “We’ve also brought in several new external leaders who bring much-needed capabilities in certain areas but also just as, if not more importantly, a fresh perspective,” Martha said. The next fiscal year will also bring “significant expense reductions” to face oncoming macroeconomic headwinds and inflation, he said.
Don’t call it a thought experiment: Schrödinger has launched three AI-powered drug design projects focused on neuroscience. With Bristol Myers Squibb, the company is expanding on its previous $2.7 billion partnership to target kidney cancer and KRAS-driven tumors. Simultaneously, Schrödinger will work with Otsuka and its Astex Pharmaceuticals arm for molecule discovery work in “an emerging CNS disease target,” plus a licensing deal that will place its AI platform in a new Otsuka facility. Schrödinger also said it would tackle a new in-house program in Parkinson’s disease, with plans to select an LRRK2 inhibitor for development in 2024. Read the full story here.
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Why direct primary care may be the future, and what technology is needed to support it
A value-based care expert offers insights on direct primary care – and explains the digital infrastructure required to coordinate the various organizations involved.
By Bill Siwicki
January 12, 2023 11:43 AM
Homebound patients often struggle with complex medical conditions among the most costly in healthcare. Further, they typically face health equity issues related to social determinants of health, including the ability to visit a clinic, hospital or doctor's office.
Many in healthcare believe patients tend to be happiest and healthiest when they're in the home. This increasing awareness could potentially fuel a trend toward shifting direct primary care into the home.
McKinsey estimates up to $265 billion worth of care services (representing up to 25% of the total cost of care) for Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries could shift from traditional facilities to the home by 2025.
Delivering needed healthcare services and providing help with daily activities requires a team-based approach to direct primary care that includes nontraditional providers, said Lynn Carroll, chief operating officer at HSBlox, a vendor of health IT for the administration of value-based care programs.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2023/01/12/healthcare-consumerism-2023-health-it-predictions/
Healthcare Consumerism – 2023 Health IT Predictions
January 12, 2023
As we head into 2023, we wanted to kick off the new year with a series of 2023 Health IT predictions. We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes. Check out our communities predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media.
Nate
Maslak, CEO and Cofounder at Ribbon Health
Price
Transparency: In 2022, we saw CMS’s Transparency in Coverage rule
go into effect, requiring health plans and providers to publish their rates for
care to the public. With the Transparency in Coverage rule now in effect, in
2023 we will see price transparency data become more accessible as healthcare
enterprises begin to invest more in the technology and infrastructure needed to
manage this data. This investment will give people more insight into their cost
of care, allowing them to make the most informed care decisions.
Enhanced Access to Finding Care: Patient demand for digital care options has skyrocketed since 2020, yet provider directories and the way patients find care have not evolved to meet these rising preferences. In the last few years, new and innovative organizations have launched digital care delivery programs that will change the way people find and receive care. With patients shifting toward a digital-first approach for care navigation, health plans will need to embrace a broader set of care delivery mechanisms and make the full spectrum of specialist options easier to find.
Book Care with One Click: As technology advances across industries, people are seeking the same convenient booking processes in healthcare that they are accustomed to with other services. In 2023, healthcare organizations will prioritize empowering their users with accurate and actionable information about a provider, along with the ability to book that provider immediately with one click. 4) Data Personalization: In 2023, we’ll see a greater shift toward prioritizing consumer needs and preferences when providing care options and provider information. Research shows that 38% of consumers want more personalized and inclusive healthcare options, and organizations are beginning to invest in technology and infrastructure that will enhance the patient experience and empower them to make educated care decisions.
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https://www.statnews.com/2023/01/12/medical-school-artificial-intelligence-health-curriculum/
How medical schools are missing the mark on artificial intelligence
By Katie Palmer Jan. 12, 2023
Ready or not, health care is undergoing a massive transformation driven by artificial intelligence. But medical schools have barely started to teach about AI and machine learning — creating knowledge gaps that could compound the damage caused by flawed algorithms and biased decision-support systems.
“We’re going to be at a point where we’re not going to be able to catch up and be able to call out the technology defects or flaws,” said Erkin Ötleş, a machine learning researcher working toward his medical degree and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. “Without being armed with that set of foundational knowledge into how these things work, we’re going to be at a disadvantage.”
In a recent commentary published in Cell Reports Medicine, Ötleş and a group of physicians and educators from the University of Michigan called for medical educators to make AI less of an afterthought and more of a core concept in undergraduate medical training. They emphasize the idea of a spiral curriculum, in which students learn key points about AI in medicine at the start, then turn back to it again and again as they learn more specialized skills.
But that won’t be easy to execute, said co-author and former Michigan medical school dean Jim Woolliscroft. Bureaucratic inertia keeps medical school curriculums from evolving quickly, and faculty themselves may not yet have the expertise to teach a new generation of doctors. In an interview with STAT, the student and the educator elaborated on how medical educators can kick-start the process of revamping AI training.
