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://ehrintelligence.com/news/what-to-look-for-in-application-programming-interfaces
What to Look for in Application Programming Interfaces?
Interoperability, increased detail, accuracy, and timeliness are critical for application programming interface (API) developers and consumers.
April 02, 2021 - Although EHR adoption is becoming more widespread throughout the healthcare industry, interoperability and patient data sharing still pose significant challenges to providers. To address those challenges, the healthcare industry can adopt application programming interfaces (APIs) that other industries, such as finance and travel, have already implemented.
APIs are utilized each and every day by individuals around the world.
APIs allow travel services to compare flights from separate airlines without the user visiting each website. Also, each time an individual checks the weather on her phone or sends a direct message, she is utilizing an API.
In March 2020, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) deployed its most current phase of the 21st Century Cures Act, the interoperability rule.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/genomic-data-reveals-covid-19-variants-contribute-to-surges
Genomic Data Reveals COVID-19 Variants Contribute to Surges
Combining epidemiology with genomic data could help public health officials predict the course of future pandemics.
By Jessica Kent
April 02, 2021 - Analyzing the genomic data of thousands of COVID-19 samples showed that surges in cases are driven by the appearance of new variants, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
Although SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – has just 15 genes, it is constantly mutating. While most of these changes make little difference, sometimes mutations can make the virus more or less transmissible.
Researchers initially analyzed the genomes of 150 SARS-CoV-2 strains, mostly from outbreaks in Asia prior to March 1, 2020. The team also examined epidemiology and transmission information for those outbreaks.
Researchers classified outbreaks by stage: index (no outbreak), takeoff, exponential growth, and decline. The ease of transmission of a virus is set by the value R or reproductive number, where R is the average number of new infections caused by each new person.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/high-quality-type-2-diabetes-care-requires-care-coordination
High Quality Type 2 Diabetes Care Requires Care Coordination
Care coordination for patients with type 2 diabetes leads to higher quality care, but many providers report they lack resources for collaboration.
April 02, 2021 - The vast majority of healthcare professionals agree that care coordination and provider collaboration results in higher quality care for patients with type 2 diabetes, but many providers face time as a barrier to collaboration, according to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company.
Approximately 90 percent of healthcare specialists agree that people with type 2 diabetes whose clinicians collaborate tend to have better outcomes than those whose providers do not collaborate.
The survey of 1,000 healthcare professionals comes as part of Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company’s Unleashing the Truth About Diabetes and Heart Disease campaign which promotes multidisciplinary care.
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Health technologies can help seniors manage heart disease, but more research is needed
Future developments in health technology aimed at seniors should address this demographic’s barriers to adoption, the AHA said.
April 01, 2021 01:20 pm Share
As mobile health technology continues to become ubiquitous, it can be a helpful management tool for older adults with existing heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.
The AHA conducted a systematic review of studies of older adults who used mobile health technologies to manage their cardiovascular disease. It included 26 studies that examined mobile health technologies for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease among participants 60 years and older.
While its findings suggest that health technologies such as text messaging, mobile apps, wearable devices, GPS and Bluetooth can assist in promoting lifestyle behavior changes, the researchers note that more studies are needed to determine which methods are most effective.
The studies included in the review reveal that mobile health interventions, especially those that use texting, can improve health behaviors like exercise and diet, as well as medication adherence.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/intersystems-signs-hl7s-vulcan-fhir-accelerator-program
InterSystems signs on to HL7's Vulcan FHIR Accelerator Program
The aim is to extend the FHIR's capability beyond clinical care and into translational research, improving patient outcomes and driving delivery efficiencies by combining research and EHR data.
By Mike Miliard
April 02, 2021 02:30 PM
InterSystems this week announced that it would join the Vulcan FHIR Accelerator Program, which was recently convened by Health Level Seven International to enable greater interoperability for clinical researchers.
WHY IT
MATTERS
The company joins government and regulatory agencies, standards development
groups, academic institutions, life sciences and tech vendors and others. The
goal of the initiative is to broaden the reach of HL7's FHIR interoperability
spec to include clinical research.
With its membership in the new multi-stakeholder project, InterSystems aims to accelerate advancement toward a "learning health system," by enabling easier exchange of research data with clinical care data, improving translational research for better patient outcomes.
The Vulcan FHIR Accelerator Program was launched in August 2020 to help mitigate delays for researchers in securely and efficiently acquiring electronic health record data.
By leveraging FHIR to streamline sharing and access of clinical data, the aim is to boost efficiency and enable more and faster therapeutic discoveries.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/3m-launches-new-social-determinants-health-platform
3M launches new social determinants of health platform
The technology is aimed at creating a complete picture of patient health by using clinical, social and population data.
