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://healthitanalytics.com/news/understanding-de-identified-data-how-to-use-it-in-healthcare
Understanding De-Identified Data, How to Use It in Healthcare
How de-identified data can advance medical research and improve patient care.
August 27, 2021 - De-identified data has become an important tool in medical research and for providers looking to enhance patient care. While data sharing between different organizations could violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the de-identification process makes sharing information HIPAA-compliant.
De-identified data sharing can then assist medical researchers in advancing tools and treatments. Additionally, it allows for collaborative efforts from large provides. Overall, de-identifies plays a critical role in improving the patient experience.
What is De-Identified Data in Healthcare?
The process of de-identification removes all direct identifiers from patient data and allows organizations to share it without the potential of violating HIPAA.
Direct identifiers can include a patient’s name, address, medical record information, etc. While direct identifiers are removed from the data to keep a patient’s identity confidential, indirect identifiers can remain untouched to allow researchers to study data trends. Indirect identifiers include gender, race, age, etc.
According to the Department of Health & Human Services, “The process of de-identification, by which identifiers are removed from the health information, mitigates privacy risks to individuals and thereby supports the secondary use of data for comparative effectiveness studies, policy assessment, life sciences research, and other endeavors.”
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/what-does-patient-centered-care-truly-mean
What Does Patient-Centered Care Truly Mean?
Patient-centered care will grow in prominence amid consumerism in healthcare and value-based care.
By Sara Heath
August 27, 2021 - Patient-centered care may be the healthcare buzzword of the past decade, with industry leaders spouting off the phrase as a panacea for all of medicine’s biggest challenges.
It’s a natural progression: putting patients seemingly at the center of their own healthcare should yield a better patient experience, more targeted and personalized therapies, and a more streamlined process for patient access and billing.
But like all buzzwords, the phrase “patient-centered care” may have been obscured by its overuse. What does patient-centered care truly mean for medicine, and where does healthcare face both challenges and opportunities in using patient-centered care to support its overall value-based care goals?
Defining patient-centered care
Defining patient-centered care may seem like an obvious effort: it is healthcare delivery that foremost considers the patient.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/08/how-digital-healthcare-supported-wales-pandemic-response/
How digital healthcare supported Wales’ pandemic response
Helen Thomas is CEO of Digital Health and Care Wales, the special health authority supporting the digital transformation of NHS Wales. With digital technology playing an ever-increasing role in NHS Wales and a vital part of the Covid-19 recovery, Helen discusses what this means for the people of Wales and the future of our healthcare.
DHI News Team – 24 August 2021
The word ‘unprecedented’ has certainly been overused throughout the pandemic, but when it comes to health and care, the impact of Covid-19 has been unparalleled. Over the last 18 months, the way that we access and deliver healthcare has completely transformed.
At the onset of the crisis, there was a rapid demand for digital technology to enable vital services to continue to run while reducing face-to-face contact. In Wales, one organisation has underpinned these digital efforts, enabling the Welsh NHS to continue running, adapt services and deliver its world-leading vaccine rollout.
Digital Health and Care Wales officially launched as a new special health authority in April 2021 as Wales emerged from a gruelling winter lockdown. Previously the NHS Wales Informatics Service, an organisation providing the technological infrastructure to enable patient care, the change reflects the increasingly important role of digital health and care at the forefront of NHS Wales.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/study-scheduling-systems-lead-longer-wait-times-black-patients
Study: Scheduling systems lead to longer wait times for Black patients
Researchers developed a methodology aimed at both reducing racial disparity and achieving efficiency in scheduling.
By Kat Jercich
August 27, 2021 11:14 AM
A study published earlier this month in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management found that scheduling systems that rely on machine learning to identify patients with the highest no-show risk can lead to longer wait times for Black patients.
In response, researchers developed a methodology aimed at both reducing racial disparity and achieving scheduling efficiency.
"To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first one to measure and address the racial disparity that takes place in appointment scheduling," the study reads.
WHY IT MATTERS
Black patients and other patients of color already encounter structural and interpersonal racism within the medical system, which can contribute to poor health outcomes.
And health technology can further exacerbate those disparities.
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Remote Patient Monitoring is Building the Plane While It’s Taking Off
August 27, 2021
As we put together our list of top remote patient monitoring (RPM) companies, I realized that the RPM solutions and the market itself were still in the early stages. Unlike the live video telehealth which matured really quickly during COVID-19 and was already maturing prior to COVID, the RPM market is still in its early stages. Companies were approaching it from so many different angles and a lot of the technology and workflows were literally being built in real time. It’s kind of like building an airplane while it’s taking off. Sure, you have the wings that you know work and you can see the potential, but there’s still a lot of things that need to be figured out.
