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.
The All Systems GP document, published on 30 April, recognises the potential that genomics, AI, digital medicine and robotics has to improve patient care and safety, but adds this can only be achieved once all areas of the NHS have access to computer networks which link up the patient journey.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the RCGP, said: “GPs have always embraced new technology. General practice was the first NHS sector to have electronic prescribing and electronic patient records so we know how beneficial new technology can be and we recognise its huge potential to help our patients.
Nurses and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) saw more benefit than detriment in EHRs: 42% said they had increased quality of care vs 35% who said they had decreased care quality.
The recent poll included 273 respondents — 207 physicians and 66 nurses/APRNs.
The poll also indicated that few physicians or nurses were involved in the decision of which EHR to use in their primary workplace.
Published this week, the BOD 19-02 changes the timeframe for patching critical vulnerabilities to just 15 calendar days and 30 days for flaws ranked with high severity. DHS officials said the countdown for patching begins once its cyber hygiene vulnerability scanning system detects a flaw through routine system scans.
Once a flaw is found, DHS will issue an alert to the relevant federal agencies. Those departments will then need to patch the flaws within the new timeframe. If not, the federal agency will receive a reminder from DHS to do so or they could face administrative penalties.
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AI diagnostic gets FDA Breakthrough Device designation
Published May 03 2019, 7:26am EDT
A Mount Sinai Health System startup, seeking to commercialize an artificial intelligence-enabled clinical diagnostic for kidney disease, has been granted priority regulatory review by the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA has designated RenalytixAI’s KidneyIntelX as a Breakthrough Device, effectively fast-tracking its development, assessment and review.
The agency’s Breakthrough Devices Program—a voluntary program first authorized in late 2016—is intended to preserve the statutory standards for premarket approval, 510(k) clearance and De Novo marketing authorization, while providing timely access to new solutions for treating or diagnosing a disease or condition that have significant advantages over existing treatment or diagnostic alternatives.
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HIT Think The growing legal and regulatory implications of biometric data
Published May 03 2019, 4:24pm EDT
In the last few years, biometric technologies from fingerprint to facial recognition are increasingly being leveraged by consumers for a wide range of use cases, ranging from payments to checking luggage at an airport or boarding a plane.
While these technologies often simplify the user authentication experience, they also introduce new privacy challenges around the collection and storage of biometric data.
In the U.S., state regulators have reacted to these growing concerns around biometric data by enacting or proposing legislation. Illinois was the first state to enact such a law in 2008, the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). It regulates how private organizations can collect, use and store biometric data. BIPA also enabled individuals to sue individual organizations for damages based on misuse of biometric data.
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Philips, DHS report vulnerability in EMR platform
Company says the security flaw has not been exploited yet and urges customers to update to most recent version.
May 03, 2019 09:48 AM
Healthcare IT vendor Philips and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an alert regarding vulnerabilities in Philips’ Tasy electronic medical record (EMR) platform.
WHY IT MATTERS
The alert, which was issued on April 30 by the industrial control systems computer emergency response team at the DHS, described a cross-site scripting vulnerability that could lead to a compromise of patient confidentiality and system integrity.
The advisory impacts customers in the Latin American EMR market, where Philips has about a thousand installations at healthcare providers in Brazil and Mexico.
The company’s analysis showed those issues, if fully exploited, may allow attackers of low skill in the customer site or on a VPN to provide unexpected input into the application, execute arbitrary code, alter the intended control flow of the system, and access sensitive information.
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This Probably Isn’t The Year Of The Wearable
May 1, 2019
Recently, I read over the results of a
survey asking healthcare leaders what trends were most important within the industry. Much of what it outlined was predictable, but one data point stood out from the others.
Researchers with Definitive Healthcare, which conducted the survey, concluded that only 5.3% of respondents saw the use of wearables as likely to be important in 2019. This was the case even though Definitive lumped remote monitoring into the mix.
At first glance, this result might seem a bit surprising, given the deluge of excited news stories being written on the subject. But maybe it makes more sense than you might think. In fact, it’s worth asking whether it’s time for a hype check on the subject of the future of the wearable.
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Civica Rx CEO predicts 'stampede' if Amazon's Haven succeeds
Published April 30, 2019
Dive Brief:
Civica Rx CEO Martin Van Trieste is among the healthcare players cheering on Amazon's bid to disrupt the industry, noting the e-commerce giant's focus on the consumer experience and unwillingness to work within the status quo position it to succeed and be imitated.
