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.
-----
Readmission Rates Similar After Virtual, In-Person Postop Cancer Care
Cancer patients experienced similar 90-and 30-day readmission rates regardless of whether they had an in-person postoperative visit or one via telehealth, a new study shows.
By Anuja Vaidya
April 08, 2022 - Using telehealth for postoperative visits did not increase the risk of readmission when compared with in-person postoperative visits following inpatient cancer surgery, according to a recent study.
Published in JCO Oncology Practice, the study includes data for 535 patients who underwent non-emergency inpatient cancer surgeries at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from March 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020. The primary outcome was unplanned hospital readmission within 90 days. Secondary outcomes included 30-day readmission, length of stay of the first readmission, and mortality rates. Researchers considered any unscheduled hospital admission after surgery a "readmission."
Of the 535 patients, 98 (18.5 percent) had an initial postoperative visit via telehealth. White patients were more likely to use telemedicine for postoperative visits compared with non-White patients.
Overall, 60 patients (11.2 percent) were readmitted within 90 days of discharge. Researchers found no difference in 90-day readmission rates for patients with in-person (16.3 percent) versus telemedicine postoperative visits (16.5 percent).
-----
How a standard that enables devices to share data with EHRs could support ICU care
Demo at HIMSS shows how Service-oriented Device Connectivity architecture can help securely share device data in a bidirectional manner.
Apr 07 2022
Editor-in-Chief, HDM
A relatively new standard that enables patient data from devices used to treat seriously ill patients to be recorded in electronic health records offers myriad opportunities for improving care within intensive care units.
The Service-oriented Device Connectivity standard is designed to ease interoperability among point-of-care medical devices as well as share device data with hospital information systems built on HL7 standards.
For example, SDC can be used to enable ICU devices, such as infusion pumps and instruments that measure patients’ vital signs, to seamlessly share data with each other devices as well as with external display monitors. This capability is crucial in caring for patients who need to be isolated, such as those with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
The SDC standard holds the promise of improving patient care, enabling the distribution of critical alarms to caregivers and automating the documentation of device readings in patients’ EHRs. The potential use of the standard in a mock ICU was demonstrated at a cooperative exhibit at the recent HIMSS22 Conference in Orlando.
-----
How health IT real-world testing will affect providers, patients
The burden of the process lies on IT product developers, but the program is likely to have broader implications for the healthcare industry.
Apr 07 2022
Contributing Editor, HDM
The real-world testing of certified health information technology products is finally underway. And while health IT developers have the obligation to assess how their products perform in the real world, the testing will have both direct and indirect effects on providers, patients and others.
Real-world testing (RWT) is one of the Conditions of Health IT Certification established by the 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule issued in 2020 to test health IT products’ interoperability and functionality.
Developers need to submit their RWT plans, conduct the testing and report the results each year. The plans and results will be publicly available on ONC’s Certified Health IT Product List.
“It’s another way vendors can prove that their software really works,” says Jeff Robbins, president and founder of New Orleans-based Dynamic Health IT, which is helping several health IT developers engage in RWT.
-----
Current systems, requirements and workloads burn out clinicians
Provider leadership needs to prioritize workforce preservation and take a hard look at unnecessary requirements, say presenters in new HDM KLASroom series.
Apr 07 2022
Editor-in-Chief, HDM
Have clinical information systems solved the wrong problem?
Current electronic health records systems are good for the purpose of recording care diagnoses and providing a sequence of what’s been done for the patient, but the technology “stack” upon which these systems have been built hasn’t advanced much in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, clinicians are facing growing challenges to sift through troves of data to answer clinical questions – all within workflow and 20-minute patient encounters.
"The tech stack (of EHRs) is handcuffed, and it’s hard to change them. We need a bit of a revolution.”
These challenges were underscored during presentations on Wednesday, April 6, on the topic of Improving the clinician and care team experience, the first in a series of four educational events produced by Health Data Management and KLAS Research.
The series, focusing on how best to reduce clinician overload and enable better results with health technology, took a close look at the disconnect between current technology and reasons why clinicians are struggling to meet current patient care demands.
It’s still volume, not value
-----
https://www.digitalhealth.net/2022/04/nhs-england-federated-data-platform/
NHS England planning to develop a £240million ‘Federated Data Platform’
NHS England has announced plans to develop a £240million ‘Federated Data Platform’ (FDP) via a prior information notice ahead of an open procurement.
The notice states that the data platform will be an “essential enabler to transformational improvements” across the NHS and will be an “ecosystem of technologies and services”.
