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 dashboard reports cases at the province level in China; city level in the US, Australia, and Canada; and country level otherwise. From January 22-31, CSSE collected and processed all data manually. During this period, the team typically conducted updates twice a day, both morning and night.
As the outbreak continued to evolve, the manual reporting process became overwhelming, and CSSE adopted a semi-automated living data stream strategy.
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NHS working with tech giants to battle coronavirus fake news
The NHS has announced it will work with the likes of Google and Twitter to help the public get easy access to accurate NHS information about coronavirus, in order to avoid myths and misinformation.
Hannah Crouch – 11 March, 2020
This will include Google pointing people to verified NHS guidance first when someone types in ‘coronavirus treatments’ or ‘coronavirus symptoms’.
Twitter will also help suspend false accounts posing as hospitals and putting out inaccurate information about the number of coronavirus cases; and publicly condemn homeopaths promoting false treatments.
The NHS is also working with Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to verify or ‘blue tick’ over 800 accounts belonging to NHS organisations including hospital trusts and local commissioning groups.
Tara Donnelly, chief digital officer at NHSX, said: “One of NHSX’s key missions is to ensure that the public are provided with accurate health information so they can be confident they are following official NHS advice.
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Technology’s role in creating a digital front door for sexual health provision
While a lot is said about how health tech could improve primary and secondary care, not much reported about sexual health. Susan Bunn, co-founder of Inform Health, explores how embracing ‘self-service’ could be key to empowering patients.
Hannah Crouch – 10 March, 2020
Let’s make no bones about it, the state of the UK’s sexual health is a growing cause for concern.
There’s a new sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis in England almost every minute and cases of Gonorrhoea and Syphilis have increased by 249% and 165% respectively in the decade leading up to 2018.
To add to the problem, a new report issued by two of the country’s leading sexual health charities (The Terrence Higgins Trust and The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV) points to a 25% government cut in sexual health spending in England since 2014.
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Despite more EHR use, hospitals rely on fax, mail to share patient records
Author Hailey Mensik
Published March 9, 2020
Dive Brief:
Electronic availability of patient health information from outside sources increased by 10% in 2018, resulting in more than half of hospitals having EHR information available at point of care, according to a report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. But most hospitals still rely on a mix of both physical and electronic records.
About 10% of hospitals said they exclusively use electronic methods for sending and receiving summary of care records, while almost 25% said they still rely on non-electronic methods. About 70% of hospitals surveyed said they continued to use mail or fax for sending and receiving summary of care records in 2018.
The most frequently cited barrier among respondents was exchanging data across different EHR vendor platforms. More than 60% of hospitals reported difficulty finding providers' addresses and more than half had trouble matching or identifying correct patients between systems.
Dive Insight:
Providers are increasingly using patient health information received electronically from outside sources, according to the ONC report, although seamlessly sharing that data remains
a challenge . Cost barriers are also an issue.
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As COVID-19 cases increase, so do privacy concerns about EHR snooping
Cybersecurity firm CynergisTek is using AI to help hospitals detect unauthorized access to electronic health records and prevent breaches caused by coronavirus curiosity.
March 13, 2020 03:21 PM
With hospitals and health systems girding for battle with a surge of COVID-19 cases, they also need to continue their fight to maintain strong cybersecurity and protect patient privacy.
This is especially true given the fact that some healthcare workers may be more apt than usual these days to try to ascertain patients' coronavirus status by improperly accessing their electronic health records.
WHY IT MATTERS
Given the ongoing spread of the virus, the risks it poses and the relentless media coverage of it, it's unsurprising that some healthcare workers might try to glean private information about patients' status – potentially compromising their privacy.
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HIMSS CEO: Cancelling conference was 'heartbreaking,' but HIMSS20 Digital is set for growth
In a Q&A with Healthcare IT News, Hal Wolf spoke about the tumultuous past weeks and what’s next for the nonprofit organization.
March 13, 2020 10:33 AM
This past week, just days before it was scheduled to begin – with a sitting president, for the first time ever, addressing its opening session – HIMSS
announced the cancellation of its 2020 Global Health Conference & Exhibition.
In the days that followed, the organization has mobilized to create and roll out HIMSS Digital – a platform that will seek to gradually deliver online versions of much of the content that was planned for the event.
Healthcare IT News sat down with HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf to talk about this historic and tumultuous week and how the organization will be moving forward.
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Orion Health releases remote patient monitoring platform to combat COVID-19
The technology enables remote monitoring, allowing for the engagement of patients in their homes and facilitating communication between quarantined people and healthcare providers.
March 13, 2020 12:13 PM
Orion Health released a pandemic-outbreak-monitoring platform to help healthcare organizations respond to the COVID-19 virus, as well as a website to help people globally understand their risk for the disease.
Among the core features of the platform are remote-monitoring capabilities, allowing for the engagement of patients in their homes. The capabilities also facilitate communication between quarantined people and the healthcare service and maintain visibility of those recently discharged.
"Remote monitoring tools are an ideal way to keep a safe eye on patients while they are in quarantine or at home. If their clinical situation deteriorates, the system, supported by clinician oversight, can respond rapidly and decide if they need more intensive levels of medical care," Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Health, told Healthcare IT News.
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Top Vendors Best Positioned for Artificial Intelligence in Imaging
A new KLAS report asked 81 organizations for their feedback on which vendors are best positioned for the adoption of artificial intelligence in imaging in 2020.
