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/2020/11/600k-wade-gery-digital-review-may-be-delayed/
£600K Wade-Gery digital review may be delayed
A
high-level review of the digital responsibilities of different NHS agencies,
which racked up £600k of management consultant fees, is thought to have been
postponed.
Jon Hoeksma
25 November
2020
Digital
Health News has learned that the Wade-Gery Review, led by NHS Digital’s new
chair Laura Wade Gery and carried out by McKinsey, had been set to recommend the
creation of an entirely new Transformation Taskforce unit.
The review
had been due to present interim findings to NHS England and Improvement but
Digital Health News understands it has been delayed until the New Year.
Ongoing
pressures related to Covid-19 and the new vaccination programme are though to
be behind the delay, but sources also suggest that the review’s headline
recommendations have failed to convince secretary of health and social care
Matt Hancock.
The review
was commissioned by Hancock in July with an aim to find ways to help the NHS
digitise “harder and faster”. It was thought to be triggered by ministerial
frustrations at the speed of digital responses in the early phases of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/guidelines-for-marketing-a-practices-new-telehealth-platform
Guidelines for Marketing a Practice’s New Telehealth Platform
With so
many small and solo practices turning to telehealth to deal with the pandemic
and build business, a marketing expert offers advice on how to advertise those
new services.
By Eric Wicklund
November 25,
2020 - The sharp increase in telehealth use during the pandemic is giving
healthcare providers new opportunities to expand their reach. But how can they
make patients – both potential and existing – aware of their new services?
The answer
lies in marketing, a discipline not entirely familiar to solo and small
practices and clinics that have relied on referrals, word of mouth and perhaps
one big sign out front to build business. And at a time when budgets are
stretched thin and competition is coming from all sides, a plan for promoting
one’s services could be the key to staying in the black.
mHealthIntelligence
recently sat down – virtually – with Jonathan Treiber, a digital marketing and
technology expert and co-founder of RevTrax, to talk about how small providers
should be marketing their connected health capabilities.
Q. What factors must a clinic or small
practice consider when creating a plan to market new telehealth services?
A. “Some factors to include
are how to streamline the paper-intensive new patient or patient data entry.
This process automation or streamlining effort will pay off in spaces for both
telehealth (and) in-office patient experience. Another key back office item is
ensuring the proper processes for patient and insurance billing and
reimbursement. One other critical component is revisiting the patient
experience to ensure a professional, streamlined and efficient approach while
ensuring the appropriate level of personalization and bedside manner, which is
harder to translate into virtual telehealth.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/uk-government-give-20m-funding-boost-ai-research
UK Government give £20M funding boost to AI research
The funding
will support 15 innovative AI projects ranging from early cancer detection to
clinical support and wearable medical devices.
By Sophie Porter
November 27,
2020 01:31 AM
Today
the UK government has announced the awardees of the Turing AI Acceleration
Fellowships. The 15 Fellows, whose projects encompass a spectrum of AI
innovations across science and engineering, will benefit from £20 million of
government funding in a bid to “equip the next generation of Alan Turings with
the tools that will keep the UK at the forefront of this remarkable
technological innovation,” says Science Minister Amanda Solloway.
The
Fellowships are intended to provide elected Fellows with the necessary
resources to accelerate the research and development of their innovative AI
projects, in order to scale market uptake, address some of today’s most
pressing challenges and cement the UK’s position as a world-leader in AI.
The
scheme is funded jointly by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), The Alan Turing
Institute, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and
the Office for Artificial Intelligence.
The
15 Fellows will be funded for five years and will join the five Turing AI
Fellows that were announced in 2019 and the winners of the Turing AI World-Leading
Researcher Fellowships, to be announced in 2021. They include Prof. Christopher
Yao, who will use a combination of AI and genomics to anticipate the
development of cancers before they are fully formed, potentially informing
personalised care plans and enabling earlier and more effective treatment.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/11/27/a-hidden-advantage-of-telehealth-patient-access-to-specialized-programs/
A Hidden Advantage Of Telehealth: Patient Access To Specialized Programs
November 27,
2020
Anne
Zieger
Not
long ago, I found out that I needed access to a specialized program to address
a long-standing medical condition. As it happens, the medical support I need is
in short supply in my area, so I thought it would take a while to access the
right package of services.