The new data platform will be built around five major use cases, each wide-ranging in scope:
- Population health and person insight
- Care coordination (with focus on ICS)
- Elective recovery (with focus on trusts)
- Vaccines and immunisation
- Supply chain
There is a suggestion that the procurement will consist of two lots – one to be for the platform itself, with the capacity for ICS integration and the relevant consultancy and communications support, and the other for privacy-enhancing technology. The market notice also says that other procurements that are relevant to the project could be made by other organisations.
NHS England says it intends to hold a supplier briefing session in relation to the project on 13 April 2022 and estimates the publication of the contract notice to be on 6 June 2022.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ama-outlines-key-steps-advancing-telehealth-equity
AMA outlines key steps for advancing telehealth equity
The association's proposals include broadband expansion, intentional design, health system investments and community partnerships.
By Kat Jercich
April 08, 2022 09:54 AM
The American Medical Association this week released a report outlining key steps that organizations and policymakers should take in order to work toward equity in the telehealth landscape."Telehealth has the potential to be an important tool for addressing long-standing health inequities among historically marginalized and minoritized communities that have been impacted disproportionately by the COVID-19 pandemic," said the organization in an issue brief.
"To realize telehealth’s full potential, the AMA believes that those developing and implementing telehealth solutions must prioritize partnerships with historically marginalized and minoritized populations to ensure that solutions are designed to be accessible and work well for all," it continued.
WHY IT MATTERS
As telehealth continues to be a popular modality for care delivery, advocates, organizations and some lawmakers have stressed the importance of ensuring maximum access.
-----
Penn Medicine Study Proves Technology Isn't Always Useful
Analysis | By Eric Wicklund | April 08, 2022
A remote patient monitoring program launched by Penn Medicine to treat COVID-19 patients at home is working fine and proving its value. Adding technology didn't make it any better.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Penn Medicine has treated more than 28,500 patients in its COVID Watch remote patient monitoring program since 2020, improving clinical outcomes and reducing hospital traffic and costs.
· When the health system added a pulse oximetry device to the program to enable patients to monitor their blood oxygen levels at home, they found that the added service didn't change outcomes and didn't make patients feel any better at home.
· A good program doesn't always need new technology, and in some cases the added tool or service might just make things more costly and complicated.
New technology doesn’t always add value to a good remote patient monitoring program.
That’s the take-away from a study of a COVID-19 RPM program managed by Penn Medicine and recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study of more than 2,000 patients enrolled in the health system’s COVID Watch program in 2020 and 2021 found that patients who used a pulse oximeter at home didn’t have better outcomes than patients who simply contacted their care providers when they had breathing problems.
“Compared to remotely monitoring shortness of breath with simple automated check-ins, we showed that the addition of pulse oximetry did not save more lives or keep more people out of the hospital,” Anna Morgan, MD, medical director of the COVID Watch program, an assistant professor of General Internal Medicine and the study’s co-author, said in a Penn Medicine press release. “And having a pulse oximeter didn’t even make patients feel less anxious.”
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/biases-in-artificial-intelligence-led-to-healthcare-disparities
Biases in Artificial Intelligence Led to Healthcare Disparities
Researchers from the US and China note that several biases found in artificial intelligence design perpetuate healthcare disparities.
April 07, 2022 - Although artificial intelligence (AI) continues to become a critical aspect of healthcare, researchers from PLOS digital health biases and data gaps involved in AI production can lead to healthcare disparities.
Over time, AI increasingly uncovers ways to decrease the frequency of clinical errors and improve outcome predictions.
Although these methods have proven effective in various situations, many have been created from a biased point of view, leading to skewed results.
In this study, researchers gathered studies from the US and China, a sample that included 7,314 articles.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-usage-jumped-10-nationally-in-january
Telehealth Usage Jumped 10% Nationally in January
Telehealth utilization increased 10.2 percent in January, making up 5.4 percent of all medical claim lines, according to new data.
April 07, 2022 - As the COVID-19 Omicron variant progressed nationwide in January, FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker shows there was an increase in telehealth utilization for every US census region for the third straight month.
The tracker is a complimentary service that analyzes how telehealth usage changes monthly by tracking various factors such as claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories. The population represented is privately insured, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid beneficiaries.
"As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, FAIR Health begins our third year of tracking the evolution of telehealth," said FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd, in the press release. "Once again, we have modified our Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker to keep pace with the changing needs of stakeholders for current information about this venue of care."
In January, there was a 10.2 percent increase in telehealth utilization, which resulted in telehealth occupying 5.4 percent of all medical claim lines, the tracker shows. This number increased from December when telehealth accounted for 4.9 percent of all medical claim lines.
