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/2021/03/facing-the-pandemic-as-a-digital-hospital/
Facing the pandemic as a digital hospital
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) went live with a new electronic health record powered by Epic in 2019. The trust’s clinical teams reflect on facing a pandemic as a digital hospital.
DHI News Team 22 March, 2021
In March 2019, UCLH transformed into a digital hospital with Epic, a fully integrated electronic health record (EHR). This created a solid foundation to respond to the future healthcare needs of the people it serves.
The pandemic put this to the test and UCLH’s success in responding to this challenge was greatly enhanced by its digital capabilities – having rapid and secure access to information from anywhere and the ability to analyse, share and learn from data quickly. Staff spontaneously remarked how these digital tools enabled them to maintain high quality care and safety in what for many is the greatest challenge faced in our lives and careers.
Our story
Our venture to make UCLH a truly digitally integrated hospital has paid dividends during our response to Covid-19. We are one of a handful of trusts to have done this.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/03/child-health-records-set-to-be-digitised-earlier-than-planned/
Child health records set to be digitised earlier than planned
Personal child health records are set to be digitised earlier than planned under government plans to give families greater access to their children’s data.
Andrea Downey 25 March, 2021
Working with NHSX, the government is bringing forward work to digitise the records, often referred to as the ‘Red Book’, which contains babies’ information about their growth and development.
Digitising the records will ensure information is easier to store, will protect it from being lost, and make it easier to share with medical staff, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
This will apply to every new birth from April 2023, a year earlier than originally planned. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, promised a digital version of the ‘Red Book’ would be made available to the whole country by 2023/24.
Health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, said: “Everybody should have a solid foundation on which to build their health and we are determined to level up the opportunities for children, no matter their background from or where they grow up.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/uk-announces-vision-future-clinical-research
UK announces vision for future of clinical research
The report focuses on fostering a data-driven, patient-focused approach to clinical research delivery.
March 26, 2021 04:29 PM
The UK government has released a report outlining their vision for the future of clinical research delivery. Shaped by the significant contribution of research during the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘Saving and Improving lives: the Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’ calls for a more inclusive, patient-focused research ethic within the NHS, with a particular focus on data-driven research enabled by digital tools.
The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, concluded of the vision: “Ground-breaking technologies, data and analytics will transform healthcare and save lives.”
WHY IT MATTERS
The report identifies 5 key themes for developing the future best practice of clinical research delivery:
- Embedding clinical research into the NHS
- Ensuring research is patient-orientated
- Ensuring research is streamlined and efficient
- A focus on research driven by data and digital tools
- Fostering a supported workforce with sustainable research practices
Digital innovation is at the heart of this new vision, not only as a means of delivery but explicitly identified as a goal itself. This is reflected in the strategy portion of the paper, where focus lands on expanding digital platforms, developing innovative research designs, diversifying research and strengthening service-user involvement.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/26/ambient-clinical-voice-pricing/
Ambient Clinical Voice Pricing
March 26, 2021
Having written and done interviews with people talking about Ambient Clinical Voice, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people about what they think about the technology. I’d say that most people that reach out are as excited about it as I am and they hope that it can live up to its potential. I mean, how could someone not want an EHR auto documentation solution?
While most people are excited about the technology, many are also asking about the price. Most of the ambient clinical voice vendors are keeping their pricing close to the chest, but the main theme I’ve heard is that it’s not cheap. Usually, that’s followed by some sort of discussion around the value that it provides. Happy doctors and effective timely documentation is priceless right?
I wish that I had all the details on pricing (hit me up on our contact us page if you know and will share), but I think there is good news on the pricing front when it comes to ambient clinical voice. First, it starts off with realizing where we’re at in the evolution of this technology. In fact, it’s fair to say that at least for now, the ambient clinical voice solutions on the market are a mix of humans and technology and humans are expensive.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/26/what-will-the-rpm-device-of-the-future-look-like/
What Will The RPM Device Of The Future Look Like?
March 26, 2021
With the pandemic putting such a large strain on hospital inpatient capacity, it was inevitable that providers would look for ways to discharge the less acute patients safely.