At
first, my prediction seemed to be on target. Despite having a lot of experience
advocating for myself and finding the care I needed, I was turned away time and
again by programs that didn’t have any openings. I was beginning to wonder
whether such care was available at all.
Then,
someone offered a suggestion that turned things around. Given that pretty much
all modes of outpatient care are being delivered via telehealth technology,
they asked, why not expand my search to providers outside of my usual search
radius?
This
technique worked. Within just a few hours, I connected with a program I’d never
heard of until that day.
Ordinarily,
it would have been virtually impossible to take advantage of their services, as
the facility is an hour and a half away from my home. These days, however, its
ability to deliver program services to nearly anyone, there was no reason not
to sign me up. The staff there signed me up for its offering with no
hesitation.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/a-unique-patient-identifier-decreases-adverse-drug-interactions
A Unique Patient Identifier Decreases Adverse Drug Interactions
Over a
three-year period, pharmacies with a unique patient identifier lessened the
chances of serious drug-to-drug interactions.
By Christopher Jason
November 24,
2020 - Developing an enhanced patient identification strategy, such as a
National Patient Identifier (NPI), across separate data sources can boost
patient safety and limit adverse drug-to-drug interactions, according to a
study published
in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
To further
increase patient safety, providers should enhance patient data exchange (e.g.
prescription history) and interoperability.
Patient
matching issues have surrounded the healthcare industry for decades.
Patient matching, or the ability to connect the correct medical data to the
appropriate patient, is a key patient safety issue complicated by limited
interoperability and data governance.
Patient
matching aims to connect patient records across different medical providers or
facilities. The same patient visiting two separate doctors or two different
hospitals should always have the correct medical record brought up. However,
this does not always happen, and a mistake can be lethal to the patient and
carry a heavy financial burden for the health system.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-to-boost-ehr-usability-using-a-user-centered-design-process
How to Boost EHR Usability Using a User-Centered Design Process
Researchers
outlined six crucial user-centered EHR design and summative testing processes
to increase EHR usability and decrease clinician burden.
By Christopher Jason
November 25,
2020 - Implementing EHR tools using a user-centered design can boost EHR
usability and decrease burnout for ophthalmologists, according to a study
published in Ophthalmology and Therapy.
Furthermore,
clinicians can utilize these tools and methodologies without high-level EHR
training or an advanced technological background.
While
approximately 98 percent of hospitals have an EHR in place or plan to install
one shortly, similar adoption rates occur in ophthalmology. However,
ophthalmologists believe EHR
usability leaves a lot to be desired and it often leads to increased
clinician burnout and reduced time with patients.
HIMSS
defines
EHR usability as
“The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with
which specific users can achieve a specific set of tasks in a particular
environment. In essence, a system with good usability is easy to use and
effective. It is intuitive, forgiving of mistakes and allows one to perform
necessary tasks quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of mental effort.”
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/machine-learning-tool-accurately-detects-covid-19-on-x-rays
Machine Learning Tool Accurately Detects COVID-19 on X-Rays
A machine
learning platform outperformed human radiologists in detecting COVID-19 in
x-ray images.
By Jessica Kent
November 25,
2020 - A machine learning tool was able to detect COVID-19 in x-ray images
about ten times faster and one to six percent more accurately than specialized
thoracic radiologists, according to a study published
in Radiology.
In patients
with COVID-19, chest x-rays look similar, with lungs appearing patchy and hazy
rather than clear and healthy. However, pneumonia, heart failure, and other
chronic illnesses in the lungs can look similar to COVID-19 on x-rays. Trained
radiologists have to be able to tell the difference between COVID-19 and a less
contagious disease.
“Many
patients with COVID-19 have characteristic findings on their chest images,”
said
Ramsey Wehbe, a cardiologist and postdoctoral fellow in AI at
the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
“These
include ‘bilateral consolidations.’ The lungs are filled with fluid and
inflamed, particularly along the lower lobes and periphery.”
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/digital-health-funding-expected-to-drop-q4-after-record-breaking-third-quarter-report
Digital health funding expected to drop in Q4 after record-breaking Q3:
report
by Heather Landi
Nov 25, 2020
10:58am
After
hitting the high-water mark in the third quarter, global healthcare funding is
projected to slow down in the final quarter of 2020.
Global
healthcare funding soared in the third quarter, hitting a new high of $22.3
billion across 1,575 deals.
