Here are a few
I came across last week.
Note: Each
link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on
the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links
may require site registration or subscription payment.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/11/nhsx-delivers-remote-blood-pressure-monitoring-devices/
NHSX delivers remote blood pressure monitoring devices to patients
NHSX is to
offer devices to thousands of patients which will allow them to monitor their
blood pressure at home and send readings to their GP via phone, email or
digital platforms.
Cora Lydon 11
November, 2021
NHSX has
purchased 220,000 devices which are being sent to people diagnosed with
uncontrolled high blood pressure. Regular blood pressure checks will help to
note any significant changes before a potentially deadly stroke or heart attack
strikes.
The
initiative supports the NHS Long Term Plan which aims to prevent up to 150,000
heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases over the next 10 years. By enabling
patients to monitor their blood pressure at home, NHSX estimates it will
prevent 2,200 heart attacks and almost 3,300 strokes over the course of five
years.
The devices
are simple to use and operate in a similar way to those found in GP surgeries.
Patients can wrap the device around the upper arm to quickly read their blood
pressure at home. The reading is then sent to their GP for review, either by
telephone, email or courtesy of a digital remote monitoring platform.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/digital-health/predictions-for-healthcare-2022
Healthcare industry will face higher medication errors, declining patient
trust in 2022: Forrester
by Anastassia
Gliadkovskaya
Nov 10, 2021
9:25am
As
the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare
industry faces a variety of ongoing challenges and shifts in delivery of care,
according to a new 2022 predictions report.
The
report was put together by analysts at Forrester, a global market research
firm.
They
identified five key predictions for the coming year:
1. Health disparities will negatively impact rural Americans twice as much
as urban Americans
Patients
living in rural communities are more likely to be harmed for a variety of
reasons, including social disparities, chronic health conditions, higher
suicide rates and widespread hospital closures. In 2020 alone, nearly two dozen
rural hospitals closed, Natalie Schibell, a senior analyst in the healthcare
vertical at Forrester, told Fierce Healthcare. As a result, patients had to
travel farther for care.
Other
exacerbating factors include barriers to broadband access and clinician
licensing challenges. While these barriers are not new, “the pandemic was
really the nail in the coffin,” Schibell said. These factors also impact COVID-19
vaccination rates.
To
counter these issues, more federal aid is needed to facilitate virtual care and
better reimbursement models, Forrester noted in its report. Schibell came up
with this prediction after digging into COVID-19 mortality rates among urban
and rural populations, she said, which
are twice as high in rural areas.
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https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/nonprofit-health-plans-focus-reducing-premiums-expanding-benefits
Nov 11 2021
Nonprofit health plans focus on reducing premiums, expanding benefits
Every member plan added new health benefits, or expanded existing ones,
without increasing costs to consumers, report finds.
Jeff Lagasse,
Associate Editor
Nonprofit
payers have used a variety of strategies to address plan affordability
throughout the next year, including reducing premiums by as much as 10% in some
instances, finds a new report from the Alliance of Community Health Plans.
ACHP's
inaugural Report on Affordability found that when health plans manage
premiums, provide enhanced benefits, smooth the way for access and reduce costs
for governments and employers, the system – and outcomes – improve.
This
is exemplified by some of the strategies employed by ACHP member plans, which
largely reduced insurance premiums or held them flat, with some member
companies reducing premiums by as much as 10%.
On
top of that, every plan added new health benefits, or expanded existing ones,
without increasing costs to consumers, the report found. Some of the additional
benefits include free vaccines, transportation, hearing aids, reduced insulin
costs, nutrition classes and meal services, smoking cessation programs and $0
co-pays for mental health visits.
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https://www.statnews.com/2021/11/12/broadband-access-newest-challenge-health-care/
Broadband access: Health care’s newest challenge
By Gary
Shapiro Nov. 12, 2021
The past two years have underscored the long-standing but
always disturbing reality that millions of Americans lack sufficient health
care access. While the consequences have been particularly deadly during the
pandemic, the challenges to overcoming this problem are nothing new.
Health
outcomes are closely tied to race, income level, educational quality, location
of residence, and more, as well as individuals’ genetics. Dozens of studies show that the higher a person’s wealth
and income, for example, the lower their likelihood of illness and premature
death, largely because wealthier people can afford resources that lead to
improved health.