This becomes a major challenge for healthcare organizations. They all know they need to be doing remote patient monitoring. I think it’s clear to all of us that remote patient monitoring is a big part of the future of healthcare. However, when they do their search for remote patient monitoring solutions, they realize that no one solution can satisfy all their needs. They find point solutions that are really excellent at one area, but can’t do enterprise remote patient monitoring. They find amazing devices that don’t have a platform and they find a platform that doesn’t have great communication.
As I look at the remote patient monitoring (RPM) segment, this is how I’d define what’s required for a great RPM solution.
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Mayo Clinic Announces Partnership, Clinical Decision Support EHR Integration
Mayo Clinic has announced a two-year collaboration with a health IT vendor to develop an EHR integration for enhanced clinical decision support.
August 26, 2021 - Mayo Clinic has announced a strategic two-year collaboration with health IT vendor Verily to develop a clinical decision support EHR integration.
The collaboration will leverage the health IT vendor’s advanced clinical analytics applications to create a point-of-care resource for clinical decision support.
Mayo said the EHR integration is set to provide clinicians with contextualized and validated knowledge on disease management, care guidelines, and treatment options to help aid in clinical decision making.
The vendor will develop the decision support tool using a broad range of health-relevant data sources, including deidentified health record data and Mayo Clinic’s multidisciplinary and multispecialty clinical content.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/streamlining-data-workflows-through-ehr-optimization
Streamlining Data Workflows Through EHR Optimization
EHR optimization such as clinical decision support integrations can help streamline data workflows to improve EHR usability and ease clinician burden.
August 26, 2021 - EHR systems are not one-size-fits-all; it often takes EHR optimization to streamline data workflows for healthcare organizations to reap the benefits of health IT.
Ideally, providers would pull up a patient’s EHR record and have all the information they need in one place. However, this is not always the case. Often, providers must manually click through the system to gather the clinical information they need to care for patients. This burdensome process takes time away from patient care and can lead to clinician burnout.
On average, physicians spend 16 minutes and 14 seconds per encounter using EHRs, with chart review and documentation functions accounting for most of that time, according to 2020 research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
EHR optimizations can help healthcare organizations streamline data workflows to mitigate clinician burden.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/determining-family-impact-of-genome-sequencing-on-newborns
Determining Family Impact of Genome Sequencing on Newborns
Researchers examined how conducting genome sequencing on newborns can impact family dynamics.
August 26, 2021 - Genome sequencing can reveal an individual’s risk for specific health conditions throughout their life. While some advocate for testing on all newborns to address disease risks early in life, others have concerns regarding the distress information can put on families.
As part of the BabySeq Project, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital studied the potential psychosocial impacts of integrating genome sequencing into clinical care for newborns. The results indicated no negative impact on families during the infant’s first year of life due to genome sequencing.
“This study is unique in that it looks, in part, at genetic risk for seemingly healthy babies,” Corresponding author Dr. Amy McGuire said in a press release.
“Some are concerned that parents who know that their seemingly healthy child is at risk for disease later in childhood or adulthood will experience more anxiety or alter how they relate to their child. The lack of distress on the family unit is an encouraging sign as we continue to explore the potential risks and benefits, as well as ethical and equity questions related to preventive sequencing of apparently healthy people.”
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Large Business Survey Sees a Post-COVID Shift to Telehealth Services
An annual survey of some of the nation's largest businesses finds that many expanded their telehealth services during the pandemic, and they expect to continue that trend to address, among other things, mental health and the social determinants of health.
August 26, 2021 - Roughly three-quarters of the nation’s large businesses expanded their telehealth programs for employees during the pandemic, and many may use those channels in the future to address social determinants of health and improve access to mental health services.
That’s the take-away from the 2022 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey, unveiled this week by the Business Group on Health. The annual survey gathered opinions this year from 136 employers covering more than 8 million lives.
And many of them are turning to connected health to address ongoing health concerns among their employees, including an expected increase in health issues brought about by a reluctance to seek care during the COVID-19 crisis.
According to the survey, some 94 percent of large businesses are anticipating an increase in medical services due to delayed care. Some 91 percent are concerned about long-term mental health effects of the pandemic, 76 percent expect chronic care management needs to increase, and 68 percent are worried about an increase in late-stage cancer treatments because employees skipped or delayed wellness visits or check-ups.
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August 25, 2021
Inaccurate, harmful cancer information prevalent on social media
When his wife was diagnosed with cancer, Skyler B. Johnson, MD, did what many concerned spouses do. He consulted Google.
A medical student at the time, Johnson had one advantage many panicked Googlers lack —he could recognize bogus information when he saw it.