To
date, investors have poured $10 billion into healthcare companies in the fourth
quarter, and funding is projected to hit $19.6 billion by the end of the
quarter, down 13% from the third quarter, according to data
from CB Insights on healthcare and digital health investments.
But
that's still up 22% compared to the same period a year ago when global
healthcare funding reached $15.7 billion.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/a-unique-patient-identifier-decreases-adverse-drug-interactions
A Unique Patient Identifier Decreases Adverse Drug Interactions
Over a
three-year period, pharmacies with a unique patient identifier lessened the
chances of serious drug-to-drug interactions.
By Christopher Jason
November 24,
2020 - Developing an enhanced patient identification strategy, such as a
National Patient Identifier (NPI), across separate data sources can boost
patient safety and limit adverse drug-to-drug interactions, according to a study
published in
the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
To further
increase patient safety, providers should enhance patient data exchange (e.g.
prescription history) and interoperability.
Patient
matching issues have surrounded the healthcare industry for decades.
Patient matching, or the ability to connect the correct medical data to the
appropriate patient, is a key patient safety issue complicated by limited
interoperability and data governance.
Patient
matching aims to connect patient records across different medical providers or
facilities. The same patient visiting two separate doctors or two different
hospitals should always have the correct medical record brought up. However,
this does not always happen, and a mistake can be lethal to the patient and
carry a heavy financial burden for the health system.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/technology-vendors-embrace-social-determinants-health
Technology Vendors Embrace Social Determinants of Health
By Scott Mace |
November 23, 2020
New Chilmark Research report highlights the increasing integration of
community organizations with EHRs and other healthcare IT products and
services.
Driven
by the demands of COVID-19, community-based organizations continue to connect
to various healthcare partners in order to drive value-based care, according to
a recent Chilmark Research
report.
Addressing
SDoH: IT Solutions to Engage Community Resources draws upon
interviews with executive leaders at companies offering technology solutions,
including EHR vendors, as well as other research sources, to show how social
determinants of health are being addressed by the industry.
The
report identifies the strengths and weaknesses of options in the market and
predicts how the market will develop in the future.
Jody
Ranck, co-author of the report, said that leaders involved understand that the
healthcare system needs to address SDoH better.
“The
pandemic has proven to be an additional, critical driver for continued
expansion of [value-based care], which requires understanding all of the
factors that can influence a member’s health status … to engage resources
beyond the clinic,” he said in a news release.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/25/tech-investor-tim-draper-says-digital-health-care-will-be-almost-free.html
Health care is going digital and that could make it ‘almost free,’ says
tech investor Tim Draper
Published
Wed, Nov 25 20202:10 AM EST Updated Wed, Nov 25 20202:58 AM EST
Abigail Ng@abigailngwy
Key Points
- In future, artificial intelligence
will help to diagnose patients and develop the medicine required at “very
low costs,” says venture capitalist Tim Draper.
- He said medical costs have been
“crazy high” for many years. “Finally, we’re going to have a way of doing
health care a lot cheaper.”
- Ibrahim Ajami of Mubadala, said the
coronavirus has led to “probably the most significant acceleration of
technology … we will witness in our lives” and that the role of technology
in health care has changed.
The
use of technology is going to make health care “almost free around the world,”
according to venture capitalist Tim Draper.
“Health
care is completely going digital,” he told CNBC’s Dan Murphy during a panel
discussion at FinTech Abu Dhabi, which was held virtually this year.
“That’s
going to create health care that is almost free around the world,” said the
founder and managing partner of early-stage venture capital firm, Draper
Associates.
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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/digital-transformation/mayo-clinic-tech-investments-to-focus-on-smart-hospital-ai-and-virtual-care.html
Mayo Clinic tech investments to focus on 'smart hospital', AI and virtual
care
Laura Dyrda (Twitter) – 24 November, 2020
The pandemic
accelerated Mayo Clinic's digital transformation, and it will continue to
invest in virtual care and technology for its smart hospital.
During a Nov. 19 Destination Medical Center Corp. meeting,
Mayo Clinic Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Bolton said the health system is
making significant investments in digital infrastructure and artificial
intelligence to transform both in-person and virtual care platforms. "Our
partnerships with Google as well as Nference are great examples with patient
care breakthroughs already coming to fruition within our own practice and will
be extended out to patients global," he said.
He also touched on the health system's plans to develop the "smart
hospital of the future."