With
the rise of digital health care, the U.S. faces a new health challenge: unequal
access to broadband technology. Some 43% of adults in households making less than $30,000 a year
— that’s more than 25 million American adults — lack a high-speed internet
connection. Those with limited or no internet access can’t communicate online with
their physicians, obtain electronic medical records, or access online health
resources, all of which can improve health outcomes.
Many
digital health products and applications offered today work most effectively
with a broadband connection. Tools like smartphones, health monitoring devices,
and cloud-based software applications can support health equity by closing
communication gaps between patients and providers, enhancing consumer access to
health care services and increasing consumers’ knowledge about their own
health.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/va-watchdog-new-ehr-scheduling-system-needs-work
VA watchdog: New EHR scheduling system needs work
Although some
schedulers reported positive experiences, the Office of Inspector General found
a host of problems with the system's implementation.
By Kat Jercich
November 12,
2021 03:14 PM
The
Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General released
a report this week examining whether the VA's new scheduling system,
implemented as part of its electronic health record modernization contract with
Cerner, had been effectively deployed.
The
watchdog acknowledged that the new system has the potential to transform
scheduling at the Veterans Health Administration.
However,
the OIG found that the VHA and the VA's Office of EHR Modernization knew
"of significant system and process limitations before or after
implementing the new scheduling system" at two facilities.
"These
limitations reduced the system’s effectiveness and risked delays in patient
care," read the report.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-for-borderline-personality-disorder-treatment-sees-success
Telehealth for Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Sees Success
Using
telehealth for borderline personality disorder treatment led to positive
patient outcomes and satisfaction for the Rhode Island Hospital Adult partial
hospital program.
By Victoria Bailey
November 11,
2021 - Using telehealth to treat patients with borderline personality
disorder (BPD) produced similar, positive outcomes as in-person treatment,
according to a study
from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services
(MIDAS) project.
Past studies
have shown
telehealth’s success in treating mental health disorders such as
depression, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, but
there are limited studies that focus on using telehealth to treat borderline
personality disorder, the Rhode Island researchers said.
BPD symptoms
can include impulsivity, intense fluctuating emotions, unstable relationships,
excessive anger, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. The risk of self-injury and
suicidality for patients with BPD may speak to why telehealth treatment is so
limited, the researchers said.
But
clinicians and therapists had to adapt accordingly when the COVID-19 pandemic
hit and called for limited in-person contact. The Rhode Island Hospital Adult
partial hospital program transitioned to telehealth use for BPD treatment in
response to the pandemic.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/predictive-model-determines-antidepressant-medication-response
Predictive Model Determines Antidepressant Medication Response
A
noninvasive predictive model can determine how a patient will respond to
certain antidepressant medications, preventing unnecessary side effects.
By Erin McNemar, MPA
November 11,
2021 - Using data from the National Institute of Mental Health, UT
Southwestern Medical Center researchers created a predictive model to determine
how a patient will respond to antidepressants.
According to
researchers, these findings could provide a strong precision
medicine approach in identifying the correct medication for individuals.
“This is a
significant advance. It’s noninvasive. It can be and should be used
immediately,” Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Center
for Depression Research and Clinical Care, Madhukar Trivedi, MD, said in a
press release.
Trivedi
explained that the new
biomarkers could prevent patients from taking the wrong medication and
dealing with unnecessary side effects. The study tested the common
antidepressant drug sertraline with a control group taking a placebo. Those
that did not respond to sertraline after eight weeks switched to the
antidepressant bupropion.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/best-practices-for-responding-to-medical-device-security-incidents
Best Practices for Responding to Medical Device Security Incidents
A new
playbook from the Cloud Security Alliance aims to help organizations balance
clinical considerations and patient safety risks with medical device security
incidents.
By Jill McKeon
November 11,
2021 - As healthcare organizations continue to integrate connected medical
devices into everyday clinical care, it is imperative that providers recognize
and prepare for medical device security risks that could impact patient safety,
the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) suggested
in its new “Medical Device Incident Response Playbook.”
The playbook
was inspired by growing medical device security concerns since the 2017
WannaCry ransomware incident, which demonstrated the fragility and
vulnerabilities of medical devices. WannaCry successfully encrypted radiology
equipment drives at hospitals.