March 10, 2020 - Many healthcare organizations continue to plan for artificial intelligence (AI) in imaging. The following
report shared which organizations and vendors are best positioned for successful adoption as well as the best practices for AI deployment.
The KLAS report, Artificial Intelligence in Imaging 2020, received feedback from 81 organizations with advanced imaging strategies to uncover vendors expected to positively influence AI in imaging this year.
It also touched upon the best practices to use for AI adoption from some of the healthcare industry’s most successful AI users.
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90% Hospitals, Health Systems Faced Email-Based Cyberattack in 2019
Mimecast and HIMSS Media say hospitals and health systems are failing to prioritize employee security awareness training, as 90 percent experienced an email-related cyberattack in the last year.
March 11, 2020 - The overwhelming majority of hospitals and health systems experienced an email-based cyberattack in the last year, with 72 percent experiencing downtime due to the security incident, according to a joint report from
Mimecast and HIMSS Media.
The report
reconfirms last year’s results, which showed the healthcare sector’s email security defenses lag behind other industries.
HIMSS Media surveyed hospital and health system leaders tasked with significant involvement with email security investments on behalf of Mimecast in November to get a sense of the threat landscape around email and data security within those environments.
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How EHR-Integrated PDMPs Increase Interoperability, Decrease Burden
A prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) query typically takes five to seven minutes, but if it is implemented into the EHR, it only takes seconds.
March 11, 2020 - A prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) that is implemented into the EHR can decrease the strenuous process of checking the PDMP, thus reducing the cognitive workload and burden for the clinician.
However, only one-in-three hospitals can
access PDMP data within its EHR system.
PDMPs are state-run electronic databases that have been deployed in 49 states, excluding Missouri. The program collects data from pharmacies on Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled substances and prescription drugs that are dispensed to patients.
Prescribers use PDMPs each time they write prescription. It creates a record for the patient so that healthcare providers can understand a patient’s full prescription drug history.
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App narrows down data searches in the ED to 5 seconds
March 12, 2020
Titus Schleyer
In the ED,
time is critical . Researchers have developed an app that they say can help physicians cut the time they need to retrieve clinical information from systems outside the electronic health records
from several minutes to as little as 5 seconds in an emergency setting.
“There are many times in emergency rooms where physicians have to urgently react to clinical conditions,” Titus Schleyer, DMD, PhD,
According to Schleyer, the unnamed app — developed by the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana Health Information Exchange, Indiana University Health and Indiana University School of Medicine — makes it easier and faster for clinicians to access information that is not found in a
patient’s electronic health record .
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Covid-19 will be the ultimate stress test for electronic health record systems
By Eric D. Perakslis and Erich Huang
March 12, 2020
J ust as the
levees of New Orleans stood little chance against the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, our overly complex, inflexible, noninteroperable, and often off-purpose electronic health record systems aren’t ready for an average
Sunday afternoon , let alone Covid-19.
As the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 continues its march around the world and through the United States, it is spawning another kind of infection:
Covid-19 cyber threats aimed at individuals and health systems.
We aren’t crying wolf here. Disaster planning experts know all too well that preexisting weaknesses become worse during crises. The
WannaCry cyber attack that devastated the United Kingdom’s National Health Service is a good example. Outdated infrastructure containing components with
long-understood vulnerabilities are a hacker’s paradise.
But here’s the silver lining: Because the weaknesses are well-known, health systems can plan for them and around them.
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Bipartisan bills in House, Senate seek to increase telehealth in nursing homes
As COVID-19 spreads, putting nursing home residents at risk, the RUSH Act of 2020 would remove Medicare barriers hindering expansion of remote-care technology in skilled nursing facilities.
March 12, 2020 11:18 AM
The Reducing Unnecessary Senior Hospitalizations (RUSH) Act of 2020, bipartisan legislation introduced in both the House and Senate, aims to enable more widespread use of telehealth in skilled nursing facilities.
WHY IT MATTERS
The RUSH Act – introduced in companion bills from Sens. John Thune, R-South Dakota, and Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, and from Reps. Adrian Smith, R-Nebraska, and Ann Kuster, D-New Hampshire – would allow Medicare to enter into voluntary, value-based arrangements with medical groups to provide acute care to patients in skilled nursing facilities using a combination of telehealth and on-site staff.
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Big Tech: Most Consumers Dead-Set Against Sharing Healthcare Data With Tech Companies
March 12, 2020
Lately, big tech organizations have become very interested in getting their hands on large volumes of consumer health data. While getting the data in the door and integrated is challenge enough, the bigger one might eventually be finding the money to pay consumers for their records.
This conclusion comes from a recent
study administered by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management looking at consumer perceptions of when and why they’d share their health information.
In the survey, consumers were surveyed on whether they were willing to share their health data with Facebook, and under what circumstances.
When asked if they would share the data with Facebook without getting paid for it, almost all respondents (93%) said they wouldn’t. In addition, when asked if they would share their data at all, 88% said they simply weren’t interested in doing so.
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What You Need to Know About Information Blocking
ONC and industry expert share details behind data blocking; penalties have not yet been set.
When the proposed interoperability rule was released last year by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), stakeholders had a lot of questions about what constitutes information blocking.
With the
final rule , "Information blocking is more than just a nebulous condition of certification, it’s now a well-defined practice with penalties and exceptions," says Nick Hatt, product designer and policy expert at
Redox , a Madison, Wisconsin, technology company that offers an integration platform to securely and efficiently exchange healthcare data.
As the industry wades through the details of the 1,244-page document, here's more information about this aspect of the rule.