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ONC Releases 2023 Interoperability Standards Advisory Reference Edition
The 2023 ONC Interoperability Standards Advisory Reference Edition includes a new Human and Social Services subsection.
January 11, 2023 - ONC has released the 2023 Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) Reference Edition, which reflects more than 150 comments received by ONC during a 60-day public comment period.
The ISA is ONC’s catalog of health interoperability data standards and implementation specifications that reflects feedback from industry and federal agencies.
ONC updates the web version of the ISA regularly with changes in the health IT standards environment or when the agency receives public comments throughout the year. The Reference Edition is a snapshot of the ISA web version that ONC compiles at the end of the year following a public comment period.
Additions to the 2023 ISA Reference Edition include:
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/researchers-investigate-when-how-healthcare-ai-models-will-fail
Researchers Investigate When, How Healthcare AI Models Will Fail
Researchers are exploring strategies to identify when AI suggests a solution for clinical decision-making that isn’t effective in practice.
January 11, 2023 - Researchers from the Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED) at the University of Illinois are investigating when and how medical artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models will fail or not perform as expected in an effort to improve these models.
Many healthcare AI models perform well in certain settings but can experience drops in performance once they are deployed elsewhere, the researchers explained.
“Every domain in health care is using machine learning in one way or another, and so they’re becoming the mainstay of computational diagnostics and prognostics in healthcare,” said Yogatheesan Varatharajah, PhD, a research assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the news release. “The problem is that when we do studies based on machine learning — to develop a diagnostic tool, for example — we run the models, and then we say, okay, the model performs well in a limited test setting and therefore it's good to go. But when we actually deploy it in the real world to make clinical decisions in real time, many of these approaches don't work as expected.”
The news release further notes that natural variability between the data used for model creation and the data leveraged during model deployment is one of the main drivers behind these differences in model performance. The variability may result from differences in protocol or hardware utilized to collect the data or from differences between the patients in the datasets used.
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More Guidance Needed to Curb Discrimination by Clinical Algorithm Use
Researchers argue that the Department of Health and Human Services’ efforts to address discrimination do not provide enough guidance for algorithm users.
January 11, 2023 - In a recent viewpoint published in JAMA, researchers explored the challenges of curbing discrimination by a clinical algorithm, arguing that the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) attempts to address the issue don’t give sufficient guidance to providers using the algorithms and don’t reflect some of the more pressing challenges in evaluating the tools for discrimination.
The authors from Harvard Law School and Penn State Dickinson Law stated that many clinical algorithms are flawed, either because they incorporate bias by design or because they are trained on biased data sets, making it important to address discrimination by algorithms. Last year, HHS announced its intention to support this effort by tackling the use of biased algorithms in healthcare decision-making and telehealth services through a proposed rule on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Section 1557 prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin, age, or disability by certain health entities, such as most health plans, hospitals, and physician groups participating in Medicare and Medicaid.
The researchers explained that penalties for violating Section 1557 could be significant, ranging from an investigation by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), suspension or termination of federal financial assistance from the HHS, and compensatory damages, as a result of the statute’s private right of action provision, which allows individuals to sue healthcare entities for discrimination.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/global-cyberattacks-increased-by-38-last-year-healthcare-hit-hard
Global Cyberattacks Increased By 38% Last Year, Healthcare Hit Hard
Healthcare, education, and government were the three industries most impacted by cyberattacks in 2022, new data from Check Point Research suggests.
By Jill McKeon
January 11, 2023 - Global cyberattacks increased by 38 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, new data from Check Point Research revealed. Healthcare was one of the three most attacked industries in 2022 according to Check Point Research data, along with the government and education sectors.
“Several cyber threat trends are all happening at once,” the report noted. “For one, the ransomware ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow with smaller, more agile criminal groups that form to evade law enforcement.”
What’s more, hackers are increasingly targeting business collaboration tools used by remote workers and leveraging the rapid digital shift that many companies endured throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The healthcare sector in particular suffered an average of 1,410 weekly cyberattacks per organization, which was an 86 percent increase from 2021 data.
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JPM23: Teladoc revises its Q4 to sunnier projections while shining a light on BetterHelp and digital 'whole-person approach'
By Annie Burky
Jan 9, 2023 05:06pm
Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic began the telehealth company's Monday presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco by calling back to the same conference three years earlier: before the pandemic, before stay-at-home orders, before the telehealth boom.
“Telehealth was something that some people knew about, people had engaged, but I would say, legitimately, people didn't really appreciate the scope and the scale of what telehealth could do,” Gorevic said. “Virtual care now is expected to deliver on the full scope of consumers' healthcare needs.”
The virtual care platform now serves 80 million people, resulting in 21 million visits and half a billion digital health interactions with 30,000 providers in 2022, he said.