By Kat Jercich
April 02, 2021 01:50 PM
3M Health Information Systems launched a new technology platform this week aimed at allowing healthcare providers and payers to prioritize care for high-risk populations.
The company says the platform, Social Determinants of Health Analytics, combines clinical, social and population health data to create a complete picture of patient health.
"SDoH analytics are essential to improving outcomes and achieving health equity across communities," said Elizabeth Guyton, vice president of 3M Health Information Systems, in a statement.
WHY IT MATTERS
The new platform uses 3M's population classification system and includes social risk intelligence to promote program design and management in collaboration with community-based organizations.
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Patient Engagement at an FQHC – Good for the Patients and the FQHC
April 2, 2021
As I’ve learned more about FQHCs in healthcare, I’ve been more and more impressed with all that they accomplish. For those not familiar with an FQHC, these are community-based health care providers that receive funds from HRSA to provide primary care services in underserved areas. Unlike many healthcare organizations, FQHCs have to serve the needs of everyone in their patient population regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
This unique model puts an FQHC in an interesting position. They really have an obligation to take care of a specific population and they’re often doing it with limited resources. In my work as CMO at CareCognitics, I got to see some of the impressive work of an FQHC first hand. No doubt, COVID-19 has been a challenge for many FQHC, but I’ve been impressed by the work of STRIDE Community Health Center when it comes to engaging their patients amidst the pandemic.
To share more of their experience, I sat down with Lisa Brown, VP of Strategy and Growth at STRIDE Community Health Center, and Jennifer Trainer, Director of Patient Experience at STRIDE Community Health Center. They share how working at an FQHC is different than other healthcare organizations and the unique ways they’ve been able to reach out to their patients using the CareCognitics platform during the pandemic. Plus, they share how the platform has helped them better assess their staff’s well-being amidst the regularly changing COVID-19 work requirements.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/stanford-childrens-uses-mhealth-to-keep-young-patients-at-home
Stanford Children’s Uses mHealth to Keep Young Patients at Home
Cardiologists at Stanford Children's Health are using mHealth devices and telehealth platforms to monitor their young patients at home, rather than having the family travel several hours for an office visit.
April 01, 2021 - With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic curtailing in-person care, physicians at Stanford Children’s Health are using mHealth devices and telehealth platforms to monitor some of their youngest and most vulnerable patients.
Scott Ceresnak, MD, a pediatric cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology and arrhythmia and head of the health system’s EKG monitoring program, is mailing mHealth patches to his patients so that he can monitor them at home. Through the patch and an accompanying mHealth app, he’s able to manage care on a daily basis for roughly 25 patients, giving him a real-time look into their heart activity.
“I’m communicating with them in a way where they’re not driving up to four hours to see me,” he says.
Seda Tierney, MD, a pediatric cardiologist and director of the Pediatric Vascular Research Laboratory at Stanford Children’s Health, began using portable echocardiography devices for her heart transplant patients several years ago. She started with a small, handheld device that had been used in the Emergency Department and ICU, and gradually worked up to the point where she could send the device home with a patient and his or her caregivers.
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Being “complaint proof” on information blocking won’t be easy for providers, vendors
The HHS' information blocking rule goes into effect Monday, and for nearly a year, providers and IT vendors have been racing to prepare. But they have faced several hurdles along the way, including figuring out how to handle scenarios that could make them non-compliant.
By Anuja Vaidya
Mar 31, 2021 at 6:32 PM
The federal information blocking rule is set to go into effect Monday. But the expansive nature of the regulation and a lack of clarity around what could be considered information blocking is making it hard for providers and health IT developers to comply.
That’s according to Josh Mast, Cerner’s lead regulatory strategist, and Dr. Joseph Schneider, chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Committee on Health Information Technology. Mast and Schneider spoke about some of the challenges their organizations are facing navigating the rule at the virtual 2021 ONC Annual Meeting Tuesday.
Information blocking is the practice of interfering with access to, exchange or use of electronic health information. Last March, the Department of Health and Human Services issued historic rules focused on expanding interoperability and preventing information blocking. Since then, providers and IT vendors have been working to ensure they will be ready to comply with the rules set to go into effect on April 5.
But, as stakeholders have learned, ensuring compliance has its own unique set of challenges.
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Vaccine passports will be convenient, but we should keep our privacy top of mind
By Katherine Lusk, opinion contributor — 03/31/21 03:30 PM EDT 271
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
So many of us are ready to return to some semblance of normal life. We are eager to engage in hobbies and passions we never thought twice about before the COVID-19 pandemic. And with three COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States, we are seeing millions of Americans inoculated against the coronavirus every day. Once the COVID-19 vaccine is available to all, it is possible that Americans will be required or strongly encouraged to receive it before gathering with large groups of people in places like airplanes or stadiums.