Information blocking is anything that interferes with, prevents, or materially discourages access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI). While the concept was defined by Congress in the
21st Century Cures Act , ONC was responsible for defining what doesn't constitute data blocking.
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One-Third of Young Providers Overwhelmed by Patient Data, Analytics
A new survey reveals a clear need for provider education and training on how to leverage data analytics and technology to inform care.
March 09, 2020 - Thirty-five percent of younger healthcare professionals are overwhelmed by digital patient data or are unsure about how to use patient data and analytics to inform care, according to a global
survey from Philips.
Despite these concerns, younger providers reported that their organizations are open to adopting new digital tools: 78 percent said their hospital or practice is completely or somewhat willing to embrace new technology, which would lead to even higher volumes of data in the future. These findings point to gaps in education and training that could significantly impact clinical efficiency.
“Data, and the rapidly evolving technology behind it, has the power to build healthcare systems robust enough to deliver value-based care. The next generation of healthcare professionals is firmly convinced of this great potential. For them, it is a necessary tool that improves their performance and has the ability to reduce work-related stress,” the survey stated.
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Researchers Recommend Travel History to be Implemented into EHR
Two infectious disease specialists believe travel history should be the “fifth vital sign” implemented in EHRs.
March 06, 2020 - Following the recent spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, travel history information should be integrated into EHRs,
according to infectious disease specialists writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The authors, Trish Perl, MD, chief of infectious diseases and geographic medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Connie Savor Price, MD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said implementing travel history into the EHR can help put infectious symptoms in context for clinicians.
“We have the infrastructure to do this easily with the electronic medical record, we just need to implement it in a way to make it useful to the care teams,”
said Perl in a news release. “Once the infrastructure is built, we'll also need to communicate what is called 'situational awareness' to ensure that providers know what geographic areas have infections so that they can act accordingly.”
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New Phishing Campaign Targets Health, Pharma with HIV Test Results
Proofpoint researchers observed hackers targeting healthcare, pharma, and insurance companies with a new phishing campaign that sends out fake HIV test results as an emotional lure.
March 10, 2020 - A new phishing campaign has been spotted in the wild by
Proofpoint researchers, where hackers send insurance, healthcare, and pharma companies false HIV test results in malicious emails in hopes of luring victims into an emotional response.
Proofpoint discovered cybercriminals impersonating Vanderbilt University Medical Center to send potential victims fake HIV test results in emails embedded with malicious content. Notably, the attackers misspelled the health center name as “Vanderbit.”
The emails contain the subject line “Test result of medical analysis,” while the body encourages the recipient to open a Microsoft Excel attachment titled “TestResults.xlsb.” The message claims the recipient’s HIV tests are included. But when the malicious doc is opened, the user is prompted to enable macros and then the malware is downloaded.
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Industry Leans on Telehealth to Tackle COVID-19 Outbreak
As the COVID-19 outbreak encroaches into communities across the US, payers, providers, and vendors are using telehealth to expand access to care.
March 10, 2020 - Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) recently
announced that its network of 36 independently owned BCBS companies will increase access to prescription drugs, enhanced telehealth, and other clinical support systems to combat COVID-19.
BCBS is making the shift to ensure that patients have
access to care during the outbreak and to boost community support.
“It is important that our members feel safe and secure knowing that they are able to pursue the proper care and testing they need to protect their health during this time of concern,” Vincent Nelson, MD, president, medical affairs and interim chief medical officer at BCBSA said in the announcement.
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Adoption of digital health is stalling. What is turning consumers off?
Mar 11, 2020 7:30am
Consumer uptake of wearables and mobile health apps has stalled.
One-third of U.S. consumers (33%) are not using any digital tools to manage their health. The use of wearable technology—for instance, devices that collect health data such as fitness and vitals—has decreased from 33% in 2018 to just 18% in 2020, according to a
new survey from Accenture.
The use of mobile devices and applications fell from nearly half (48%) of consumers using these tools in 2018 to only 35% in 2020.
Use among younger generations dropped even more. Mobile apps went from 63% for those ages 18-34 in 2018 to 50% in 2020, with wearables use sinking from 43% in 2018 to 26% in 2020, Accenture found.
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Top 10 List of Patient Safety Concerns: Report
Marcia Frellick
March 10, 2020
Diagnostic errors, for the third consecutive year , led the top 10 patient safety concerns this year, according to the annual report by the ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit global group working to improve safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness across all healthcare settings.
However, maternal health, which was not listed in the top 10 last year, moved into the number-two spot.
Included in ECRI's analysis are 3.2 million patient safety adverse events from its
Patient Safety Organization reporting program. Votes from patient safety and medication safety experts are tallied as well.
The list reflects new risks or concerns heightened with new technologies or delivery models or long-term issues that need renewed focus, not necessarily the most frequent or severe events.
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Cerner, Epic signal different takes on final rules, even as they digest details
While Epic says it is reviewing the info blocking and patient access rules to see how they impact four specific areas, Cerner has voiced its "ardent support" to HHS.
March 11, 2020 01:32 PM
Industry players continue to assess the recently released final federal rules on interoperability and information blocking, but many observers are anxious to hear the verdict of the nation's largest healthcare software vendor.
Representatives from electronic health record giant vendor Epic say they're still poring over the 2,000 pages of rules issued Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to assess their impact.
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Key resources to keep track of the coronavirus pandemic
Healthcare IT News is maintaining a list of trusted information sources with key details to help stem the ongoing spread of COVID-19.