Just before the presentation, the telehealth giant released revised quarterly guidance narrowing its revenue range to a brighter estimate between $633 million and $640 million for the quarter and $2.403 billion to $2.41 billion for the year. That compares to its previous projections issued during its third-quarter earnings for fourth-quarter revenue of $625 million to $640 million and full-year revenue of $2.39 billion to $2.41 billion. The sunnier outlook was driven by strong performance for Teladoc’s teletherapy arm BetterHelp. The digital mental health provider brought in roughly a billion dollars in revenue for the telehealth company.
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/102569
Yet Another Issue Is Disrupting the Healthcare Workplace
— Responding to portal messages in "real time" is just the latest assault
by Harry Severance, MD January 10, 2023
Now that patients have online access to their medical information there have been several articles and posts published recently about the increase in patientsopens in a new tab or window seeking -- in real time -- information and explanations about clinical results appearing on their charts. There are also reports now appearing noting that many healthcare facilities are increasingly seeking to billopens in a new tab or window patients for these interactions.
Growing Work Loads: A Case Study
I have been working with one physician colleague concerning evolving changes in his long-standing healthcare workplace and his accelerating feelings of frustration, burnout, and dissatisfaction.
He tells me now that a "final straw" has just been added: real-time health portal messages.
He reports that he used to derive satisfaction from his work, feeling that he was helping people -- the reason, he states, that he sought a career in healthcare. However, the evolving changes in his long-time workplace have now essentially destroyed all that.
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00023-2
09 January 2023
The reproducibility issues that haunt health-care AI
Health-care systems are rolling out artificial-intelligence tools for diagnosis and monitoring. But how reliable are the models?
Each day, around 350 people in the United States die from lung cancer. Many of those deaths could be prevented by screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans. But scanning millions of people would produce millions of images, and there aren’t enough radiologists to do the work. Even if there were, specialists regularly disagree about whether images show cancer or not. The 2017 Kaggle Data Science Bowl set out to test whether machine-learning algorithms could fill the gap.
An online competition for automated lung cancer diagnosis, the Data Science Bowl provided chest CT scans from 1,397 patients to hundreds of teams, for the teams to develop and test their algorithms. At least five of the winning models demonstrated accuracy exceeding 90% at detecting lung nodules. But to be clinically useful, those algorithms would have to perform equally well on multiple data sets.
To test that, Kun-Hsing Yu, a data scientist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, acquired the ten best-performing algorithms and challenged them on a subset of the data used in the original competition. On these data, the algorithms topped out at 60–70% accuracy, Yu says. In some cases, they were effectively coin tosses1. “Almost all of these award-winning models failed miserably,” he says. “That was kind of surprising to us.”
But maybe it shouldn’t have been. The artificial-intelligence (AI) community faces a reproducibility crisis, says Sayash Kapoor, a PhD candidate in computer science at Princeton University in New Jersey. As part of his work on the limits of computational prediction, Kapoor discovered reproducibility failures and pitfalls in 329 studies across 17 fields, including medicine. He and a colleague organized a one-day online workshop last July to discuss the subject, which attracted about 600 participants from 30 countries. The resulting videos have been viewed more than 5,000 times.
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Study: Sociodemographic, health factors linked to long-term digital health device use
According to the study published in npj Digital Medicine, high scores for depressive symptoms and lower-than-excellent self-rated health were associated with less smartwatch use.
By Emily Olsen
December 30, 2022 10:57 am
Sociodemographic and health-related factors are associated with long-term use of digital health devices, according to a study published in npj Digital Medicine.
Researchers followed a cohort within the long-running and ongoing Framingham Heart Study that used three digital components: a smartphone app, a blood pressure cuff and a smartwatch.
Participants received app-based surveys at enrollment and every three months. Step count and heart rate data were collected daily from the smartwatch, while blood pressure measurements were taken weekly. During in-person exams, researchers collected sociodemographic information as well as data about health status and behaviors.
The study found that older age (55 years and above) was associated with higher use of each device over the yearlong follow-up period. Women and participants with higher levels of education were more likely to complete the app surveys. Higher scores for depressive symptoms and lower-than-excellent self-rated health were linked to lower smartwatch use.
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Demystifying AI's role in healthcare to reassure new providers – and old pros
Many med students fear artificial intelligence, studies show. One physician AI expert explains how the technology can assist, not replace, doctors working in pathology, diagnostic radiology and anesthesiology.
By Bill Siwicki
January 11, 2023 09:48 AM
A new study of more than 500 medical students, published in Academic Radiology, found students think emerging technology like AI will reduce job prospects for pathology, diagnostic radiology and anesthesiology.