Unfortunately, it was everywhere.
“I came away from that experience with quite a bit of empathy for patients,” Johnson, a physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and assistant professor of radiation oncology at University of Utah, told Healio. “I encounter a lot of patients through my oncology practice who believe misinformation they read online and through social media, and it has led to delays in their diagnosis and treatment. It has led to refusal of proven cancer treatments and, ultimately, their early deaths.”
Now, Johnson — whose wife is doing well — is shining a light on the pervasiveness of the problem.
He and his colleagues at Huntsman conducted a study, published in July in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, that showed one-third of the most popular cancer treatment articles on social media include inaccurate information. Moreover, most of the misinformation identified had the potential to harm patients by advocating approaches that could have a negative effect on treatment quality and survival.
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Report: Cybercriminals increasingly targeting outpatient facilities
Researchers found that business associates accounted for about half of breaches reported in the first six months of 2021.
By Kat Jercich
August 26, 2021 09:05 AM
A report released Thursday by the cybersecurity firm Critical Insight found that bad actors have begun to shift their healthcare targets.
The report used cyberattack data from the first half of 2021 to show that the number of breaches in the beginning of 2021 was higher than any six-month period between 2018 and the first half of 2020.
"Examining breaches caused by hacking reveals something unexpected – attackers breached outpatient facilities and specialty clinics nearly as much as hospitals," read the report.
WHY IT MATTERS
Hospital data breaches have made headlines over the past year, with some recent incidents putting hundreds of thousands of records at risk.
However, the report notes that non-hospital facilities have also been victimized.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/fda-warns-pacemaker-iphone-interference
FDA warns of pacemaker-iPhone interference
A new study tested the static magnetic fields of iPhone 12 models and the Apple Watch in an attempt to determine their minimum separation distance from implanted medical devices.
By Kat Jercich
August 26, 2021 04:56 PM
A study published this week in Heart Rhythm supported recommendations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that patients keep consumer electronic devices that may create magnetic interference, including cell phones and smart watches, at least six inches away from implanted medical devices.
The study, which was co-authored by four investigators affiliated with the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, built upon previous discoveries that the iPhone 12 Pro could trigger the "magnet mode" of a Medtronic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
"When a pacemaker enters magnet mode, the device continuously paces without sensing the patient’s own heart rhythm, which can result in symptoms (such as irregular heartbeats), abnormal heart rhythms, or, rarely, more serious patient harm," wrote the researchers.
WHY IT MATTERS
Implantable pacemakers' and ICDs' magnet modes are designed to be used when a patient is undergoing certain medical procedures, such as an MRI.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cisa-releases-guidance-protecting-data-ransomware-attacks
CISA releases guidance on protecting data from ransomware attacks
The agency emphasized the importance of implementing physical and cybersecurity best practices and continued to discourage victims from paying ransoms.
By Kat Jercich
August 26, 2021 12:27 PM
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released guidance this week about how to both protect sensitive data from ransomware attacks and prevent them from happening in the first place.
"Ransomware is a serious and increasing threat to all government and private sector organizations," read the guidance.
"This fact sheet provides information for all government and private sector organizations, including critical infrastructure organizations, on preventing and responding to ransomware-caused data breaches," it continued.
WHY IT MATTERS
Although much of the guidance will be familiar to those who have kept abreast of cybersecurity news, the CISA fact sheet reinforces the federal government's commitment to addressing ransomware threats.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/08/26/the-secret-behind-figure-1s-success-with-clinicians/
The Secret Behind Figure 1’s Success with Clinicians
August 26, 2021
Figure 1 has been called the “Instagram for Doctors” and has succeed with clinicians, an audience that Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram have failed to fully engage. What’s the secret to their success? Hint: It’s not badges, gamification or giveaways. Their success is the result of something refreshingly old-school.
Healthcare IT Today recently sat down with Josh Wildstein, CEO at Figure 1 for a conversation about the company. We talked about their evolution into a medical knowledge/education hub and where they are headed next.
What is Figure 1?
“We are a case-based knowledge sharing platform where Health Care Professionals (HCPs) from all over the world come and share information around medical cases,” explained Wildstein.
Here is how it works:
- Users post information and images (EKGs to MRIs to handwritten notes) about a medical case they would like help with or a second opinion on
- The Figure 1 community responds to the post, offering opinions, relevant articles, suggestions and links to similar cases on Figure 1
- The conversation on the case is visible to everyone on the platform and remains there so that it can be referenced by future posts/cases
Figure 1’s community of HCPs is active on the platform and each post/case generates many responses.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/should-va-sustain-legacy-ehr-investment-during-ehr-implementation
Should VA Sustain Legacy EHR Investment During EHR Implementation?