“While
serious confidentiality and integrity issues are often associated with leakage
of medical device data, the highest risk when dealing with systems being used
for clinical care concerns is keeping those systems available for patient care
use,” the playbook stated.
“The loss of
access to medical devices and other clinical system availability can lead to
delays in patient care. This loss of availability can be due to the threat
itself, or a result of an incident response (IR) process that doesn’t take
clinical considerations into account and brings devices offline without
consulting health care professionals.”
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https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/articles/organizations-widen-virtual-offerings-in-response-to-pandemic
Organizations widen virtual offerings in response to pandemic
Patients
already wanted an improved experience in healthcare, and the need to meet their
needs during the lockdown accelerated changes.
Nov 10 2021
Fred
Bazzoli
Patients are
consumers, and they increasingly expect healthcare providers to meet their
needs. At the same time, providers are learning to quickly adapt to these new expectations,
often finding that they line up with improvements in service delivery.
These and
other lessons were among the findings in Wednesday’s edition of the HDM
KLASroom, which covered changing workflows and meeting patients where they are.
The massive
impact and change required by the massive COVID-19 pandemic amplified the need
to make quick changes in service delivery, noted Adam Cherrington, an research
director for KLAS Research. The move to virtual care delivery, through the use
of telemedicine and other telehealth services, is one example of a service that
soared during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, he noted.
Recent
research by KLAS also shows significant consumer appetite for capabilities such
as self-scheduling, remote check-ins and other patient-facing services.
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https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/articles/urgency-rises-to-better-link-patients-to-their-records
Urgency rises to better link patients to their records
Current
patient matching efforts are marred by flaws, but unique identifiers aren’t a
panacea either.
Nov 10 213
min read
Marla
Durben Hirsch
Unique
patient identifiers are one of many requirements that were established by the
Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which
also sought standardized IDs for employer, provider and other unique
identification numbers.
However, in
1998 Congress introduced language that banned the use of federal funds for the
development of a UPI.
Absent a standardized
national patient identifier, healthcare providers typically have created their
own records numbers for patients. Matching and linking patient medical records
within and across the healthcare ecosystem is done through a variety of
technologies, such as enterprise-wide master patient indexes and by using
records from non-healthcare sources, such as drivers’ licenses, typically
called “referential matching.”
However,
these techniques are not consistently effective. For instance, a Pew
Report found the match rates can be as low as 80 percent - meaning one out
of five patients may not be matched to all of his or her records. Even within a
facility, where the patient has been seen before; the error rate can be as high
as 50 percent, even when providers use the same electronic health record
system. Matching then needs to be conducted manually, adding time and cost.
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https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/articles/a-national-unique-patient-identifier-faces-an-uncertain-bumpy-road
A national unique patient identifier faces an uncertain, bumpy road
Recent
legislative action may clear the path for developing a uniform, accurate and
effective way to tie data to patients, but challenges are looming.
Nov 10 2021
Marla
Durben Hirsch
The Senate’s
recent decision to repeal the ban on funding for the development of a unique
patient identifier (UPI) marks a potential watershed moment in the development
of what previously has been a hot third rail for privacy concerns.
This
controversial possibility of developing a UPI provides a new opportunity to
link a patient’s health records throughout the health ecosystem, but also
highlights the inherent challenges of such a project.
The Senate in
October dropped
the prohibition from its appropriations bill for the first time in about 20
years, citing the need to remove this barrier to the sharing of patient
information and for public health entities to effectively track contacts and
immunizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate’s
move follows in the footsteps of the House of Representatives, which had
removed the ban from its appropriations bill earlier this year. If Congress
passes the 2021 budget, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) then
could take a serious look at the feasibility of adopting a UPI as part of a
national strategy to better link patient records, thereby setting the stage for
improving patient safety, enhancing the coordination of care, and reducing the
cost of healthcare.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/surgeon-general-releases-guide-to-navigate-health-misinformation
Surgeon General Releases Guide to Navigate Health Misinformation
The new
toolkit provides resources aimed at identifying and combating health
misinformation while COVID-19 vaccination campaigns commence.
By Sarai Rodriguez
November 10,
2021 - The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, released
a new toolkit addressing best practices for individuals to debunk COVID-19
health misinformation and educate their peers about the threats of
misinformation.
