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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The interoperability world tour
DHI Admin – July 9
Sponsored Content from Enovacom.
Interoperability plays a fundamental role in the future of healthcare. By 2020 global healthcare data is expected to reach 2.3 billion gigabytes – a phenomenal amount – for all sorts of uses: vital signs data for monitoring conditions, high-resolution images to support diagnosis, or pharmacy records to understand which medicines should be prescribed.
But this information needs to be in the right hands to be truly effective. Clinicians and carers can work smarter and provide more efficient, passionate care for patients if they have speedier access to patient information. The challenge that has historically faced most healthcare providers is how to ensure information flows safely and effectively to the appropriate healthcare professionals, no matter where they are.
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Jul 25, 2019, 07:45am
Seven Common Cybersecurity Mistakes Made With AI
Your company has started to use artificial intelligence (AI), but are you effectively managing the risks involved? It's a new growth channel with the potential to boost productivity and improve customer service. However, particular management risks need to be assessed in cybersecurity. Start by considering AI trends to put this risk in context.
Why is AI an emerging cybersecurity threat?
Artificial intelligence is a booming industry right now with large corporations, researchers, and startups all scrambling to make the most of the trend. From a cybersecurity perspective, there are a few reasons to be concerned about AI. Your threat assessment models need to be updated based on the following developments.
Early cybersecurity AI may create a false sense of security.
Most machine-learning methods currently in production require users to provide a training data set. With this data in place, the application can make better predictions. However, end-user judgment is a major factor in determining which data to include. This supervised learning approach is subject to compromise if hackers discover how the supervised process works. In effect, hackers could evade detection by machine learning by mimicking safe code.
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Home Care Providers Find Success Using Telehealth to Connect to Doctors
A telehealth program tested in Washington DC finds value in using telepresenters to coordinate home-based healthcare for frail elderly patients.
July 24, 2019 - A test of a new telehealth program that uses skilled homecare workers as stand-ins for doctors could help to improve in-home care for frail elderly patients.
Developed by national in-home care provider Senior Helpers in a partnership with Capitol Coordinated Medicine and Curavi Health, the telemedicine platform – piloted earlier this year in Washington DC – reduced costs by more than 40 percent and in some cases improved care.
The key to the program’s success, organizers said, was replacing the home visit by the primary care physician with a connected health model of care that puts a telepresenter – most often a certified nursing assistant – in the home, coordinating treatment with a PCP through virtual care.
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The Digital Doctor: The Next Big Leap in Healthcare
JULY 26, 2019
Sara Karlovitch
Technology has become increasingly important to the healthcare industry. Video chat allows patients to see a doctor in the comfort of their home; apps and wearable technology have revolutionized how health can be monitored.
However, as technology’s role becomes clearer, so does the uncertainty around its regulations, efficacy, and access.
Tabassum Salam, MD, American College of Physician (ACP) vice president for medical education, believes despite these clear challenges, telemedicine is here to stay.
She told MD Magazine® the college is currently working on educating physician members on how to more effectively incorporate the technology into their practice. Such an effort couldn’t be timelier. According to a recent survey conducted by the ACP, most members have implanted at least 1 of 5 technologies—video visits, e-consults, remote patient monitoring, remote care management, or wearables—in their practice.
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However, as technology’s role becomes clearer, so does the uncertainty around its regulations, efficacy, and access.
Tabassum Salam, MD, American College of Physician (ACP) vice president for medical education, believes despite these clear challenges, telemedicine is here to stay.
She told MD Magazine® the college is currently working on educating physician members on how to more effectively incorporate the technology into their practice. Such an effort couldn’t be timelier. According to a recent survey conducted by the ACP, most members have implanted at least 1 of 5 technologies—video visits, e-consults, remote patient monitoring, remote care management, or wearables—in their practice.
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VA to spend $4.89B on VistA until Cerner EHR fully replaces system
Published July 26 2019, 3:36am EDT
The Department of Veterans Affairs will need to maintain its legacy electronic health record system at a cost of nearly $5 billion over 10 years until it is replaced by a commercial off-the-shelf EHR from Cerner.
Paul Tibbits, executive director of technical integration in the VA’s Office of Information and Technology, told lawmakers on Thursday that the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) requires updates and maintenance to keep it functioning until the Cerner system goes live.
