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/2020/08/lessons-from-covid-what-has-worked-and-was-hasnt/
Lessons from Covid – what has worked and what hasn’t
The Digital Healthcare Council’s members have mobilised at unprecedented scale to support the NHS and social care in their response. Its director, Graham Kendall, outlines what has worked, and what needs to change.
Hanna Crouch – 11 August 2020
It is increasingly clear that there will not be an immediate return to normal after Covid.
Without a game-changing medical breakthrough implemented in the near future, the next phase will bring profound changes and will last well into 2021. If we are to move forward, we will need to learn some key lessons from the past few months.
A potentially lethal mix of backlogs and reduced capacity
Despite the surge in remote appointments and online consultations, we know that the total number of appointments and care episodes have dropped substantially since March – GP appointments down by a third and hospital admissions plummeting to just 15% of last year’s levels. It is therefore inevitable that there is a growing backlog of demand that we will count in millions, not thousands.
In normal times we would tackle a backlog by ramping up capacity, but the next phase will continue to entail social distancing in healthcare, slower processes to incorporate PPE and squeezed staffing availability. In turn, health service capacity will be reduced, affecting everything from waiting times through to day-to-day management of chronic conditions. Even without a second wave, this is the immediate reality for the foreseeable future.
For those waiting longer, this means more pain and discomfort, conditions worsening without treatment, and yes, for some, it may shorten their lives.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2020/08/special-report-electronic-observations-and-vital-signs/
Special Report: Electronic observations and vital signs
Electronic observations of vital signs give clinicians a quick indication of how healthy their patient is. Claire Read investigates how the technology has been used during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s over a decade since Professor Mohammed A. Mohammed began researching the value of early warning scores in identifying deteriorating patients. In the past few months, however, it is work which has taken on a new angle and urgency.
That’s in part because at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – which has been testing a risk equation developed by Mohammed and colleagues – something important has emerged.
“The risk of death for a Covid patient for the same NEWS [National Early Warning Score] seems to be much higher than for non-Covid patients,” explains Mohammed, who is professor of healthcare quality and effectiveness at the University of Bradford as well as a principal consultant to Midlands and Lancashire commissioning support unit (CSU).
“A NEWS score of five has an order of difference in terms of risk of dying for a Covid patient as opposed to a non-covid patient.”
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Predictive Analytics Tool Calculates COVID-19 Hospitalization Risk
A predictive analytics model can help providers determine which patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19 are at greatest risk for hospitalization.
By Jessica Kent
August 12, 2020 - Cleveland Clinic researchers have built a predictive analytics model to better understand which patients with COVID-19 are at high risk of hospitalization from the virus.
In a study published in PLOS One, the team described developing and validating the model using retrospective patient data from more than 4,500 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic locations. Data scientists used statistical algorithms to transform data from registry patients’ EHRs into the risk prediction model.
When researchers compared characteristics between patients who were and were not hospitalized due to COVID-19, they uncovered several previously undefined risk factors. For example, former smokers were more likely to be hospitalized than current smokers, and patients taking Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARBs) were more likely to be hospitalized than patients not taking those drugs.
The research group noted that additional studies will be necessary to further examine the relationship between ACE inhibitors and ARBs.
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How hospitals can better protect themselves against data breaches
Healthcare data breaches have fallen this year but could surge over the next few months as hospital records remain a top target, says CI Security.
Any type of organization is vulnerable to cyberattack. But hospitals and healthcare facilities are especially tempting targets for cybercriminals. Patient records are valuable commodities on the Dark Web. Plus, the coronavirus pandemic has opened the door to new attack routes with more testing centers, additional labs, and many medical staffers working from home.
A new study from security consulting firm CI Security tracks the rise and fall (and potential rise again) of cyberattacks against hospitals, and offers advice on how they can shore up their security. Published on Thursday, "The Healthcare Data Breach Report" specifically looks at data breaches reported by healthcare organizations from January through June 2020.
First half of 2020
For the first six months of the year, data breaches involving the protected health information (PHI) of patients dropped dramatically, according to CI Security's review of data sent to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During this period, the number of breaches dropped by 10.4% compared with the second half of 2019, while the actual number of reported breached records plunged by almost 83%.
Looking at the numbers, 3.8 million patient records were breached through hacking and IT
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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/935689
CDC Data Confirm Mental Health Is Suffering During COVID-19
Megan Brooks
August 13, 2020
Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to exact a huge toll on mental health in the United States, according to results of a survey released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
During late June, about 2 in 5 US adults surveyed said they were struggling with mental health or substance use. Younger adults, racial/ethnic minorities, essential workers, and those with preexisting psychiatric conditions were suffering the most.