March 11, 2020 01:52 PM
As people worldwide seek accurate and up-to-date information on the fast-changing coronavirus pandemic, Healthcare IT News is compiling a list of trusted government and healthcare sources from around the globe that feature key details to help stem the ongoing spread.
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Making privacy work
Europe’s GDPR has been considered a trailblazer. But it turns out that interpreting it is difficult, and digital healthcare is where these difficulties manifest most.
March 11, 2020 05:15 AM
Since the European Union (EU) began enforcing the GDPR in 2018, citizens have been given considerable power regarding the personal data generated about them. But the reality is that GDPR is open to interpretation. Countries interpret the GDPR rules in different ways, making it very difficult for companies in – say – the digital health space to develop products for the European market. To address this, Germany, which will have the presidency of the European Council in the second half of 2020, has announced plans to push for a GDPR code of conduct providing guidance to healthcare systems and governments on secondary use of data.
This would form part of plans for a European Health Data Space (EHDS) to foster the exchange, and sharing of different kinds of health data, such as electronic health records, genomics and registries.
Dr Priit Tohver, advisor for e-Services innovation at the Ministry of Social Affairs in Estonia, said there is an
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Implementing the Cures Act — Bringing Consumer Computing to Health Care
Smartphones and electronic transparency have transformed our lives and the U.S. economy. Yet health care remains a stark exception. When health information is available, it tends to be accessible only in ways that bind patients to their current health care providers and insurance plans. Medical and cost information is far more helpful if patients can use it on their own terms, with tools of their own choosing. In the decades since the passage of the Stabilization Act of 1942 (a program designed to soften wartime wage controls) made health insurance benefits a pretax expenditure, Americans have become so thoroughly immersed in third-party payment schemes that a consumer-directed health care system is hard for us to imagine.
But both economic and technical trends are beginning to drive some control of health care purchasing back to consumers. Employers are shifting more health care and insurance costs to their employees, most notably through high-deductible health plans. Provisions such as cost sharing and tiered benefits also require decision making by consumers.
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Data Citizenship under the 21st Century Cures Act
Kenneth D. Mandl, M.D., M.P.H.,
and Isaac S. Kohane, M.D., Ph.D.
Under the U.S. Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, $48 billion in federal funds were invested to promote adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). Now, in an effort to realize returns on this outlay — and the vastly larger private investment that accompanied it — the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has finalized a new rule. The rule prevents health care providers and EHRs from blocking information flows and mandates the use of computer interfaces that standardize health data exchange. It also enforces an individual right of access to a “computable” version of one’s medical record — a right for which we have long advocated. 1 A market will be created by making standardized data available to myriad innovators.
We see the ONC rule as a momentous milestone on the road to a data-driven health system. Yet with vastly increased data liquidity and patient control of health information, we will also have to address cybersecurity, privacy, and insurability risks. The HITECH Act failed to prevent monopolization of health information technology and control of patient data by a few EHR companies. We can now be wiser and more deliberate in using law, regulation, and policy to shape a health information economy that serves patients.
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17 Coronavirus (Covid-19) Actions for Healthcare CIOs
March 11, 2020
Hard to believe it was only 9 days ago that we first
wrote about the coronavirus and Health IT (now more officially called Covid-19). Seems like much longer, but that could be due to HIMSS cancelling and the threat of coronavirus swirling over us. No doubt it’s been a tense time for everyone as we try to make sense of what’s fact and what’s fiction and what we should each do as individuals, for our families, and for our organizations.
At Healthcare IT Today, we’re not going to pretend to be experts on disease outbreaks, pandemics, and epidemiology. That’s why you won’t see that kind of content covered by us. However, like we did in our original
coronavirus and health IT article , we want to share and spread information about what health IT professionals are doing at their organizations to help address the unique challenges coronavirus presents. We’ll continue to update that article and create new articles as more practical information is
shared.
Along those lines, David Chou recently shared an article on what actions a healthcare provider CIO could do post Covid-19. Check out his full article for all the details, but here are his 5 suggestions:
1. Adopt a one to many conversation system.
2. Virtual desktop as the standard.
3. BYOD takes center stage.
4. WaaS – Wearable as a Service
5. Chatbot becomes mainstream.
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Telemedicine Playing Front Line Role in COVID-19 Outbreak
Benefits of telemedicine screening for COVID-19 include convenience for patients and safely assessing patients in their homes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
·
·
·
Some health systems are offering virtual screening for the novel coronavirus,
COVID-19 .
After reaching epidemic proportions in Wuhan, China, in December, COVID-19 has spread to 110 countries or territories, with more than 113,000 confirmed cases and more than 4,000 deaths, according to the
World Health Organization . As of March 10, there had been 729 confirmed cased in the United States, with 27 deaths,
worldometer reported.
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Spectrum Health, which features 15 hospitals and 11 urgent care centers, began free
telemedicine screening for COVID-19 last week.
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What the Final Interoperability Rules Mean for Patient Data Access
CMS and ONC have dropped their respective final rules on interoperability, both working to improve patient data access.
March 09, 2020 - The Department of Health & Human Services
dropped two new interoperability rules today, each having considerable implications for patient data access and patient engagement in care.
The rules, issued out of the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), each target provider and payer interoperability, both with the end goal of empowering patients with better data access.
“President Trump is delivering on his vision for healthcare that is affordable, personalized, and puts patients in control. From the start of our efforts to put patients and value at the center of our healthcare system, we’ve been clear: Patients should have control of their records, period. Now that’s becoming a reality,” HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar said in a public statement.