“Until the new electronic health record solution is implemented across the VA enterprise, VistA remains VA’s authoritative source of veteran data,” said Tibbits. “Sustaining VistA for the duration of the EHR modernization ensures that VA continues to provide uninterrupted care and services.”
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HIT Think HCSC telehealth program saves employers $15 million
By Diana Manos
Published July 26 2019, 5:47pm EDT
Telehealth is living up to its promise of increasing access to quality care and providing significant cost savings to patients and employers, contends Tom Meier, vice president of market solutions at Health Care Service Corporation.
A new HCSC internal analysis of the company’s telehealth program, Virtual Visits, based on data collected in 2017 and 2018, showed that participating group employers saved more than $15 million— which translates to savings of 39 cents per employee per month, Meier says.
Some 85 percent of HCSC’s members who used Virtual Visits avoided a more expensive care setting, such as urgent care and emergency department visits, with overall medical costs 17 percent lower for Virtual Visit users than for non-Virtual Visits users. Adjusting for the relatively healthier telehealth population, the actual savings on costs is approximately 1 percent, Meier says.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/health-systems-reach-comfort-level-cloud-skys-limit-innovation
As health systems reach comfort level with the cloud, the sky's the limit for innovation
Companies have upped their games in recent years, bolstering their technical infrastructure and jumping through regulatory hoops to prove they have the wherewithal to handle PHI. Providers have taken notice, and are embracing the cloud in big ways.
July 26, 2019 02:52 PM
It wasn’t too long ago that most IT and security professionals would balk at the very idea of keeping mission-critical data – especially protected health information – in the public cloud. For all the convenience, cost savings and agility remote hosting might offer, after all, the risks of entrusting such precious data to a third party were just too significant to breeze past.
“Ten years ago, cloud technology was still in its infancy,” said Anahi Santiago, CISO at Newark, Delaware-based Christiana Care Health System. “Most industries, including healthcare, were still trying to wrap their arms around what the cloud entailed and potential risks associated with moving toward the technology. Lack of visibility, standards and transparency were of primary concern, as were issues of privacy, security and overall compliance.”
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ACS, HBS Partnership to Address Value-Based Care, Reduce Costs
A partnership between the American College of Surgeons and Harvard Business School aims to promote value-based care while reducing costs.
July 24, 2019 - The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) announced a value-based care partnership aimed at improving quality care while reducing costs.
The duo’s primary goal is to help hospitals and surgical practices better measure the quality and costs of care delivery. In doing so, hospitals can more accurately assess the care they are administering, and reimbursement payments can be more reflective of the quality of care.
“Clearly defining the value of patient care is critical to our nation’s health care system,” said ACS Executive Director, David Hoyt, MD, in a public statement. “As the patient care model continues to evolve, we must place a premium on providing the utmost quality and efficiency in our hospitals. This program will help hospitals identify clear opportunities to do that.”
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How we can place a value on health care data
Pamela Spence
EY Global Health Sciences and Wellness Industry Leader and Life Sciences Industry Leader
19 Jul 2019
Estimating the value of patient data and unlocking that value in the UK’s National Health Service can help fuel health care innovation.
Unlocking the power of health care data to fuel innovation in medical research and improve patient care is at the heart of today’s health care revolution. When curated or consolidated into a single longitudinal dataset, patient-level records will trace a complete story of a patient’s demographics, health, wellness, diagnosis, treatments, medical procedures and outcomes. Health care providers need to recognize patient data for what it is: a valuable intangible asset desired by multiple stakeholders, a treasure trove of information.
Among the universe of providers holding significant data assets, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) is the single largest integrated health care provider in the world. Its patient records cover the entire UK population from birth to death.
We estimate that the 55 million patient records held by the NHS today may have an indicative market value of several billion pounds to a commercial organization. We estimate also that the value of the curated NHS dataset could be as much as £5bn per annum and deliver around £4.6bn of benefit to patients per annum, in potential operational savings for the NHS, enhanced patient outcomes and generation of wider economic benefits to the UK.
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Cerner Results
Cerner reports Q2 results: revenue up 5%, adjusted EPS $0.66 vs. $0.62, beating earnings expectations but falling short on revenue. From the earnings call:
- Chairman and CEO Brent Shafer says the company’s future lies in helping clients deliver benefits from the systems the company has sold them.
- The company will offer Millennium via a SaaS platform.
- Cerner will develop a “monetized distribution model” of selling patient data to drug companies and insurers as a “curated data services asset.” Part of that is its HealtheHistory business, which sells records retrieval services to insurance companies and law firms.