Throughout
the pandemic, misinformation and disinformation have spread rampantly,
resulting in people rejecting COVID-19 safety practices and threatening public
health. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study,
over two-thirds of unvaccinated adults were exposed to a COVID-19 misconception
and believed it or were unsure of its accuracy.
“With the
authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to11 years old, it is more
important than ever that families have access to accurate, science-based
information. Health misinformation is spreading fast and far online and
throughout our communities,” Murthy said in a public statement.
The toolkit
provides detailed guidance for individuals, specifically calling upon
healthcare professionals and administrators, teachers, school administrators,
librarians, and faith leaders to understand, identify, and evaluate the
accuracy of health information within their communities.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/most-patients-unaware-of-the-magnitude-healthcare-ransomware-attacks
Most Patients Unaware of the Magnitude Healthcare Ransomware Attacks
Half of
potential patients said they would change hospitals if their provider was hit
by a healthcare ransomware attack, but most are unaware of recent attacks.
By Jill McKeon
November 10,
2021 - Over half of surveyed IT professionals said that their organization
has been hit by a healthcare ransomware attack. But 61 percent of surveyed
potential patients said that they had not heard of any cyberattacks in the
healthcare industry in the last 24 months, new research conducted by Censuswide
on behalf of Armis found.
The survey,
which included responses from 2,000 potential patients and 400 healthcare IT
professionals, revealed an extreme disconnect between patient perceptions of
ransomware risks and the significant threat that ransomware actually poses on
the healthcare sector.
Ransomware
attacks have increased in volume and severity in the healthcare sector over
the past few years, and can result in EHR downtime, ambulance diversions, and
appointment cancellations. In some rare cases, patient
deaths have been directly attributed to ransomware attacks.
Over 80
percent of surveyed IT professionals agreed that they have seen increased cyber
risk over the past 12 months. Ransomware
gangs are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and startling gaps in medical
device security have exposed additional vulnerabilities and expanded the
attack surface and scope.
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https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/how-to-be-a-telehealth-physician
How to be a telehealth physician
November 9,
2021
Medical
Economics Staff
Medical Economics Journal, Medical Economics November 2021, Volume
98, Issue 11
The
COVID-19 pandemic has seen a sea change in the way that physicians treat their
patients and nowhere is this more evident that in the near-overnight
implementation of telehealth across the health care industry.
Introduction:
The
COVID-19 pandemic has seen a sea change in the way that physicians treat their
patients and nowhere is this more evident that in the near-overnight
implementation of telehealth across the health care industry.
As
case counts began to rise in early 2020, public health authorities across the
country implemented stay-at-home orders and moratoriums on nonemergency medical
services in an effort to keep health care professionals from being overwhelmed
by patients with COVID-19. With no other option, many health care entities were
forced to step into the telehealth space with little experience and even less training.
The
use of telehealth was barely a factor among physicians in 2015, with only 5% of
physicians having used video visits to see patients. That trend was on the rise
by 2019,with 22%, but the pandemic accelerated it, with 80% of physicians
saying they had used video visits to see their patients in 2020.
This
is expected to continue even after the pandemic ends, with 92% of physicians
still expecting to use video visits when it is safe to meet with patients,
according to telehealth provider Amwell.
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https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/09/truveta-is-making-progress-towards-building-a-living-medical-portrait-of-america/
Truveta is making progress towards building a living medical portrait of
America
Alex Wilhelm@alex / 12:04 AM GMT+11•November
10, 2021
Truveta wants to collect
privacy-safe medical data from around the United States on a regular basis,
making it available for researchers to sift and parse. The company is making
real progress toward that goal in product terms, and this morning said it
raised another $100 million, giving it a capital base of around $200 million in
total.
But
the financial aspect, and the fact that Truveta has secured more partners in
the medical world to supply it with information, are ancillary to the fact that
the startup has started to make its platform available to external parties.
Truveta
partners with around 20 medical providers, aggregating regular de-identified
data from 42 American states and myriad patients into its collection. From there
it has built a software service that allows researchers and other users to ask
questions of the collected data. TechCrunch was given a tour of the Truveta
product, which, as chart nerds, we liked.