"While we see significant growth within our virtual practice, people with
serious or complex medical conditions will continue to need to come to Mayo
Clinic for direct care," he said. "We need to ensure we have the
latest facilities and technology to attract and treat these patients and we plan
to make significant investments in upgrading and expanding facilities in the
coming decades."
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/11/25/healthcare-cyberattackers-keep-outsmarting-healthcare-it-providers/
Healthcare Cyberattackers Keep Outsmarting Healthcare IT Providers
November 25, 2020
Anne Zieger
New
research
suggests that despite extensive efforts to turn the tide, healthcare
organizations continue to struggle with fending off cyberattackers, in part due
to a dramatic shortage of security talent for hire.
The
recent study surveyed 2,464 security professionals from 705 provider organizations
to look at gaps, vulnerabilities and deficiencies in their employers’ security
infrastructure which may leave them open to breaches by cybercriminals.
In
theory, providers should have the means to protect themselves. According to the
researchers, healthcare industry leaders expect to spend $134 billion on
cybersecurity from 2021 to 2026, starting at $18 billion in 2021 and increasing
20% each year to almost $37 billion in 2026.
Despite
this spending, however, 96% of IT respondents reported that data attackers
continue to stay ahead of medical enterprises, with 82% of CIOs and CISOs of
health systems in Q3 2020 agreeing that dollars spent are not being allocated
effectively and are often only spent after breaches occur. Often, there’s never
a full gap assessment of capabilities led by senior management outside of the
IT department, the survey found.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/va-enables-ehr-prescription-drug-monitoring-program-integration
VA Enables EHR Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Integration
Veterans
Health Administration providers will now benefit from the EHR integration of
state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs).
By Christopher Jason
November 20,
2020 - The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Veterans Health
Administration (VHA) is integrating
prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) data into the EHR to ensure safer
prescribing practices across its health system.
The EHR tool
aims to improve prescribing practices, target treatment to at-risk patients,
and mitigate the risk of potential abuse or fraud by patients who obtain
prescriptions from multiple providers. Providers can review the data before
prescribing opioids to intervene if there are signs of misuse or abuse.
The solution
is home to nearly 8,000 users and over 16 million controlled substance
prescriptions.
A
PDMP
is a state-run electronic database that collects data from pharmacies on Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled substances and prescription drugs dispensed
to patients.
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https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/5-things-to-consider-before-undertaking-health-it-implementation
5 Things to Consider Before Undertaking Health IT Implementation
Former
Partners Healthcare CIO and Cerner executive shares his tips on how to avoid
the shiny, but ineffective objects and execute a successful health IT
implementation strategy.
By Samantha McGrail
November 19,
2020 - While new technology may promise to solve a provider’s biggest
problems, organization leaders should step back and consider the five steps of
successful health IT implementation, says former CIO John Glaser.
New health IT
solutions must fit in with an organization’s network of stable relationships in
order for providers to fully understand and use a specific technology, explains
Glaser in a new Harvard Business Review article.
Glaser, who
also served as the CIO of Partners HealthCare and an executive at Cerner and is
currently an executive in residence at Harvard Medical School broke down five
ways that organizations can determine which technologies will fit into its
system and how to prepare for challenges that may arise.
The
first suggestion is to focus on the transformation, not the digital.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/10-patient-data-sharing-interoperability-principles-for-providers
10 Patient Data Sharing, Interoperability Principles for Providers
A group of
healthcare stakeholders and professionals aimed to reduce conflicting patient
data sharing messages and increase patient care, research, and innovation.
By Christopher Jason
November 18,
2020 - Stakeholders and healthcare professionals across the country
developed 10 patient data sharing principles. These principles intend to help
guide health organizations and universities toward the appropriate use of data
sharing to boost patient care, research, and innovation, according
to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics
Association (JAMIA).
“With more
data sharing taking place, concerns are being raised about topics such as data
ownership, the loss of privacy, and the protection of the intellectual property
(IP) that may be encapsulated within or derived from health data,” wrote the
stakeholders. “Healthcare institutions are struggling with competing data
sharing and privacy demands.”
Stakeholders
created these 10 principles to maintain the ethics and responsibilities of
patient data sharing.
