Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links – 22 February, 2020.

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://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/02/data-strategies-must-be-designed-around-patient-input-report-finds/

Data strategies must be designed around patient input, report finds

Patients must be included in the development of strategies designed to gain benefit from NHS data, according to a new report.
Andrea Downey – 12 February, 2020
The report, NHS Data: Maximising its impact on the health and wealth of the United Kingdom, states benefits to patients and the NHS must be at the heart of any innovation underpinned by the UK’s extensive healthcare data, outlining three key principles to achieve this.
Patients must feel a sense of agency and control over what happens to their data; health data must always be used in a way that is safe, secure, legal and ethical; and there must be a concerted effort to fairly distribute benefits to people across the UK, the authors concluded.
“Get it right, and we can generate enormous value for patients, clinicians, taxpayers and the economy,” it read.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/02/patient-data-sent-to-global-drug-companies-may-not-be-anonymous/

Patient data sent to global drug companies ‘may not be anonymous’

The data of millions of NHS patients’ sent to international drugs companies may not be anonymous, experts in the field have claimed.
Andrea Downey – 11 February, 2020
Privacy campaigners have labelled it a “gross betrayal of trust”, arguing that simply following the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) anonymisation code of conduct does not mean a patient’s identity is protected.
Senior NHS figures have claimed that data taken from GP surgeries and hospitals and sold on for research can routinely be linked back to a patient’s medical records through their GP surgery, the Observer has reported.
Patients whose medical information is of particular interest to international companies have already been identified, they added.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it only sells on information after thorough anonymisation measures have been taken.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/ransomware-attacks-cost-healthcare-sector-at-least-160m-since-2016

Ransomware Attacks Cost Healthcare Sector At Least $160M Since 2016

Comparitech researchers assessed ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector since 2016 and found providers have spent at least $160 million in recovery costs and up to months in recovery.
By Jessica Davis
February 13, 2020 - More than 1,500 healthcare organizations have been hit with successful ransomware attacks since 2016, costing the sector over $160 million during that time, according to a recent report from Comparitech, a company that provides consumers with privacy information, tools, and comparisons.
Comparitech researchers gathered data on all known ransomware attacks against US healthcare organizations since 2016, when the first surge of these destructive attacks began. They analyzed a wide range of healthcare resources, including data breach reports, specialist IT news, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ breach reporting tool.
The data was then applied to studies on the cost of downtime to estimate the likely cost to healthcare organizations. However, given the HHS reporting tool only includes breaches impacting 500 patients or more and other reseach limitations, researchers stressed that the findings “only scratch the surface of the problem.”

Posted by Dr David G More MB PhD at Saturday, February 22, 2020 0 comments

Friday, February 21, 2020

It Is A Rather Sad Day As A Significant Digital Health Publication Closes After Twenty Seven Years.

Here is the final exit commentary from the Editor.
https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/what-should-lie-ahead-for-healthcare-it-in-the-next-decade

What should lie ahead for healthcare IT in the next decade

By Fred Bazzoli
February 13, 2020, 9:35 p.m. EST
As Health Data Management wraps up 27 years of reporting on the healthcare information technology industry today, it gives me a chance to pause and reflect, and to look hopefully toward the future for the industry.
Much has been accomplished. I recall an early HIMSS conference at which an exhibit featured a one terabyte database of images of the globe. It was powered by rack upon rack of networked individual computers. It was a marvel. Now, 20-plus years later, you can hold a terabyte of data in a USB memory stick.
So, too, has technology adoption accelerated at a breathtaking pace. Twenty years ago, electronic health records were in the domain of pioneers. Now, the vast majority of medical care providers have an electronic means for storing medical information.

And it’s not just health information that’s been digitized. Medical and pathology images, lab results, genomic profiles and more are on computers. Medical data, and the information that is derived from it, is growing at exponential rates.
But more does not necessarily mean better. More medical knowledge has made care delivery complex. Information is squirreled away in siloed systems. Clinicians often face the task of finding information in parallel systems and integrating it in their heads. Worse, patients sometimes are forced to be the de facto health information exchanges to transport their data from one provider to the next. Worse yet, we demote clinicians to clerics who click on boxes and type in notes, rather than arming them with the intelligence they need to make wiser decisions for patients.
The next, essential frontier is to facilitate the access to information that serves the provider, the doctor, the patient. Data needs to be seamlessly integrated so that it’s easy to find, easy to digest and easy to manipulate in one place. Technology must serve the most valuable commodity in the healthcare equation—the hands-on care provider—while serving the most important customer—the patient.
Think of this simple illustration. You can buy admission tickets for a sporting event or opera from a phone app. It will show you what’s available; it will show you the view from a particular seat; it will compare prices to show you a ticket that’s a relatively good buy, compared with a ticket that’s overpriced. As a consumer of data and information, you instinctively know that this is a combination of technology that’s making your life easier.
That’s where healthcare IT needs to get to. At every turn, it needs to make things easier. The byproduct of that will be increased efficiency, which at least offers the opportunity to save time, money, patients’ lives and physicians from burnout.
Then, in addition as a society, we need to come to a consensus on what constitutes good, cost-effective care. Much of the debate around healthcare boils down to on whose ledger a cost will appear. Insurers don’t want it as their cost; some federal legislators don’t want it paid as part of a federal program; and providers don’t want to deliver care when there are questions about who will pay.
This results in a reimbursement system that plays hot potato with the bill. As a result, chronic conditions that benefit from regular, ongoing, preventive care gets worse, so instead of a dozen $50 physician office visits over the cost of a year, treatments are delayed until a $100,000 emergency department visit is required—and the patient may not survive.
Value-based care is a step in the right direction, but only a minimal step. True healthcare delivery improvement that has the potential to actually make major strides has to get every component singing off the same sheet of music. The song is the optimized health of the consumer; the pieces of the orchestra are the components of the global system that have historically warred and now must work in harmony; and as a society, we must agree on a composer/conductor who we vest with the responsibility to bring it all together.
Finally, as a country, the current paralysis from polarization must end. Resolving crises such as healthcare, income inequality, immigration and more can only be solved by compromise, in the classic definition of what politics is meant to achieve. The process has been bastardized and rendered useless by those continue to stoke divisions, above all else.
Solving healthcare—or any of the other vexing issues we face—is not impossible. For the common good, citizens rationed goods and bought war bonds to win World War II. We put a man on the moon with less information technology that is now contained in a Speak & Spell electronic game. If national unity is perceived to be the crisis that it truly is, surely we could surmount our differences.
We have a variety of tools in our hands. Healthcare IT is an enabling component that can provide part of the solution. We need the will to use it for the greater good. Whether it’s healthcare or our future as a country, let’s coalesce around the greater good of the greatest number of people.
Fred Bazzoli
Editor-in-Chief, Health Data Management
Here is the link:
https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/what-should-lie-ahead-for-healthcare-it-in-the-next-decade
Here is the announcement from their e-mail.
“We regret to inform you that we will no longer be publishing Health Data Management. It has been an honor to provide you with the insights and connections to move your career forward. We wish you continued success on your professional journey and welcome you to explore our other titles at www.arizent.com/brands.”
Health Data Management has been a great source of information and insight as to what is happening over the years and I will certainly miss browsing what they have to say each day.
Good luck to all the staff and writers for the future!
David.
Posted by Dr David G More MB PhD at Friday, February 21, 2020 0 comments
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