"It's going to be Amazon at the end of the day ... once they do it, it'll be a stampede," Van Trieste said at the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. Monday.
Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Robert Pearl and Manatt Ventures' technology group leader Lisa Suennen agreed, saying that government and legacy businesses alike have their hands tied by perverse financial incentives, making them unlikely candidates for disruption.
Dive Insight:
Those financial incentives contribute to widely acknowledged inefficiency in healthcare delivery, a lack of transparency and skyrocketing medical costs.
Such unclear pricing leads to "risky and unhealthy behavior," according to a
recent West Health report finding 41% of Americans reported forgoing an ER visit in the past year over cost concerns.
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May 1, 2019 / 6:58 AM / 2 days ago
U.S. lawmakers struggle to draft online privacy bill
4 Min Read
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers drafting a bill to create rules governing online privacy hope to have a discussion draft complete by late May with a Senate committee vote during the summer and are intensifying efforts, but disputes are likely to push that timetable back, according to sources knowledgeable about the matter.
The issue is of huge concern to advertisers and tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google, which provide free online services to consumers but derive revenues from advertising targeted at consumers based on preferences identified via data collection.
Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Brian Schatz and Maria Cantwell, who are leading the effort to draft the measure along with Republican Senators Jerry Moran, Commerce Committee chairman Roger Wicker and the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Thune, met late Tuesday and could meet again as early as next week.
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NIST asks for help to create standards for artificial intelligence
Published May 02 2019, 7:46am EDT
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking industry input on ways to develop standards for artificial intelligence.
Under a federal executive order issued on February 11, NIST is to develop the plan within 180 days.
“Timely and fit-for-purpose AI technical standards, whether developed by national or international organizations, will play a crucial role in the development and deployment of AI technologies, and will be essential to building trust and confidence about AI technologies and for achieving economies of scale,” according to the agency.
Consequently, NIST will host a workshop on May 30 in Gaithersburg, Md., as well as a webcast.
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Hardware-as-a-service practice gaining in popularity
Published May 02 2019, 5:16pm EDT
There will be a gradual transition from traditional hardware leasing, where leased devices are managed in-house, to a hardware-as-a-service model, where leased devices are managed by a hardware manufacturer or managed service provider.
That’s according to a new report from IT industry marketplace Spiceworks, based on a survey of 1,115 IT buyers from organizations across North America and Europe, conducted in January.
Nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent) currently lease one or more types of hardware. Among those organizations, 24 percent manage all leased hardware in-house, and 24 percent use the HaaS model for at least one type of device.
Although most commonly used for printers, adoption of the HaaS model among other end user devices (laptops, desktops, tablets and the like) is expected to grow among organizations that already lease hardware.
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Where health systems are using analytics the most
New research points to care quality measures and finance as the top functions for analytics usage today.
May 02, 2019 09:20 AM
The two top uses cases for analytics in healthcare are financial and care quality measures, according to a Dimensional Insight report.
Healthcare IT News sister company HIMSS Analytics conducted the survey.
WHAT THE DATA SAYS
Among the 110 senior healthcare leaders polled, about a third of those organizations that have not yet deployed analytics but plan to do said population health would be a top focus area, while some 60 percent said effectiveness of care would be a central focus.
Just 28 percent of respondents said they are using analytics for effectiveness of care projects, with 22 percent using analytics for population health and 11 percent deploying analytics for chronic care management.
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HHS OCR to Reduce Maximum Civil Penalties for HIPAA Violations
Outside of organizations found of willful neglect and failure to timely correct the issues that led to the violation, HHS plans to reduce the annual civil penalties’ cap for HIPAA breaches.
April 29, 2019 - The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has moved to reduce the annual limit of civil penalties applied to HIPAA violations for three of the four penalty tiers.
According to the notice of enforcement
discretion , the reduction is meant to clear up inconsistencies in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. The penalty structures were implemented during a final interim rule in January 2013.
At the time, HHS determined it was most logical to apply the same maximum penalty of $1.5 million annually for the four penalty tiers: no knowledge that HIPAA was being violated, reasonable cause, willful neglect – corrected, and willful neglect, not corrected in a timely fashion.