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https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20201119.183766/full/
Factors That Shape Notification Of Health Care Outbreaks Of COVID-19
November 24, 2020 10.1377/hblog20201119.183766
Health
care-associated infection (HAI) outbreaks can be large-scale adverse events requiring notification of those infected,
exposed, or at risk of infection. Such notifications are a critical public
health function intended to mitigate risks, prevent harm, and promote safety in
health care facilities. Procedures and mechanisms for notifying patients,
health care workers, or the public about a suspected outbreak vary by
jurisdiction, facility, type of pathogen, and circumstances of the outbreak, as
there are currently no standard protocols for notification of outbreaks in
health care settings.
Despite
the absence of widely established standards, outbreak notification tends to be
driven by two ethical frameworks: utilitarian (what is best) and
duty-based (what is right). The former approach assesses the benefits and risks
of notification, with the primary aim of protecting patient safety and the
public’s health. Meanwhile, the latter approach considers ethical
responsibilities of notification, such as autonomy and respect.
Equally
important are the mechanisms for whom to notify, when to notify them, and how
to notify affected or potentially affected persons. In June, the Council for
Outbreak Response: Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial-Resistant
Pathogens (CORHA), released the “Interim Framework for Healthcare-Associated Infection
Outbreak Notification,” which provides a practical, stepwise guide on
how to operationalize notification of outbreaks that occur in health care
settings. Prior to the availability of this tool, guidance varied across
jurisdictions.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/predictive-analytics-determines-outcomes-in-ed-patients-with-covid-19
Predictive Analytics Determines Outcomes in ED Patients with COVID-19
Predictive
analytics can accurately forecast whether ED patients with COVID-19 symptoms
will experience severe disease or death.
By Jessica Kent
November 24,
2020 - A predictive analytics platform was able to accurately determine
the probability of death or need for critical care within seven days for
emergency department patients with COVID-19 symptoms, according to a study
published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
The tool can
help ensure that patients get the right care when they need it, researchers
stated. Additionally, the platform could be particularly helpful to providers
deciding whether to hospitalize or discharge patients with COVID-19 symptoms at
the time of an emergency department visit.
“As the
pandemic surges again across the country and hospitalizations are increasing,
front-line physicians often must make quick decisions to hospitalize or
discharge patients with COVID-19 symptoms,” said
Adam Sharp, MD, an emergency medicine physician who also is a researcher for
the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research &
Evaluation.
“We
created a risk assessment that looks at many different patient variables that
might predict a critical poor outcome — without any lab or diagnostic testing.”
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https://hbr.org/2020/11/4-strategies-to-make-telehealth-work-for-elderly-patients
4 Strategies to Make Telehealth Work for Elderly Patients
·
Umar
Ikram,
·
Susanna Gallani,
·
Jose F. Figueroa,
·
Thomas W. Feeley
November 24,
2020
As
providers have ramped up their use of telehealth during the Covid-19 pandemic,
one group — the elderly — has experienced particular challenges in adopting the
technologies. This article describes the strategies four innovative provider
organizations have used to engage with their older patients via telehealth.
The
Covid-19 pandemic catapulted telehealth into the mainstream and it is likely to
remain there even after the pandemic subsides. It’s proved highly effective for
younger, digitally savvy patients. But older patients, and particularly the
frail elderly, often struggle with the technology. How can primary care
providers help these patients adopt telehealth? And when are face-to-face
visits still the best option?
To
answer these questions, we interviewed executives and frontline providers at
four innovative primary care organizations that serve predominately elderly
populations: Iora Health, Oak Street Health, ChenMed, and Landmark Health.
These organizations participate in Medicare Advantage plans and receive a
capitated payment for each patient regardless of the volume of services they
provide. This gives them both the flexibility and the incentive to develop
creative ways to provide value-based primary care, including pivoting to
telehealth with their challenging populations.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/stark-law-changes-should-benefit-telehealth-remote-patient-monitoring
Stark Law Changes Should Benefit Telehealth, Remote Patient Monitoring
The OIG's
Final Rule on changes to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute creates
several new safe harbors that will help providers create and expand telehealth platforms
and remote patient monitoring programs.
By Eric Wicklund
November 24,
2020 - New safe harbors proposed for the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback
Statute could help providers expand their telehealth and remote patient
monitoring platforms.
A Final
Rule issued last week by the Health and Human Services’ Office of the
Inspector General creates seven new safe harbors for value-based arrangements,
and modifies five already in place. The new guidelines are designed to enable
different groups – such as healthcare providers, telehealth and mHealth vendors
and others – to collaborate on connected health services without running afoul
of federal laws on fraud, waste and abuse.