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Healthcare IT Companies Disrupting the Market in 2020
A new KLAS report asked organizations to share the most innovative and potentially disruptive healthcare IT companies coming into the market in 2020.
March 05, 2020 - Various healthcare IT companies will continue to disrupt the market in 2020. The following
report shared the top-of-mind companies and market segments that surfaced from interviews with provider organizations.
The KLAS report, Emerging HCIT Companies 2020, asked organizations to share top innovative or potentially disruptive HIT vendors they have seen or heard about lately to gain insight on emerging companies in healthcare IT. The report included responses from 341 healthcare professionals from 299 different provider organizations.
The top selection for emerging vendors was Azalea Health with a count of 27, which was followed by Xsolis at 19 searches. Afia Health, Epiphany Healthcare, and ServiceNow all shared the same search score of 16, while CareJourney, Kyruus, Acumen Healthcare, AvaSure, BioVigil, CarePort Health, DocASAP, NextGate, PEPID, Qventus, Helio Metrics, and Quadax followed, respectively.
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Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Providers Rose 350% in Q4 2019
A Corvus analysis reveals the vast majority of ransomware attacks on healthcare providers stem from phishing incidents, as attacks jumped a whopping 350 percent in the last quarter of 2019.
March 09, 2020 - Ransomware attacks
against healthcare providers increased a whopping 350 percent during the last quarter of 2019 with the rapid pace of attacks already continuing throughout 2020, according to a new report from
Corvus .
Ransomware attacks dominated healthcare headlines during the later part of 2019 with attacks on IT
vendors disrupting services on hundreds of
dental and
nursing facilities, while a number of
hospitals , health
systems , and other covered
entities reported business disruptions from these targeted attacks.
And in December, Blackberry Cylance researchers reported that a new ransomware variant known as
Zeppelin was spotted targeting the healthcare sector and tech organizations through the supply chain.
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GIS Technology Aids in Monitoring Coronavirus
During the past several weeks, most of the news coverage has shifted from national political campaigns, Major League Baseball spring training, and ongoing U.S. tensions with Iran to the emerging international spread of novel coronavirus, known specifically as COVID-19.
At the time of publication, there are 99,624 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, according to the
World Health Organization (WHO). The rapid spread of this virus has caused not only global healthcare concerns, but has also had significant economic implications as stock markets have suffered double digit declines.
As we continue to learn more about the coronavirus and its transmission, local, state and national governments around the world are taking measures to be prepared for an outbreak in their jurisdictions. Many government officials, emergency managers, business leaders, and even members of the public are turning to geospatial information systems (GIS) to monitor the spread of this disease in real-time.
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Google DeepMind’s effort on COVID-19 coronavirus rests on the shoulders of giants
Google’s DeepMind unit this week offered up data files of its best guess of the structure of some proteins that may be implicated in the coronavirus. DeepMind’s deep learning would not have been possible without six decades of exquisite science and data curation around the world.
There's been a quest for sixty years to understand the structure of proteins, ever since
Nobel Prize winners Max Perutz and John Kendrew in the 1950s gave the world the first glimpse of what a protein looks like.
It was that pioneering work, and the decades of research that followed, that made possible the
announcement on Thursday by Google's DeepMind that it has arrived at a guess as to the structure of a handful of proteins associated with the respiratory disease known as
COVID-19 that is spreading around the world.
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New Phishing Campaign Targets Health, Pharma with HIV Test Results
Proofpoint researchers observed hackers targeting healthcare, pharma, and insurance companies with a new phishing campaign that sends out fake HIV test results as an emotional lure.
March 10, 2020 - A new phishing campaign has been spotted in the wild by
Proofpoint researchers, where hackers send insurance, healthcare, and pharma companies false HIV test results in malicious emails in hopes of luring victims into an emotional response.
Proofpoint discovered cybercriminals impersonating Vanderbilt University Medical Center to send potential victims fake HIV test results in emails embedded with malicious content. Notably, the attackers misspelled the health center name as “Vanderbit.”
The emails contain the subject line “Test result of medical analysis,” while the body encourages the recipient to open a Microsoft Excel attachment titled “TestResults.xlsb.” The message claims the recipient’s HIV tests are included. But when the malicious doc is opened, the user is prompted to enable macros and then the malware is downloaded.
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NHS joins forces with tech firms to stop the spread of COVID-19 misinformation
Facebook, Google and Twitter take action to ensure accurate health advice on their platforms.
March 10, 2020 09:09 AM
The NHS is working with Google, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to provide the public with accurate information about COVID-19 and prevent the spread of “fake news”.
Google will provide easy access to verified NHS guidance when someone searches for information on the virus, while both Twitter and Facebook are directing users to the NHS website.
Twitter published a
blog outlining its efforts to protect public conversation around the outbreak, which include launching a search prompt feature to ensure “credible, authoritative content” appears at the top of your searches. It also worked with the NHS to suspend a false account posing as a hospital, putting out inaccurate information about the number of cases.
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Hong Kong’s Public Sector Trial Scheme calls for projects to combat COVID-19
The special round aims to fund trials of R&D outcomes in the local public sector relating to detection, diagnosis or surveillance of the COVID-19 virus, or reduction of the risks of infection and its spread.