However, it seems we are not even close to a standardized approach to remotely monitoring patients who are still at risk. Protocols for RPM seem to vary from organization to organization, and the form factors for such devices are still emerging.
By this point, we may be in a position to define key aspects of mature RPM. To my mind the solutions need to include the following elements:
* Integrated: RPM data must be formatted (presumably in FHIR) in such a way as to make it consumable by EHRs.
* Reliable: RPM devices must be durable physically and their OS patched and updated regularly.
* Consistent: The devices providers use for RPM data collection should adhere to at least a core set of measures that can be compared easily with other sets of health data.
* User-friendly: This is particularly important. Especially if you want consumers to wear an RPM device around the clock, it has to look and feel friendly.
* Secure: This almost goes without saying, but it’s critical that this data isn’t sent in the clear, something that might happen if providers experiment with consumer-grade devices.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/tech-helps-reach-high-utilizers-lower-er-costs
Tech Helps Reach High Utilizers to Lower ER Costs
Analysis | By Scott Mace | March 24, 2021
Alaska's Mat-Su Health Foundation project provides a model that its proponents say can be replicated anywhere.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Interventions by mental-health specialists help stem flood of super-utilizers to Alaskan emergency room.
· The program, which relies upon admission/discharge/transfer (ADT) data to speed interventions, saved $1.9 million in ER costs in its initial year.
· Acquiring ADT data is one of seven best practices of redirecting ER care, as defined by the Washington State Hospital Association.
Healthcare continues to be bedeviled by "frequent flyers"—high utilizers of expensive emergency departments. But one healthcare system in Alaska is showing how, with the right dose of technology, and focusing on social determinants of health, these high utilizers can be better served, and dramatically reduce ER costs in the process.
To better understand the strategy, it helps to take a look at the organizations involved and the timeline.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/telehealth/telehealth-use-among-surgeons-soared-during-pandemic
Telehealth Use Among Surgeons Soared During Pandemic
Analysis | By John Commins | March 26, 2021
Among 4,405 surgeons in a Michigan cohort, 2,599 (59%) used telehealth to meet with a patient.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· For new patients, 1,182 surgeons (27%) used telehealth, and a total of 109,610 surgical new patient telehealth visits were identified during the pandemic.
· Before March 2020, less than 1% (8 of 173, 939) of new patient visits were done using telehealth.
· Telehealth use peaked in April 2020 -- week 14 of the pandemic – and represented 35% (479 of 1,383) of all new patient visits that week.
· The median age of telehealth patients was 47 (34-58) years compared with 52 (38-62) years for in-person patients.
· Telehealth use among surgeons for patient visits soared in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, according to a new study.
Researchers examined insurance claims from a Michigan statewide commercial payer for new patient visits with a surgeon from 1 of 9 surgical specialties immediately before the pandemic (January 5 to March 7, 2020), during the early months of the pandemic (March 8 to June 6), and later in the pandemic (June 7 to September 5).
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athenahealth Launches EHR Coding Solution to Mitigate Clinician Burnout
An athenahealth client observed a 50 percent decline in clinician coding time after implementing the EHR coding solution.
March 24, 2021 - athenahealth has announced the launch of athenaOne Medical Coding solution, an EHR coding solution that the vendor said could mitigate clinician coding-related work and ultimately reduce clinician burnout.
According to a recent study, clinician burnout impacts up to 80.5 percent of clinicians, with an average of 44 percent of clinicians experiencing burnout. Clinician burnout also costs health systems between about $250,000 and $1 million per clinician who quits.
More specifically, a clinician averages roughly 90 minutes of coding work after-hours, according to athenahealth. The vendor said this tool would allow clinicians to spend more time with patients and focus on higher-value work.
athenahealth integrated this feature to ease claim submissions by gaining access to certified coding support specialists who conduct accurate and timely medical coding. When utilizing the integrated solution, the user and the vendor’s medical coders can communicate directly through the EHR interface.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/artificial-intelligence-detects-medication-administration-errors
Artificial Intelligence Detects Medication Administration Errors
A new system uses artificial intelligence to detect errors in patients’ medication self-administration methods.