Specifically,
the Stark Law, otherwise known as the physician self-referral law, prohibits
referrals by a physician to another provider if the physician or his immediate
family has a financial relationship with the provider. The Anti-Kickback
Statute, meanwhile, bars the exchange of remuneration – which according to this
law is anything of value – for referrals that are payable by a federal
healthcare program like Medicare.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/intersystems-updates-healthshare-expanded-fhir-capabilities
InterSystems updates HealthShare with expanded FHIR capabilities
The FHIR R4
APIs in version 2020.2 of the platform will enable broader access to provider,
payer and pharmacy benefits data – and can help boost compliance with upcoming
interoperability and patient access rules, the company says.
By Mike Miliard
November 24,
2020 08:30 AM
InterSystems
has released the newest version of InterSystems HealthShare platform, with new
analytics capabilities and connectivity to services such as Apple Health.
WHY IT MATTERS
HealthShare 2020.2 features new FHIR R4 APIs to enable healthcare organizations
to have expanded access to clinical, claims and provider directory data
included in the new release, the company says – noting the key importance of
having such access during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The
new release has been tailored to meet the needs of health systems during the
pandemic – including COVID-19 analytics dashboards, while its Clinical
Viewer adds COVID-19-specific test-status icons and chart options that help care
teams better track and monitor COVID-19 patients.
More
generally, new analytics offerings and improved clinician and patient portals
enable easier access and use of provider, payer and pharmacy benefits data
across the healthcare ecosystem.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-healthcare-organizations-can-enhance-rpm-security-resiliency
How healthcare organizations can enhance RPM security, resiliency
Remote
patient monitoring ecosystems should not be treated in the same way as
traditional endpoints, say cybersecurity experts.
By Kat Jercich
November 24,
2020 01:00 PM
As
the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to push patients away from in-person care,
many health systems have ramped up their remote patient monitoring
ecosystems.
But
with that increase in endpoints comes an increase in security risks.
"From
a security perspective, we always model a personal home network as a hostile
network," said Stephanie Domas, executive vice president of the MedSec
cybersecurity service. "I have to build it that way because I have no
control over that network."
Teaching
an organization's staff members not to click on suspicious links doesn't help,
she said, when a medical device is connecting to an individual's network
outside the system.
"Are
you going to make your patient take phishing training?" Domas said
with a laugh.
-----
https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/11/24/of-idiocracy-and-application-programming-interfaces-apis-a-guide-for-cios-on-api-security-for-the-cures-act/
Of Idiocracy and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) – A guide for
CIOs on API Security for the CURES Act
November 24, 2020
Mitch Parker, CISO
In
the movie Idiocracy, society devolved toward having two major corporations
control most of it, Costco and Brawndo. Brawndo was an energy drink known
as The Thirst Mutilator. Because it had electrolytes, everyone used it
instead of water, which led to its dominance. In this dystopian future,
water was thought of as only for toilets. Even the water fountains in the
hospital had Brawndo instead. It was also used for farming because the
people in charge thought plants craved electrolytes. This led to a
drought and no agriculture because of the years of chemicals building up and
preventing plant growth.
When
Secretary of the Interior Not Sure turned off the Brawndo and watered the
plants instead, the subsequent crash caused the computers in charge of the
Brawndo Corporation to automatically lay off most of the country and caused
mass unemployment and riots. Not Sure was sentenced to almost certain
death until at the last minute, and his decision paid off by showing plants
growing in the soil.
While
Idiocracy was just a movie, it has its parallels in Information Security.
We can think of our current approach to security where we buy appliance upon
appliance to protect different aspects of our environments every time a new
technology becomes prevalent as a parallel to Brawndo being used as a panacea
for everything from water fountains to agriculture. Meanwhile, the real
technologies that facilitate security are relegated to utilities like water was
in the movie Idiocracy.
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/leveraging-artificial-intelligence-to-reduce-clinician-burnout
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Clinician Burnout
Providence
health system is using an artificial intelligence solution to alleviate
clinician burnout and improve the care experience.
By Jessica Kent
November 23,
2020 - While the dawn of the EHR promised streamlined, accelerated
healthcare delivery, the technology can also include burdensome alerts and
documentation requirements that lead to clinician
burnout.
Providers
often spend more time documenting than they do seeing their patients, resulting
in poor care experiences and stunted patient-provider relationships.