Not only is this perception untrue, experts say, but it is likely to be dangerous for the global healthcare industry. There already is a severe shortage of pathologists, leading to delayed results and treatments. In fact, a study in JAMA Open found in the U.S. the number of pathologists decreased by nearly 18% between 2007 and 2017.
This is why we spoke with Dr. Michael Donovan, cofounder and chief medical officer at PreciseDx, a health IT company that seeks to personalize medicine via artificial intelligence. Donovan seeks to demystify AI in healthcare.
Donovan is vice chair and professor of translational research in the department of pathology at the University of Miami. In addition to a previous academic career at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Donovan has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, serving in various senior management roles.
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Healthcare Analytics and Interoperability – 2023 Health IT Predictions
January 11, 2023
As we head into 2023, we wanted to kick off the new year with a series of 2023 Health IT predictions. We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes. Check out our communities predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media.
And now, check out our community’s healthcare analytics and interoperability predictions.
Jean
Drouin, Co-Founder and CEO at Clarify Health
Big data platforms go mainstream. Move over Epic, Tableau and Alteryx. Make way
for enterprise platforms purposely built to deliver on-demand patient journey
insights. The on-demand, self-service approach to analytics, more commonly
associated with the financial services industry and its Bloomberg terminal,
will become broadly accessible to hospitals, payers, and life sciences
companies. This will usher a move away from site-based systems of record (e.g.,
Epic) to real-time patient journey optimization systems that are EMR-agnostic
and fueled by far more comprehensive data than what sits in EMRs today.
Gary
Hagmueller, CEO at Arcion
Real-time Data Drives Better Healthcare Workers & Patient Experience —
Hands down, the trend for healthcare organizations toward real-time data-driven
use cases is accelerating faster than any other notable trend today.
What does this mean? It means taking data as close to when it is created and using it to create value through actions as close to the creation of the data as possible.
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Telehealth Offset Declines in In-Person Mental Healthcare in 2020
A new study shows that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 16- to 20- fold increase in telehealth use for treating mental health conditions, counteracting the drop in in-person care volumes.
January 10, 2023 - A study published in JAMA Network Open found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in using telehealth to treat mental health conditions, alongside a decrease in in-person service use.
In the study, researchers from RAND Corp. and Castlight Health reviewed how US adults accessed mental health services during 2020. They conducted a cohort study using county-level service use data from a national US database of commercial medical claims. They gathered data on adults between Jan. 5 and Dec. 21, 2020.
In total, researchers analyzed data on 5.1 million commercially insured adults. Researchers calculated the per-week use of mental health services per 10,000 beneficiaries across five psychiatric diagnostic categories: major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Researchers found that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp decrease in the use of in-person services for mental healthcare, with utilization rates dropping by 50 percent during the study period.
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Healthcare Sector Faces Critical Challenges With Supply Chain Risk Management
A new survey conducted by Ponemon Institute on behalf of the Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) showed that healthcare organizations are struggling to maintain basic supply chain risk management practices.
By Jill McKeon
January 10, 2023 - Budget and capability constraints are contributing to persisting supply chain risk management challenges across the healthcare sector, a new survey conducted by Ponemon Institute on behalf of the Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Working Group revealed.
More than 400 IT and IT security practitioners took part in the survey, all of whom are actively involved in their organization’s supply chain risk management program. The results revealed ongoing critical challenges across the sector as organizations struggle to maintain basic supply chain risk management practices.
For example, only 19 percent of survey respondents reported having a complete inventory of their organization’s suppliers. Smaller organizations were three times more likely to have no inventory whatsoever.
What’s more, 20 percent of respondents said that they only conduct security evaluations of business-critical suppliers when a security incident occurs, while 24 percent said that they conduct these assessments on an ad-hoc basis.
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The dispute about delivering bad medical news
By BEN LEONARD, CARMEN PAUN, ERIN SCHUMAKER and RUTH READER
01/10/2023 02:00 PM EST
Doctors are at odds with some patient advocates and HHS over a congressional directive aimed at ensuring patients get their medical test results as soon as they’re ready.
The physicians say their patients are getting bad news via patient portals before they can explain them since HHS mandated the immediate disclosure of results, implementing a provision in the 21st Century Cures Act that bars providers from restricting patients’ access to their medical information.
Doctors and the American Medical Association, which represents physicians, say that:
— Patients are getting news about terminal illness or confusing test results. “We’re seeing a parent who finds out at nine o’clock on a Friday night when they can’t reach anybody that their child’s leukemia has recurred,” AMA President Jack Resneck told Ben.
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Behavioral Telehealth Loses Momentum Without a Regulatory Boost
Darius Tahir January 10, 2023
Some potentially addictive medications — like buprenorphine and Adderall — are now far more available online to patients because of regulatory changes. Given the scarcity of qualified doctors to treat some of the behavioral health conditions associated with these drugs, like opioid use disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, doctors’ new ability to prescribe online or, in some cases, by telephone is a huge change. But easier access to the drugs has both upsides and downsides, since they’re often dispensed without accompanying therapy that improves the odds of a patient’s success.