How will we prove we have been vaccinated? There has been much talk in recent months about the potential of vaccine passports, which are smartphone apps we can use to show we have received the COVID-19 vaccine and/or recently tested negative for the virus. While most of us are likely willing to download an app that reveals our vaccination status in exchange for a return to something resembling pre-pandemic life, there is still much we should keep in mind.
My organization, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), works to ensure consumer health data is accurate, private and secure, regardless of if it falls inside or outside the scope of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). While we support the concept of vaccine passports and know their convenience could be a game-changer, we believe it’s important to keep your privacy and security in mind before you agree to let a third-party smartphone app access your health information records.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ramped-vaccine-rollouts-present-new-security-risks
Ramped-up vaccine rollouts present new security risks
Experts caution that the speed and scope of mobile COVID-19 vaccination efforts in ad hoc settings could present cybercriminals with new opportunities for data theft.
By Kat Jercich
April 01, 2021 01:08 PM
In an effort to get COVID-19 vaccines to as many people as possible, many municipalities and community groups have set up outreach events in nontraditional settings, such as churches, warehouses and parking lots.
While this is a good way to bring the vaccines to those who may have trouble getting them otherwise, some security experts warn that the approach may carry its own risks.
"It's almost not necessarily to do with the mobility" of the vaccinations, "so much as it has to do with the immaturity of the program," said Nicko van Someren, chief technology officer at Absolute Software.
As with other rapidly spun-up healthcare endeavors, the size and scope of the vaccine rollout throughout the United States have made it vulnerable to security threats.
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Healthcare Ransomware Attacks Cost Nearly $21 Billion In 2020. Now What?
April 1, 2021
As the dust settles on 2020, it’s become clear that this was an unbelievably bad year for healthcare ransomware attacks. In fact, it was a year that cost organizations $20.8 billion in ransomware expenses, according to a new estimate. Worse, there is no future relief in sight.
Research by Comparitech recently concluded that there were 92 ransomware attacks on individual healthcare organizations last year. This includes one large single attack on cloud provider Blackbaud. Roughly 100 US healthcare organizations have reported being affected by the Blackbaud attack alone, affecting more than 12.3 million patient records, the company found.
In total, ransomware affected over 600 separate hospitals, clinics and other healthcare organizations, according to Comparitech. These attacks affected more than 18 million individual patients and/or records, which represents a 470 percent increase from 2019.
The amount demanded by ransomware attackers ranged from $300,000 to $1.14 million. The average ransomware demand in 2020 was $169,446, an aggregate $15.6 million in total. In terms of actual gains realized by the demands, the attackers received at least $2.1 million in payments, not counting an undisclosed amount paid by Blackbaud.
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Evaluating and Managing Risk in a Healthcare Organization
April 1, 2021
Ever since I first met Censinet a little over a year ago, I’ve been impressed by how well the company can deliver value to an organization. When you look at it, it’s one of the simplest ideas I’ve seen that just makes sense. However, no one before them really addressed it because healthcare organizations were humming along doing this using shared drives and Excel spreadsheets. Needless to say, as healthcare organizations got larger they needed something more scalable to manage all the various vendors in their portfolio.
This is where Censinet comes into play. Their RiskOps platform helps a healthcare organization manage their risks across a wide variety of areas including: security risk, IT Risk, Supply Chain Risk, Legal Risk, etc. Plus, it enables a healthcare organization to benefit from a network of other provider organizations that need to assess the same vendors. There’s a real power in the network.
To better understand how their RiskOps platform works and the risks that healthcare organizations should be tracking, we sat down with Ed Gaudet, CEO & Founder at Censinet and Karl West, Former CISO at Intermountain.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/social-determinants-of-health-impact-fetal-brain-development
Social Determinants of Health Impact Fetal Brain Development
The analysis revealed low socioeconomic status and other social determinants of health can result in parental stress that impacts fetal brain development.
By Sara Heath
March 31, 2021 - New data from Children’s National Hospital shows parental experience with a number of social determinants of health can ultimately impact brain development in utero, something researchers said should suggest future community health intervention among pregnant people.
The data, published in JAMA Network Open, specifically found poorer brain development in fetuses among pregnant people with low socioeconomic status (SES), low educational attainment, and limited employment opportunity.
This comes as healthcare continues to zero in on social determinants of health and the other factors that can lead to health disparities, including developmental disparities.