By Jessica Kent
March 25, 2021 - Artificial intelligence could help identify potential errors in a patient’s medication self-administration method, leading to reduced hospitalizations and healthcare costs, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.
Errors in medication self-administration lead to poor treatment adherence, increased hospitalizations, and higher care spending, researchers noted. These errors are especially common when medications involve devices like insulin pens or inhalers.
“Some past work reports that up to 70 percent of patients do not take their insulin as prescribed, and many patients do not use inhalers properly,” said Dina Katabi, the Andrew and Erna Viteri Professor at MIT.
Some common drugs also require intricate delivery mechanisms, making it difficult for patients to correctly administer medications themselves.
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Patient Engagement Technology Vendors Broaden Their Capabilities
GetWellNetwork, Vocera, Salesforce, and CipherHealth have seen the biggest growth in patient engagement technology offerings since 2019.
By Sara Heath
March 25, 2021 - The historical ad hoc nature of patient engagement technology may be winding down, with more health IT vendors expanding their customer offerings in the patient experience space, according to the latest KLAS report.
The report, Patient Engagement Ecosystem 2021, found that some of the leading patient engagement technology vendors are offering more and varied capabilities to customers, helping to lead the patient across the care continuum.
This is contrary to previous reports from KLAS, including one from 2019 that found the patient engagement technology space is highly siloed, with a crowded vendor field and entities that specialized in niche functionality. The February 2019 report wasn’t able to identify any market leaders, mostly because the market was so young and so crowded.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/study-365m-people-reveals-huge-jump-pandemic-telehealth-use
Study of 36.5M people reveals huge jump in pandemic telehealth use
During the first four months of COVID-19, telehealth visits accounted for 23.6% of all interactions – compared with 0.3% of contacts during the same time period in 2019.
By Kat Jercich
March 25, 2021 11:47 AM
A cohort study of more than 36 million people in the United States found a dramatic increase in telehealth use during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using data from Blue Health Intelligence data repository – an independent data and analytics company that is a licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association – researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health compared claims data from March through June 2019 with March through June 2020.
During the first four months of the pandemic, telehealth visits accounted for 23.6% of all interactions – compared with 0.3% of contacts in 2019.
"The spring of 2020 represented the first time in US history that such a large proportion of Americans had wide access to telehealth services. By undertaking this study, we sought to gain an understanding of the patterns of virtual care during this initial phase of the COVID-19 era," wrote the researchers.
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Healthcare Cybersecurity Budgets are Still Falling Short
Analysis | By Scott Mace | March 25, 2021
Telehealth and remote work demands have increased the security concerns of providers, the HIMSS annual survey finds.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Decision-makers believe they need to be spending 24% more on cybersecurity in the next two to three years, but only 40% expect their organizations will be able to make the necessary financial investment.
· 84% perceive email and 70% perceive telehealth as introducing risk.
Cybersecurity budgets in healthcare are expected to continue to fall short of actual needs in the next year, according to a new survey by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Market Intelligence.
Research for the 2021 State of Cybersecurity Report: The COVID-19 Evolution was conducted in January by surveying 131 security or cybersecurity decision-makers employed at U.S. hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory care organizations.
Three out of four respondents said changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a larger or more complex computing edge, akin to the cybersecurity concept of attack surfaces.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/real-world-data-shows-benefit-of-vaccinating-healthcare-workers
Real-World Data Shows Benefit of Vaccinating Healthcare Workers
Real-world data at UT Southwestern showed that vaccinating healthcare workers led to a significant reduction of COVID-19 cases among employees.
By Jessica Kent
March 24, 2021 - Real-world data collected at a large medical center showed that vaccinating healthcare workers reduced the number of required isolations and quarantines by more than 90 percent.
Recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the data comes from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, which initiated a program in mid-December to vaccinate its frontline employees. Healthcare workers were among the first groups to be eligible for vaccination.
“Real-world experience with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination at UT Southwestern demonstrated a marked reduction in the incidence of infections among our employees, preserving the workforce when it was most needed,” said Daniel K. Podolsky, MD, president of UT Southwestern and senior author.