Pre-pandemic, patients sometimes traveled several hours for addiction care, said Emily Behar, director of clinical operations for Ophelia, a New York startup serving people with opioid addictions. Or patients might be struggling with multiple jobs or a lack of child care. Such obstacles made sustaining care fraught.
“How do you reach those people?” she asked.
It’s a question preoccupying much of the behavioral health sector, complicated by the reality that most patients with opioid use disorder aren’t in treatment, said Dr. Neeraj Gandotra, chief medical officer of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Increased access to telehealth has started to provide an answer. Behar, the startup executive, says its patients can see expert providers at their convenience. Missed appointments are dropping, say many in the industry.
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Half of ransomware attacks have disrupted healthcare delivery, JAMA report finds
The frequency of cyberattacks on hospitals and health systems more than doubled from 2016 to 2021, say researchers, and the incidents have exposed the protected health information of nearly 42 million patients.
By Andrea Fox
January 10, 2023 11:06 AM
Led by University of Minnesota Public Health researchers, the Trends in Ransomware Attacks on U.S. Hospitals, Clinics and Other Health Care Delivery Organizations study quantified the frequency and characteristics of ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector from 2016 to 2021.
WHY IT MATTERS
Ransomware groups are generally aggressive on critical infrastructure like energy, healthcare and government. And the increasing frequency and severity of ransomware attacks on hospitals and healthcare organizations can disrupt operations and patient access for weeks or even months.
The risks of being hit conflate a number of issues – loss of access to critical health data, the high costs of responding to and preventing cyberattacks and threats to patient safety – that have largely shifted focus to the defense of healthcare infrastructure.
For the study, the public health researchers looked at the date of ransomware attacks, public reporting, personal health information exposure, the status of encrypted/stolen data following the attack, the type of healthcare delivery organization affected and operational disruption during an attack.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2023/01/10/blockchain-could-save-healthcare-billions-every-year/
Blockchain Could Save Healthcare Billions Every Year
January 10, 2023
The following is a guest article by Michael Kim, Senior Vice President/CIO at MultiPlan.
In recent years, blockchain has been one of the most-hyped technologies: A public ledger that lives on a network of computers, each validating any changes in real-time. Unlike traditional distributed databases with centralized management, blockchain offers a shared database, providing security, transparency, traceability, and speed. While the shared ledger idea can be traced back to the 80s, blockchain technology emerged in 2008 as the foundation for decentralized currency, namely Bitcoin.
While
it is true the cryptocurrency markets have crashed, that does not mean it is
wise to dismiss the underlying technology. There are companies actively using
blockchain to improve data-sharing and storage, and it has shown great promise
in solving complex challenges in many industries, most notably healthcare. In
fact, this living ledger could bring significant efficiency and savings to
healthcare and is expected to save more than $2 billion each year by
revolutionizing record keeping, according to a large pilot study
conducted by the Synaptic Health Alliance.
Going Beyond Crypto
The Synaptic Health Alliance, a coalition founded by Humana, MultiPlan, Quest Diagnostics, and United Health Group – some of which are competitors – studies the potential of blockchain technology to ease inefficient administrative burdens. Because provider information is publicly available, there’s no competitive advantage for anyone to keep their own proprietary database. A shared ledger improves productivity and reduces costs for every Alliance member. Thus far, Alliance participation has resulted in a 500% ROI annually for Multiplan. All Alliance members believe blockchain technology will create a colossal transformation in healthcare.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2023/01/10/health-equity-and-sdoh-2023-health-it-predictions/
Health Equity and SDoH – 2023 Health IT Predictions
January 10, 2023
As we head into 2023, we wanted to kick off the new year with a series of 2023 Health IT predictions. We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes. Check out our communities predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media.
Check out our community’s health equity and SDoH (Social Determinants of Health) predictions.
Ted
Quinn, CEO and founder at Activate
Care
Continued economic instability will put more Americans at risk for Social
Determinants of Health (SDoH), creating even more strain on the system, and
continuing to drive health inequity. That economic instability will cause
strain on organizations designed to provide support for historically
underserved individuals, creating an even bigger need for services and systems
aimed at addressing SDoH. This will cause the need for payers, ACOs, and
risk-bearing providers to invest in and create programs addressing SDoH. While
we can see this all playing out in front of us, we could end up in the same
place – or two steps backwards – if we continue to address SDoH reactively.
Only time will tell.
Yossi
Bahagon, Chairman at Sweetch
Equity
and Access: We can expect to see more programs implemented that
bridge the equity gaps in chronic care management, obesity, diabetes, and
preventive care, among other areas. The gaps in access to care are growing
wider and we are more aware than ever of the negative repercussions of lack of
access.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/ces-recap-does-consumer-tech-have-value-healthcare
CES Recap: Does Consumer Tech Have Value in Healthcare?