VA must continue to invest in its legacy EHR system as it conducts its Cerner EHR implementation across its network, according to former VA CIO.
August 25, 2021 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should continue investing in its legacy EHR as it conducts its Cerner EHR implementations across Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers, according to an opinion piece by health IT consultant Roger Baker published online by FWC (Federal Computer Week).
VA is three years into its 10-year EHR modernization program (EHRM) to replace parts of its legacy EHR, Vista (Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture). However, patient safety issues at the EHR pilot site in Spokane, Washington led the VA to halt any further deployments of the new EHR until at least the rest of the year.
This has created doubt as to whether the decade-long schedule is still viable, according to Baker, who served as VA assistant secretary and CIO from 2009 to 2013.
When VA began its EHRM, it cut back spending on Vista. Baker argued that this will create four major strategic issues for the agency.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Messaging Should Stress What People Have to Lose
People were more responsive to COVID-19 vaccine messaging that explained what they individually had to lose if they did not get the shot.
By Sara Heath
August 25, 2021 - New data shows that COVID-19 vaccine messaging that emphasizes the individual over the collective good and which highlights what people have to lose, not what they have to gain, from the shots is most effective.
The study, published in the Journal of Health Communication, offers key insights into what could be effective COVID-19 vaccine messaging, but with the caveat that most of the research happened in 2020 before the world saw the first COVID-19 shots. The researchers, led by Porismita Borah, an associate professor in Washington State University’s Murrow College of Communications, tested different vaccine messages on some 400 study participants to understand what would move public sentiment.
“It's really interesting to see that individual frames were more persuasive,” Borah said in a statement. “It’s hard to say exactly why, but it's possible that it is because culturally the United States is more individualistic in nature. It's also possible that because this pandemic situation is unprecedented, people were more concerned about individual consequences.”
Borah and team crafted four vaccine messages to test on groups of 100 patients, each. Patients filled out pre-exposure surveys to measure baseline patient perceptions about vaccines, and then answered more questions about their perceptions about vaccines after viewing one of the four messages.
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https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6557/835
EDITORIAL
Banking on protein structural data
1. Jeremy Berg
Science 20 Aug 2021:
Vol. 373, Issue 6557, pp. 835
DOI: 10.1126/science.abl8151
In 1953, the proposed structure of DNA magnificently linked biological function and structure. By contrast, 4 years later, the first elucidation of the structure of a protein—myoglobin, by Kendrew and colleagues—revealed an inelegant shape, described disdainfully as a “visceral knot.” Additional complexity, as well as some general principles, was revealed as more protein structures were solved over the next decade. In 1971, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory launched the Protein Data Bank (PDB) as a repository to collect and make available the atomic coordinates of structures (seven at the time) to interested parties. The PDB now includes more than 180,000 structures, and this resource has fueled an incalculable number of advances, including the recent development of powerful structure prediction tools.
Biology takes place in three dimensions, yet most biological information is stored in one-dimensional sequences of DNA that encode the amino acid sequences of proteins. The transition from one to three dimensions is accomplished through the spontaneous folding of a sequence of amino acids into a folded protein structure. Comparing elucidated structures revealed that proteins that are at least 30% identical in amino acid sequence almost always have the same folded structure; evolutionarily, structure is much more conserved than sequence. Conversely, some short stretches of five or more amino acids can adopt completely different structures; structure is context dependent. Thus, the relationship between sequence and structure is not a simple one.
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WebMD moving from online health information to 'digital front door' for patients
Aug 24, 2021 8:35am
WebMD is making moves to shift from an information website to a health information platform that helps consumers search and schedule appointments with doctors.
The company is teaming up with symplr, a provider data management search platform used by some of the largest health systems in the country, to utilize search engine optimization and health content to drive consumers to a health system’s "digital front door" for provider search and appointment scheduling, the companies said in a press release.
According to the companies, it marks the first solution that allows consumers to go from a WebMD search for health information to scheduling an appointment with a participating provider in a single, EHR-integrated workflow in three clicks.
“This partnership represents a breakthrough patient acquisition strategy. The integration of WebMD’s leading content, which generates new patient demand, with symplr directory’s provider search and scheduling, addresses patient fulfillment needs in a new, compelling offering,” says BJ Schaknowski, CEO of symplr, in a statement.
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Ginger and Headspace plan merger to rapidly scale up digital mental health services
Aug 25, 2021 8:30am
Marking the first mental health megamerger, teletherapy startup Ginger plans to merge with meditation app Headspace in a deal that will expand their combined reach to 100 million consumers.
Ginger and Headspace entered into a definitive agreement to merge to create Headspace Health in a deal that values the combined company at $3 billion.