"Addressing mental health disparities and preparing support systems to mitigate mental health consequences as the pandemic evolves will continue to be needed urgently," write Rashon Lane, with the CDC COVID-19 Response Team, and colleagues in an article published online in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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August 14, 2020 / 6:01 AM
Three more U.S. states launching coronavirus exposure warning apps
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - North Dakota, Wyoming and Alabama are the latest U.S. states launching apps to warn users about potential exposure to the novel coronavirus by tracking their encounters, representatives for the states told Reuters on Thursday.
FILE PHOTO: The Care19 mobile app, which the governors of North Dakota and South Dakota have asked residents to download to assist in contact tracing during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen on a phone, U.S. April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Paresh Dave
Virginia last week became the first U.S. state to urge residents to download such an app using technology developed by smartphone software giants Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
About 316,000 people have downloaded Virginia’s app, COVIDWISE, Jeff Stover, a state health department official, told Reuters during an online event about pandemic technology hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-affiliated Responsible Data Foundation.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/older-population-often-overlooked-during-ehr-optimization
Older Population Often Overlooked During EHR Optimization
While EHR adoption is widespread, EHR optimization for older population patients is not occurring at the majority of acute care hospitals.
August 13, 2020 - EHR optimization at acute care hospitals is not up to the highest healthcare standard for older population patients, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
More specifically, EHR optimization projects aren’t exactly helping hospitals hit the 4Ms Framework, developed in 2017 to improve healthcare for older adults.
The 4Ms stands for What Matters, which aligns specific individuals’ healthcare goals and preferences; Medication, which refers to reductions in unnecessary medication use; Mentation, which means the commitment to preventing, identifying, and managing dementia, depression, and delirium; and Mobility, which refers to maintaining or improving functions.
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Remote patient monitoring can help address the maternal mortality crisis
Fran Ayalasomayajula, founder and president of Reach, wants to get a blood pressure monitor into the hands of every patient in their third trimester of pregnancy.
August 14, 2020
In 2017, about 810 women around the world died every day from pregnancy-related causes. The United States' maternal mortality rate is an abysmal one, particularly for Black women and Native women – whose risk is three to four times higher than that of white women.
"I am so done with the numbers," said Fran Ayalasomayajula, head of the population health portfolio for worldwide healthcare, at HP. "I'm glad that now, after ten years, we have new data. Meanwhile, today somewhere 900 women are dying. Giving birth and dying. And we're still talking about the numbers. I am so done!"
Ayalasomayajula, a public health professional with a background in epidemiology, is the president and founder of Reach, whose mission is to improve health experiences for both patients and providers.
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How one 500-doc physicians group scaled up telehealth to 130 clinics in a week
From March 23 through July 20, Florida’s Millennium Physician Group has performed more than 90,000 telemedicine encounters – more than 30% of its total visits.
By Bill Siwicki
August 14, 2020 11:47 AM
Back in 2017, Millennium Physician Group, one of the largest independent physician groups in the U.S., with more than 500 providers throughout Florida, saw the paradigm shift in the healthcare model away from fee-for-service and toward value-based care on the way.
Consequently, the group felt healthcare delivery was moving away from the physician’s office and into the patient’s home, with services like routine check-ups via telehealth and remote patient monitoring. The group also believed the reimbursement model was going to shift and allow for expanded reimbursements in this setting.
THE PROBLEM
“Even though there was no clear guidance on how this would occur, we knew we needed to find a way to better connect with our patients while allowing for a more flexible care-management model,” said Jeff Nelson, chief information officer at Millennium Physician Group.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/medical-education-about-health-disparities-needs-improvement
Medical Education About Health Disparities Needs Improvement
The study revealed that having curricula about health disparities did not affect student perceptions of medical education quality.
By Sara Heath
August 12, 2020 - Curricula reviewing health disparities and how to address them may leave much to be desired, with new data showing coursework about health disparities having little impact on medical students, according to a new report.
The study, published by the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Alabama School of Medicine, and the American College of Physicians, specifically found that the presence of health disparities curricula does not affect student perceptions about the overall quality of their medical education.
This comes as the healthcare industry undergoes a racial health disparities reckoning and leaders begin to take a closer look at the health inequities that drive disparities. Most experts agree change begins with adequate education of the nation’s future medical professionals.
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COVID-19 Pushed Health IT Adoption, Now Patient Trust Must Follow
A health IT adoption boom is inevitable; it's up to payer and provider executives to drive patient trust in technology and push engagement.
By Sara Heath
August 12, 2020 - As health technology continues to see a COVID-19-era boom, it will be incumbent upon healthcare providers and payers to drum up consumer buy-in and spark true consumer engagement, according to a new report from Accenture.