March 09, 2020 11:38 PM
On March 9, the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) in Hong Kong launched a special call under the Public Sector Trial Scheme for projects to support product development and application of technologies for the prevention and control of COVID-19.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT
The special round aims to fund trials of R&D outcomes in the local public sector relating to detection, diagnosis or surveillance of the COVID-19 virus, or reduction of the risks of infection and its spread. According to its official release, the R&D outcomes should be immediately ready for trials by government departments or the relevant public organizations to bring about benefits for the community in fighting the epidemic in the near future.
The target funding recipients are local R&D centers, universities and other designated public research institutes, as well as all technology companies conducting R&D activities in Hong Kong. The funding ceiling for each project is HKD $2M in general, and a higher ceiling for individual projects may be considered if necessary and justified.
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With info blocking rules, concerns for patient privacy, small practices
Industry groups including AHIP, MGMA and the AMA support the patient access aims of the final regs, but have qualms about third-party developers and compliance burden for providers.
March 10, 2020 12:29 PM
Industry healthcare organizations are taking a cautious posture toward the interoperability and information blocking final rules from ONC and CMS, still harboring concerns that the push may risk patient data privacy and may be onerous for some organizations to implement.
On Monday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology put forth its final rule on interoperability and information blocking, pursuant to the requirements of the 21st Cures Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also released its own companion final rule on interoperability and patient access.
The rules call for wider use of application programming interfaces to help consumers access their healthcare data from both payers and providers – enabling them to send it to other healthcare organizations or integrate with the smartphone app of their choice.
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Big Tech: Verizon Partners With Emory Healthcare To Explore 5G Options
March 10, 2020
In yet another attempt by telecom players to nudge 5G wireless tech into healthcare, Verizon has partnered with Emory Healthcare to
launch a 5G-focused innovation lab.
Emory is an academic medical system with 11 hospitals and 250 physician practices. The Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub, for its part, works to commercialize technologies that improve patient care and provider experiences.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the EHIH will test Verizon’s 5G ultra wideband service which, according to its launch announcement, makes the site the nation’s first 5G healthcare innovation lab. In addition to providing 5G to EHIH, Verizon will provide network and security support, project management, consulting and managed infrastructure services.
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Rwanda's digital health revolution
Wednesday, 11 March, 2020
Rwanda is set to undergo a digital health revolution following a 10-year partnership between the Rwandan government and digital health solutions provider
Babyl (
Babylon ’s service in Rwanda).
The partnership’s digital-first approach will allow people over the age of 12 years to have a consultation with a doctor or nurse within minutes via their phone. Every consultation will be paid for through the government’s community-based health insurance scheme known as Mutuelle de Santé, which is managed by the
Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB).
Rwanda is reported to be the first country in the world to offer digital doctor appointments to almost everyone, helping to reduce queues and the need for travel. Prescriptions, lab requests and referrals will also be managed via the digital platform.
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Q&A: How Baptist Health saved $13M using AI to reduce readmissions
The largest hospital group in Montgomery, Ala. deployed artificial intelligence with its EHR system; the information gleaned has helped cut unnecessary admissions by 18% over the past two years.
Senior Reporter, Computerworld | 10 March 2020 21:00 AEDT
Baptist Health is a three-hospital, nonprofit system serving Montgomery, Ala. and the surrounding region. It has 680 beds, 550 affiliated physicians and is the largest private employer in the area.
Like most healthcare facilities, Baptist Health has been working to reduce unnecessary admissions and readmissions by using massive data stores in electronic health record systems (EHRs) — in this case, Cerner EHR system.
Baptist Health had been using a
LACE index tool , a widely used predictive analytics tool healthcare facilities often deploy within their existing EHR systems. LACE — it stands for Length of stay, Acuity of admission, Co-morbidities and Emergency room visits — ranks patients: the higher the scores, the higher the risk of returning to the hospital.
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Could artificial intelligence help tackle COVID-19 outbreak
As the world is globally connected at a physical and digital level, we must change our policies to reflect increased mobility of citizens, and be ready with countermeasures and increase the preparedness in case of pandemics and biohazards. Mark Lambrecht, director, SAS Global Health and Life Sciences Practice explains how AI and analytics are key technologies to catalyse these changes
Public health workers and doctors are first in line to tackle the coronavirus crisis. But they can’t do it on their own. We need to help them with correct public health information and help them understand the characteristics of each crisis. Pharmaceutical companies and research institutes are already sharing patient data, such as in the context of Project DataSphere or clinicalstudydatarequest.com to advance medical research. We also need to better balance patient privacy needs with sharing data at a supranational level and ensure that organisations like the WHO have enough means to deal with these global crises.
How could AI help tackle the coronavirus outbreak? Please explain in detail.
AI and analytics can help to detect early signals of symptoms that would point at a possible new epidemic. With these sophisticated techniques, early signals can be found often weeks before officials raise the alarm and this can help limit the spread of the virus. They require special analytical techniques that can find rare but meaningful events, such as a spike in school absenteeism in a certain region or state. Each outbreak requires a combination of epidemiological, clinical and AI skillsets to adapt to the infectious agent or virus under study.
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mHealth Counseling Can Help Veterans Cope With Stress While at Work
Tufts researchers have found that a program offering mHealth counseling for depression can help veterans returning to the workforce deal with on-the-job stress and improve their productivity and coping skills.
March 04, 2020 - An mHealth program offering counseling to veterans in the workforce can help reduce symptoms of depression while improving workplace productivity, according to researchers at Boston’s Tufts Medical Center.