Analysis | By Eric Wicklund | January 10, 2023
Healthcare executives showed up to CES to talk about the unique value of digital health and look for diamonds in the rough.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· CES 2023 offered an expanded digital health section and featured several healthcare leaders in panels and keynotes.
· Those executives braving the crowds and wandering through the Las Vegas Convention Center and Venetian Resort were in search of innovative technology that could improve the consumer experience.
· The challenge lies in finding the right tools or platforms that will appeal to patients and providers while proving scalability and sustainability.
Jason Swoboda came to CES 2023 eager to see the newest in consumer technologies. But while others were wowed by the color-changing cars, mega-screen TVs, and interactive games, the director of innovation at Tampa General Hospital had his sights set on digital health.
"I'm thinking about the patient room of the future," he said.
Swoboda was one of a growing number of healthcare executives to brave the crowds in Las Vegas and attend an event that healthcare had for many years kept at arm's length. Where health systems once regarded consumer-facing technology as a fashionable fad without clinical relevance, they're now taking a closer look at tools and platforms that could add value to the patient experience.
And CES has taken notice as well. What once was contained in a tiny corner of one conference hall now has its own dedicated digital health section, where Abbott was showing off the latest in testing tech, Withings had a collection of wearables on display, MedWand was demonstrating its home-based digital health tool, and Vivoo was offering up a smart toilet and home urine-testing platform. Other examples could be found at the nearby Venetian resort and conference center, where healthcare played an integral role in Parks Associates' Connections Summit.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/electronic-informed-consenting-improves-data-for-clinical-research
Electronic Informed Consenting Improves Data for Clinical Research
Clinical research participants completed 100 percent of electronic informed consenting fields, compared to 94 percent of data in paper-based consenting surveys.
January 09, 2023 - Electronic informed consenting (eIC) for clinical research via EHR patient portals could help improve the completeness of required fields compared to paper-based consenting surveys, according to a study published in JCO Oncology Practice.
Researchers assessed participant experience with eIC compared with traditional paper-based consenting and compared the completeness of required fields over three years (2019-2021).
The study authors invited participants who consented to a clinical trial at a large academic cancer center via paper or eIC to either survey one (technology burden) or survey two (comprehension and agency).
Participants self-selected their method of consent to their primary protocol. For both surveys, researchers sent participants electronic surveys to their patient portal.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/3-latest-email-security-breaches-impact-phi
3 Latest Email Security Breaches Impact PHI
A surgery center in Texas, a hospice provider in Alabama, and a university in Florida all recently reported healthcare data breaches that stemmed from email security incidents.
By Jill McKeon
January 09, 2023 - Email security breaches continue to lead to compromised protected health information (PHI) and widespread breach notifications, as exemplified by the three recently-reported breaches detailed below.
Live Oak Surgery Center Reports Breach
Live Oak Surgery Center, a surgery center in Plano, Texas, reported a breach to HHS impacting 5,264 individuals. According to a notice on its website, Live Oak recently discovered suspicious activity within its email environment.
Further investigation revealed that an unauthorized party accessed two employee email accounts between August 10 and September 27, 2022.
The email accounts contained names, financial account information, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, usernames and passwords, medical information, payment card information, dates of birth, health insurance information, and passport numbers. Live Oak said it could not determine what emails and attachments, if any, were viewed by the unauthorized party.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/breach-reporting-requirements-are-top-concern-for-security-teams
Breach Reporting Requirements Are Top Concern For Security Teams
Alongside data breach reporting requirements, cybersecurity professionals are likely to encounter challenges with digital transformation, talent shortages, and rising security investments in 2023.
January 09, 2023 - Cybersecurity leaders are buckling up for rising costs, a challenging talent shortage, and uncertain data breach reporting requirements going into 2023, according to a Deepwatch Q4 2022 SecOps Pulse survey of cybersecurity teams across various industries, including healthcare.
Cybersecurity professionals expect security investments to rise within the next year in order to keep up with the general rise in targeted attacks.
The majority of respondents indicated digital transformation initiatives, regulatory requirements, and responses to cyber incidents as the top three drivers of cybersecurity cost.
“Breach reporting laws are changing all over the world. The U.S. has several ways in which organizations must announce breaches – whether it’s to CISA, the FTC for publicly traded companies, or HIPAA in healthcare,” said Bill Bernard, AVP security strategy at Deepwatch, said in the press release.
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https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2799839
Original Investigation
January 9, 2023
Assessment of Safety of a Fully Implanted Endovascular Brain-Computer Interface for Severe Paralysis in 4 PatientsThe Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch (SWITCH) Study
Peter Mitchell, MMed1 et al.