“The intersection between digital technology and healthcare experiences has certainly accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and leading the future of care will demand rethinking core assumptions about the intersection of people and technology,” Kaveh Safavi, MD, JD, a senior managing director in Accenture’s Health practice, said in a statement. “People’s perceptions of and relationships with technology are changing, and to adapt, healthcare payers and providers need to redesign digital experiences.”
When it comes to consumer health IT use, that will mean connecting the dots between how much patients trust health IT and the inevitability that will be a mainstay in healthcare as much as everyday life.
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August 11, 2020
Interstage home monitoring of infants after heart defect surgery reduces mortality
Interstage home monitoring programs for babies who underwent surgery due to heart defects reduced infant mortality by approximately 40%, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.
These programs educated family caregivers on how to monitor key parameters including feeding, growth and oxygen levels after initial surgeries for left heart syndrome and other single ventricle heart diseases.
“Interstage home monitoring is an innovative strategy developed to augment conventional outpatient management and to assist with early detection of physiologic changes associated with morbidity and mortality following successful stage 1 palliation,” Nancy A. Rudd, MS, CPNP-PC/AC, nurse coordinator for the interstage home monitoring program at Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin, nurse practitioner in the division of pediatric cardiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and chair of the statement writing committee, and colleagues wrote. “There is overwhelming evidence of improvement in single ventricle infant survival and growth outcomes with interstage home monitoring programs. This surveillance strategy has become the standard of care for most pediatric cardiac programs and continues to evolve using telehealth platforms such as phone technology and tablet-based real-time video encounters in an effort to optimize data collection and visual assessment of the infant at home.”
The first home monitoring program was launched at Children’s Wisconsin in 2000 after findings from the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative network indicated that trends for infant mortality were as high as 16% during the interstage period after initial heart surgeries, according to an AHA press release.
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https://www.thenational.scot/news/18647038.scotland-embrace-system-e-health/
13th August
Scotland should embrace system of e-health
Martin Docherty-HughesMPcomment
Former adviser to Hilary Clinton, Alec Ross, says data is the raw material of our age
‘LAND was the raw material of the agricultural age, iron the raw material of the industrial age. Data is the raw material of the information age.”
The former innovation adviser to Hilary Clinton, Alec Ross is right to a point, though it might be worth re-wording the quote.
“People who toiled the land were the raw material of the agricultural age, people who hammered and worked iron were the raw material of the industrial age. People as producers of data used and accessed without their consent are the raw material of the information age.”
We are the constant source of value on the digital journey, just as our parents and grandparents were through ages past. Yet only now are we are possibly on the cusp of something extraordinary, that our toil, hammering and work that generates data may start to be individually and collectively in our ownership.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/how-medical-imaging-is-boosting-covid-19-detection-prevention
How Medical Imaging is Boosting COVID-19 Detection, Prevention
Healthcare entities are increasingly leveraging medical imaging and imaging analytics to improve COVID-19 detection and prevention.
By Jessica Kent
August 11, 2020 - With nearly every healthcare organization working to better manage and stop the spread of COVID-19, many have turned to medical imaging and imaging analytics tools to improve detection and prevention of the virus.
In particular, institutions have focused on the use of CT scans to identify COVID-19 and accelerate treatment of the disease.
“CT scans can be a real game-changer in our global battle to end coronavirus,” said Yaneer Bar-Yam, PhD, President and Founder of the New England Complex Systems Institute, an independent academic research and educational institution.
“We need aggressive and bold actions to reduce transmission of COVID-19 to get ahead of the outbreak so that it is stopped. It will take the global community to accelerate how we meet these challenges.”
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/researchers-use-ai-to-predict-severe-covid-19-related-illness
Researchers Use AI to Predict Severe COVID-19-Related Illness
The team will leverage artificial intelligence to develop tests that can predict a severe illness linked to COVID-19 in children.
By Jessica Kent
August 11, 2020 - NIH is funding a project that will use artificial intelligence to identify children at risk of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), an illness believed to be a severe complication of COVID-19.
Most children exposed to COVID-19 develop only mild symptoms. However, some go on to develop MIS-C, a severe and sometimes fatal inflammation of the organs and tissues, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, eyes, brain, and skin. The new effort will aim to encourage studies of genetic, immune, viral, environmental, and other factors that influence the severity of COVID-19 cases and the chances of developing MIS-C.
NIH will award up to $20 million to successful research proposals over four years.
“We urgently need methods to distinguish children at high risk for MIS-C from those unlikely to experience major ill effects from the virus, so that we can develop early interventions to improve their outcomes, ” said Diana W. Bianchi, MD, director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
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COVID-19 Sparked Change to ICU Family Visits, Patient Satisfaction
New data looks at if and how healthcare organizations changed family visits during COVID-19, with a prompt to look into how policies affected patient satisfaction moving forward.