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HHS Clarifies HIPAA Liability Around Third-Party Health Apps
The recently released HHS OCR FAQ sheds light on common HIPAA questions around the use of third-party health apps, APIs, and other patient data sharing uses.
April 29, 2019 - The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights recently released
guidance to address the increase use of patient health apps and questions around HIPAA compliance.
According to officials, the FAQs are designed to address HIPAA right of access when it comes to the apps patients use to share data with their providers and the APIs used by providers’ EHRs. As HHS released two data sharing rules in February, the questions are designed to shed light on any privacy, security, or compliance concerns.
“The FAQs clarify that once protected health information has been shared with a third-party app, as directed by the individual, the HIPAA-covered entity will not be liable under HIPAA for subsequent use or disclosure of electronic protected health information, provided the app developer is not itself a business associate of a covered entity or other business associate,” officials
wrote .
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This $1,650 pill will tell your doctors whether you’ve taken it. Is it the future of medicine?
April 28
When the Food and Drug Administration approved in late 2017 a schizophrenia pill that sends a signal to a patient’s doctor when ingested, it was seen not only as a major step forward for the disease but as a new frontier of Internet-connected medicine.
Patients who have schizophrenia often stop taking their medicine, triggering psychotic episodes that can have severe consequences. So the pill, a 16-year-old medication combined with a tiny microchip, would help doctors intervene before a patient went dangerously off course.
Seventeen months later, few patients use the medication, known as Abilify MyCite. Doctors and insurance companies say it is a case in which real-world limitations, as well as costs, outweigh the innovations that the medical industry can produce.
In the case of schizophrenia patients, some doctors warn that Abilify MyCite could exacerbate the very delusions that the medication is designed to prevent.
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April 30, 2019 / 7:31 AM / 2 days ago
Patients value convenience of telemedicine
(Reuters Health) - Patients who have real-time video visits with their primary care providers instead of in-person exams are generally satisfied with the convenience and quality of their checkups, a new study suggests.
There’s a lot about these telemedicine visits that can sound appealing: no need to get stuck in traffic on the way to the doctor; no long stretches in the waiting room before the exam; no missing half a day of work for an appointment that’s over in the blink of an eye. But research to date hasn’t offered a clear picture of how the reality of virtual visits matches up with patients’ expectations
“Prior to the current study there was very little research evidence about primary-care video visits, especially when the visits are with a patient’s own primary care providers (the ones they also visit in-person) as a part of their ongoing clinical care,” said lead study author Dr. Mary Reed of Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
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Privacy experts skeptical of Facebook’s moves to protect sensitive health information
May 1, 2019 12:41pm
Among the changes: The company will now let people post sensitive health-related information anonymously to Facebook Groups, a pivot away from the company’s traditional approach requiring users to post under their real names. Announced during Facebook’s annual developer conference Tuesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also said the social media platform will separate groups that are dedicated to health issues with a special “health support group" designation. In these groups, users will be able to ask group administrators to post questions on their behalf.
The moves follow a
complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission back in January and made public in February that closed online support groups on Facebook — where individuals discuss sensitive health issues ranging from cancer treatments to living with bipolar disorder to addiction issues—were not as private as users had assumed.
But privacy experts and patient advocates say these changes do not go far enough to protect users’ personal health information or to ensure that the data users upload will not be collected or used.
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KLAS: Epic, Cerner still lead EHR pack
The research firm says 2018 was the busiest in recent years for EHR market flux, and recent purchasing decisions show an evolution in the electronic health record landscape.
May 01, 2019 03:04 PM
Most health systems that signed on for a new electronic health record install in 2018 – be they large or small, government-run or private-sector – opted for Cerner or Epic, according to the new market share report from KLAS.
That may be unsurprising at this point. But it "does not tell the whole story," said researchers, who charted what they said the "busiest" buying period of the past three years, with gains and losses from blue chip vendors making for a EHR landscape that looks very different from earlier this decade.
Here's what the KLAS
report had to say about the major players:
Allscripts
Fourteen hospitals opted to trade Allscripts' Sunrise Clinical Manager platform in favor of Epic in 2018, the report shows, while 16 providers traded the Paragon system (
acquired from McKesson in 2017 ) for other vendors. The company has phased out McKesson's Horizon technology, meanwhile, and the three hospitals who opted to replace that system this past year didn't stick with Allscripts.