Key Points
Question Is an endovascular brain-computer interface (BCI) implant safe, and can it enable paralyzed patients to control a computer with their thoughts?
Findings In this case series including 4 patients with severe bilateral upper-limb paralysis, the BCI device could be implanted into the superior sagittal sinus using a neurointerventional procedure. It appeared to be safe and enabled patients to do hands-free texting, emailing, online banking and shopping, and communicating care needs using their thoughts.
Meaning This clinical study indicates that it is possible to record neuronal signals from a blood vessel in the brain, and the favorable safety profile of this approach could promote wider and more rapid translation of BCI to people with paralysis.
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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/986601
Letter About Patient's Fatal Overdose Lowers Opioid Prescribing
Howard Wolinsky
January 06, 2023
In January 2017, during the height of the opioid crisis, nearly 400 clinicians in California received "Dear Doctor" letters from the San Diego County Medical Examiner notifying them that a patient to whom they had prescribed an opioid or other controlled substance had died from an overdose.
The goal of the letter campaign was to determine whether the letters could shift prescribing behaviors away from opioids, said Jason Doctor, PhD, a behavioral scientist and policy researcher at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
The strategy worked, as Doctor and his colleagues, including Jonathan Lucas, MD, then deputy medical examiner of San Diego County and now the LA County coroner, reported in a 2018 study in the journal Science. In a new analysis, published today in JAMA Network Open, the investigators show that the effect of the notifications lasts at least a year.
The results of the two studies show a 9.7% decrease in prescriptions filled for morphine milligram equivalents up to 3 months after receipt of the letter and a 7.1% decrease at 12 months. The numbers for the intervention group were compared to those for a control group of 447 prescribers. The letters were issued by random assignment.
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/102534
Is Audio-Only Healthcare Risky Business?
— Thorough evaluations of its adoption and quality are essential
While telehealth has been embraced as a silver lining of the pandemic, concerns around telephonic care (or audio-only telehealth) continue to dog its proponents.
Prior to the pandemic, federal law requiredopens in a new tab or window telehealth services be delivered to Medicare beneficiaries via two-way video. However, given the technology challengesopens in a new tab or window many seniors face, the administration waivedopens in a new tab or window the requirement during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
In an analysisopens in a new tab or window of traditional Medicare beneficiaries, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) took an in-depth look at the use of audio-only telehealth services.
The Findings
We found that audio-only telehealth use remains high among Medicare beneficiaries, but especially the most vulnerable.
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Digital health funding slides 48% from 2021's peak. What's in store for 2023?
Jan 9, 2023 12:01pm
After a wild ride in the past two years, digital health startups are adjusting to a new reality faced with difficult economic changes and investor pullback.
Digital health startups pulled in $15.3 billion in funding dollars across 572 deals last year. While still a hefty number, that $15.3 billion is just over half of 2021's blockbuster $29.3 billion. And digital health funding in 2022 barely sneaked past 2020's total of $14.7 billion, according to a 2022 funding report from Rock Health, a venture fund dedicated to digital health.
2022's downhill ride signals the tail end of a macro funding cycle centered around the COVID-19-era investment boom, the report authors said.
The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed digital health innovation, investment and regulatory reform throughout 2020 and 2021.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2023/01/09/pharma-2023-health-it-predictions/
Pharma – 2023 Health IT Predictions
January 9, 2023
As we head into 2023, we wanted to kick off the new year with a series of 2023 Health IT predictions. We asked the Healthcare IT Today community to submit their predictions and we received a wide ranging set of responses that we grouped into a number of themes. Check out our communities predictions below and be sure to add your own thoughts and/or places you disagree with these predictions in the comments and on social media.
Check out our community’s pharma predictions.
Jesse
Cugliotta, Global Industry GTM Lead, Healthcare & Life Sciences at Snowflake
Industry
investments in data platforms to enable decentralized clinical trials and 3rd
party data will improve healthcare outcomes: It’s no secret that
having a diverse pool of individuals in clinical trials is critical to bringing
life saving drugs to market. Decentralized clinical trials via retail
pharmacies provide a path to make this possible, increasing the number of
potential participants.
It’s also not a secret that 3rd party data has huge implications as key social determinants of health (availability of healthy food at the grocery store, distance to a pharmacy etc.). The challenge to accessing this data has always been technical – with teams needed to facilitate clunky data sharing between a retail pharmacy and a drug manufacturer, or a healthcare system signing a licensing agreement with a vendor and building pipelines to ingest 3rd party data into systems of record.
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FHIR APIs Will Accelerate Patient Information Access in 2023
Analysis | By Scott Mace | December 28, 2022
In a lengthy interview with HealthLeaders, ONC Chief Micky Tripathi says simplified data exchange will benefit providers, patients, and even public health.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Although EHR vendors must support FHIR APIs at end of 2022, providers aren't required immediately to upgrade to the latest software versions that support them.