Headspace Health now boasts more than 2,700 enterprise and health plan customers with combined bookings by end of 2021 of nearly $300 million, the companies said. The combined company now has the world’s largest mental health data set, which will be leveraged to deliver highly personalized care, executives said.
The merger comes during a time of unprecedented global need for mental health services as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing behavioral health challenges.
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https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/24/covid19-vaccines-calls-outreach-vaccination/
To boost Covid-19 vaccine uptake, one health system hunts for patients who fell through the cracks
By Katie Palmer Aug. 24, 2021
As public health leaders double down on their efforts to get shots to the 30% of eligible people in the U.S. that remain unvaccinated, one health center has described a unique strategy to reach those who might have fallen through the cracks.
During the early days of vaccine rollout, “we realized that the vast majority of this communication was being done either by email or by MyChart messaging,” said Jacob Stein, an oncologist at the University of North Carolina’s N. C. Cancer Hospital. But relying on digital communication can leave some patients behind. Older people might be less likely to frequently check online patient portals. Rural residents could have limited internet access. And many patients don’t own a device to check up on providers’ messages.
So Stein and a team at the N.C. Cancer Hospital decided to use its records differently: to identify patients who might have been missed by the greater health system’s vaccine communications.
First they narrowed down a set of people who were likely to still be living in the community: those who had received cancer therapy in the last year and still had follow-ups scheduled. Within that group, they looked for patients who didn’t have active patient portal accounts or email addresses on file, which meant they were highly unlikely to have received the system’s digital messages. They also included patients who lived in a county with a poverty rate over 20%. Of adults with annual household incomes below $30,000, 43% don’t have broadband at home, and 24% don’t own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center.
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Gynecologic Oncology Study Shows Utility of Web-Based Health Information Collection
August 25, 2021
Case-Based Roundtable Meetings Spotlight, Case-Based Roundtable Meetings Spotlight August 2021: Solid Tumors,
In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Melissa K. Frey, MD, discussed findings from implementing web-based health information collection of family history in patients with gynecologic cancers.
In clinical practices, many barriers exist with collecting adequate family history.The issues with data collection begin at the primary care level and expand into oncology care, according to Melissa K. Frey, MD.
Practices face a lack of provider training, limited appointment time, inconsistent documentation options in the electronic medical record, and limiting the time patients have to contact relatives for additional information about their history. On average, Frey, an associate professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Weil Cornell Medicine says it takes 30 minutes to perform a comprehensive family history evaluation. In clinical practice, most physicians only spend 2.5 minutes discussing family history, underscoring an issue with health information collection.
A key question was asked by Frey and colleagues at Weil Cornell Medicine before they conducted a prospective randomized trial of a web-based tool use to collect health information in a gynecologic oncology outpatient clinic. The question was can technology help to overcome the limitations in family cancer history collection?
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/api-ehr-integrations-support-patient-reported-outcomes-sharing
API EHR Integrations Support Patient-Reported Outcomes Sharing
API EHR integrations can support patient centered care by promoting patient reported outcomes data sharing with primary care providers.
August 23, 2021 - Application programming interface (API) EHR integrations can support patient reported outcomes data sharing with primary care providers, according to a study published in JAMIA.
In a prior feasibility study, researchers developed and tested an initial prototype of a remote patient monitoring application for asthma patients in pulmonary subspecialty clinics. The original intervention consisted of a smartphone app that prompted patients to report asthma symptoms every week. The study demonstrated high patient adherence and low provider burden.
Increased access to patient reported outcomes data can aid providers in delivering patient-centered care.
For the current study, researchers adapted the intervention to the primary care setting and gathered patient and PCP feedback on requirements for a successful remote patient monitoring application.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-virtual-care-well-suited-use-behavioral-health
Telehealth, virtual care well-suited for use in behavioral health
"We just don’t have enough psychiatrists and psychologists to meet the demand," said one expert during HIMSS21 Digital.
By Nathan Eddy
August 25, 2021 10:28 AM
Virtual care can help fill the gaps in behavioral healthcare, including the critical supply-and-demand issue – too many patients and not enough clinicians – that has been hampering care for quite some time.
This was the focus of a HIMSS21 Digital discussion between Michael Hasselberg, senior director of digital health at the University of Rochester and Julie Rish, clinical psychologist and director of design and best practices at the Cleveland Clinic.
Both noted demand for such services has only grown since the onset of the pandemic. These include substance abuse, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and burnout and depression among care workers themselves.
"We just don’t have enough psychiatrists and psychologists to meet the demand, and it’s only growing," Hasselberg said. "One of the great things telemedicine has been able to provide for behavioral health is the ability to reach patients in areas of the country that without that tech would not have been able to receive behavioral health care."