- The company has created a transformation management office of four people, two of whom are from turnaround consulting firm AlixPartners.
- Cerner will move MyStation patient engagement product users to a similar product product from new partner GetWellNetwork.
- Cerner expects to reduce costs by up to $200 million to achieve its announced margin targets.
ONC calls for comments on interoperability standards
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT says it's seeking public input and recommendations before it takes a "snapshot" of its Interoperability Standards Advisory toward the end of the year.
July 25, 2019 10:50 AM
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is again asking for public comments for its Interoperability Standards Advisory, its dynamic registry of input on the standards and implementation specifications needed to guide the nation’s healthcare system toward more widespread data exchange.
WHY IT MATTERS
In a blog post, ONC officials said it's requesting "your comments on revisions and additions you suggest we make to the current content in the ISA. We are looking for your recommendations before we take a 'snapshot' of the ISA toward the end of the year. Any comments we receive will be reviewed for inclusion and the ISA will then be updated and posted on our website – referred to as the 2020 Reference Edition."
In a blog post, ONC officials said it's requesting "your comments on revisions and additions you suggest we make to the current content in the ISA. We are looking for your recommendations before we take a 'snapshot' of the ISA toward the end of the year. Any comments we receive will be reviewed for inclusion and the ISA will then be updated and posted on our website – referred to as the 2020 Reference Edition."
As a central source of input on which interoperability standards apply to specific health IT applications, the ISA relies heavily on input from stakeholders in the industry.
Officials note that new components to the ISA include several interoperability needs related to e-prescribing and tobacco use; lists of specific data exchange needs to support specialty care and settings such as pediatrics and opioid prevention and treatment; and a new appendix linking to state and local public health agencies’ interoperability efforts.
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Implementation best practices: Patient engagement tech done right
Four experts offer advice and best practices for how to launch and maintain success with technologies that boost engagement and improve the patient experience.
By Bill Siwicki
July 25, 2019 01:00 PM
Implementing patient engagement technology can help health systems involve and empower their patients to achieve better health outcomes – and better clinical and business outcomes for the provider organizations.
But to roll out these technologies effectively, CIOs and other IT leaders need to put together patient-centric systems and processes and focus on change management before, during and after implementation.
We spoke with four experts in patient-facing technology who each offered some tips and best practices for how engagement and experience tools should be deployed at provider organizations.
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New Digital Care Act to be introduced for expanding digitization of the German healthcare system
In order to expand the digitization of the German healthcare system, a new Digital care act known as Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz is going to be introduced.
Since 2016, after the establishment of the ‘E-Health Act’, Germany has been pursuing the path of digitization. The main goal of the ‘E-Health Act’ was to establish information & communication tech in healthcare & the new Digital Care Act has been introduced to build upon this.
The E-Health Act has its focus in particular on the development of the ‘electronic health card’ & the corresponding ‘electronic patient file’ for statutory health-insured people for protecting the data stored in such files against unauthorized use, the creation of a safe ‘telematics infrastructure’, the development of the interoperability of healthcare IT systems, & the provision of telemedical services.
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As pregnancy tech proliferates, women and their doctors wade through what’s helpful — and what’s a headache
July 23, 2019
SAN FRANCISCO — Pregnancy care is poised for a 21st century upgrade.
Algorithms promise to detect the difference between real labor and a false alarm. Wearables give women a way to track contractions. Apps relay home blood pressure readings directly to doctors, offering a possible way to cut down on prenatal visits — and catch certain pregnancy complications before they become full-blown crises.
Doctors say the new technologies have the potential to transform prenatal care. But for all the promise, doctors caution that some direct-to-consumer devices might cause anxiety or unnecessary trips to the clinic — without strong evidence that they offer any real benefits to pregnant women.
“Prenatal care is burdensome. It requires patients to be in at minimum, once a month. People have jobs. It’s hard to get in… You could imagine some kind of virtual substitute would be very welcome,” said Dr. Thomas McElrath, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “But we would have to figure out and think carefully about how to do that,” he added.
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In healthcare these days, ‘There’s an app for that’… unless you really need it
Sarah Lisker 22 July, 2019
When a digital health company announces a new app, everyone seems to think it’s going to improve health. Not me.
Where I work, in San Francisco’s public health system, in a hospital named after the founder of Facebook, digital solutions promising to improve health feel far away.