“Among individuals with lower SES backgrounds, SES-associated variability in children’s experiences has been associated with not only adverse cognitive and social-emotional development throughout childhood and adolescence, but also higher rates of depression, anxiety, and attention and conduct disorders,” the researchers wrote.
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A Vaccine Passport Is the New Golden Ticket as the World Reopens
Companies and countries that depend on travel or large gatherings are counting on a totally unproven concept.
By Christopher Jasper , Angus Whitley , and Elena Chrepa25 March 2021, 7:00 pm AEDT
In a harbor on the Greek island of Paxos, Panagiotis Mastoras checks over his fleet of pleasure craft and counts down the days to the return of the tourists who fuel the economy of the 8-mile speck in the Ionian Sea.
For the rental-boat skipper, the easing of travel curbs imposed as the Covid-19 outbreak swept the world appears tantalizingly close. Greece said it would welcome back visitors starting on May 14, as long as they’ve had a vaccination, recovered from the novel coronavirus, or tested negative before flying out. “It’s the safest way,” says Mastoras, one of 850,000 people working in a holiday sector that accounted for almost a quarter of Greece’s gross domestic product before the pandemic, the highest proportion in Europe. “We’ve reached a point where it can’t go on like this.”
Greece is at the forefront of a bid to revive travel with the help of so-called vaccine passports—certificates or digital cards testifying to the apparent low-risk status of their holders—which is gaining traction in tourist-reliant economies from the Caribbean to Thailand.
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3 key issues to watch as information blocking ban goes into effect
Mar 31, 2021 1:00pm
In a few days, a new regulation goes into effect that will give patients unprecedented access to their healthcare information in much the same way they already manage their finances or travel information.
The rule from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) requires health IT vendors, providers and health information exchanges to enable patients to access and download their health records with third-party apps. Under the rule, providers can't inhibit the access, exchange or use of health information unless the data fall within eight exceptions.
Here are three key issues to keep an eye on as the information blocking rule goes into effect:
1. Enforcement: The information blocking ban lacks teeth, for now.
A year ago, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule outlining civil monetary penalties related to information blocking. In the rule, OIG proposes a maximum fine of $1 million per violation. A final rule from OIG is expected soon.
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Why experts say the information blocking ban will be game changing for patients
Mar 31, 2021 1:01pm
Starting next week, a new regulation goes into effect that will give patients easier access to their digital health records through their smartphones.
But while health IT experts have been calling for interoperability for years, they say this particular rule could finally be a major step in achieving a meaningful level of data sharing far beyond what's been seen before in the healthcare sector.
If effectively enforced, the mandate that prohibits information blocking has the potential to revolutionize how patients interact with the healthcare system, said Deven McGraw, a health privacy expert and co-founder and chief regulatory officer at Ciitizen, a consumer health technology company.
“[The information blocking rule] has enormous potential to open up data sources that have previously been closed to patients but hold rich data about patients and that would be potentially game changing for them to tap into and access,” she told Fierce Healthcare.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/89-digital-health-leaders-perceive-industry-risky-says-report
89% of digital health leaders perceive the industry as risky, says report
Still, nearly nine in 10 respondents to a global survey said they expect their companies to grow in 2021.
By Kat Jercich
March 31, 2021 11:40 AM
A global survey of digital health and wellness practitioners found that although many leaders feel optimistic about the future of the industry, the overwhelming majority also perceive the sector to be relatively high risk.
The survey, commissioned by specialist insurer Beazley, focused on 376 executives from telehealth companies in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as mobile platforms and life science technology software.
"Since we wrote our first telehealth risk in 2009, the digital health sector has continued to evolve in line with technological advancements and changing attitudes towards remote care among patients as well as health practitioners, governments and investors," said Evan Smith, global head of miscellaneous medical and life sciences at Beazley.
"There is a considerable opportunity for this sector and for the insurance industry to strive to deliver better risk mitigation and risk transfer," Smith added.
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Data risk report shows healthcare worker has access to 31,000 sensitive files on first day of work
The report includes data from global healthcare organisations in the US, UK, France and Germany.
By Sara Mageit
March 31, 2021 10:56 AM
Cybersecurity company Varonis has released a data risk report which focuses on the issue of unrestricted data in the healthcare industry.
The '2021 Data Risk Report: healthcare, Pharma & Biotech’ report underscores the importance of data security as organisations manage the security gaps created from remote working and cloud migration.
The data is compiled using data analysis of three billion files across 58 organisations and examines the state of data security on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments for healthcare organisations including hospitals, biotech and pharmaceutical firms.