"In terms of new sales, one small IDN and one standalone hospital chose SCM in 2018, and one athenahealth customer moved back to Paragon," KLAS notes. "Over the last few years, several specialty hospitals have chosen SCM; many choose the solution for the amount of customization it offers."
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EHRs May Be Linked To Safety Problems Within Oncology Practices
April 30, 2019
A new study looking at safety in oncology settings has drawn a troubling conclusion — that the more clinicians in a group of oncology clinics relied on EHRs, the less likely they were to perform safety-related actions.
The
study , which appeared in the
Journal of Oncology Practice , investigated to what degree EHRs, satisfaction with technology and quality of clinician-to-clinician education support a safety culture within oncology groups.
To address this question, researchers measured actions typical of a safety culture, satisfaction with practice technology and quality of clinician communication among 297 oncology nurses and prescribers spread across 29 practices in the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium. They also created an index which captured how reliant the practice was on their EHR.
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Physician burnout eased with homegrown tech
Kaiser Permanente fights fire with fire by developing digital tools to reduce technology-related physician burnout.
News Writer
Technology in healthcare is a double-edged sword. While it has created medical advancement and greater availability of electronic patient information, it has also produced side effects that are now beginning to show, according to Rahul Parikh, M.D. at Kaiser Permanente.
Physicians can spend more time navigating their way through an EHR than interacting with patients during in-office exams, and that can contribute to physician burnout, Parikh said.
"The challenges were evident," Parikh said during his talk at the American Telemedicine Association's annual conference and expo. "The technology was getting in the way of taking care of our patients -- of forming the connection that gives us a sense of meaning, purpose and wellness in what we do."
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Digital divide widens in wake of AI, machine learning
Published April 30 2019, 7:34am EDT
It has been more than a decade since President George W. Bush set out to get electronic health records for every American. In the 15 years since his pronouncement, there’s been significant implementation of EHRs across the country, propagating an incomprehensible amount of data.
In many cases, that data sits dormant and untapped of its potential.
Some healthcare organizations contend that it’s financial constraints that provide limitations. Lack of dollars makes it difficult for all but the most advanced and lucrative healthcare organizations to put machine learning or artificial intelligence in place to make the most of the data.
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Focus on interoperability: What we learned
Top takeaways from a month of reporting on today's current state and the future of health data sharing.
April 30, 2019 10:25 AM
The table is set for interoperability but it’s still going to take a lot of work because the various players — electronic health record vendors, hospitals, policymakers — are not exactly on the same page yet and critical questions remain unanswered.
That’s the takeaway from our Healthcare IT News Focus on Interoperability during April, wherein we interviewed industry luminaries, health IT thought leaders, EHR executives, and more to dive deep and glean their insights.
Let’s take a look at what we learned along the way.
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Estonia's e-revolution rolls on: Now it's first in Europe with cross-border e-prescriptions
Finnish digital prescriptions are now valid in neighboring Estonia, thanks to an EU health data initiative.
After a two-hour ferry ride to the capital of southern neighbor Estonia, any Finnish traveler who forgets to bring vital prescription drugs now doesn't need to panic and buy an early ticket home.
They can just head to the nearest pharmacy in the tiny Baltic state's capital of Tallinn and, using their ID-card, obtain the drugs that had been prescribed in Finland.
That's possible thanks to the EU's eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI) initiative, which is designed to provide healthcare professionals secure electronic access to the medical data of EU residents – anytime and anywhere within the EU, respecting the will and rights of the individual.
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New GP deal – an inflection point
The new IMO GP deal is a substantive piece of work containing a lot of new or improved elements.
Catering to the many groups in general practice (e.g. 10% increase in Rural Practice Allowance, direct funding to general practitioners [GPs] in areas of extreme deprivation) the new deal is particularly cognisant of newly established and establishing GPs. It now creates a viable foundation for younger GP and trainees to build their future in Ireland on.
The meat of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) GP deal is the 49.5 per cent increase in capitation. This is delivered over 30 months. This thick slice of filling represents a 110 per cent return of the cuts imposed by Financial Emergency in the Public Interest (FEMPI). Not only does this restore funding to general practice, but it will also, by the value of compounding, accumulate to a restoration of the losses imposed. While some argue for a refund of all prior FEMPI cuts in one fell swoop, this would require a €2 billion cheque equating to unicorn economics. Fun to imagine, but wrong to put faith in.