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/prominent-issues-telehealth-must-tackle-when-pandemic-passes
The prominent issues telehealth must tackle when the pandemic passes
A physician expert talks pre-pandemic regulations, ethical telemedicine across state lines, how virtual care technologies are boosting access and more.
August 25, 2021
At the start of the pandemic, emergency declarations and insurer policies encouraged the shift to telehealth. Telehealth usage has skyrocketed, often leading patients to grow accustomed to relying on virtual care for its convenience and cost-efficiency.
Now, as states across the U.S. are putting an end to these policies, telehealth meets one of its biggest hurdles: geographic barriers.
Dr. Mary Mulcare, chief medical officer at telehealth technology company Summus Global and an emergency medicine physician at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, has been on the front lines of the pandemic. She's seen firsthand how both physicians and patients have adjusted their expectations and processes around virtual care.
Healthcare IT News interviewed Mulcare to dig into the reversion to pre-pandemic regulations, the ethics of telemedicine across state lines, what telehealth technologies can do to increase access, and more.
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What to Consider When Hiring a Chief Technology Officer
Analysis | By HR Daily Advisor | August 25, 2021
A candidate has the potential to positively impact your business growth or leave you lagging behind your competitors.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· If this is the first time your company is hiring a CTO, you must take time to understand the finer points of the role.
· If your industry is expected to be impacted by the switch to 5G, you’ll likely need a CTO with additional skills related to change management.
· A candidate must have more than skills and solid history; how they have applied their abilities and the personality that drives their actions are just as vital.
This article was first published August 23, 2021, by HR Daily Advisor, a sibling publication to HealthLeaders.
Executive positions are often the most challenging to recruit for. As an HR professional, you know just how important it is to find the right match for the business. A wrong executive hire can lead the company in a negative direction that can be difficult to recover from, which puts a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.
When you’re hiring a new chief technology officer (CTO), there’s often added complexity. This is a highly specialized position involving a professional who can direct and guide operations in a rapidly changing technological landscape. A candidate has the potential to positively impact your business growth or leave you lagging behind your competitors.
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Johns Hopkins Launches an EHR Tool to Improve Telehealth Adoption
Researchers at the Maryland-based health system have developed a scoring tool to help staff identify patients who might need help learning how to use mHealth and telehealth tools.
August 24, 2021 - One of the biggest challenges to telehealth adoption is digital literacy. Patients won’t embrace new technology if they don’t know how to use it.
Over the past few years, healthcare organizations have launched programs to address this barrier, connecting with patients to teach them how to use mHealth apps, devices and other tools. Many of these programs, however, spend as much time identifying those in need of training as they do actually training them.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have developed a new process to measure digital literacy. And they’ve integrated that tool into the Baltimore-based health system’s Epic electronic health record to ensure that every patient in one of the health system’s many connected health programs is given access to help if they need it.
“Health systems leverage EHR data routinely to highlight which patients may need special attention during a visit (e.g., those who are due for vaccines or need an interpreter),” the researchers wrote in a recent column for Harvard Business Review. “Harnessing EHR data to identify patients likely to experience difficulties in accessing video visits is another important step in tapping the potential of these systems to provide a more individualized approach and make the best use of health care systems’ resources.”
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/assessing-patient-centered-test-results-patient-data-access
Assessing Patient-Centered Test Results, Patient Data Access
Researchers found explaining imaging scans with simple language improves patient satisfaction with patient data access and patient-centered test results.
By Sara Heath
August 24, 2021 - Healthcare providers looking to improve patient satisfaction with test result reporting should consider giving written and oral explanations of test results, using simple language and images, putting results in context of normal numbers, and providing personalized risk estimates, according to new data published in JAMA Network Open.
Test result reports that follow these principles tend to improve the overall patient experience with care, the study showed, and could improve patient engagement with and adherence to treatment and care management guidelines.
These findings come as medical experts continue to explore the best way to report and explain test results to patients. The advent of the patient portal—which offers patient data access almost instantaneously—has changed the way patients can engage with their lab results, this study looked at how patients perceive and understand getting lab results.
That exchange is an important one, the researchers contended, because it determines how well a patient might understand her current disease state, her choices for treatment or chronic disease management, and potentially whether she will engage with those treatment decisions.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/apac/singapore-develop-national-portal-mental-health-resources
Singapore to develop national portal for mental health resources
The Health Promotion Board is planning to pilot the online platform later this year.
By Adam Ang
August 24, 2021 09:35 PM
Singapore's Ministry of Health through the Health Promotion Board is building an online portal that will serve as a trove of resources for mental health.