In a study recently published in JAMA Network Open , the US Veterans Health Administration’s Be Well at Work (BWAW) program, included in an integrated care program, helped working veterans by giving them access to phone-based counseling on coping skills.
“Facilitating reentry and reintegration into civilian life are high-priority goals within the Department of Veterans Affairs, and many employers want to hire veterans and be assured that they will function effectively in the workplace,” the study, led by Debra Lerner, MSc, PhD, of the Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, concluded. “Depression and difficulty functioning in occupational roles and settings pose significant barriers to achieving success. Building telephonic work-focused care into (integrated care) offers a holistic, accessible, and economical solution. As the VHA invests in telemedicine to address access barriers, BWAW’s telephone-based counseling provides a further opportunity to make higher-quality care more accessible to veterans.”
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AI Reveals Cellular Variants Between Black and White Cancer Patients
Case Western Reserve researchers have received a $3.2 million grant to uncover potential racial bias in cancer care using artificial intelligence.
March 06, 2020 - Researchers at Case Western Reserve University
are using artificial intelligence to reveal cellular distinctions between black and white patients with prostate cancer, and have received $3.2 million in federal grants to further examine potential bias in AI.
In a recent study, the team showed that AI analysis of digitized images of cancer tissues show critical variations between black and white male prostate cancer patients. The findings indicate that the new population-specific information could significantly improve care for black men with prostate cancer.
“On one level, we’re simply trying to understand and answer this question: ‘Are there biological differences in the disease, in the cancer, that are a function of your ethnicity or your race?’” said Anant Madabhushi, the F. Alex Nason professor II of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve and senior author on a study published today in Clinical Cancer Research,
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Inside China’s All-Out War on the Coronavirus
Dr. Bruce Aylward, of the W.H.O., got a rare glimpse into Beijing’s campaign to stop the epidemic. Here’s what he saw.
· Published March 4, 2020Updated March 9, 2020, 10:02 a.m. ET
As the leader of the World Health Organization team that visited China, Dr. Bruce Aylward feels he has been to the mountaintop — and has seen what’s possible.
During a two-week visit in early February, Dr. Aylward saw how China rapidly suppressed the coronavirus outbreak that had engulfed Wuhan, and was threatening the rest of the country.
New cases in China have dropped to about 200 a day, from more than 3,000 in early February. The numbers may rise again as China’s economy begins to revive. But for now, far more new cases are appearing elsewhere in the world.
China’s counterattack can be replicated, Dr. Aylward said, but it will require speed, money, imagination and political courage.
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Industry Voices—The dawn of a new day: Consumer-directed access to health data is finally here
Mar 9, 2020 2:09pm
For years, both Republican and Democratic administrations have been working to build and improve the U.S. healthcare technology infrastructure to help providers and patients.
When we each served in public office, we envisioned a day when individuals could digitally access all of their clinical and claims information via an application they trust. That application would help them make sense of their healthcare information collected over time—not just from their current primary care physician or health plan, but from any doctor, hospital or health plan with whom they’ve ever had a relationship.
That day is finally here.
Digital health information on your chosen device
Today, the Trump administration
finalized two landmark regulations from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), which require providers, health plans and, for the first time, government-sponsored health plans, to provide individuals with digital access to their health information through an application or device of their choice.
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Keeping coronavirus patients anonymous is crucial to battling the outbreak
USA TODAY Mar 5, 2020
But on one matter there remains absolute silence: the names of those who have died after being exposed to COVID-19. One California patient and at least 13 Seattle-area residents have died from the illness.
Experts in public health and bioethics say that far from helping society, a decision to reveal the identities of people – dead or alive – who have contracted the coronavirus would be a disaster with far-reaching ramifications.
“Doctors don’t out people,” says Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in Maryland, which focuses on the ethical implications of scientific advancement. “Whether it’s HIV, syphilis, coronavirus or anything else,-----
Could quantum computing help beat the next coronavirus?
USA TODAY Mar 5, 2020
Quantum computing isn’t yet far enough along that it could have helped curb the spread of this coronavirus outbreak. But this emerging field of computing will almost certainly help scientists and researchers confront future crises.
“Can we compress the rate at which we discover, for example, a treatment or an approach to this?” asks Dario Gil, the director of IBM Research. “The goal is to do everything that we are doing today in terms of discovery of materials, chemistry, things like that, (in) factors of 10 times better, 100 times better,”
And that, he says, “could be game-changing.”
Quantum computing is the next big thing in computing, and it promises exponential advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning through the next decade and beyond, leading to potential breakthroughs in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, battery power, and financial services.
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Infectious Disease Docs in Short Supply Yet 'Critical' for COVID-19 Crisis
Ken Terry
March 06, 2020
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, infectious disease specialists are in short supply and might be overwhelmed by the emergency, Thomas File Jr, MD, president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, told Medscape Medical News
"Depending on the burden on our healthcare systems, we're going to be at the center of caring for these patients," said File, who is a practicing infectious disease specialist at Summa Health in Akron, Ohio.
"Also, we have to spend time communicating with the community to dispel
some of the myths [related to the novel coronavirus]. So already, we're seeing an increased workload because of this. And if COVID-19
spreads significantly — and I think we have to be prepared that it will — we're going to need a larger workforce to deal with this," he said.
Infectious disease specialists at Summa Health, File added, are overtaxed because of "a very active
influenza season," on top of helping the institution
prepare for COVID-19 cases. This involves setting up a command center and creating protocols to diagnose and treat patients as they arrive.