But
frankly, your local technology writer is not precisely the Truveta end user.
Instead, the product is aimed at individuals with their hands in the public
health domain. To that end, the company’s product lets researchers include and
exclude elements of the population, before dropping the user into a Jupyter
Notebook, from where they can build a dashboard with data that updates daily.
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https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/ge-spin-healthcare-unit-early-2023
GE to spin off healthcare unit in early 2023
The
industrial giant plans to retain a stake of almost 20% in GE Healthcare.
By Emily Olsen
November 09,
2021 03:49 pm
GE
will spin off its healthcare division, GE
Healthcare, in early 2023 as part of a larger effort to separate the nearly
130 year old industrial giant into three separate public companies.
GE
plans to retain a stake of 19.9% in GE Healthcare once it’s spun off. The
conglomerate will also combine its renewable energy, power and digital
businesses and spin them off in early 2024, leaving the original company
to focus on aviation.
The
company expects the separation and transition to cost around $2 billion, with
tax costs at less than $0.5 billion. GE intends the healthcare and energy
spinoffs to be tax-free.
“Today
and tomorrow, delivering on the future of healthcare is about enabling
precision health: integrated, efficient and highly personalized care,” GE
chairman and CEO Larry Culp said on a call with investors. Culp will serve as
nonexecutive chairman of the healthcare company once it’s spun off, while Peter
Arduini will take on the president and CEO role of GE Healthcare starting in
2022.
“Making
this a reality requires merging clinical medicine and data science by applying
advanced analytics and AI across every possible point of the patient journey.
GE is one of the few companies with the reach, capabilities and relationships
to do this.”
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/11/10/big-focus-on-small-data-big-impact-for-hies-like-healthix/
Big Focus on Small Data = Big Impact for HIEs Like Healthix
November 10, 2021
Colin Hung
Health
Information Exchanges (HIEs) are improving the quality of their data to further
increase their value. Higher quality data means they can help healthcare
organizations understand their region more clearly, allowing them to allocate
their resources in the areas that need it. Key to achieving this is translating
the data from the various standards used by HIE participants.
Quality
Data Aligns with HIE Goals
When
the State HIE program was created as part of the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the goal was to enable the timely
sharing of health information to improve care quality, efficiency and safety.
The data collected by HIEs was meant to enable more effective public health
programs, power clinical research, and give providers more comprehensive
clinical information for use in treating patients.
“What
we do is aggregate clinical data from hospitals, behavioral health
organizations, nursing homes, federally qualified health centers, and even
community-based organizations,” explained Todd Rogow, President and CEO at Healthix – one of the largest public HIE in
the US, serving New York City and Long Island – who sat down with Healthcare
IT Today. “It is a diverse set of data sources that we have grown
over the years.”
An
HIE cannot fulfil its mandate if participating organizations do not trust the
data that the HIE provides. Having good quality data, therefore, is paramount
to an HIE’s success. It is not surprising therefore, that HIEs like Healthix
are investing in tools, talent, and processes that improve the quality of the
data in their repositories.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/clinical-care/el-camino-health-celebrates-60th-anniversary-track-record-innovation
El Camino Health Celebrates 60th Anniversary, Track Record of Innovation
Analysis
| By Christopher
Cheney | November 10, 2021
The
Mountain View, California-based health system helped develop one of the first
electronic medical record systems.
KEY
TAKEAWAYS
·
El Camino Health has embraced the innovative
culture of Silicon Valley.
·
To succeed in innovation, health systems and
hospitals cannot be afraid to lead, must heed the perspectives of consumers,
and should target incremental change, El Camino Health's CEO says.
·
When it comes to innovation, relatively small
health systems and standalone hospitals have the advantage of nimbleness
compared to larger organizations.
As El Camino Health
marks the health system's 60th year of operating in the Bay Area of California,
the health system is celebrating its history of innovation.
Innovation
has been a hallmark of the healthcare sector for more than a century.
Innovation has driven advancements in a range of medical areas, including
medical technology, surgical techniques, and patient experience.
It is
critical for health systems and hospitals to be innovative, says Deb Muro,
chief information officer at El Camino Health, which features two acute care
hospitals.
"You
are not going to be able to survive, thrive, and grow if you are not
innovating. We all know that healthcare does not provide the best experience
for patients—we know that we must innovate to get better. We have opportunities
to do things better, and the only way to do that is to do things differently.