By Sara Heath
August 11, 2020 - In response to the initial COVID-19 surge, healthcare organizations operating intensive care units sought to keep a lid on virus spread by putting in place family visitor restrictions, a move that warrants further investigation to understand the impacts on patient experience and outcomes, according to a group of researchers from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
More specifically, the researchers found that all 49 hospitals included in the survey had put in place family visitation restrictions, and a majority had pretty strict protocol in this area.
Family caregiver engagement has emerged as a core tenet in healthcare experience over the years. Medical providers know that when they communicate clearly and empathically with a patient’s loved ones, it is more likely that care experience will be good. That is not to mention the positive impacts having a loved one at the bedside can have on patient satisfaction and safety, most experts agree.
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How COVID-19 Stood as Catalyst for Consumer Health Tech Adoption
Until COVID-19 struck, consumer health tech adoption had seen modest growth, but adoption spiked with the pandemic as patients sought safe care.
By Sara Heath
August 11, 2020 - For nearly the past twenty years, Adam Pellegrini, senior vice president of Enterprise Virtual Care & Consumer Health at CVS Health, has had his eyes on the dream of consumer health tech adoption. In recent months, Pellegrini has seen that become a reality as more patients begin to utilize patient engagement technologies.
Like many others in the industry, Pellegrini has seen the promise of consumer digital health — like remote patient monitoring, patient engagement technologies, and telehealth or virtual health access — as integral to creating an all-encompassing healthcare experience.
These tools help keep patients at the center of their own care, becoming activated in their wellness journeys and helping to keep their health coordinated across disparate providers.
“What we saw in 2001 and 2002 was just some of the emerging concepts around virtual care, concepts around social networking healthcare,” Pellegrini told PatientEngagementHIT during an interview.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/machine-learning-predicts-life-threatening-disease-in-infants
Machine Learning Predicts Life-Threatening Disease in Infants
A new machine learning tool could predict a life-threatening intestinal disease in premature infants, leading to improved decision-making.
By Jessica Kent
August 12, 2020 - Researchers have created an early warning system that uses machine learning to predict necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening intestinal disease that affects premature infants.
NEC impacts up to 11,000 premature infants in the US annually, researchers noted, and 15 to 30 percent of babies die from NEC. The condition involves sudden and progressive intestinal inflammation and tissue death, and survivors often face long-term intestinal and neurodevelopmental complications.
There is currently no tool to predict which preterm infants will get the disease, and NEC often goes unrecognized until it’s too late to effectively intervene. Researchers don’t yet understand the causes of NEC, but several studies have focused on shifts in the intestinal microbiome, the bacteria in the intestine whose composition can be determined from DNA sequencing from small stool samples.
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https://khn.org/news/bereaved-families-are-the-secondary-victims-of-covid-19/
Bereaved Families Are ‘the Secondary Victims of COVID-19’
Judith GrahamAugust 12, 2020
Every day, the nation is reminded of COVID-19’s ongoing impact as new death counts are published. What is not well documented is the toll on family members.
New research suggests the damage is enormous. For every person who dies of COVID-19, nine close family members are affected, researchers estimate based on complex demographic calculations and data about the coronavirus.
Many survivors will be shaken by the circumstances under which loved ones pass away — rapid declines, sudden deaths and an inability to be there at the end — and worrisome ripple effects may linger for years, researchers warn.
If 190,000 Americans die from COVID complications by the end of August, as some models suggest, 1.7 million Americans will be grieving close family members, according to the study. Most likely to perish are grandparents, followed by parents, siblings, spouses and children.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/pew-ehr-reporting-survey-must-focus-on-ehr-usability-safety
Pew: EHR Reporting Survey Must Focus on EHR Usability, Safety
Pew Charitable Trusts and MedStar Health want a heightened focus on EHR usability and safety in the upcoming EHR reporting program survey.
August 12, 2020 - The upcoming survey of healthcare providers from the Urban Institute should focus on how EHRs fit into provider workflows, as well as EHR usability and safety challenges, according to a letter from Pew Charitable Trusts and MedStar Health, written on behalf of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
As one of the remaining health IT sections of the 21 Century Cures Act, ONC contracted the Urban Institute to develop the EHR reporting program and collect health IT information from technology developers. The ONC will post the gathered information on its website for further examination and transparency.
The EHR reporting program aims to address EHR usability, with a primary focus on the successful user interactions with her EHR. However, clinicians face usability issues due to EHR design, implementation, optimization, training, and other factors.
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Cerner, LRV Health invest $6M in digital prescribing platform Xealth
Aug 10, 2020 9:00am
Health IT giant Cerner is teaming up with Xealth to give patients easier access to digital health tools.
Xealth, a startup spun out of Providence St. Joseph Health in 2017, enables doctors to prescribe patients apps, connected medical devices and other digital tools directly from electronic health record (EHR) systems.