The IMO GP deal represents an inflection point in the recent history of general practice. It is a directional change that us younger GPs can fully appreciate. It is full of important elements to better enable us in building up practices to serve our communities. While some are subtle, cumulatively they make a career in GP more viable.
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In EMR Market Share Wars, Epic and Cerner Triumph Yet Again
Epic experienced the greatest gains overall last year, largely influenced by M&A activity among provider organizations.
The market share battle among electronic medical record (EMR) providers saw a lot of activity in 2018, much of it stimulated by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among health systems, as well as
a deal finalized between
Cerner and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last spring
. Yet after the dust settled, the victors were fairly predictable, with
Epic having a slight edge over Cerner in terms of overall market share—28% and 26%, respectively. Epic reigns supreme in the over 500-bed category with a 58% share of the market, compared to Cerner's 27%.
KLAS , the Salt Lake City-based research and insights firm, released its annual report today,
U.S. Hospital EMR Market Share 2018 , detailing the ups and downs of activity in this competitive market sector. The report is based on based on acute care EMR purchasing activity in the U.S. last year, characterizing 2018 as the "the busiest of the past three years."
Thanks to government contracts, including the V.A. deal, during 2018 Cerner signed the largest number of new hospitals, totaling 177 contracts, including integrated delivery networks, standalone hospitals, and customer add-ons. This is the second consecutive year the company has led market activity. However, due to customer attrition of 77 accounts, Cerner's net gains fell behind Epic, which added 122 contracts and lost one.
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How Electronic Health Records Became An Absolute Fiasco
Thanks to federal mandates, physicians now spend more time staring at computer screens than connecting with patients. They find the drudgery soul-crushing.
April 30, 2019
Recent surveys of doctors show a sharp rise in frustrated physicians. One
study last year analyzed a nearly 10 percentage point increase in burnout from 2011 to 2014, and laid much of the blame for the increase on a single culprit: Electronic health records. Physicians now spend more time staring at computer screens than connecting with patients, and find the drudgery soul-crushing.
What prompted the rise in screen fatigue and physician burnout? Why, government, of course. A recent Fortune magazine
expose , titled “Death by 1,000 Clicks,” analyzed the history behind federal involvement in electronic records. The article reveals how electronic health records not only have not met their promise, but have led to numerous unintended and harmful consequences for American’s physicians, and the whole health care market.
Electronic Bridge to Nowhere
The Fortune story details all the ways health information technology doesn’t work:
Error-prone and glitch-laden systems;
Impromptu work-arounds created by individual physicians and hospitals make it tough to compare systems to each other;
An inability for one hospital’s system to interact with another’s—let alone deliver data and records directly to patients; and
A morass of information, presented in a non-user-friendly format, that users cannot easily access—potentially increasing errors.
The data behind the EHR debacle illustrate the problem vividly. Physicians spend nearly six hours per day on EHRs, compared to just over five hours of direct time with patients. A study concluding that emergency room physicians average 4,000 mouse clicks per shift, a number that virtually guarantees doctors will make data errors. Thousands of documented medication errors caused by EHRs, and at least one hundred deaths (likely more) from “alert fatigue” caused by electronic systems’ constant warnings.
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Parkinson's Tremors Vanish with Incisionless Surgery
FDA-approved focused ultrasound technology for tremor-predominant Parkinson's often instantly eliminates symptoms.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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An incisionless surgical treatment that delivers focused ultrasound waves to destroy targeted brain tissue often results in immediate symptom reduction or relief for patients with tremor-predominant Parkinson's disease. The procedure, which combines focused ultrasound technology with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
recently received FDA approval and provides an option for patients who cannot take or do not respond to medication. It also offers an alternative to
deep brain stimulation (DBS), a more invasive form of treatment, which implants hardware into the patient's body.
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Nearly half of U.S. doctors say they are anxious about using AI-powered software: survey
Apr 25, 2019 10:55am
Artificial intelligence gets a lot of buzz as a leading-edge technology in healthcare. But it still has a long way to go when it comes to adoption, with only 20% of physicians saying AI has changed the way they practice medicine, according to a recent survey.