Innovation is the way that we can make that happen," she says.
-----
https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/articles/large-tech-companies-making-slow-progress-in-healthcare
Large tech companies making slow progress in healthcare
Google
Health disbands, but giants’ other initiatives make progress in data access,
artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Nov 09 2021
Fred
Bazzoli
The role of big technology companies in healthcare continues
to be in flux, but indications are that they are increasing their footprint in
data aggregation, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The challenges faced by large technology companies seeking
to play a role in healthcare were exemplified by the announcement late this
summer that the Google Health division of Alphabet had been dissolved, with its
staff reassigned to other parts of Google, working to follow through with the
organization’s health-tech initiatives.
Other technology giants – Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, most
prominently – continue to pursue advanced computing capabilities to interact
with provider or other health organizations, or consumer-facing technologies
seeking to improve health data access. Still, the healthcare market generally
has continued to be a tough nut to crack for companies that have broadly
succeeded with their technologies in other industries.
The changes at Google Health haven’t meant that existing
technology efforts have ceased on healthcare solutions. Google’s chief health
officer, Karen DeSalvo has indicated in interviews that the company is still
continuing efforts in areas where it believes it can use its technology
capabilities to improve processes.
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/patientcenteredmedicalhome/95521
Click Here If You Want Fewer Clicks in the Health Record
— We need to be able to opt out of some of the EHR's required checkboxes
if it's appropriate
by Fred N. Pelzman, MD
November 8, 2021
The
other day during a practice session, when I opened the chart of a patient I was
about to start seeing, I noticed that the electronic health record (EHR) had
suddenly labeled their chart with something new. Under "Gender
Identity," it stated, "Patient chose not to disclose."
"That's
strange," I thought. "I wonder what was happening here that led to
this change." Last time I had seen the patient, it had an actual gender
choice listed there (and had it listed that choice for them, to the best of my
recollection, since we started using this system over 14 years ago).
When
I entered the room, I asked my patient, whom I've been taking care of for over
20 years, whether someone had asked this question and perhaps they'd decided
that they just didn't want this information on their chart, or even possibly
that something had changed in how they wished to be identified. My patient
looked at me like I was kind of crazy, and said they had no idea what I was
talking about. Clearly, someone toggled something somewhere during some part of
registration to change the patient's actual gender to this noncommittal answer,
and it made me realize that there are so many places where we have to make so
many choices to get our patients the care that they need, that we are all
totally overwhelmed.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/nhs-receives-248m-boost-modernise-diagnostics
NHS receives £248M boost to modernise diagnostics
The funding
is for new technology to help tackle patient waiting lists.
By Tammy Lovell
November 09,
2021 06:30 AM
The
UK government has pledged £248 million over the next year to digitise
diagnostics care across the NHS.
New
technology will be used to improve the way tests, images and results can be
shared across computer systems in hospitals, labs and GP surgeries, meaning
clinicians can access results more easily, even when working from different
settings.
It
will also allow imaging specialists to review high-res images remotely without
needing to be in an imaging lab.
The
funding will also provide a new tool to help GPs and other clinicians choose
the most suitable scan for their patient based on the patient’s symptoms and
medical history. This aims to cut inappropriate requests made to radiology
departments, saving radiologists’ time and ensuring patients get the right
scans at the right time.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/11/09/highly-sensitive-motion-sensors-from-xandar-kardian-anticipate-critical-health-incidents/
Highly Sensitive Motion Sensors from Xandar Kardian Anticipate Critical
Health Incidents
November 9, 2021
Andy Oram
Timely
prediction is key to saving both lives and money in the health care system. I
recently talked to Sam Yang, managing director and cofounder of Xandar Kardian, about their motion sensor
called XK300 that can tip off clinicians to oncoming emergencies in patients
suffering from COVID-19, heart failure, COPD, pneumonia, asthma, and more.
The
XK300 emits very fast, high-bandwidth signals over a wide area in a technology
called ultra wide band (UWB) radar. The XK300 is pretty tolerant of location;
it can be on a wall or even a ceiling (which would make it harder to remove) and
can scan an entire human body (Figure 2). Thus, it can check the breathing and
even the heart beat of a sleeping patient. The device has FDA clearance and
Xandar Kardian markets it both to hospitals and to clinicians monitoring
patients in their homes.