· However, by the end of the third quarter of 2023, providers need to be running those software versions to participate in CMS payment rules.
· The ONC has received more than 500 information blocking complaints, but "in theory," the OIG cannot yet enforce the rules, having not yet published its own final rules.
Federal rules state that certified EHRs must support the standard FHIR application programming interfaces (APIs) by the end of this year. It's one more step toward transforming patient information access in a years-long process dating back to the birth of the EHR, and will touch the day-to-day information sharing of providers, patients, and even public health agencies.
HealthLeaders recently spoke with Micky Tripathi, PhD, MPP, director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, about the standardized FHIR API rule and how it will impact health systems and patients in 2023. This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
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New 3D Printer That Creates Custom Prescription Drugs Developed by University College London
January 4, 2023 by Mark Allinson Leave a Comment
University College London (UCL) have developed an exciting new 3D printing technique: “volumetric 3D printing” that lets the pharmaceutical industry customize drugs – including shape, size, dosage, and release – according to each patient’s individual needs.
In turn, medical professionals may eventually be able to use 3D printing to “print” prescription drugs for patients in-office in the future. Not only does 3D printing promise to improve personalized medicine, but it’s also set to drastically cut cost and waste in the process.
Solving race and gender inequalities with personalized medicine
3D printing may reduce or eliminate the problem of race and gender inequality in prescription drug manufacturing. “Currently, medications are developed especially for white adult men, which means that all women and children have an excessive prescription for their bodies”, explains Fred Parietti, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, a developer of advanced robotics technology that manufactures personalized prescription drugs.
“This fact underlines the importance of the advent of personalized medicines, as well as highlighting the individuality of each patient, since the error in the dosage of certain active ingredients can even lead to the malfunctioning of some treatments”.
3D printing for drug production in its early days
The use of 3D printing for drug production, although a promising development, is still in its early days. In contrast, a host of other industries already successfully use 3D printing in product development and manufacturing.
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January 05, 2023
Teladoc Health Launches Fully Integrated Whole-Person Care Experience with New App
Spanish Language Availability and Unified Brand Enhance Personalized, Seamless Approach
PURCHASE, NY, Jan. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teladoc Health, the global leader in whole-person virtual care, announced today the launch of a fully integrated health care experience through a new comprehensive digital application enabling personalized whole-person care to individuals. Consumers will now be able to seamlessly access Teladoc Health’s full range of services, including primary care, mental health and chronic condition management from one place and under a single portable account. In addition, Teladoc Health’s full suite of services will be available in Spanish and English language, under the Teladoc Health brand.
“Our goal is to provide options for those individuals who don’t have primary care or good chronic condition management or mental health support,” said Dr. Vidya Raman-Tangella, chief medical officer at Teladoc Health. “This fully integrated experience not only helps individuals navigate between physical and mental health, but it also takes into consideration social determinants of health that play an integral part in their wellbeing.”
With the new Teladoc Health app experience, consumers can quickly navigate across eligible services, review all physician-based integrated care plans and have access to care coordination capabilities with in-person providers ensuring clinical needs are met. Additionally, the complete set of services will be available in Spanish language on the mobile application and website – a critical shift with more than 40 million people in the United States reporting they speak Spanish at home. Over the last year, the company has also invested in bringing on more than 100 new Spanish-speaking providers. Early data indicates these steps have already made an immediate and measurable impact. For example, as of late 2022, the satisfaction ratings among Spanish-speaking individuals using Teladoc Health services exceeds that of non-Spanish speaking individuals.
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Our creaking NHS can’t beat its admin chaos without a tech revolution
Records are lost and doctors can’t talk to one another. Professor Mark Britnell says we need a system that puts the patients at its heart — not the bosses
Mark Britnell
Sunday January 08 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times
Just before Christmas, my sister, who has learning disabilities, suffered the piercing agony of cauda equina syndrome, where the discs compress upon the bundle of nerves at the end of the spinal cord. Immediate emergency surgery is necessary if legs and bowels are to function properly again. Sadly, botched inter-hospital communication — in addition to ambulance delays and problems with transfer — have led to her being unable to walk properly.
There have been many more instances of compromised patient care over the winter and, quite rightly, much focus has been given to the workforce crisis. But there is also a growing crisis of patient information and how the NHS uses digital technology.
My sister was placed at the mercy of scrambled and rushed telephone calls between clinicians working with imperfect information. She is not alone. You will have heard the litany of stories of patients finding appointments have been cancelled, diagnostic results misplaced and continuity of care compromised. In my sister’s case, social workers, occupational therapists and mental health nurses were working from paper systems and cannot share vital patient information. Add to that scans that cannot be shared and appointments that keep getting changed and you have a near-perfect recipe for a system that is both ineffective and inefficient.
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Enjoy!
David.
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