WHY IT MATTERS
Health organisations such as hospitals, biotech firms and pharmaceutical companies are entrusted to protect sensitive information such as HIPAA-protected information, financial data, and proprietary research.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/31/a-new-journey-into-healthcare/
A New Journey into Healthcare
March 31, 2021
The following is a guest article by Deborah Millin, Senior Director of Healthcare Business Development at NVIDIA.
The coined term “Smart Hospital” has been the most talked about concept in Health IT journals in recent years since the introduction of HIPAA, illustrating the plethora of disruptive technologies that is casting a wide net over healthcare organizations who are proudly displaying their benefits like a badge of innovative honor.
Smart Hospital initiatives are supported by bountiful vendors vying for this ‘space’. From remote monitoring, IV pumps, sensors, robotics, central video management, medical instruments, networking, RFID; the list goes on, but if there is one thing these “smart devices” have in common is that they produce data; and lots of it.
While the array of devices and technologies are certainly disruptive in their own right, the healthcare holy grail lies in the world of gaining actionable insight that allows clinicians the ability to discover, analyze and accelerate medicine in an unprecedented era since the advent of the internet. The presentation of data from all kinds of different sources can be potentially translated to more insightful outcomes, reducing cost and risk.
As we transcend to a world of value-based care, these factors contribute to the consideration of an ever-evolving adoption of Smart Hospital Strategies. Valuable investments toward digitizing and extracting data for healthcare have been compared to mining for gold. But in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The desire of gold is not for gold, it is for the means of freedom and benefit.”
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/ensuring-health-data-collection-protects-patient-privacy-equity
Ensuring Health Data Collection Protects Patient Privacy, Equity
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased health data collection efforts, resulting in the need for a new regulatory framework that supports patient privacy and equity.
By Jessica Kent
March 30, 2021 - Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders have developed and deployed health data collection technologies to track virus exposure, monitor outbreaks, and aggregate hospital data.
As communities begin to navigate vaccine rollouts, public health officials and healthcare leaders will have to determine how to manage monitoring systems created in response to the virus, what processes are required in order to immunize populations, and what new norms these technologies have generated.
A critical part of these conversations is the impact these technologies could have on patient privacy and health equity. With the country transitioning from crisis mode to life beyond the pandemic, leaders have the opportunity to make positive social change and design more proactive strategies.
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Research Warns Against Too Many Automated Patient Outreach Messages
The data showed the more automated patient outreach messages send, the more likely patients were to hit the unsubscribe button.
By Sara Heath
March 30, 2021 - Healthcare organizations that over-leverage their automated patient outreach technologies may run the risk of high attrition, according to new data from the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado.
The data, published in JAMA Network Open, found that patients who got a lot of automated messages from their medical providers were more likely to opt out of receiving future messages. These results could provide insights into how healthcare organizations deploy patient outreach messaging in the future, the IHR researchers said.
Automated patient outreach technologies have become integral to provider patient engagement strategies. In an effort to create efficiency and reduce staff burden, organizations have specifically tapped automated text messaging tools and interactive voice response (IVR), which rely on virtual technology instead of human support.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/oncs-top-goals-interoperability-alignment-and-equity
ONC's top goals: Interoperability, alignment and equity
National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi said in a keynote for the agency's annual meeting that COVID-19 continues to be the main focus for the near future.
By Kat Jercich
March 29, 2021 01:59 PM
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's top goals include prioritizing interoperability, aligning with federal partners, centering health equity and continuing to work toward addressing the COVID-19 crisis, said ONC head Micky Tripathi in an opening keynote for the agency's annual meeting Monday.
Tripathi, who was appointed to lead the agency by President Joe Biden earlier this year, said that assisting in the response to the novel coronavirus pandemic will continue to be a top focus in the months ahead.
"First and foremost is COVID," said Tripathi.
ONC is involved in helping support the White House with regard to COVID-19 vaccine credentials, as well as with developing a basic FHIR approach to vaccine scheduling, said Tripathi. "We're certainly not out of the woods yet," he said. "We continue to have very hard work to do."
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/tripathi-onc-working-to-boost-interoperability-covid-19-response
Tripathi: ONC Working to Boost Interoperability, COVID-19 Response
ONC head, Micky Tripathi, detailed a basic FHIR approach to COVID-19 vaccine scheduling during a virtual meeting on Monday.
March 30, 2021 - The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) will maintain its focus on mitigating COVID-19 through health IT while also prioritizing interoperability, National Coordinator for Health IT, Micky Tripathi, said at the ONC 2021 Annual Meeting on Monday.
Tripathi, a well-decorated health IT professional with roughly 20 years of experience, was appointed as the new national coordinator for health IT following President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January.