As part of the deal, Cerner and investment firm LRVHealth are investing $6 million in the startup.
To date, Xealth has secured more at than $28 million in funding.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/europe/age-precision-post-covid-19-world
The age of precision in the post COVID-19 world
Health and care have been inexorably moving toward a new paradigm – one where the nature of the interactions is more personalised, says Dr Charles Alessi, chief clinical officer at HIMSS.
August 12, 2020 02:51 AM
The approach translates into interactions with the person when they are well (precision health), not only when they are ill (precision medicine). These interactions also have a life course as the reference frame rather than commencing in older age groups when people typically start to exhibit symptoms of non-communicable diseases.
This is exemplified by the various efforts health systems are making to directly engage with people. Digital tools are being leveraged, in addition to techniques like 'nudge' and gamification, to assist with introducing, encouraging and sustaining behavioural change, as will be explored in more detail during the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Digital Event (7-11 September 2020).
The acceleration of digital transformation
COVID-19 has given a new impetus to this process. Like all major adverse events which affect complex systems, there have been some occasional unexpected positive ones, like the fact that digital modalities have now become far more accepted. As Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, not ordinarily someone I would look to for inspiration, said: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”. This is precisely what has happened with digital transformation over the past few months, certainly with regard to the management of non-COVID conditions, where the speed of acceptance and the increasing levels of uptake of non-analogue approaches has surprised us all.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/onc-offer-new-funding-state-and-local-hie-innovation
ONC to offer new funding for state and local HIE innovation
Using $2.5 million from the CARES Act, the agency will give money to as many as five new projects that boost health information exchanges through its new Star HIE program.
By Mike Miliard
August 12, 2020 03:11 PM
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT wants to boost new opportunities to put healthcare data to work via existing state and local health information exchanges – and will be spending $2.5 million earmarked by Congress through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to do so.
WHY IT
MATTERS
Through its new Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public
Health Agencies via Health Information Exchange (STAR HIE) program, ONC aims to "leverage work done by
the industry to advance HIE services for the benefit of public health."
The goal of the program is to bolster existing state and local HIE infrastructure so public health agencies are able to better access, share and use health data, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
ONC will disburse $2.5 million from the CARES Act for as many as five cooperative agreements, which it says should be focused on improving HIE services such as last-mile connectivity and, especially, data services in support of state and local public health agencies.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/pew-medstar-urge-focus-patient-safety-ehr-survey-0
Pew & MedStar urge focus on patient safety in EHR survey
In an open letter to the Urban Institute, the organizations stressed the importance of asking end users about high-risk functionalities.
By Kat Jercich
August 12, 2020 02:00 PM
As one of the provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT contracted with the Urban Institute to develop a reporting program collecting information from developers about electronic health records. As part of that program, the Institute will conduct a survey of providers to provide their assessment of EHR technologies.
This week, Pew Charitable Trusts and MedStar Health's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare published an open letter to the Urban Institute urging it to more heavily focus on patient safety factors in the development of the survey.
"EHRs affect and can improve nearly every aspect of patient care, yet when problems occur, they can be devastating – even deadly," wrote Pew Charitable Trusts Health IT project director Ben Moscovitch and MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare director Raj M. Ratwani in the letter.
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Telehealth boosts mental health patient engagement, care plan compliance
Within just days of the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration, New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center transformed 95% of its care to telemedicine.
By Bill Siwicki
August 12, 2020 11:52 AM
New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center, based in Jamaica, New York, operates outpatient mental health clinics in underserved communities in New York City.
THE PROBLEM
Prior to COVID-19, it provided 100% of services via in-person visits. When a state of emergency was declared in March, the healthcare organization needed to quickly pivot its delivery method so it could continue serving the patients who very much needed services. This required NYPCC to get set up on a telehealth platform and to enable all of its clinicians to work remotely.
PROPOSAL
When the state of emergency was declared, NYPCC realized it was imperative that it pivot to a telehealth model that allowed the organization to continue providing the vital services its communities needed.
“Rolling out a telehealth platform is something that normally should take months, but needed to be done in just a matter of days,” explained Joshua Klein, director of strategic planning at NYPCC.
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COVID-19 Pandemic Shines Spotlight On Need For Interoperability
August 12, 2020
Despite the endless efforts healthcare organizations have made to support health data interoperability, the path still remains rocky. However, the pandemic has offered a sharp reminder that problems with patient data sharing can undercut treatment, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic underway, a new study suggests.
The study surveyed 509 managers working in frontline provider organizations on their current status. According to the respondents, the lack of interoperability between providers has undermined COVID-19 care and continues to set the quality of population health data needed to address outbreak patterns.