-----
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/98068
Telehealth: Terms and Conditions Apply
— Added convenience comes at a cost
Let's say with all that's been going on, you've been feeling increasingly depressed and anxious, so you decide to make an appointment with a psychiatrist who you heard was great. The next courageous step is to actually show up for the appointment, and you arrive a few minutes early to fill out the usual paperwork in the waiting room. Finally, you're shown to her office, and you nervously take a seat on the couch. She smiles warmly and says, "OK, I'm going to begin audio and video recording the appointment now."
Wait, that's not how it's supposed to go. You're puzzled and frozen in place, so shocked you're not sure what to do next.
The doctor's office, like one's home, is a place where we have certain expectations of privacy. Patients expect doctors to take notes and document their visits in an electronic medical record, but they don't expect their visits to be audio and video recorded. With the advent of telehealth, the doctor's office is one's home, but instead of this affording patients more privacy, they have less. It's great to improve access to healthcare and be able to have medical appointments from the comfort of one's own couch, but has anyone read the terms and conditions that come with that convenience? Of course not.
-----
The majority of health execs say they believe equity is important. Now what?
Dr. Ankoor Shah, a management consulting principal director and health equity lead at Accenture, discusses concrete steps leadership teams can take to reduce disparities in patient outcomes.
By Kat Jercich
April 07, 2022 10:58 AM
New research from Accenture, a professional services company, and HIMSS Market Insights found that the vast majority of U.S. healthcare executives believe equity initiatives are important.
However, only a little more than a third have a specific budget dedicated toward advancing equity agendas, said the research.
Dr. Ankoor Shah, a management consulting principal director and health equity lead at Accenture, discussed these findings at HIMSS22 in Orlando. After the conference, he touched base with Healthcare IT News about the research and how technology can be leveraged to push forward health equity agendas.
Q. What are a few top-level takeaways from the research?
A. Nine out of 10 healthcare executives see health equity as a top business priority, which is an important milestone. However, only 36% have a specific budget to drive those health equity agendas, thus revealing a gap between prioritization and realization.
-----
Does Your Healthcare Organization Need to Level Up Their NIST Security Efforts?
April 7, 2022
For all its good and ill, meaningful use drove action and adoption of EHR in healthcare. What made the difference? Ok, $36 billion in stimulus money helped. However, the key to change was healthcare organizations having a common goal. Once health IT professionals are focused on something, it is amazing to see the results they produce.
When I talk to many in healthcare about security, they are often overwhelmed by all the security risks and challenges we face as the risk surface in healthcare keeps expanding. While many are still unsure where to go, I’ve increasingly seen forward thinking health IT leaders and CISOs using the NIST framework as a common goal for their healthcare organization to improve their security posture. Much like efforts to achieve meaningful use drove EHR adoption, I see many healthcare organizations using NIST as the guideposts to drive their security efforts.
If you’re not familiar with NIST, go and download this recently released eBook on Proven Strategies to Elevate Your NIST Framework Implementation that Healthcare IT Today created together with Intraprise Health. It provides a great introduction to NIST including a crosswalk look at how the NIST-CSF and HIPAA security rule overlap.
What’s challenging about NIST is that there’s no formal requirement to do it or specific financial incentives behind it. Although, there is some leniency that OCR will consider if a covered entity or business associate has implemented a cybersecurity framework and best practices like NIST. Plus, the framework does provide healthcare organizations a structured way to look at their security efforts and to address their security risks.
-----
The Patient Right of Access Rule and a Look at Enforcement Actions
April 7, 2022
New government regulations never stop in healthcare. It’s just the nature of the business and that’s unlikely to change. However, the reality of this is that some rules get more attention than others. One rule that I think some have missed is the Patient Right of Access rule. For those that may have missed some of the details, we asked Rita Bowen, Vice President, Privacy, Compliance and HIM Policy at MRO, to share with our audience some background on the rule, where it resides and a brief explanation of what it requires in the interview below.
One of the big changes that healthcare organizations need to understand is the term “Designated Record Set.” Just like under HIPAA we need to understand PHI (Protected Health Information) and HIM professionals need to understand the legal health record, Bowen explains that those in healthcare now need to understand what constitutes the Designated Record Set in order to comply with the Patient Right of Access rule.
While following this rule is in the best interest of patients, OCR has also made enforcement of the Patient Right of Access rule a priority. OCR has already done 30 enforcement actions with fines and corrective action plans. In the interview below, Bowen shares with us some of the most common reasons provider organizations are being cited and what trends she sees from the OCR enforcement actions.