Take
the example of rapid breathing, a common indicator of risk in COVID-19 patients
as well as those with asthma, pneumonia, and heart disease. A healthy breathing
rate of a person at rest is around 10 to 12 breaths per minute. If those goes
up a bit—say, to 15 breaths per minute—there’s an early sign of lung or heart
problems that could get worse fast.
The
XK300 can detect a change from 12 to 15 breaths per second. In contrast, a
pulse oximeter reports a problem only when breaths get up to about 25 per minute.
The person is quite close to an emergency by that time.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/sociodemographic-factors-impacted-success-of-telehealth-video-visits
Sociodemographic Factors Impacted Success of Telehealth Video Visits
Patients
over 65 and Black patients were more likely to have an unsuccessful telehealth
video visit compared to their younger White counterparts due to a slew of
sociodemographic factors.
By Victoria Bailey
November 08,
2021 - Patient sociodemographic factors largely influenced whether a
telehealth video visit was successful or not, with racial minority status and
older age being associated with unsuccessful visits, a JAMA Network Open study
found.
The spike in
telehealth adoption increased access to healthcare services during the COVID-19
pandemic when in-person interaction was discouraged. But the
telehealth boom may have enhanced care disparities for some populations as
well.
Individuals
must have access to a smartphone or a computer and a stable internet connection
to use telehealth. Although these resources may be common among some Americans,
not everyone has equal access. Low socioeconomic status or living
in rural areas may widen health disparities when it comes to using telehealth.
Researchers
from the Medical College of Wisconsin conducted a quality improvement study of
telehealth video visits to discover how many visits were completed successfully
and if the odds of success were influenced by patient and clinician factors.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/skilled-nursing-facilities-had-mixed-reviews-of-telehealth-use
Skilled Nursing Facilities Had Mixed Reviews of Telehealth Use
While
telehealth helped improve access to convenient care for residents in skilled
nursing facilities, some staff found it difficult to use without proper
training.
By Victoria Bailey
November 05,
2021 - Telehealth helped increase access to care and reduce stress for
some skilled nursing facility residents and staff, but others faced unexpected
challenges and consequences of telehealth use, a study from the University of
Missouri found.
Like other
healthcare organizations, skilled nursing facilities were hit hard by the
COVID-19 pandemic, prompting many to implement telehealth programs in an
attempt to relieve some of the burden.
Kimberly
Powell, an assistant professor at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, led the
study and interviewed
21 administrators and clinicians from 16 skilled nursing facilities across the
country about their experiences with telehealth.
Telehealth
proved to be convenient for some nursing home residents, as they could access
timely care without having to travel, the study indicated.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/fda-hopes-draft-guidance-device-software-will-offer-clarity-simplicity
FDA hopes draft guidance on device software will offer 'clarity,
simplicity'
The new
document, published this past week, takes stock of a fast-changing technology
environment – and would replace the agency's previous medical device guidance,
first issued more than 16 years ago.
By Mike Miliard
November 08,
2021 03:12 PM
This
past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published draft guidance for its Content of Premarket Submissions for Device Software
Functions.
WHY IT
MATTERS
The guidance, posted online on November 4, intended to provide
information regarding the recommended documentation to include in premarket
submissions for the FDA to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of device
software functions.
The
FDA's draft recommendations pertain to device software functions – software in
a medical device (SiMD) and software as a medical device (SaMD), most notably – and
describe data that would be generated and documented during software design,
development, verification and validation.
The
guidance, once finalized after a public content period, would replace the FDA’s
more than 16-year-old Guidance for the Content of Premarket Submissions for
Software Contained in Medical Devices.
It
represents a substantial reworking of that document, which was first issued in May 2005, when the existing technology
landscape could hardly have been imagined. Just as the maturity and
capabilities of medical devices have evolved significantly since then, so has
the agency's regulatory approach.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/unitedhealth-ciso-ransomware-existential-risk-delivery-care
UnitedHealth CISO: Ransomware 'an existential risk to the delivery of
care'
In her
session at the upcoming virtual HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum, Aimee
Cardwell will walk information security and IT leaders through a risk-fraught
landscape – and offer tips for best defenses.