The website will feature mental and wellbeing content "curated by experts". The information will be a resource for "individuals who want to find information for themselves or their loved ones". It will be introduced on HealthHub, the ministry's web and mobile app-based platform that hosts a range of health content, rewards and e-services.
According to a press statement, the HPB is planning to launch the pilot web portal in the latter part of this year.
WHY IT MATTERS
The development of an online portal for national mental health resources is one of the key recommendations by the COVID-19 Mental Wellness Taskforce (CoMWT) to address the psychosocial impact of the pandemic on the Singaporean population.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/nqf-uses-clinical-quality-measures-to-improve-health-equity
NQF Uses Clinical Quality Measures to Improve Health Equity
NQF will convene industry stakeholders to discuss how to use clinical quality measures to assess health equity, including the logistical challenges to such an endeavor.
By Sara Heath
August 23, 2021 - The National Quality Forum (NQF) wants to make it easier to improve health equity, and that starts with an effort to embed equity into clinical quality measures across the care continuum.
The organization, which has a long history of working with policymaking bodies like the Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to inform federal rulemaking, has most recently set its sights on understanding not just clinical quality, but how that quality differs across various demographics.
That’s come to bear in NQF’s Health Equity Advisory Group, part of the organization’s overarching Measures Application Partnership (MAP) with CMS and HHS. MAP convenes stakeholders from across the healthcare industry to comment on and inform in the pre-rulemaking process to ensure federal rulemaking is fair and achieves the goals the industry, and its federal governing bodies, want to see.
This Health Equity Advisory Group specifically sets forth to advise CMS and HHS about how to embed health equity into clinical quality measurements, something most industry experts agree poses a considerable challenge.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/top-hipaa-right-of-access-cases-in-2021-so-far
Top HIPAA Right of Access Cases in 2021, So Far
As HIPAA turns 25, HHS’ Office of Civil Rights has been cracking down on HIPAA right of access enforcement to ensure individuals’ timely access to health records.
By Jill McKeon
August 23, 2021 - HIPAA right of access policies have evolved over the years with the goal of protecting patient privacy while ensuring that all individuals have equitable and timely access to health records.
Recent proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule aim to reduce administrative burden and bolster care coordination by allowing individuals to transmit certain protected health information (PHI) to any third party in an electronic format. The changes have been met with some controversy, as some experts believe the new rule makes patient records ripe for manipulation and data sharing cybersecurity issues.
As HIPAA turns 25 this year, HealthITSecurity rounded up the most important cases settled by HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) through its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative, which began in 2019.
BANNER HEALTH PAYS $200K TO SETTLE ACCESS VIOLATIONS
The first case of the year involved Arizona-based healthcare system Banner Health, which reached a settlement with OCR to resolve potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access standard.
Banner Health agreed to pay a $200,000 civil monetary penalty and form a corrective action plan to settle the allegations, according to an OCR press release. OCR received two formal complaints against Banner Health. The first involved a patient who allegedly requested her medical records in December 2017 but did not receive them until May 2018.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/cerner-taps-google-geisinger-vet-david-feinberg-as-ceo
Cerner taps Google, Geisinger vet Feinberg as new CEO
Aug 23, 2021 2:00pm
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include details of Cerner's compensation package for new CEO David Feinberg
David Feinberg, M.D., who spent the past two years at Google leading the tech giant's health efforts, is moving over to lead Cerner after a three-month CEO search.
The Kansas City-based health IT company announced Thursday that Feinberg will step into the role of president and CEO starting Oct. 1. He succeeds Brent Shafer, who previously announced his decision to transition from chairman and CEO.
“I am honored to join Cerner and look forward to working closely with Cerner’s talented associates as we continue to profitably grow the business by driving global healthcare transformation,” Feinberg said in a statement.
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Google says health projects will continue even as it unwinds dedicated health division
Aug 23, 2021 7:45am
Google says it is ramping up its investments in health-focused initiatives even as it dissolves its single unified health division.
From consumer-facing products like sleep tracking tech with its Nest Hub smart home devices and Fitbit wearables to clinical initiatives like its Care Studio EHR search tool and its health AI work, Google has intensified its focus on health tech and expanded its reach into the healthcare market.
But those projects will now be split across Google's myriad teams and divisions as the tech giant pivots away from a unified health strategy and reassigns its 570 employees across the company, according to a leaked memo obtained by Insider.
Google Health chief David Feinberg, M.D., who joined the company in 2019, jumped ship to health IT company Cerner as its new CEO and president. The electronic health record software company announced the move late last week.