-----
New mHealth App Helps Providers ID Marijuana, CBD Interactions With Other Drugs
Analysis | By Eric Wicklund | April 06, 2022
Penn State researchers have developed an mHealth app that allows care providers and phramacists to identify drug-drug interactions at the point of care for patients using marijuana or CBD
Penn State is taking aim at the growing popularity (and legalization) of marijuana and cannabidiol (CBD) products with an mHealth app designed to help providers identify how those products might interact with other medications.
The CANNabinoid Drug Interaction Review (CANN-DIR) app is a free web-based resource targeted at healthcare providers and pharmacists. Developed by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine, it allows users to select the cannabinoid product that a patient is taking and provide information on how it reacts to over-the-counter and prescription medications.
“Some drugs can affect the way others are broken down by the body, which can be problematic in the case of medications with a narrow therapeutic index,” Kent Vrana, the project leader and Eliot S. Veseli Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, said in a press release. “People may not realize that THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinoil) and CBD products have the ability to change the way other drugs are metabolized, and it’s an important conversation for patients and health care providers to have with each other. CANN-DIR can help facilitate those conversations and provide useful information for health care providers when prescribing medications to their patients.”
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/new-surescripts-health-it-features-set-to-enhance-patient-matching
New Surescripts Health IT Features Set to Enhance Patient Matching
Health IT vendor Surescripts has released new patient matching features that officials say will help improve care management.
April 06, 2022 - Health IT vendor Surescripts has introduced new patient matching features through its master patient index that are expected to enhance the patient and provider experience.
The vendor's master patient index supports health IT tools for electronic prior authorization, medication history, real-time prescription benefits, and more.
The Surescripts master patient index has relied on a proprietary matching algorithm since 2001. Newly added patient matching features will supplement the algorithm with patient reference records, including demographic data such as name, name changes, date of birth, and current and prior addresses.
The enhancements helped the vendor identify additional data for as many as 400,000 patients in one day. Additionally, the features helped populate 2.2 percent more medications across all Surescripts medication history responses in March 2022.
-----
Epic EHR Integration Streamlines Patient Access to Cancer Screenings
Epic Systems will integrate Guardant Health tests within its EHR, expediting the test ordering process for clinicians and improving patient access to cancer screenings.
April 06, 2022 - Epic Systems announced that it has formed a partnership with precision oncology company Guardant Health to support an Epic EHR integration to enhance patient access to cancer screening.
The Guardant Health oncology platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes, and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum.
The EHR integration will allow clinicians to order Guardant Health Center tests electronically within Epic, which the companies said should improve clinical workflow. More than 250 million patients with a record in Epic will now have access to cancer screenings through this new partnership.
"This partnership will allow us to provide a best-in-class customer experience for healthcare providers to easily order Guardant Health tests and access results quickly, giving them more time to focus on their patients," Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health co-CEO, said in the press release.
-----
US Primary Care Access, Maternal Health Equity Worst in Developed World
The report found abysmal maternal health equity and outcomes among women ages 18 to 49, something researchers said is due to high costs and poor primary care access.
By Sara Heath
April 06, 2022 - A new report out from the Commonwealth Foundation doubles down on data stating that the United States has the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world, as well as a number of cost and primary care access issues hampering wellness for women of reproductive age.
The report, which defined reproductive age as between 18 and 49, also showed that women in the US were unlikely to have a primary care provider and that they went without care because they could not afford it.
The findings about maternal mortality are not new, the Commonwealth Foundation pointed out. Maternal mortality, and disparities in maternal mortality, have been a problem for decades.
“But maternal deaths and complications may be a bellwether for the U.S.’s wider failures with respect to women’s health and health care,” the researchers wrote.
-----
Software Vulnerabilities Point to Need for ICS Security in Healthcare
Industrial control system (ICS) security requires defense in depth measures and regular vulnerability patching.
By Jill McKeon
April 06, 2022 - The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently issued an industrial control system (ICS) medical advisory regarding the LifePoint Informatics patient portal. If exploited, the vulnerability could lead to protected health information (PHI) exposure.
“Navigating to a specific URL with a patient ID number will result in the server generating a PDF of a lab report without authentication and rate limiting,” the advisory explained.
The vulnerability impacts LifePoint Informatics’ patient portal version LPI 3.5.12.P30. However, LifePoint Informatics released and deployed an updated version of its patient portal in February 2022, which effectively mitigated this vulnerability. Since the patient portal is a hosted application, users do not need to take action.
Although this specific vulnerability was deemed low-risk, CISA’s advisory urged users to take defensive measures to reduce the risk of exploitation. Specifically, CISA recommended that users minimize network exposure for all control system devices, isolate control system networks and remote devices from the business network, and utilize VPNs.