Tripathi described the ONC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and how the agency will attempt to improve the vaccine scheduling process.
“First and foremost is COVID,” Tripathi said. “We are supporting one of the executive orders related to ensuring a data-driven response to high consequence public health threats that we have the privilege of co-chairing with the CDC.”
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Looking up health symptoms online less harmful than thought, study says
Results show increase in self-diagnosis accuracy after participants searched for advice online
Natalie GroverTue 30 Mar 2021 03.23 AEDT
Last modified on Tue 30 Mar 2021 15.09 AEDT
That throbbing headache just won’t go away and your mind is racing about what may be wrong. But Googling your symptoms may not be as ill-advised as previously thought.
Although some doctors often advise against turning to the internet before making the trudge up to the clinic, a new study suggests that using online resources to research symptoms may not be harmful after all – and could even lead to modest improvements in diagnosis.
Using “Dr Google” for health purposes is controversial. Some have expressed concerns that it can lead to inaccurate diagnoses, bad advice on where to seek treatment (triage), and increased anxiety (cyberchondria).
Previous research into the subject has been limited to observational studies of internet search behaviour, so researchers from Harvard sought to empirically measure the association of an internet search with diagnosis, triage, and anxiety by presenting 5,000 people in the United States with a series of symptoms and asked them to imagine that someone close to them was experiencing the symptoms.
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How Have Healthcare Cloud Solutions Helped During COVID?
March 30, 2021
This month we’ve been focused on covering a number of topics related to the healthcare cloud. Needless to say, it’s been one of the most important technologies during COVID-19 as many healthcare organizations had to scale up in so many areas. In most cases, cloud solutions was the key to being able to scale effectively.
As we wanted to dive deeper into the topic, we decided to turn to the company that literally has a cloud as their logo. Plus, it’s a company that has made a lot of inroads into healthcare over the past couple years. That company is Salesforce and we were privileged to sit down with Dr. Geeta Nayyar, Executive Medical Director and General Manager, Healthcare and Life Sciences at Salesforce.
Dr. G is a long time friend of Healthcare IT Today and so along with talking about cloud in healthcare we briefly talk about fashion choices and missing events. Plus, Dr. G shares some great insights into the advantages and disadvantages of cloud in healthcare and the role cloud played for many healthcare organizations during COVID.
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IT Contribution to Physician Burnout Remains a Problem
Analysis | By Scott Mace | March 30, 2021
The EHR is only one form of burnout-inducing tech, says ER doc who doubles as CMO of CDS supplier.
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) points out the continuing role of information technology and electronic health record (EHR) usability issues in aggravating clinician burnout.
Matt Lambert, MD, is a practicing emergency medicine physician, as well as chief medical officer of Curation Health, a supplier of clinical decision support software to healthcare providers. Lambert addressed the burnout issue and more in a conversation with HealthLeaders.
HealthLeaders: What do you think causes physician burnout?
Matt Lambert: Change coupled with inadequate support, resourcing, and education is a main cause of provider burnout in my opinion. We experienced this with the incented roll-out of electronic health records—and we are experiencing this again today in the taxing but vitally important transition from fee-for-service to value-based care (VBC).
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/telehealth/3-telehealth-takeaways-himss
3 Telehealth Takeaways from HIMSS
Analysis | By Mandy Roth | March 30, 2021
CEO addresses telehealth strategy, reimbursement, and investment trends.
One year ago, hospitals and health systems scrambled to roll out or expand telehealth programs to meet the needs of their providers, patients, and communities during the pandemic. Where do they go from here?
Many IT leaders have been turning to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HMMS). Membership experienced tremendous growth during the pandemic. The organization now has more than 105,000 members, up from 70,000 about three years ago, with most of the growth occurring over the past year.
HealthLeaders recently spoke with HIMSS President and CEO Hal Wolf about the impact telehealth has had on the organization and its members. Following are three takeaways from that conversation.
1. It's Time for Health Systems to Focus on Telehealth Strategy
"We all recognize that healthcare systems absorbed a massive amount change," Wolf says. "They threw a lot of technology against it."
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/data-analytics-machine-learning-and-ai-in-healthcare-in-2021/
Data, analytics, machine learning, and AI in healthcare in 2021
What do you get when you juxtapose two of the hottest domains today - AI and healthcare? A peek into the future, potentially.
By George Anadiotis for Big on Data | March 30, 2021 -- 11:37 GMT (22:37 AEDT) | Topic: Artificial Intelligence
In 2020, few things went well and saw growth. Artificial intelligence was one of them, and healthcare was another one. As noted by ZDNet's own Joe McKendrick recently, artificial intelligence remained on a steady course of growth and further exploration -- perhaps because of the Covid-19 crisis. Healthcare was a big area for AI investment.