In fact, the majority of physicians are anxious or uncomfortable with AI, according to Medscape’s survey of 1,500 doctors across Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Physicians in the U.S. voiced the most skepticism (49%), while 35% of physicians in Europe said they are uncomfortable with AI and 30% of physicians in Latin America said the same.
Although the number of physicians who say AI has changed the way they practice medicine grew from last year’s survey, 15% to 20%, the results indicate that AI applications are still in their infancy and have not affected mainstream physician practice at scale.
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Cyber-security Is Improving, Though Risk Continues to Grow
eWEEK DATA POINTS: The 2019 Trustwave Global Security Report identifies several positive trends for that state of cyber-security, even as attackers continue to evolve and some areas of cyber-security are getting worse.
There is never a shortage of bad news when it comes to cyber-security, thanks to a seemingly endless stream of vulnerabilities and exploits.
The 2019 Trustwave Global Security Report, released on April 25, has its fair share of bad news as it has found that multiple types of attacks have grown and attackers have continued to increase levels of sophistication. However, the 76-page report also provides insight into some positive trends—how organizations are actually doing the right things to improve cyber-security. For example, Trustwave found that threat response time has improved, with the time from intrusion to detection falling from 67 days in 2017 to 27 days in 2018.
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Hospitals can leverage AI to combat cyberattacks, report finds
Mackenzie Garrity -
Friday, April 26th, 2019 Print | Email
As hospitals and health systems continue to build out "internet of things" devices and rely on legacy systems, they are becoming more vulnerable to cyberattacks. The solution? Artificial intelligence, according to Vectra's
2019 Spotlight Report on Healthcare .
Machine learning and AI can help detect hidden threat behaviors within an organization before a cybercriminal takes advantage of the weakness, Vectra suggest.
"Twelve percent of enterprise organizations have already deployed AI-based security analytics extensively, and 27 percent have deployed AI-based security analytics on a limited basis. We expect these implementation trends will continue to gain," said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group.
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Health records stored on USB drives may decrease patient medication errors post-hospital discharge
Jackie Drees -
Friday, April 26th, 2019 Print | Email
Patients who receive their medical records and discharge prescription on a USB flash drive rather than a handwritten note may experience fewer post-discharge medication errors, according to a study published in the
British Journal of General Practice .
A patient's medical records can be uploaded to the USB device, which is integrated with the hospital's EHR system. Study authors designed the patient-held EHR device so it can travel with the patient, and once activated, can provide a link to the patient's medication information in the EHR. Patients and providers involved in the study believed the device provided a potential solution for poor communication of medication information and limited the possibility of medication error at the primary–secondary care interface.
The study comprised 102 patients at five general medical and surgical wards of a 350-bed hospital as well as general practices in County Cork, Ireland, from January to July 2016. Researchers split participants into two groups, with the first receiving discharge prescriptions on the USB device and the second group receiving discharge prescriptions on paper. Researchers also conducted interviews with the patients, physicians and IT professionals on the USB device and paper records' clinical impact.
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Causes and solutions for physician burnout
April 25, 2019
Healthcare providers are reaching their breaking point, if they haven’t already.
From my perspective, physician burnout can be described as reaching the point where work stressors cause an individual so much distress that he or she leaves the practice of medicine either by switching careers or by committing suicide.
Often times, the reasons why physicians are burned out may be unknown. Those feelings of burnout or the underlying cause of them may be related to past trauma or an issue that has nothing to do with the practice of medicine.
Alternatively, the why may be directly related to either the practice of medicine or the business of medicine. For example, previously, I wrote an
article for the
Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners about battlefield medicine and the impact to first responders and physicians. Responding to a mass casualty such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting or a school shooting carries residual trauma.
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Ransomware Attacks on Business Targets Increase by 195% in Q1
Over the last year, hackers have renewed their ransomware attacks on businesses with organizations detecting a 500 percent increase in the malware.
April 26, 2019 - Ransomware attacks on business targets have seen a substantial increase in the first quarter of 2019, up by 195 percent since the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a recent Malwarebytes
report .
Malwarebytes researchers analyzed the combined statistics and intel collected from its intelligence, research, and data science teams between January 1 and March 31, 2019. They also leveraged telemetry from both consumer and business products on PC, Mac, and mobile devices.
Overall, they found that business detection of ransomware attacks increased by more than 500 percent from the same time frame in 2018 with 336,634 detections.