During the first 31 days of vaccinations becoming available, UT Southwestern provided a first dose to 59 percent of roughly 23,000 employees. Thirty percent were able to be fully vaccinated during that time.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/social-determinants-of-health-stymied-pandemic-telehealth-use
Social Determinants of Health Stymied Pandemic Telehealth Use
Social determinants of health contributed to telehealth care access disparities among privately insured members at the beginning of COVID-19.
March 24, 2021 - Telehealth compensated for much of the care delivery gap brought on by COVID-19, however social determinants of health effected utilization rates significantly, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open that raises concern for care access disparities.
From March to June of 2019, telehealth claims made up less than 0.3 percent of total outpatient consults. One year and a pandemic later, telehealth claims made up a quarter (24 percent) of privately insured outpatient consults, based on claims data for more than 36.6 million working-age, privately insured members who were continuously enrolled from March through June of 2020.
Overall, the researchers found that outpatient visits in brick-and-mortar locations decreased by 37 percent, with 1.63 visits per enrollee in 2019 and 1.02 visits per enrollee in 2020.
Telehealth visits were able to fill in some of the gap; the total combined in-person and virtual encounter rate dropped just 18 percent between 2019 and 2020.
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People sharing codes to blame for thousands of premature vaccination bookings, says Eastern Health
About 2,800 people have been prematurely registered, says health authority
CBC News · Posted: Mar 23, 2021 12:30 PM NT | Last Updated: March 24
A problem with Eastern Health's COVID-19 vaccination appointment booking system has allowed about 2,800 people to schedule appointments ahead of schedule, according to the health authority.
At a media conference Tuesday afternoon, Eastern Health president and CEO David Diamond said people were able to prematurely book appointments due to the scheduling software's design, allowing those who had access to the booking website to share their codes with others.
"The system has allowed people to register somewhat outside of our regular process … book themselves, schedule themselves for vaccine appointments," Diamond said.
Stephen Clark, CEO of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information, which administers the software used to register for vaccinations, said links to book vaccinations were shared only with people in priority groups, not with the general public, as when the same program was used for flu vaccinations in the fall.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/health/hhs-oig-pandemic-hospitals-report/index.html
A year fighting a global pandemic leaves US hospitals in shambles, new report finds
By Kristen Holmes, CNN
Updated 1119 GMT (1919 HKT) March 24, 2021
(CNN)Burned out medical staff suffering from trauma and in some cases PTSD, the erosion of public trust in hospitals, and frustration over the "unpredictable and insufficient" supply of vaccines are just some of the problems outlined in a new report on US hospitals released by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general Wednesday.
"[Hospitals] reported challenges largely related to the ongoing intensity of having to deal with Covid for a year. That has them grappling with challenges that were brought with Covid, but also exacerbated longstanding challenges in healthcare delivery, staffing, financial stability," Ann Maxwell, assistant inspector general for evaluations and inspections, told CNN. "Then... you've got the added strain of the vaccination efforts, which are a new addition."
The report surveyed more than 300 hospitals across the country from February 22-26 on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted them. It paints a dire picture of the toll a year of treating a global pandemic has taken on the America's health system and highlights the stress that operating in "survival mode" for such a lengthy period has caused those within it.
"This [pandemic] has really burnt out the health care industry," one hospital president told HHS. "I am concerned about what we are going to do about making people want to go into health care as a profession."
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Qantas trials CommonPass Digital Health app to support resumption of international travel
Australia’s national carrier trialled the app on its repatriation flight from Frankfurt to Darwin.
By Roy Chiang
March 23, 2021 11:38 PM
In February, Qantas completed a trial run of the CommonPass Digital Health app on an international repatriation flight from Frankfurt to Darwin. Through the use of this app, health or border officials and airline staff will be able to easily verify COVID-19 test results and vaccination history of an individual.
The app links customers with certified testing labs to allow their results to be automatically uploaded onto it. In accordance with stipulations made by the federal government, customers would have to first show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result to board repatriation flights on Qantas.