Today, the results of a new survey focusing precisely on the adoption of AI in healthcare are being unveiled. ZDNet caught up with Gradient Flow Principal Ben Lorica, and John Snow Labs CTO David Talby, to discuss findings and the state of AI in healthcare.
Leapfrogging -- from pen and paper to AI
The survey was conducted by Lorica and Paco Nathan, and sponsored by John Snow Labs. A total of 373 respondents from 49 countries participated. A quarter of respondents (27%) held Technical Leadership roles. Here are some key findings, with additional insights from Lorica and Talby.
When asked what technologies they plan to have in place by the end of 2021, almost half of respondents cited data integration. About one-third cited natural language processing (NLP) and business intelligence (BI) among the technologies they are currently using or plan to use by the end of the year.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/pew-calls-for-electronic-case-reporting-for-potential-pandemics
Pew Calls for Electronic Case Reporting for Potential Pandemics
Three healthcare stakeholder groups said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could require electronic case reporting (eCR) through federal mandates to improve public health during and after COVID-19.
March 29, 2021 - Pew Charitable Trusts, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) recommended the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) prioritize electronic case reporting (eCR) to protect public health during COVID-19 and beyond, according to a letter obtained by EHRInteligence.
eCR is the automated production and submission of reportable diseases and conditions from the EHR to public health agencies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
eCR is made up of data from The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and the CDC. Those organizations work with providers, public health agencies, and eCR vendors to report certain conditions.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/the-risk-and-challenge-of-bad-bot-traffic-on-healthcare-sites-apps
The Risk and Challenge of Bad Bot Traffic on Healthcare Sites, Apps
Imperva saw a 372 percent spike in bad bot traffic against healthcare websites and applications in recent months. What’s worse, mitigating the risk will be a massive challenge.
March 29, 2021 - Around the world, healthcare entities are steadily making progress on vaccinating individuals against COVID-19. Many of these providers are relying on technology for vaccine appointment scheduling and even vaccination passports, which has spurred a massive rise in bad bot traffic.
In early March, Imperva data revealed a 372 percent spike in bad bot traffic against healthcare sites in recent months, while Check Point saw a significant rise in domains leveraging the word “vaccine” in the title. The surge in nefarious activity has followed the global pandemic response.
It comes as no surprise that hackers have been leveraging attacks against each step of healthcare’s response to COVID-19.
Fleming Shi, CTO of Barracuda, previously spoke with HealthITSecurity.com and noted the sector has been heavily targeted by impersonation attacks and even documents infected with malicious components, including those tied to botnets.
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New Android malware with full range of spying capabilities has been found
Despite its sophistication, the app can be easy for more experienced users to spot.
Dan Goodin - 3/27/2021, 6:35 AM
Researchers have discovered a new advanced piece of Android malware that finds sensitive information stored on infected devices and sends it to attacker-controlled servers.
The app disguises itself as a system update that must be downloaded from a third-party store, researchers from security firm Zimperium said on Friday. In fact, it’s a remote-access trojan that receives and executes commands from a command-and-control server. It provides a full-featured spying platform that performs a wide range of malicious activities.
Soup to nuts
Zimperium listed the following capabilities:
- Stealing instant messenger messages
- Stealing instant messenger database files (if root is available)
- Inspecting the default browser’s bookmarks and searches
- Inspecting the bookmark and search history from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Samsung Internet Browser
- Searching for files with specific extensions (including .pdf, .doc, .docx, and .xls, .xlsx)
- Inspecting the clipboard data
- Inspecting the content of the notifications
- Recording audio
- Recording phone calls
- Periodically take pictures (either through the front or back cameras)
- Listing of the installed applications
- Stealing images and videos
- Monitoring the GPS location
- Stealing SMS messages
- Stealing phone contacts
- Stealing call logs
- Exfiltrating device information (e.g., installed applications, device name, storage stats)
- Concealing its presence by hiding the icon from the device’s drawer/menu
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2020 offered a 'perfect storm' for cybercriminals with ransomware attacks costing the industry $21B
Mar 26, 2021 8:00am
"The pandemic—along with remote work, a charged political climate, record prices of cryptocurrency, and threat actors weaponizing cloud storage and tools—drove the effectiveness and volume of cyberattacks to new highs," cybersecurity expert Bill Conner, president and CEO of network security hardware vendor SonicWall, said. (Nawadoln/GettyImages)
Ransomware attacks cost the healthcare industry $20.8 billion in downtime in 2020, which is double the number from 2019, according to an annual report by Comparitech, a company that reviews technology products.