Current interoperability efforts seem to be stalled, in part, due to CMS’s decision to delay enforcing its Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rules until next year. In fact, 90% of respondents said that delay enforcing these rules took away whatever incentive they had to make interoperability a priority. (This deserves a full discussion of its own.)
Of course, the enforcement delay has given providers some helpful breathing room but has had some nasty unanticipated consequences. The truth is that providers will have even more trouble coping with the pandemic if they can’t share patient data freely.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/08/12/health-it-love-in-the-time-of-covid/
Health IT Love in the Time of COVID
August 12, 2020
I think it is fitting to invoke an author like Gabriel Garcia Márquez (Love in the Time of Cholera) when penning an article about Jane Sarasohn-Kahn @HealthyThinker – who I consider to be one of the best healthcare writers working today. I recently sat down with Sarasohn-Kahn to talk about the current state of healthcare and health IT.
In typical fashion, our conversation touched on many different aspects of care, technology, society and culture with Sarasohn-Kahn masterfully weaving them all together. Her key message: if we are truly seeking to transform healthcare, we are going to need more love AND tech.
Trend-weaver
For those that aren’t familiar with Sarasohn-Kahn, here is a quick primer:
- Health economist, communicator & trend weaver
- Author of the book: HealthConsuming: From Health Consumer to Health Citizen
- Regular blogger at HealthPopuli
- 25+ years attending HIMSS (I didn’t realize they allowed toddlers to attend HIMSS back then)
I highly encourage you to read her blog and her book. She is always spot-on in her insights and commentary. I am always fascinated by the connections she makes between different trends. “Trend weaver” is truly an apt description for Sarasohn-Kahn.
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https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/google-cloud-releases-covid-19-public-forecasting-model
Google Cloud Releases COVID-19 Public Forecasting Model
Created in partnership with Harvard Global Health Institute, the COVID-19 public forecasting model will be available for free to healthcare providers.
August 06, 2020 - Google Cloud and the Harvard Global Health Institute recently launched the COVID-19 Public Forecasts to provide accurate and free projections of coronavirus cases, deaths, and other metrics over two weeks.
The platform will be an additional resource for first responders in healthcare, the public sector, and other impacted organizations to prepare for the future.
“The COVID-19 Public Forecasts model produces forecasts at the critical jurisdiction of public health action—the county. Coupled with the work of the Harvard Global Health Institute’s county-level COVID-19 Suppression Metrics, the COVID-19 Public Forecast Model will allow for targeted testing and public health interventions on a county-by-county basis,” Thomas Tsai, MD, surgeon and health policy researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and in the department of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in the announcement.
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Aug 10, 2020,06:22am EDT
A Third Of Americans Unwilling To Get Covid-19 Vaccine [Infographic]
Data journalist covering technological, societal and media topics
As the number of U.S. coronavirus cases passes the grim milestone of five million, a potential vaccine looks like humanity's greatest hope of breaking chains of infection and bringing life back to normality. While some countries, such as New Zealand, have rightly earned plaudits for effective and early action that have practically eliminated Covid-19, other nations are still drowning in a tidal wave of infections. Even though the number of new cases is starting to slow slightly in the United States, the death toll currently stands at just under 163,000 with no end to the nightmare in sight. While testifying before Congress, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, recently said he is optimistic a vaccine will be ready by early 2021. While that would definitely be good news, the bad news is that many U.S. adults would avoid receiving an FDA approved Covid-19 vaccine at no cost.
That's according to a Gallup poll conducted between July 20 and August 02 which found that more than a third of American adults, 35%, would avoid such a vaccine. A partisan gulf in attitudes was one of the most eye-catching results of the research with 81% of Democrats saying they would be willing to get an FDA approved vaccine while 19% said they would not. A 53% majority of Republicans on the other hand would refuse to take a vaccine while 47% would be willing to take it. Broken down by age, 76% of younger adults aged between 18 and 29 would be willing to take a vaccine, along with 70% of senior citizens with reluctance highest among middle-aged Americans. The high level of willingness among over 65s is likely due to that age-group experiencing the most serious risk of complications and a higher chance of death due to Covid-19.
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https://apnews.com/8c96785b4c857811431ab94d080efe48
Telemedicine shines during pandemic but will glow fade?
Racked with anxiety, Lauren Shell needed to talk to her cancer doctor.
But she lives at least an hour away and it was the middle of her workday. It was also the middle of a pandemic. Enter telemedicine.
The 34-year-old Leominster, Massachusetts, resident arranged a quick video visit through the app Zoom in May with her doctor in Boston. He reassured her that he was confident in their treatment plan, and the chances of her breast cancer returning were low.
“It was really great to be able to talk to him about what I was feeling,” she said. She felt comforted afterward “knowing that I wasn’t alone.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/addressing-security-challenges-presented-hies
Addressing security challenges presented by HIEs
Panelists at the ONC Tech Forum on Monday advised mapping the functions of health information exchanges to "confidentiality, integrity and availability."