The patients and providers in our public delivery system are deeply familiar with the real-world barriers to leveraging technology to improve health. Our patients are low-income (nearly all of them receive public insurance) and diverse (more than 140 languages are spoken). Many of them manage multiple chronic conditions. The providers that care for them struggle with fragmented health records and outdated methods of communication, like faxes and pagers.
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Health IT companies impacted by browser extension data leak: report
Jul 23, 2019 1:55pm
Browser extensions, also known as add-ons or plug-ins, are commonly used by web surfers to do things ranging from blocking ads to remembering passwords to checking grammar.
According to an independent security researcher, some extensions have been leaking and exposing browsing activity data including patient names and health information from healthcare software companies.
At least eight browser extensions have been collecting browsing activity data, including personally identifiable information and corporate information from unwitting Chrome and Firefox users over a seven-month period, according to Sam Jadali, an independent security researcher who documented the privacy issue in a recent report called "DataSpii: The catastrophic data leak via browser extensions."
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Walmart, Sam’s Club offer audible prescription labels for visually impaired
Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies recently announced a move to help visually impaired customers through En-Vision America’s ScriptTalk audible prescription labels which are available at nearly 1,200 pharmacies. Walmart said it is adding up to 25 pharmacies with the capability each month, with 750 pharmacies added in the past three years.
Walmart and Sam’s Club equip a pharmacy to provide ScripTalk with a patient’s request for audible prescription labels. Once a pharmacy is equipped, usually within a week to 10 days, the pharmacy provides ScripTalk labels to patients requesting them at no charge and without lengthy delays.
Customers need to get the small battery-operated device called a ScriptTalk Station which is provided at no charge, according to Walmart.
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When A Doctor’s Screen Time Detracts From Face Time With Patients
Carmen Heredia RodriguezJuly 24, 2019
As Wei Wei Lee sat with her doctor to discuss starting a family, she felt a “distance” between them. The physician was busy on the computer and focused on the screen.
Health care — and how much it costs — is scary. But you’re not alone with this stuff, and knowledge is power. “An Arm and a Leg” is a podcast about these issues, and its second season is co-produced by KHN.
“It just didn’t feel very personal,” Lee said. “I didn’t feel heard.”
It seemed as though keeping a record of the conversation was more important to the doctor than making a connection with Lee.
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HIT Think How the idea behind targeted web ads can help docs
Published July 24 2019, 5:30pm EDT
Have you ever shopped online and then later saw ads for the same product on a completely different site? You’re reading a news article or visiting Facebook, and boom, there are those running shoes you were just looking at 15 minutes, or a day ago.
Sound familiar? Or what about when your Alexa, or another virtual assistant, recommends a purchase based on something you added to a shopping list. Helpful? Yes. Unsettling? Yes. Powerful? Also, yes.
These proactive cross-sell marketing techniques are a key to consumer satisfaction, learning from stuff that the consumers are interested in and leading them towards buying similar or related items. The concept behind them—contextual awareness of who we are, where we are, who we are connected to, and what systems we use or have access to—can also help providers improve health outcomes, reduce physician burnout and help U.S. healthcare eliminate billions of dollars of waste every year.
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Data breach costs continue to rise across healthcare industry
But a study from IBM Security and the Ponemon Institute finds that orgs with a solid incident response plan had $1.23 million less in breach costs than those that didn't.
By Nathan Eddy
July 24, 2019 11:00 AM
The healthcare industry had the highest cost of a data breach for the ninth consecutive year, costing organizations nearly $6.5 million on average – more than 60 percent higher than other industries.
These were among the findings of the "Cost of a Data Breach Report" from IBM Security and Ponemon Institute, which also revealed it took the healthcare industry 236 days to identify a breach and 83 days on average to contain a breach on average--nearly two months longer than the average across other industries.
Christopher Scott, chief technology officer and global remediation lead at IBM X-Force IRIS, told Healthcare IT News the healthcare industry is a "hot target" for cybercriminals because protected health information has an excellent resale value on the black market.
"Unlike passwords that can be changed or credit cards that can be reset with an expiration date, health data lasts forever and can be used for numerous malicious activities such as identity theft, insurance and health care fraud, and more," Scott explained.
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How one tribal health center boosted training compliance to 99.98%
Sault Tribe Health Division also uses its specialized IT system to manage digital incident reporting and credentialing management.