The Comparitech report found that 92 individual ransomware attacks occurred at healthcare organizations, and 600 clinics, hospitals and organizations were affected. In addition, more than 18 million patient records were impacted by these ransomware attacks, a 470% increase from 2019, the report revealed.
In fact, 2020 brought the most ransomware attacks on healthcare providers in the past five years, according to Paul Bischoff, editor of Comparitech. Hackers collected more than $2.1 million in ransom payments.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/who-warns-about-fake-covid-19-vaccines-dark-web
WHO warns about fake COVID-19 vaccines on the dark web
Forged vaccination certificates and fake negative tests are also reportedly available for purchase on the black market.
By Kat Jercich
March 29, 2021 11:34 AM
The World Health Organization on Friday issued a warning about counterfeit and stolen COVID-19 vaccines being sold on the dark web.
Fake vaccination certificates are also being sold, as well as fake negative tests, aimed at those traveling abroad.
The WHO is "aware of vaccines being diverted and reintroduced into the supply chain, with no guarantee that [the] cold chain has been maintained," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference.
WHY IT MATTERS
Spiking demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has met inconsistent availability, with scams emerging as a seemingly inevitable result.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/29/does-iot-increase-security-risks-in-healthcare/
Does IoT Increase Security Risks in Healthcare?
March 29, 2021
Healthcare is full of acronyms and jargon. IT is the same. Mix them together and you have a mess that is not unlike what you get with a 2-year-old in the same room as wooden alphabet blocks. On top of this alphabet soup are the technology myths that persist – like what really causes EHR slowness. It can be difficult for Healthcare IT newcomers and veterans alike to get a handle on.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with NETSCOUT – the technology leader helping assure digital business services against disruptions in availability, performance and security – to dispel the myths and unpack the jargon. Our goal is simple: we want to answer the Healthcare IT questions people have in their minds, but are afraid to ask.
In this first article, we are tackling the Internet of Things (IoT) with Ken Czekaj, Problem Solver [love the title!] at NETSCOUT.
How would you define IoT (simply)?
In my mind, if a device “communicates over a network”, it can roughly be considered a “thing” in this example. While we used to think in terms of desktops, servers, and WAN’s for basic communications, the concept of “networkable things” has really expanded to many possibilities: wearable technology, Vocera badges, nurse call systems, MRIs, robots, industrial PLC’s , HVAC, Security Cameras, etc. The list is endless.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/03/29/healthcare-fax-in-the-cloud-vs-on-premise-servers/
Healthcare Fax in the Cloud vs On Premise Servers
March 29, 2021
The following is a guest article by Doug Clayton from WestFax.
In recent years, we have watched as healthcare providers have migrated away from their costly and inefficient on-premise fax servers to more flexible, secure, and reliable cloud fax services.
A decade ago, concerns about security, bandwidth, and reliable Internet connectivity were still commonplace. For many, on-premise was still the “safe” option, – even if that meant building and managing a server farm, maintaining dedicated telecom assets, and hiring dedicated staff to manage it all. On-premise fax systems typically required multiple vendor contracts, long-term commitments, and costly licensing fees; but for organizations seeking stable, reliable, secure fax systems, such costs have been viewed as necessary evils.
Just a few years later, the situation has reversed. Cloud services have evolved rapidly. Bandwidth and connectivity are reliable. Security standards for the cloud have proven to be at least as effective as for on-premise systems, – often more so. Cloud service providers have mastered the specialized skills required to manage infrastructure, with experts on call 24×7. Over the past decade, the economics of cloud fax services and the attractiveness of outsourcing have shifted the adoption curve dramatically. More and more C-level leaders in healthcare organizations are asking the question: “Why would we want to manage all that complexity in-house?”
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https://histalk2.com/2021/03/26/weekender-3-26-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Amwell’s Q4 and fiscal year numbers, along with anemic projections for 2021, send shares down.
- Bankrupt Astria Health again blames Cerner for its financial problems in bankruptcy court, saying the company overstated the integration between Millennium and its revenue cycle offerings that caused collections to plummet.
- Providence spinout DexCare raises $20 million.
- Data and analytics vendor Komodo Health raises a $220 million Series E funding round.
- Appriss acquires PatientPing for a reported $500 million.
- Aggregation and analytics vendor Evidation Health raises $153 million.
- VA Secretary Denis McDonough orders a 12-week strategic review of its Cerner implementation following reports of problems at its first live site, Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center.
- AHA asks the Department of Justice to review Change Healthcare’s $13 billion acquisition by Optum.
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Enjoy!
David.