Stephanie Tully, Qantas Group’s Chief Customer Officer said, “We want to get our international flights back in the air and our people back to work, and a digital health pass will be a key part of that.”
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Rapid Growth In Remote Patient Monitoring Adoption Set To Continue
March 24, 2021
New research suggests that the rapid adoption of remote patient monitoring technologies during the pandemic has set the stage for strong additional RPM uptake over the next five years.
A recent survey by VivaLNK, a vendor of connected healthcare solutions, found that 43% of respondents believe that the RPM adoption rate will be similar to the inpatient monitoring uptake within five years.
What’s more, 35% reported that they believe RPM adoption will actually grow faster than inpatient monitoring during this timeframe.
Researchers found that 20% of respondents had already adopted RPM, and that another 23% expect to do the same within the next 12 months. More than half (55%) reported that they are using or plan to use RPM to monitor COVID-19 cases.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/clinician-ehr-workload-cognitive-efforts-double-after-ehr-adoption
Clinician EHR Workload, Cognitive Efforts Double After EHR Adoption
Providers reported significant cognitive workload increases, such as higher levels of frustration and mental demands following EHR adoption.
March 23, 2021 - Clinician workload and cognitive efforts doubled after the first six months of EHR adoption, according to a study published in Applied Ergonomics.
Clinicians also experienced increased EHR workload over 2.5 years following EHR implementation.
This adds to the evidence showing a connection between EHR usability and clinician burnout. EHR usability issues typically increase cognitive load and errors, leading to patient safety issues. An increase in cognitive load adds to EHR use, which then leads to clinician burnout.
Boosting EHR usability while decreasing task load, such as mental, physical, and temporal demand for a clinician, can allow practicing clinicians to reduce cognitive burden, which then allows for better patient care and improved decision making
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/fda-approves-machine-learning-tool-for-covid-19-screening
FDA Approves Machine Learning Tool for COVID-19 Screening
The screening device leverages machine learning to identify certain biomarkers that may be indicative of COVID-19.
By Jessica Kent
March 23, 2021 - The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first machine learning-based non-diagnostic screening tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is intended for use by trained personnel to help reduce exposure to and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The tool identifies certain biomarkers that may be indicative of SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as other hypercoagulable conditions (like sepsis or cancer) or hyper-inflammatory states (like severe allergic reactions) in asymptomatic individuals over the age of five.
The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is designed for use following a temperature reading that does not meet criteria for fever in settings where temperature check is being conducted in accordance with the CDC and local institutional infection prevention and control guidelines.
The FDA noted that the tool is not a substitute for a COVID-19 diagnostic test and is not intended for use in individuals with symptoms of COVID-19.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/mhealth-app-improves-kidney-medication-adherence-engagement
mHealth App Improves Kidney Medication Adherence, Engagement
Medication adherence improved among chronic kidney disease patients who used an mHealth app that promoted patient engagement in medication review.
March 22, 2021 - A newly developed mHealth app for chronic kidney disease (CKD) care improved patient engagement and medication adherence based on a new study published in CJASN.
The interactive smartphone app, eKidneyCare, is synced with pharmacies and includes a feature that prompts CKD patients to review medications monthly. Then, the app sends any changes, additions, or medication problems to clinicians for resolution.
The mHealth app was designed to drive medication adherence through patient engagement in CKD management. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are common among CKD patients. It is estimated that 32 percent of serious ADRs could be prevented by addressing medication discrepancies, or differences between the patient’s reported medication history and the clinic’s record.
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Study highlights prevalence of poor technology in emergency care
UK Emergency Department survey shows poor usability for major EHRs, with NHS CCIO saying ‘too little has changed’ in 15 years.
March 23, 2021 11:13 AM
Emergency doctors in the UK have said many electronic health records (EHRs) in use are close to being unacceptable, and this is likely to be having a negative impact on patient care.
A national survey of more than 1,500 members and fellows of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine ranked the usability of the major EHRs in use across the UK. All fell short of internationally recognised usability standards.
It led NHS CCIO Simon Eccles to remark that 'too little has changed' from research done 15 years ago that highlighted the poor usability of electronic records. "Good usability leads to better safety," he said on Twitter. Usability "is really important for basic safety, to not waste clinical time, and to enable best practice."