By Bill Siwicki
July 24, 2019 01:11 PM
Headquartered in Sault Saint-Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Sault Tribe Health Division is a tribal health center that provides various medical services to a seven-county area.
THE PROBLEM
Previously, the provider organization struggled with managing and delivering high-quality training to its staff of more than 250 spread throughout eight health clinics. Administrators were expected to create their own educational presentations to train staff members on protocols.
Further, the organization primarily used a combination of paper records and spreadsheets for tracking who had completed their necessary training and different renewal dates. This created challenges in meeting federal, state and accreditation requirements.
“We also kept all our written policies and procedures stored in physical binders at each clinic,” said Joanne Umbrasas, director of operations at Sault Tribe Health Division. “Therefore, any updates to policies needed to be printed and manually dispersed to ensure consistency across our network. It was difficult to guarantee that all the binders were completely up to date at any given time.”
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Maybe We Should Give Big Tech A Legit Shot At The Healthcare Business
July 24, 2019
Not long ago, CNBC published an article describing an unusual partnership between Microsoft and the Providence St. Joseph Health System.
Apparently, the two are building a tech-centered “hospital of the future.” Among other things, the facility will feature a streamlined EMR designed to make it easier for clinical providers to find and share information. The new hospital will also include natural language processing and machine learning to help diagnose and care for patients, the news site reported.
Along the way, the article reminded readers that Microsoft has previously mounted unsuccessful efforts to get its footing in the healthcare space, including the release of its hospital IT software package Amalga. It also points out that Apple, Amazon and Google haven’t been really successful yet either, though they’re certainly still working at doing so.
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If This Is Human Documentation, Give Me Sweet, Nonjudgmental AI
July 22, 2019
Not long ago, I wrote about what happened when I requested a digital copy of my medical records from my healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente. In that article, I described struggling with a nearly 600-page PDF whose organization seemed to have no discernible rhyme or reason to it.
After spending a few weeks feeling flabbergasted, I did in fact go back into my records and delve more deeply into a few areas of concern. When I did so, I was a bit shocked about some of the things I saw.
For example, in one report on an encounter regarding the status of my Parkinson’s disease, a neurologist wrote that I said I was “well-read” on Parkinson’s.
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Digital Health IPOs – 2 Down 2 to Go
July 22, 2019
It had been a while since any digital healthcare company had tested the IPO waters. Part of that is due to the downturn in the economy and other factors which led most digital health companies to sell rather than going public. The other part is that the average age of a company that IPOs is 12 years which means that many digital health companies just aren’t mature enough to IPO yet.
This seems to be changing some as 2 health IT companies have gone through IPOs: Change Healthcare (NASDAQ: CHNG) and Phreesia (NYSE: PHR). The Change Healthcare IPO was a little different since Change Healthcare was built out of the Mckesson and Emdeon assets. The Phreesia IPO did really well with the stock price popping 53% even though the price has fallen a bit since the initial offering.
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JULY 23, 2019
Remote Monitoring of Patient-Reported Outcomes Can Improve Satisfaction
CHICAGO—Remote monitoring of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) through a patient portal improves satisfaction with health care communication among survivors of breast cancer, researchers reported.
Findings from a pilot study presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that asking patients to regularly report outcomes improves their satisfaction without increasing their anxiety (abstract e23125).
“Electronic PRO monitoring has been found to improve quality of life and overall survival” during treatment for patients with metastatic cancer, explained the investigators, led by Shelby Terstriep, MD, the medical director of the Sanford cancer survivorship program at Sanford Health, in Fargo, N.D. “There [have] been limited data on using PROs to enhance clinical outcomes in cancer survivorship.”
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Private Practices Less Likely to Invest in EHR Technology
A recent study found private practices are less likely to maintain EHR technology than clinicians in other care settings, such as hospitals or group practices.
By Kate Monica
July 22, 2019 - Private practices lag behind healthcare providers in group practices and hospitals in EHR use and health IT adoption, according to a July study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC.)
Jordan Everson, PhD, and his team found significant differences in EHR use among 291,234 physicians included in a study.
Everson and others at VUMC compared rates of attestation and attrition in the meaningful use program from 2011 to 2016. Researchers compared meaningful use attestation rates among independent physicians to those who joined hospitals or group practices during the study period.