At
Providence, one of the largest health systems in the country, leaders were
searching for a solution to problems stemming from EHR documentation.
“At our
organization, clinician burnout and productivity were an issue. The amount of
time that clinicians spend on documentation is probably the single biggest
issue for our caregivers,” said B.J. Moore, executive vice president and CIO at
Providence.
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/features/top-challenges-of-applying-artificial-intelligence-to-medical-imaging
Top Challenges of Applying Artificial Intelligence to Medical Imaging
Medical
imaging is one of the best use cases for artificial intelligence in healthcare,
but lack of clinician input and data bottlenecks can make the technology less
helpful than promised.
November 20,
2020 - Among the many possible applications of artificial intelligence and
machine learning in healthcare, medical imaging is perhaps the most promising.
When used to
decode the complicated nature of MRIs, CT scans, and other testing modalities,
advanced analytics tools have demonstrated their ability to extract meaningful
information for enhanced decision-making – sometimes with greater
precision than humans themselves.
From improved
cancer detection to faster pneumonia diagnoses, AI and machine learning have
proven to be viable companion tools in the fields of radiology and pathology.
“A lot of the
major advances we've seen in AI have focused on image analysis,” said Walter
Wiggins, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiology at Duke University and
clinical director of the Duke Center for Artificial Intelligence in
Radiology.
-----
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/adventhealth-berg-tap-ai-technology-to-reduce-mortality-covid-19-patients
AdventHealth, Berg tap AI technology to reduce mortality in COVID-19
patients
by Brian T.
Horowitz
Nov 23, 2020
8:30am
AdventHealth
has partnered with biotech firm Berg to gain insights on people that have
tested positive for COVID-19 and reduce mortality rates from the disease.
AdventHealth, a
nonprofit health system based in Orlando, Florida, has diagnosed and treated
more than 25,000 patients with COVID-19 to date. With more than 250,000
Americans having died during the COVID-19 pandemic, a key reason for Berg to
work with AdventHealth is to understand COVID-19 better and also help triage
patients suffering from the virus, explained Niven Narain, Ph.D., co-founder,
president and CEO of Berg.
Under
the agreement announced Monday, the two organizations will use Berg’s
proprietary artificial-intelligence-enabled Interrogative
Biology platform with AdventHealth’s patient data. Narain explained that
the platform processes biological patient samples on the front end and feeds
that into a back-end AI analytical platform. It incorporates machine learning
as well as a type of AI called a Bayesian network. With ML, data scientists
generate data insights from a hypothesis, but with Bayesian AI the data
generate the hypothesis. You then validate the hypothesis in the laboratory and
with clinical records, Narain told Fierce Healthcare.
------
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/23/asia/china-xi-qr-code-coronavirus-intl-hnk/
China's Xi Jinping is pushing for a global Covid QR code. He may struggle
to convince the world
By Ben Westcott, CNN
Updated 0909 GMT (1709 HKT) November
23, 2020
Hong Kong (CNN)Chinese President Xi Jinping is pushing for a
global Covid-19 tracking system using QR codes, to help fast-track international travel and
business during the coronavirus pandemic.
China
mandated the widespread use of QR-based health certificates earlier this year.
The system, which uses an electronic barcode to store a person's travel and
health history, has been credited with helping to curb the spread of the virus.
The code
issues users with a color code based on their potential exposure to the novel
coronavirus. The colors are like traffic lights -- green is safest, then amber
and finally red.
Speaking
at the virtual G20 leaders' meeting on Saturday, Xi said that to ensure the
"smooth functioning" of the world economy during the pandemic,
countries needed to coordinate a uniform set of policies and standards,
according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
-----
https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/ai-machine-learning/humanizing-ai-how-to-close-the-trust-gap-in-healthcare/a/d-id/1339477?
Humanizing AI: How to Close the Trust Gap in Healthcare
To promote
trust in artificial intelligence in healthcare, AI products and services must
come from a deep understanding of user and patient needs and promote user and
patient engagement.
Keith
Roberts, VP, Change Healthcare
11/23/2020
07:00 AM
Physician turnover in the United States, due to burnout and
related factors, was conservatively estimated to cost the US healthcare
system some $4.6 billion annually, according to a 2019 Annals
of Internal Medicine study. The results reflect a familiar dynamic,
where too many doctors are crushed in paperwork, which takes time away from
being with patients.