Fifteen systems were ranked against the System Usability Scale, which is recognised as an effective international measure of system usability. The median score for all systems was 53, compared to an industry average of 68. Products with a usability score lower than 50 are judged to be unacceptable, and several fell below this figure including Atos and DXC.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/university-cincinnati-researchers-invent-new-telehealth-drone
University of Cincinnati researchers invent new telehealth drone
The prototype has cameras and a display screen as well as a waterproof box that can deliver medical supplies or collect tests.
March 23, 2021
Inventors at the University of Cincinnati announced this past week that they had developed a semi-autonomous drone prototype to dispatch medicine or supplies to people's homes.
The drone, which is still in development, has cameras and a display screen to allow patients to communicate with healthcare professionals from within their own homes.
"When the COVID-19 pandemic began, we saw a need for telehealth care delivery drones to provide healthcare in the home and in locations where access to care is not readily available," said Debi Sampsel, director of telehealth at UC's College of Nursing, in a press release.
WHY IT MATTERS
The coronavirus has accelerated the pace of virtual care innovation, but medication delivery via drone is still a fairly novel prospect.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/crossing-digital-divide-sdoh
Crossing the Digital Divide for SDOH
Analysis | By PSQH | March 23, 2021
If patients aren't equipped to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system, they may struggle to get the help they need, adhere to medications, or deal with other complications that can reduce their quality of care.
This article was originally published March 22, 2021 on PSQH by Matt Phillion
When considering social determinants of health (SDOH), we often look at core needs that impact a person’s ability to remain healthy, like food, medicine, education, and transportation. But recent surveys have found there’s also a “digital divide” that stands between patients and better care.
Data exists that can help patients achieve better healthcare, but the industry itself must ensure that this data is available, accessible, and understood. Organizations and providers often have access to some of the data in question; the key, though, is connecting healthcare stakeholders and patients to complete information that enables informed decisions, which the industry has not yet perfected.
Often, payer care management systems are built for transactions rather than coordinated care, and thus there are several places where coordination can break down, including disparate, unstructured, or undigitized data, or a lack of patient consent. If patients aren’t equipped to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system, they may struggle to get the help they need, adhere to medications, or deal with other complications that can reduce their quality of care.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/how-machine-learning-enables-clinical-forecasting-visualization
How Machine Learning Enables Clinical Forecasting, Visualization
At Carnegie Mellon University, researchers have developed a reproducible machine learning tool to facilitate clinical predictions and data visualization.
By Jessica Kent
March 22, 2021 - At first glance, mining clinical data to extract meaningful insights seems like a task well-suited for machine learning algorithms. The principal aim of advanced analytics tools is to evaluate multiple sources of information and discover patterns and trends, and machine learning has proven valuable in accomplishing this task.
However, upon closer inspection, it’s clear that applying machine learning models to health records can be very challenging. Because this information is neither static nor regularly collected, it’s difficult to develop algorithms that are both transparent and reproducible.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) recognized the need to build algorithms that would better facilitate the analysis of health information. The team designed Temporal Learning Lite (TL-Lite), a visualization and forecasting tool that aims to bridge the gap between clinical visualization and machine learning analysis.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/dhs-cisa-shares-incident-response-tool-for-on-prem-threat-activity
DHS CISA Shares Incident Response Tool for On-Prem Threat Activity
The new CISA Hunt and Incident Response Program (CHIRP) tool from DHS is meant to support entities with detection of threat activity and compromise of on-prem environments.
The Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency unveiled the CISA Hunt and Incident Response Program (CHIRP) tool, which is designed to support entities detect threat activity within on-prem environments.
CHIRP is a forensics collection tool that will help network defenders find indicators of compromise with two key threat areas: advanced persistent threat (APT) actor attacks tied to the SolarWind compromise and threat activity in Microsoft Cloud environments.
The extent of SolarWinds has continued to expand throughout the first quarter of 2021 impacting hundreds of entities across a range of sectors, including several federal agencies and some of the largest security firms.
Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the Orion platform and trojanized a software update in early 2020. Since then, a number of threat actors have also moved to exploit these flaws with various malware variants, outside of the initial attack vector.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/nist-shares-mobile-device-privacy-security-guide-for-byod-policies
NIST Shares Mobile Device Privacy, Security Guide for BYOD Policies
Designed to support enterprise bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, the NIST guide sheds light on security challenges and privacy risks brought on by employees’ mobile devices.
March 22, 2021 - NIST recently shared draft guidance for enterprise bring-your-own-device policies, designed to provide system administrators with a standards-based approach and need tools for the privacy and security of personally owned mobile devices accessing enterprise resources.
The guide aims to support entities with managing the increasing number of devices owned by employees that remotely perform work-based activities. While the BYOD practices allow for greater flexibility to remote work, the use poses unique challenges and threats to the enterprise environment.
The Mobile Device Security: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) practice guide provides administrators with an example solution for creating a standards-based approach and insight into commercially available technologies to meet privacy and security needs of mobile devices.
The guidance details the vast challenges posed by BYOD mobile devices, as well as the solutions and benefits for securing this environment. NIST also provides insight into needed approaches, as well as risk assessments and a deep dive into the BYOD architecture threats.
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https://www.healthimaging.com/topics/imaging-informatics/imaging-costs-down-3m-radiology-duke
How one large care network slashed imaging costs by $3M with a simple radiology dashboard
Matt O'Connor | March 19, 2021 | Imaging Informatics
Many health systems are struggling to transition toward value-based care, grappling with ways to improve quality while reducing costs. But one large network has found success using a low-tech radiology dashboard, according to a case study published Friday.
Each month, Duke Primary Care providers—covering eight counties in North Carolina—receive a dashboard with quality and patient satisfaction metrics. But in 2019, the 29-practice organization added radiology utilization data, including provider, practice and network info, researchers explained in JACR.
The idea—to have providers compare themselves with peers—worked to a T.
In the first year after implementation, the organization’s median imaging rate dropped by 17.3%, led primarily by behavioral changes in CT ordering. Overall, the project helped Duke cut its imaging costs by more than $3 million in the first year alone.
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How Google Cloud has been helping states with their COVID-19 vaccinations
The company has partnered with Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia to support their mass vaccination efforts.
By Kat Jercich
March 22, 2021 10:04 AM
On Monday, Google Cloudrevealed the role it had played in five states' mass vaccination initiatives and announced that it would be working with more in the months to come.
According to a blog post by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, Arizona, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia have partnered with the company to support their vaccination efforts at scale. Mike Daniels, VP of global public sector at Google Cloud, told Healthcare IT News the company's efforts are "designed to be flexible to the needs of public health departments at all levels of government."
WHY IT MATTERS
As the vaccine rollout has picked up speed throughout the country, states have turned to a wide variety of strategies to get as many shots in arms as possible.
Daniels noted that Google Cloud's Intelligent Vaccine Impact (IVI) technology has played a role in many of those strategies.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/va-undertake-strategic-review-ehr-modernization-program
VA to undertake strategic review of EHR modernization program
The announcement follows reports of problems with the new Cerner system at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane.
By Kat Jercich
March 22, 2021 01:01 PM
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday that it would be undertaking a strategic review of its Cerner electronic health record modernization program.
The review, consisting of a full assessment of the ongoing EHR modernization program, will not exceed 12 weeks.
"A successful EHR deployment is essential in the delivery of lifetime, world-class health care for our veterans," said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.
"Our dedicated VA professionals continue to work feverishly on this effort even as we maneuver through the complexities and surges of the COVID-19 pandemic," said McDonough.
WHY IT MATTERS
The VA's EHR modernization project has faced numerous delays since its official sign-on with Cerner in 2018.
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How does bias affect healthcare AI, and what can be done about it?
The chief technology officer of Royal Philips provides some answers for health system CIOs and other IT leaders.
By Bill Siwicki
March 22, 2021 12:04 PM
While artificial intelligence has the potential to make healthcare more accessible and efficient, it also is vulnerable to the social, economic and systemic biases that have been entrenched in society for generations.