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Commonwealth Fund offers ROI calculator to help target SDOH efforts
The tool is meant to help healthcare organizations better understand how their social needs investments and community partnerships might pay off, in savings and reduced utilization for high need, high cost patients.
By Mike Miliard
July 23, 2019 04:26 PM
To help health systems better understand the impact and cost benefits of their initiatives around social determinants of health, the Commonwealth Fund has created an online calculator to help determine their potential return on investment.
WHY IT MATTERS
As more providers and payers understand the critical importance of social determinants for managing the health and wellness of their highest-need patients, many are implementing programs to address these needs – whether they're related to food access and nutrition, transportation to primary care appointments or any number of other complex social factors.
As more providers and payers understand the critical importance of social determinants for managing the health and wellness of their highest-need patients, many are implementing programs to address these needs – whether they're related to food access and nutrition, transportation to primary care appointments or any number of other complex social factors.
More and more evidence has emerged in recent years that by addressing these needs – often through partnerships with community-based organizations, ride-share companies, food banks and other local charities – health systems can improve their population health management, reducing emergency department visits and hospital admissions.
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How UHS uses availability and performance monitors to ensure Cerner is optimal for its physicians
Universal Health Services runs more than 15,000 tests per day to ensure that patient-critical applications and records are available for physicians and clinicians.
By Bill Siwicki
July 23, 2019 10:00 AM
Universal Health Services is one of the 10 largest for-profit health systems in the United States, and it relies heavily on Cerner to deliver EHR application services to healthcare professionals all across the country.
THE PROBLEM
UHS was faced with several challenges related to application failures and slowness, which impacted clinician and healthcare worker end user experience. More important, there was no solution in place for troubleshooting and/or providing advance warning when issues surfaced.
UHS was faced with several challenges related to application failures and slowness, which impacted clinician and healthcare worker end user experience. More important, there was no solution in place for troubleshooting and/or providing advance warning when issues surfaced.
“Like any other IT department supporting a health system, we want to achieve consistent access to patient-critical information from our Cerner EHR system,” said Justin Monnig, general manager of Crossings Healthcare Solutions, a subsidiary of Universal Health Services. “This is challenging due to the distributed nature of our facilities and users.”
The challenge was to change the typical IT support paradigm, which is reactive and engages only after a problem impacts users, he said.
“We needed a solution that proactively identifies problems before our users and patients are impacted, and one that provides the key details we need to quickly pinpoint the root cause and troubleshoot the problem in a complex environment that relies on multiple systems and vendors,” he explained.
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Telehealth usage outside of hospitals up almost 1,400%
Published July 23 2019, 12:07am EDT
Over the last five years, non-hospital-based telemedicine between providers and patients has grown exponentially, according to a repository of more than 29 billion private healthcare claim records.
A new white paper from nonprofit organization FAIR Health, based on an analysis of the nation’s largest collection of such claims data, shows that from 2014 to 2018 use of non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth grew 1,393 percent.
“This study found that telehealth has been growing rapidly, and shows that the category fueling most of that growth is the type in which a provider renders services to a patient without relation to a hospital,” concludes the white paper.
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Payers looking for other data sources to succeed with SDOH initiatives
By Diana Manos
Published July 23 2019, 6:08pm EDT
Medicare Advantage plans appear to be at the forefront of pushing social determinants of health to aid in success under risk-based payment models, a new industry report contends.
However, these risk-based plans “can’t go it alone” and succeed without input from others, says RAM Technologies, a developer of enterprise software for Medicare Advantage health plans.
Providers are an essential link, not only between payers and patients, but between payers and community service organizations that help with SDOH, say the authors of RAM’s new report, entitled “Making the Most of Payer-Provider Partnerships.”
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HIT Think What pop health needs to learn from consumer marketing
Published July 23 2019, 5:53pm EDT
In the US, consumers reign supreme. American retailers understand their customers and use data to influence what they buy, what they pay, and when they return for more. With more than 68 percent of the U.S. economy driven by consumer spending, retailers clearly know how to identify and motivate consumers to take action.
The techniques and information technology tools used by retailers offer a model for healthcare providers to deliver effective population health management.
Retailers are gaining insights through two specific actions: applying analytics to a segment the population and, within it, individuals requiring attention; and conducting patient engagement activities to continuously influence the behavior of the targeted individuals.
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Germany expanding digitisation with the new Digital Care Act
23rd July 2019
Introducing the new Digital Care Act (Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz), which is now a part of Germany’s efforts to expand the digitisation of the German healthcare system.