Just
five months after this study was publicized, Harvard Business Review published “How AI in the Exam Room
Could Reduce Physician Burnout,” examining multiple artificial intelligence
initiatives that may streamline providers’ administrative tasks, thus reducing
burnout.
Still,
barriers to trust in AI solutions remain, highlighted by 2020 KPMG International survey findings that note only 35% of
leaders have a high degree of trust in data analytics powered by AI within
their own organizations. This lack of confidence even in their own AI-driven
solutions underscores the significant trust gap that exists between
decision-makers and technology in the current digital era.
There’s
little doubt that multiple industries have been revolutionized by AI, and the
same technology is beginning to streamline the US healthcare ecosystem. But how
do we initiate AI projects in healthcare that are truly focused on the needs of
patients and users?
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/standardizing-ehr-use-measure-platforms-to-decrease-clinician-burden
Standardizing EHR Use Measure Platforms to Decrease Clinician Burden
A limited
number of EHR vendors are effectively tracking EHR use measures and those that
do need improved standardization to learn more about clinician burden.
By Christopher Jason
November 23,
2020 - EHR use measure platforms are currently only available on three of
the most common EHR platforms and further standardization is necessary to
enhance these platforms and decrease clinician burden, according to a study published
in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
EHRs are at
the center of clinician
burnout and decreased clinician satisfaction. In an effort to learn more
about EHR usability, health systems and EHR vendors view audit logs to study
EHR use. However, not all EHR systems provide this information and there is a
lack of standardization across those that provide a platform.
Researchers
utilized data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC)
and focused on the most common outpatient EHR vendors, including Epic Systems,
Cerner, and AllScripts.
The
research team then asked vendor representatives about several EHR use measures:
- Total EHR time
- Work outside of work
- EHR documentation time
- Prescriptions time
- Inbox usage time
- Teamwork for orders
- Undivided attention
Researchers
aimed to analyze these measures and see how each vendor addresses each
measurement.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ehr-market-expected-grow-6-year-through-2025
EHR market expected to grow 6% per year through 2025
A new report
predicted that cloud-based systems will see the fastest growth over the next
five years, with the need to manage chronic conditions fueling the growth.
By Kat Jercich
November 20,
2020 02:36 PM
A
new report released this week predicted that the electronic health record
market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6% over the next five
years.
The
report, from Research and Markets,
noted the roles of chronic diseases, government funding and patient engagement
as likely contributing factors to the increase.
"The
increasing adoption of software solutions such as data mining, clinical
decision support systems and clinical trial management systems will propel the
demand for EHR systems," wrote report authors.
WHY IT MATTERS
Unsurprisingly,
the report named EHR heavy-hitters Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner,
eClinicalWorks and Epic Systems as the major vendors, specifically noting Epic
as amassing a greater share of the U.S. hospital market in 2019.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-may-worsen-digital-divide-people-disabilities
Telehealth may worsen digital divide for people with disabilities
A recently
published JAMIA paper argues that design, implementation and policy
considerations must be taken into account when developing virtual care
technology.
By Kat Jercich
November 23,
2020 10:59 AM
Much
has been made of telehealth's potential to bridge the accessibility gap for
those who may be otherwise underserved by the healthcare systems.
But,
experts said in a new paper published in the Journal of
the American Medical Informatics Association this past week,
telehealth may also exacerbate inequities faced by the disability
community.
"There
remains a pressing need to explicitly consider how changes in the prevalence
and ubiquity of telehealth impact people with disabilities," wrote the
authors.
WHY IT MATTERS
The
paper authors noted that for some people with disabilities widespread
access to telehealth services could improve healthcare.
-----
https://histalk2.com/2020/11/20/weekender-11-20-20/
Weekly News Recap
- Private equity firm Clearlake
Capital will reportedly buy the software business of revenue cycle
management company NThrive.
- Nuance sells its transcription
services business and EScription technology to newly formed DeliverHealth
Solutions, in which Nuance will hold a minority share.
- Time’s list of “The Best Inventions
of 2020” includes the Vocera Smartbadge.
- Central Logic acquires Ensocare.
- Amazon launches an online pharmacy.
- ECRI announces that it will shut
down its Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety collaborative on
December 31 after seven years.
- UC San Diego Health reports the
benefits of moving UC San Diego’s student health service to Epic.
- Researchers find that including a
patient’s headshot in the EHR significantly reduced ED wrong-patient order
entry errors.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