By Kat Jercich
August 11, 2020 11:48 AM
Health information exchanges can be a way for providers to access clinical information in efficient and, ideally, seamless ways.
But experts say they can also present security challenges.
"You should be constantly thinking about how to map what an HIE does, and what it is, to our security base: confidentiality, integrity and availability." said Jenn Behrens, chief information security officer at San Diego Health Connect.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/onc-tech-forum-rucker-touts-value-hies-covid-19-response
At ONC Tech Forum, Rucker touts value of HIEs in COVID-19 response
While the APIs mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act will eventually enable a more "seamless experience" across the care continuum, he said, state health information exchanges have a crucial role to play in coordinating pandemic response right now.
By Mike Miliard
August 11, 2020 10:14 AM
In his opening discussion Monday at the ONC Tech Forum, which continues all day Tuesday, Dr. Donald Rucker, National Coordinator for Health IT, began by reminding everyone that the starting gun has been fired on ONC's 21st Century Cures rules on interoperability and patient access.
They were posted in the Federal Register at the beginning of May, which is a "starting point," said Rucker, during a wide-ranging conversation with Denise Hines, chief Americas officer at HIMSS (the parent company of Healthcare IT News).
Of course, a lot has changed in the world since the final rules were first published in early March, so ONC added in several instances of "administrative discretion," he said, "to delay a number of the provisions due to COVID-19. That has obviously impacted things a little bit."
The pandemic, as has been noted before, has also only highlighted the value of what the new requirements are trying to achieve.
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New York-Area Hospitals Leveraging Smart Clothes For Remote Diagnostic Monitoring
August 11, 2020
If you want an example of how the pandemic is fostering the growth of long-distance medicine, look no further than the following.
Maimonides Medical Center and Meridian Health System have agreed to work with remote diagnostic tech vendor Nanowear to conduct a clinical trial. The goal of the project is to monitor confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients remotely to detect signs of clinical deterioration.
Nanowear will support the project by providing cloth-based nanosensors. Users wear a one-size-fits-all adjustable undergarment designed to detect physiological and biomarker changes. The Nanowear platform, SimpleSENSE, captures real-time ECG data, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood flow hemodynamics, respiration, long volume and fluid, and temperature trends.
As the vendor’s news release states, gathering such data remotely is an attractive prospect. After all, there’s never been a better time to monitor patients without having to touch them or meet with them face-to-face.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia-pacific/impact-covid-19-apac-hospitals
The impact of COVID-19 on APAC hospitals
Key survey findings focused on the state of inpatient capacity, elective procedures, digital engagement with healthcare professionals and post-COVID-19 planning.
By Dean Koh
August 11, 2020 05:35 AM
In the final edition of ‘COVID-19 Impact on Asia-Pacific Hospitals’ survey published by L.E.K. Consulting’s APAC Life Sciences Centre of Excellence in collaboration with GRG Health, key findings gathered from hospital administrators and clinicians focused on the state of inpatient capacity, elective procedures, digital engagement with healthcare professionals and post-COVID-19 planning.
Inpatient capacity and post-COVID-19 planning
Indonesia, India and the Philippines are still concerned with the hospital capacity issue as the number of new COVID-19 infections continues to grow. As hospitals begin to plan for post-COVID-19, optimizing clinical and non-clinical workflow and staffing as well as rebuilding hospital reputation became increasingly higher priorities at the time of survey (weeks of 15-30 June 2020).
A majority of hospitals in APAC (~70%) expect pharma and medical device manufacturers to maintain or increase on-site presence and support for new product training, but decrease their presence and support for sales detailing and service support.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ucla-apple-to-use-mhealth-telehealth-tools-to-tackle-depression
UCLA, Apple to Use mHealth, Telehealth Tools to Tackle Depression
UCLA and Apple are partnering on a three-year study to analyze the root causes of depression, and will be using mHealth tools and a telehealth platform to remotely monitor participants at home.
August 07, 2020 - UCLA is launching a three-year study, using telehealth and mHealth tools, that aims to give healthcare providers a better handle on how to diagnose and treat depression.
Researchers at the university, who are partnering with Apple, will use a connected health platform that includes smartwatches, a wearable sleep monitoring device and smartphones to remotely track sleep, activity heart rate and other daily metrics.
“Current approaches to treating depression rely almost entirely on the subjective recollections of depression sufferers,” Nelson Freimer, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and the study’s principal investigator, said in a press release. “This is an important step for obtaining objective and precise measurements that guide both diagnosis and treatment.”