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HIT Think How joint projects are fraught with unexpected risks
Published April 29 2019, 5:47pm EDT
Money is the driving force behind many concerns and decisions in healthcare.
Physician practices, hospitals and others need money to invest in capital needs or to simply to keep the doors open. Digital health companies see a market ripe for disruption and ready to acquire new products. Private equity firms see the opportunity to acquire and consolidate multiple practices by getting into an area where there seems to be no shortage of money spent.
Regardless of the reason or need for money, it is an ever-present concern and topic of discussion within healthcare.
Looking at private equity and healthcare specifically, the pace of transactions is not slowing down, and the number of targets is increasing. As suggested, private equity firms are interested in investing money into healthcare entities of almost any type with the hope of entering an industry often cited as taking a growing chunk of overall spending in the entire economy.
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First responders soon can access patients’ health histories
Published April 29 2019, 5:56pm EDT
MedicAlert is partnering with a company that enables patient health data to be directly transmitted to first responders during an emergency.
MedicAlert is working with RapidSOS, which has a platform that links any connected device to 911 and other first responders. The goal is to better respond to vulnerable patients who wear MedicAlert IDs engraved with critical information about the patient.
The partnership will enable vital health information to be transmitted directly to first responders in the event of an emergency, giving them more comprehensive health profiles, as well as accurate location data. That will help save critical minutes during emergencies, and contribute to faster responses and better-prepared public safety officials.
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Opinion: Interoperability - What every cybercriminal is waiting for
Dr Saif Abed, founding partner of health IT consultancy firm AbedGraham, looks at how interoperability could "break healthcare".
April 29, 2019 09:46 AM
Interoperability is one of the biggest issues facing healthcare providers today as far as technology goes. In fact, one of the most scathing criticisms of major healthcare IT suppliers is that their solutions don’t play nicely together and that’s a problem. We want to shift patient care into the community, develop integrated care systems and focus on population health rather than just treating the sick. None of these things can happen without interoperability.
Now, we’re getting there slowly but surely and as policy and procurement mandates get given teeth then suppliers will start to realise that it’s in their commercial interests to alter their behaviours. However, my job isn’t to preach about the benefits of interoperability but to tell you about the other side of the coin - how interoperability can break healthcare.
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For your health: EHRs from the doctor's perspective
David Fletcher, founder of Softec Solutions, thinks user error is the most common problem with electronic health record systems like Concur.
Electronic health records, which were at the core of Glens Falls Hospital’s two-year billing disaster, are apparently reviled by doctors throughout the country.
In the Physicians Foundation’s
annual survey of physicians , 39% said EHRs were their greatest source of dissatisfaction about their jobs. That’s up from 27% in 2016.
The other top choices were loss of clinical autonomy and insurance requirements.
Not everyone hates EHRs. About a quarter of the physicians said the system improved quality of care and efficiency.
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'Just introduce computers that don't crash!’: Royal College urges Health Secretary to get the basics right before introducing AI to the NHS
The Royal College of GPs wants technology to streamline a patient's care 'A lot of work is needed' before the NHS 'becomes a world leader in technology' Up to 80% of GPs may still be using fax machines, according to estimates
Published: 09:02 AEST, 30 April 2019 | Updated: 09:27 AEST, 30 April 2019
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been told to 'get the basics right first' before embarking on a 'digital revolution' of the NHS .
The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has said the biggest priority should be computer systems that do not crash while a doctor is writing a prescription.
It also wants to see technology that streamlines a patient's care by allowing medics to communicate from different areas of the NHS.
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Weekly News Recap
Cerner announces Q1 results that meet Wall Street’s revenue and earnings expectations
Seattle-based genetic testing and health coaching startup Arivale shuts down after burning through $50 million in funding
CPSI announces plans to acquire patient engagement vendor Get Real Health
Bain Capital hires financial advisors to help it assess the potential sale of RCM vendor Waystar
The FTC files an antitrust lawsuit against Surescripts for allegedly monopolizing the e-prescribing market
Athenahealth lays off 200 employees
HHS announces CMS Primary Cares, two value-based care payment models launching in 2020 that it says will cover at least 25% of Medicare beneficiaries and providers
HHS opens Draft 2 of its Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement for public comment
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Enjoy!
David.