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As coronavirus spreads, Medicare gets telemedicine option
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR March 7, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus legislation signed by President Donald Trump on Friday lets Medicare expand the use of telemedicine in outbreak areas, potentially reducing infection risks for vulnerable seniors.
Coverage of telemedicine is now limited primarily to residents of rural areas facing long road trips for treatment from specialists. The law allows the government to waive those restrictions to help deal with the public health emergency created by the coronavirus outbreak.
It also could open the way for more lasting changes in Medicare’s coverage of virtual health care, including Skyping with the doctor or using devices that beam over measurements such as heart rate.
“Telehealth is really instrumental in containing and treating disease, particularly in a public health emergency,” said Megan O’Reilly, a lobbyist with AARP, the advocacy group for older people, which pushed for the telemedicine provisions. “For older Americans, this can help keep them safe.”
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Tech optimization: Keys to peak interoperability
Five healthcare interoperability experts – including pros at Boston Children’s Hospital and Medicomp Systems – discuss best practices for unsurpassed data and systems exchange.
March 06, 2020 12:55 PM
Interoperability has been a red-hot trend in health IT for some time, and it has never been more important. In order to deliver the best care with the best outcomes caregivers need access to patients' complete medical records – and all available information. That cannot be achieved without interoperability of systems and data.
Here, five healthcare interoperability experts from Boston Children's Hospital, CitiusTech, Holon Solutions, Medicomp Systems and Q-Centrix offer healthcare CIOs and other health IT leaders some best practices for making sure interoperability technologies and strategies are optimized to reap the best results for individual healthcare-provider organizations.
Interoperability as a powerful business tool
Interoperability, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, said Jon Zimmerman, CEO of Holon Solutions, a point-of-care data-integration-technology vendor.
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Vendor Mashes Up Health Data With SDoH Information To Predict Med Compliance Problems
March 9, 2020
Medication non-compliance is a massively expensive and stubbornly persistent problem for the healthcare industry. Depending on the source you select and the data it uses, non-adherence is estimated to cost the U.S. health system between $100 billion and $300 billion per year.
That’s a staggering number, not to mention one which still defies the efforts of many health leaders. Many vendors have focused on straightforward responses, such as reminders urging patients to take their meds and programs offering incentives to patients who take their meds properly and on time. According to at least one
study , however, such efforts haven’t had much of an impact.
However, while there’s no one answer to this problem, a few HIT related solutions are turning up that seem to offer some good ideas for tackling the issue.
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Healthcare IT Today Virtual Meetups
March 8, 2020
One of the things that hurt most about the
cancellation of HIMSS20 was that it meant we wouldn’t be able to hold our various
#HIMSS20 meetups . It’s always so educational to learn from our panel of experts and influencers and to learn from you in the audience.
We have great news! We’ll be holding all of our meetups virtually!
Over the next month watch for details on all our virtual meetups, but we’re excited to let you know that we’ve already schedule the following virtual meetups at the same time they would have been held at the conference.
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HHS publishes final regs on info blocking, interoperability
Both CMS and ONC have issued what they call "transformative" rules addressing 21st Century Cures data access requirements; they'll impact providers, payers, vendors and patients.
March 09, 2020
09:36 AM The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has finalized two long-awaited sets of rules that will govern how providers, payers and technology vendors must design their systems to give patients safe and secure access to their digital health data.
Issued Monday morning by both the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the rules fulfill the interoperability and information-blocking provisions of the landmark 21st Century Cures Act.
HHS calls the new rules – which hold public and private entities accountable for enabling easy electronic access to health information – the most extensive healthcare data-sharing policies yet implemented by the federal government.
"Patients should have control of their records, period," said HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar in a statement. "These rules are the start of a new chapter in how patients experience American healthcare, opening up countless new opportunities for them to improve their own health, find the providers that meet their needs, and drive quality through greater coordination."
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HHS Releases the Information Blocking and Interoperability Final Rule (21st Century Cures Act)
March 9, 2020
As expected, HHS together with CMS and ONC have released the 21st Century Cures Act Final rule that most people have been calling the Information Blocking rule and/or the Interoperability Final rule. You can find the blog post announcing the final rule
here and the Cures Act final rule landing page
here . You can download all 1244 pages of the final rule
here or on the
Federal Register . ONC will be hosting an
information webinar on Wed, March 11 at 3 PM ET if you’d like to sign up for that webinar as well or a recorded version will be made available on the
Cures Act website .
Here’s a quick summary of the major efforts this act works on:
Patient access to health information
Third Party app access to health information (as requested by the patient) through APIs
Effort to address “gag clauses” for sharing of usability and safety issues
Health plans have to share patient data (if they do business with a government program)
Health plan provider directory available through an API
No doubt it’s going to take weeks and months to fully understand what’s in the rule and what’s been changed. Although, it seems like most of what was in the interim rule has stuck around, but with some minor changes based on the ~2000 comments they received. HHS Secretary Seema Verma did say that they didn’t finalize the requirements around trusted exchange networks and participation in those. You can see the full analysis of changes
here .
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HHS Releases Final Interoperability Rules
Health systems, payers, providers, and patients will be impacted; innovation is expected to flourish.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized two interoperability rules to give patients direct access to their healthcare data. The first provisions of the rule will impact healthcare systems in as soon as six months.
The two rules, issued by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), were announced last year, and the final rules were issued today. They are expected to "empower patients around a common aim—giving every American access to their medical information so they can make better healthcare decisions," according to a release issued by CMS.
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Enjoy!
David.