Since the establishment of the ‘E Health Act’ in 2016, Germany has been pursuing the path of digitisation. The aim of the ‘E-Health Act’ was to establish information and communication technology in healthcare and the new Digital Care Act has been introduced to build upon this.
Let’s talk about the E Health Act
The E Health Act focuses in particular on the development of the ‘electronic health card’ and the corresponding ‘electronic patient file’ for statutory health-insured people the protection of the data stored in such files against unauthorised use, the creation of a secure ‘telematics infrastructure’, the improvement of the interoperability of healthcare IT systems, and the provision of telemedical services.
The ‘telematics infrastructure’ will be an interoperable and compatible information, communication and security infrastructure for the use of the ‘electronic health card’ and the corresponding ‘electronic patient file’, its applications and other electronic applications in healthcare and health research.
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Mounting battle between Amazon's PillPack and Surescripts over access to patient data
When tech giant Amazon acquired online pharmacy PillPack last year, it was considered a shot at the traditional drug supply chain.
Now, it seems, incumbent players in the pharmacy industry are pushing back.
PillPack says it will soon be cut off from patient medication history data, a move that would complicate its business model. In a statement to FierceHealthcare, Jacquelyn Miller, a PillPack spokeswoman, confirmed a dispute with other industry players but did not specifically name the other companies.
"PillPack is productively working with partners across the healthcare industry to help people throughout the U.S. who can benefit from a better pharmacy experience," Miller said. "While we’re not surprised when powerful incumbents try to undermine these efforts, we are confident that our collaborative approach to bring customers more choice, more convenience, and improved quality will ultimately prevail."
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Canadian medical project demonstrates the health care potential of smart homes
According to TVO.org, the premise behind the project, led by the Lawson Health Research Institute assistant director Cheryl Forchuk, is to use connected health devices to allow medical professionals to monitor patients from afar. This provides the patients with the ability to live on their own or with friends and family rather than in an assisted living situation. This kind of technology has existed for several years, but rarely has it been used to treat mental illness.
Treating mental illness is never as simple as “take this medication twice a day.” There are so many variables and factors to consider on an individual basis that it is significantly harder for physicians to address these issues — especially with conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which can affect memory function and decision making.
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Jul 17, 2019, 09:45am
Venmo For Health Data? What You Need To Know About PHI Portability
Post written by Luis Castillo
Luis Castillo is President and CEO for Ensocare, a SaaS care coordination company.
Health data belongs to the patient.
That message has been made abundantly clear by the current administration. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Administrator Seema Verma have set out to reclaim patient data from hospitals, payers, software vendors and anyone else who might otherwise come across patient data in the course of providing care or doing business.
But what does it really mean for a patient to control their own data? Although it sounds relatively simple, this is actually a radical rethink of the current environment.
For years, patients have relied on health care systems to keep careful track of the critical information about their wellbeing and ongoing provision of care. But while one could assume the advent of electronic health records and assorted other technologies would have simplified this process, I've found that the opposite has actually been true.
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HHS seeks industry solutions for disaster care technologies
Published July 22 2019, 12:21am EDT
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response wants vendor input on innovative technologies to help address its disaster health challenges.
ASPR, which is charged with protecting Americans from natural and intentional health security threats, is holding an “Innovation Day” on August 7 and 8 in Washington, according to a request for information issued by the agency.
“This RFI informs vendors regarding an upcoming ASPR Next Innovation Day to further discuss some of our most pressing disaster health challenges that may be addressed using next-generation solutions that harness the power of cutting-edge technology to enhance disaster health outcomes,” states the announcement.
The purpose of the two-day conference hosted by ASPR is to “directly engage vendors capable of supporting any of the listed Areas of Interest (AOIs), including Small Businesses and Other Than Small Businesses, under full and open competitive procedures.”
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https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/opinion/why-iot-is-creating-more-value-by-redefining-healthcare
HIT Think Why IoT is creating more value by redefining healthcare
By Anna Solana
Published July 22 2019, 6:17pm EDT
Today, your watch can track your steps, sleep and heart rate. It can even monitor whether you have depression symptoms. There are also smart insulin pens to better manage diabetes and connected inhalers for asthma treatment, as well as ingestible sensors that can improve how regularly you take your medication.
The implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) for healthcare is revolutionizing the industry by redefining the relationship between patients and physicians, improving treatment outcomes and reducing costs. How far this shift will take us when combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain or whether this is the near future of medical care is anybody’s guess at the moment.
So far, the IoT in healthcare is mainly focused on remote monitoring of patients and on tracking and maintenance of assets. That means that IoT devices are used to give patients access to personalized attention and to enable physicians to keep track of patient’s adherence to treatment plans. They also enable hospitals to know the real-time location of medical equipment and to lessen emergency room wait times. Last but not least, they help insurers reduce claims significantly.
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Survey shows progress in digitising nursing care in Germany
The research was carried out by the Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services earlier this year.
By Anna Engberg
July 22, 2019 04:26 AM
Nursing services and facilities in Germany are increasingly working digitally, and private providers in particular are well positioned. This was shown by a recent online survey conducted by the Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services (bpa).
The bpa has now published a press release looking at which areas of work in German nursing care are particularly well digitised.
WHAT HAPPENED
According to the bpa study, 89% of inpatient and outpatient nursing care companies already rely on digital processes for documentation or billing, and 71% of those surveyed stated that their employees communicate digitally with each other.
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Health system boards don't do enough IT oversight, report shows
And that's because too many board members don't have the right level of IT and security expertise, a new Black Book study suggests.
By Nathan Eddy
July 22, 2019 11:09 AM
The boards of directors at U.S. hospitals health systems and hospitals are seriously lacking when it comes to technology expertise, according to a Black Book Research survey of 308 C-Suite executives.
WHY IT MATTERS
Just 4% of survey respondents said they have direct technology experience relevant to the healthcare industry, and nearly eight in 10 said they don’t get enough feedback or actual data regarding the technology challenges their health system faces.
Just 4% of survey respondents said they have direct technology experience relevant to the healthcare industry, and nearly eight in 10 said they don’t get enough feedback or actual data regarding the technology challenges their health system faces.
A whopping 88% said they had no knowledge of healthcare cybersecurity risks, with just 7% claiming they were “somewhat knowledgeable” of the risks.
The vast majority (92%) had no knowledge of IT lifecycle cost studies, 63% were oblivious to IT optimization strategies, and more than nine in 10 had no knowledge of artificial intelligence AI and machine learning.
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In a review of 337,000 patient cases, this was the No. 1 most common preventable medical error
Published: July 22, 2019 8:03 p.m. ET
Around 12% of preventable harm to patients is severe or leads to death, a new study finds
The largest share of preventable harm, researchers found, was related to medication and other treatments.
By Meera Jagannathan
Preventable medical harm is still far too common, but experts say patients can take steps to protect themselves.
One in 20 patients (6%) is impacted by preventable medical errors, according to a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal BMJ. What’s more, about 12% of preventable patient harm results in “prolonged, permanent disability” or even death.
Lead study author Maria Panagioti and her co-authors conducted a meta-analysis of international data from 70 studies involving 337,025 patients, finding the same results across the U.S. and Europe.
The largest share of this preventable harm, they found, was related to medication and other treatments.
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Weekly News Recap
- Ellkay acquires X-Link.
- John Muir Health outsources IT-related functions to Optum and transfers 540 employees to the company.
- A study finds that follow-up is often not performed for patients with poor kidney function, with EHR configuration changes recommended to close care gaps.
- Livongo Health’s updated IPO filing values the company at up to $2.4 billion.
- SPH Analytics acquires SA Ignite.
- Baring Private Equity Asia is reported to have edged out other bidders to acquire CitiusTech for $1 billion.
- PeaceHealth lays off 50 IT employees as it centralizes tech support.
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The Complexity of Genomics
July 19, 2019
I came across this relatively old Twitter thread from the amazing Eric Topol about genomics. The following tweet in this thread really stood out to me.
Eric Topol is so right that we were a little bit naive about the genomic sequence being the key that unlocks human health. No doubt the genomic sequence is a big deal and we’re going to find a lot of medical discoveries from genomics, but we’re now realizing that there is so much more to a human than just the genome. In fact, I’ve heard from many people who are more excited by things like the microbiome and proteomics than they are genomics. We’ll see how all of that plays out.
More importantly here at Healthcare IT Today, it’s worth taking a step back and looking at the technology of today. Is the EHR software of today going to be sufficient to be able to facilitate all of the medical discoveries that are happening in the “genomics” space?
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Enjoy!
David.