The first step to keeping AI from amplifying existing inequalities is understanding the bias that can creep into algorithms and how to prevent it through careful design and implementation.
Healthcare IT News interviewed AI expert Henk van Houten, chief technology officer at global IT vendor Royal Philips, to get a better understanding of bias in AI and what the healthcare industry can do about it.
Q: What are the different ways bias can arise in healthcare AI?
A: Let me start by saying that I strongly believe AI has the potential to improve people's health and wellbeing around the world. Every patient should benefit from that. The last thing we want is for AI to perpetuate or even exacerbate some of the health disparities that exist today.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/22/healthcares-opportunity-to-hit-the-reset-button/
Healthcare’s Opportunity to Hit the Reset Button
March 22, 2021
Healthcare is at an inflection point. Will the changes necessitated by the pandemic become permanent or will hospitals and physician practices revert to the way things were? The answer, according to the MGMA is a little bit of both…and that’s a good thing.
I always love hearing from the people at MGMA (Medical Group Management Association). They have a fantastic platform for quick polls of their members which gives them unique insight into the latest healthcare trends. I recently sat down with Ron Holder, Chief Operating Officer at MGMA to talk about their latest findings.
I knew I was talking to the right person by the awesome array of classic science fiction novels on the shelf behind him. Plus, Holder had interesting things to share including:
- How an extremely high percentage of practices had expanded use of telehealth
- How the perception of waiting rooms and the real estate for physician offices was changing
- How remote patient monitoring is still in the early stages of adoption at most practices
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http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2021/03/when-technology-policy-and-urgency-to.html
Friday, March 19, 2021
When Technology, Policy, and the Urgency to Change Converge
Our new book, The Digital Reconstruction of Healthcare, is about to be published by Taylor and Francis, as part of its HIMSS book series. We wanted to give readers a preview of what’s to come so we are posting the Preface of the book ahead of time.
In our last two books, we began the conversation discussing the power of words, including misdiagnosis, cynicism, and optimism.1,2 In this book, our focus is on reconstruction, and all its implications for healthcare. To some, it might suggest the tearing down of an existing structure, a complete replacement of the healthcare ecosystem as we know it. Neither of us believe that’s warranted. Our goal, instead, is to address the unsustainable situation that we currently face in the United States and around the globe, and the emerging digital tools that are transforming patient care.
These solutions are not intended to demolish the foundation upon which medicine is built, but neither are they designed to patch up crumbling walls or apply duct tape to the ineffective, cost-prohibitive practices currently in place. To extend the metaphor: The foundation of healthcare may remain solid but many of the walls, floors, windows, and doors that sit on this foundation are rotting and need to be replaced. The next eight chapters will provide evidence from multiple sources, including deep learning specialists, consultations with thought leaders and government officials around the world, peer-reviewed studies, unpublished data, and cutting edge initiatives at Mayo Clinic and several other healthcare leaders — in addition to our combined 60+ years of experience working in healthcare. The preponderance of evidence from all these sources makes a compelling argument: Business as usual is no longer an option; the digital reconstruction of healthcare is no longer on the world’s wish list. It’s becoming a sustainable reality — and one that is all the more necessary in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. That reality will include the partial shift from caring for patients in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices to meeting their needs through telemedicine, hospital-at-home programs, and remote patient monitoring.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/03/19/weekender-3-19-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Transcarent executive chairman Glen Tullman adds the CEO role to his responsibilities.
- Social services referral platform vendor Unite Us raises $150 million.
- Amazon announces plans to expand its employee-only virtual care service to 50 states, then offer it to other employers.
- Analytics vendor Clarify Health raises $115 million.
- A study finds that two-thirds of the country’s largest hospitals are not complying with new federal pricing transparency rules.
- Tegria acquires Cumberland.
- Tech-enabled kidney care company Strive Health raises $140 million.
- Grand Rounds acquires Doctor On Demand.
- HIMSS pays $2.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by HIMSS20 exhibitors over unrefunded fees.
- HIMSS21 registration opens.
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Enjoy!
David.