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/va-cerner-restart-16b-ehr-overhaul-planned-october-go-live
VA, Cerner restart $16B EHR overhaul with planned October go-live
Aug 10, 2020 11:38am
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Cerner are resuming a massive medical records project with a new go-live date in October.
In early April, the VA hit pause on its $16 billion electronic health record overhaul due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency is working to transition from its customized VistA platform to a Cerner EHR system.
At the time, it marketed the second delay in several months. The VA decided in mid-February to push off its go-live date for the new EHR at its first VA hospital.
The VA had planned to flip the switch on the new EHR at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington on March 28. The VA then said it was delaying those plans to commence end-user training.
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How Teladoc's blockbuster deal could impact the entire virtual care landscape
Aug 10, 2020 6:02am
Teladoc's move to acquire Livongo is shaking up the health technology market.
Teladoc plans to pay $18.5 billion in cash and stock for Livongo, which provides diabetes monitoring and remote monitoring. The combination of two of the largest publicly-traded virtual care companies announced Wednesday will create a health technology giant just as the demand for virtual care soars.
The two companies combined are said to be worth about $37 billion, according to Piper Sandler.
Both companies are seeing record growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and the combined company is expectead to reach $1.3 billion in revenue in 2020, according to Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/europe/data-protection-laws-covid-19-times
Data protection laws in COVID-19 times
Brazil is among the countries most heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. With its GDPR-inspired data protection law, the country was among the forerunners in regulating digital privacy in 2018. Now, a postponement looks likely.
August 10, 2020 04:19 AM
The world saw in 2018 data protection laws being approved on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, the ‘California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018’ was adopted, and in Europe the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) came into effect. Brazil was also among the global leaders in privacy regulation, the ‘Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais’ (LGPD – 13.709/18) was approved in August 2018.
The new law is a specialisation for other specific laws such as the Código de Defesa do Consumidor (Consumer Defense Code). Meanwhile, LGPD has seen several adjustments on its content and effective date. After having considered postponing the effective date of LGPD due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on 19 May 2020, the Senate approved a recommendation. It was presented by Senator Weverton Rocha, for the effective date to be established for August 2020. This last recommendation is currently waiting for the president’s approval.
The main goal of the LGPD is to guarantee the privacy of people’s personal data and allow greater control over them. The law preconizes norms, standardisation and clear rules for the processes of collection, storage and sharing of this information. In addition, the law aims to help to promote economic and technological development. Somewhat similar to GDPR, the Brazilian LGPD law applies to all sectors of the economy, and it is mandatory to Brazilian companies but also to foreign companies that operate within Brazilian borders. Rules include the holder’s right to rectify, cancel or even request deletion of their own personal data. It also includes the need to create a National Data Protection Authority (ANPD). LGPD also makes it mandatory to notify affected individuals in case of any incident involving personal data.
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Roundup: Scotland announces contact tracing launch date, NHS London NW trust adopts digital workflow and more briefs
Also, Alcidion gets appointed to NHSX clinical communications procurement framework.
By Sara Mageit
August 10, 2020 05:04 AM
COVID-19 ACCELERATES NHS DIGITAL HEALTHCARE
A new report has highlighted the speed of adoption for new technology across healthcare providers since the onset of COVID-19.
Breaking down provider barriers and a rapid increase in trust in digital consultations have stood out as being two key contributors.
The report also highlighted the priorities, as identified by 150 senior leaders surveyed, for the new COVID-19 world:
- The use of data and analytics to improve patient outcomes
- The move to agile resourcing and virtual service delivery across care settings
- Increased individual patient responsibility for healthcare consumption
Commenting on the impact of COVID-19 on digital adoption, Sir James Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT, said: “COVID-19 has energised our team regarding the use of technology. Indeed, we rolled out online consultations for out-patient consulting very quickly and went from around 10% - 20% utilisation to 70%. As we look forward, our biggest challenge is the use of data and analytics and we want this to be able to make decisions in real-time.”
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https://histalk2.com/2020/08/07/weekender-8-7-20/
Weekly News Recap
- Private equity firm Blackstone acquires 75% of Ancestry for $4.7 billion, which includes the DNA information of 18 million people.
- Teladoc reaches an agreement to acquire Livongo for $18.5 billion, digital health’s biggest deal ever.
- Epic announces plans to return employees to campus by September 21.
- Siemens Healthineers will acquire oncology technology vendor Varian Medical Systems, which includes several software products, for $16.4 billion.
- Virginia will become the first state to use the Covidwise exposure notification app from Apple and Google.
- CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD tells a House coronavirus committee that CDC was not involved in HHS’s decision to replace its COVID-19 hospitalization data system to a contractor-developed HHS system.
- Allscripts notes in its earnings call that the US Department of State’s 450 clinicians will use its TouchWorks and FollowMyHealth systems in its role as a subcontractor.
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Enjoy!
David.