By Bill Siwicki
November 08,
2021 12:28 PM
As
part of the HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum virtual event December
6-7, Aimee Cardwell, the chief information security officer for the
UnitedHealth Group at Optum Technology, will dig into the subject of ransomware
in an educational session entitled "Ransomware: Today's Threat
Landscape." Optum Technology is UnitedHealth Group's IT and services
subsidiary.
Ransomware
continues to expose the vulnerabilities in the global network from the
government to infrastructure to hospitals. In this session, Cardwell will
discuss the current threat landscape and the ransomware to watch out for.
In
a sneak-peek of the session, Healthcare IT News interviewed Cardwell to get
her to explain the cybersecurity landscape and some of the best defenses
against ransomware.
Q. What
is the current threat landscape for healthcare organizations?
A.
We see three major categories of threat. First, ransomware. According to the Wall
Street Journal, ransomware has become the most lucrative form of
malware globally, generating $350 million in 2020, while causing over $20
billion in damages and downtime over the same period.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/new-zealand-taps-mattr-local-and-international-vaccination-passes
New Zealand taps MATTR for local and international vaccination passes
Both passes
will become available later in November.
By Adam Ang
November 08,
2021 03:14 AM
New
Zealand's Ministry of Health has chosen Auckland-based IT services provider
MATTR to create vaccination passes for both domestic and international
use.
In
a statement, it said MATTR, which won a closed competitive tender process, will
be the main technology provider for both passes.
WHAT
IT'S ABOUT
The
agency last week released the specification for the domestic COVID-19 vaccine
pass and verifier to its Github account.
My
Vaccine Pass will serve as an official record of a person's vaccination status
for accessing places within the country while a separate pass for international
travel will be introduced soon.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/manage-successful-remote-work-model-your-health-system
Manage a Successful Remote Work Model at Your Health System
Analysis
| By David Weldon |
November 04, 2021
The
pandemic has shown healthcare organizations that many jobs can be done
successfully from home, at least partly. Here are tips to make the program
work, says one CFO.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
·
CFOs have an important role to play in
developing a hybrid strategy that encourages productivity while also boosting
patient care.
·
Many organizations must revisit their management
styles and take a more humanistic approach to supervising hybrid workers.
(Editor's
note: This is the second article in a series on the healthcare labor market
from the CFO perspective.)
Most
healthcare organizations are hoping to bring remote workers back into the workplace
in some capacity. After all, the pandemic has been disrupting the workforce for
almost 20 months now.
But having
tasted their first experience with remote work, many workers say they now don't
want to go back to the workplace, at least full time. Those workers saved
money, gained back time, and better juggled personal commitments during the
shutdowns and ensuing surges. Still, there are downsides to remote work, such
as the loss of face-to-face communication and camaraderie in a virtual work environment.
Remote workers often complain about the loneliness of it.
Meanwhile,
healthcare organizations discovered during the pandemic that many employees can
be productive working from home. This lesson has come as a surprise to many
since organizations have historically discouraged remote work arrangements.
Before the pandemic, a small percentage of the U.S. workforce did their jobs
remotely.
-----
https://histalk2.com/2021/11/05/weekender-11-5-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Allscripts and Change Healthcare
report quarterly results that beat earnings expectations but fall short on
revenue.
- EverCommerce announces that it will
acquire DrChrono.
- Worklfow automation vendor Notable
raises $100 million in a Series B funding round.
- CMS will increase the minimum
penalty for hospitals that don’t comply with pricing transparency
requirements to $10 per bed, per day starting on January 1, 2022.
- 23andMe says it hasn’t decided how
to integrate its recent acquisition of telehealth provider Lemonaid
Health, but expects to incorporate genetic risk factors into its primary
care prescribing.
- A VA survey of employees at its
initial Cerner implementation site find widespread worsening of morale,
burnout, and lack of confidence in performing their jobs using Cerner,
leading to the VA’s pledge to add executive oversight to the project.
- Kareo and PatientPop merge to form
Tebra.
- Cerner and NextGen report quarterly
results that beat expectations for revenue and earnings.
- Cerner CEO David Feinberg addresses
EHR usability and a tightening of less-profitable company products and
partnerships in its quarterly earnings call.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