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Digital transformation holds promise for chronic disease management
Population health efforts can be a "steep hill to climb," said leaders from Highmark and Geisinger during a recent HIMSS21 Digital presentation, but the tools exist to help ensure effective innovation.
By Nathan Eddy
August 20, 2021 11:54 AM
Among the challenges of chronic disease management is the lack of interoperability between different medical records and inability to communicate effectively between patients and their physicians and social workers.
In a recent HIMSS21 Digital session, Frank Cutitta, CEO of HealthTech Decisions Lab led a panel comprising of Karen Murphy, chief innovation officer at Geisinger, and Tony Farah, chief medical and clinical transformation officer at Highmark Health, who noted innovations in cardiac and cancer treatment leaves healthcare faced with a growing population where chronic diseases are quite prevalent.
"We're up against a steep hill to climb," Farah said. "We have enough of the capabilities that would allow us to move in the right direction, and we know we can't do this on our own."
The key is to improve the health outcomes of populations at large, which allows you to lower costs and track those cost savings, which Farah did through large scale pilots targeting populations with chronic conditions.
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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/954956
Google's Head of AI Talks About the Future of the EHR and Technology in Medicine
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Eric J. Topol, MD: Hello. This is Eric Topol with Medicine and the Machine, with my co-host, Abraham Verghese. This is a special edition for us, to speak with one of the leading lights of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world, Jeff Dean, who heads up Google AI. So, Jeff, welcome to our podcast.
Jeff Dean, PhD: Thank you for having me.
Topol: You have now been at Google for 22 years. In a recent book by Cade Metz (a New York Times tech journalist) called Genius Makers, you are one of the protagonists.
I didn't know this about you, but you grew up across the globe. Your parents took you from Hawaii, where you were born, to Somalia, where you helped run a refugee camp during your middle school years. As a high school senior in Georgia where your father worked at the CDC, you built a software tool for them that helped researchers collect disease data, and nearly four decades later it remains a staple of epidemiology across the developing world. I'm going to stop there because I didn't know this, and there's this thing called a pandemic. Can you help us?
Dean: My father was an epidemiologist, so we traveled around, and my mom studied medical anthropology. That combination of careers, plus a bit of wanderlust, led to going to new places, and I was an only child so I went along for the ride. We ended up living in lots of different places. I did a high school internship at the CDC, writing some software for outbreak investigations during epidemics. Epidemiologists use some very specialized statistics that most statistical packages don't support very well, and it's important to provide software that can be run all around the world on the relatively low-end computers at that time. So I started writing software that would provide the right kind of data collection and analysis tools that could be run in a fairly lightweight way by epidemiologists all around the world.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/healthcare-too-hard-big-tech-firms
Is healthcare too hard for Big Tech firms?
With Google Health and Apple both reported to be, respectively, closing down and scaling back their healthcare efforts, it's worth asking just how disruptive consumer technology companies can be in this hugely complex and fragmented industry.
August 23, 2021 03:23 PM
When David Feinberg, head of Google Health, announced this past week that he was departing to take up the CEO role at the EHR company Cerner, media reports took it as an admission of defeat by Google in the campaign to win in the healthcare space.
A leaked internal memo, scooped by Business Insider, revealed that the Google Health division was disbanding. The parts are scattered among different business units where they may simply limp along or quietly shut down.
Google wasn't alone in making news. Another article in the same week in Business Insider revealed that Apple acknowledged it is "scaling back" a key project, an app called Health Habit.
The app allows Apple employees to log fitness goals, manage hypertension, and talk to clinicians and coaches at AC Wellness, the doctors' group that Apple works with.
There was no shortage of commentary on social media. Aaron Martin, chief digital officer of Providence, quipped on LinkedIn: "If you're a big tech and want to exit healthcare, this is the week to do it." For good measure, he added the hashtag #healthcareishard.
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https://histalk2.com/2021/08/20/weekender-8-20-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Cerner announces that Google Health VP David Feinberg, MD, MBA will be its next president and CEO.
- Verily announces that it will acquire SignalPath.
- CDC announces creation of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.
- Inovalon announces that it will be taken private by an equity group at a valuation of $7.3 billion.
- Commure acquires PatientKeeper.
- QGenda acquires CredentialGenie.
- Unite Us acquires Carrot Health.
- Streamline Health Solutions acquires Avelead.
- A report says a health system shut down a diabetes management app in which it had invested $12 million because its success would have threatened the hospital’s fee-for-service revenue.
- Optum offers virtual care and prescriptions direct to consumers, offerings that will compete with investor-funded storefronts like Ro and Hims.
- Labcorp acquires Ovia Health.
- CMS announces that hospitals will be required to self-attest their compliance with the SAFER Guides for EHR safety starting next year.
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Enjoy!
David.