-----
https://khn.org/news/article/tech-glitches-va-site-spokane-concerns-nationwide-rollout/
Tech Glitches at One VA Site Raise Concerns About a Nationwide Rollout
Darius Tahir April 5, 2022
Spokane, Washington, was supposed to be the center of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ tech reinvention, the first site in the agency’s decade-long project to change its medical records software. But one morning in early March, the latest system malfunction made some clinicians snap.
At Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, the records system — developed by Cerner Corp., based in North Kansas City, Missouri — went down. Staffers, inside the hospital and its outpatient facilities, were back to relying on pen and paper. Computerized schedules were inaccessible. Physicians couldn’t enter new orders or change patients’ medications.
By the next day, the electronic health records were only partially available. Dozens of records remained “sequestered,” meaning that doctors and nurses struggled to update patient charts.
The snafu, the latest in a series at Mann-Grandstaff, heightened Spokane medical staff members’ frustration with a system that has been problematic since it was installed a year and a half ago. The VA said no patients had been harmed because of the problems.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/telehealth/states-consider-cutting-back-telehealth-freedoms
States Consider Cutting Back on Telehealth Freedoms
Analysis | By Eric Wicklund | April 06, 2022
The pandemic created a surge in virtual care as state and federal lawmakers relaxed the rules to expand telehealth access and coverage, but now some states are looking to tighten the regulations
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· With the COVID-19 public health emergency reducing access to in-person care, the federal government and every state eased the rules on telehealth access and coverage to give providers and consumers more opportunities to connect via virtual care.
· The pandemic is easing now, and some legislators want to curb those telehealth freedoms, saying they're hurting local care providers and allowing unregulated and inappropriate services.
· Telehealth proponents argue that the pandemic has proven the value of virtual care, and that the emergency measures should be made permanent.
With COVID-19 slowly moving into the rear-view mirror, some states are dialing back the telehealth freedoms that healthcare providers enjoyed during the pandemic.
In Alabama, Senate Bill 272 and House Bill 423 aim to mandate in-person visits for certain virtual care services, with supporters arguing that a visit to the doctor's office is needed to maintain the physician-patient relationship and to ensure quality care.
Specifically, the Alabama bills would mandate:
At least one in-person visit every 12 months for physicians who meet with a patient four or more times a year via telehealth (current language allows for in-person care when necessary to meet the standard of care); and
An in-person visit whenever a physician prescribes a controlled substance (current language allows for prescription of controlled substances via telehealth if that service meets state and federal regulations and telehealth is consistent with the standard of care).
-----
EHR Integration Boosts Inpatient Clinical Documentation of Care Goals
A communication-priming EHR integration helped increase clinical documentation of care goals for hospitalized patients with serious illnesses.
April 05, 2022 - A patient-facing and clinician-facing communication-priming EHR integration promoted inpatient clinical documentation of care goals for hospitalized patients with serious illnesses, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
The study enrolled 150 patients from two hospitals in an academic healthcare system. Participants included hospitalized adults with chronic life-limiting illness, aged 65 years or older and with markers of frailty, or aged 80 years or older. Seventy-five patients each were randomized to the intervention and control groups.
Patients or surrogates in the intervention group and their clinicians received patient-specific guides populated with data from questionnaires and the EHR designed to prompt goals-of-care discussions.
The researchers found that the incidence of EHR-documented discussions related to goals of care was higher in the intervention group than in the control group. However, the study did not find any differences in patient-reported or surrogate-reported goals-of-care discussions or quality of communication between the control and intervention groups.
-----
https://healthitsecurity.com/news/1.4m-victims-30-healthcare-data-breaches-reported-to-hhs-in-march
1.4M Victims, 30 Healthcare Data Breaches Reported to HHS in March
HHS OCR’s breach portal showed a decrease in healthcare data breach reports in March compared to the first two months of the year.
By Jill McKeon
April 05, 2022 - The number of healthcare data breaches reported to HHS in March dipped for the second month in a row, HealthITSecurity’s analysis of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) data breach portal revealed. A total of 127 breaches reported so far in 2022 have impacted over 6 million individuals.
The portal displays data breaches suffered by HIPAA-covered entities that impacted at least 500 individuals. OCR categorizes the breaches by type of covered entity (healthcare provider, business associate, or health plan) and type of incident (hacking/IT incidents, theft, loss, and unauthorized access or disclosure).
In January, 50 breaches impacted 2,316,419 individuals. February saw a slight decrease, with 47 reported breaches affecting 2,254,895 individuals. In March, 30 reported breaches impacted a total of 1,475,925 individuals.
It is important to note that entities reported the breaches to HHS in March, but that does not mean they all took place in March. Covered entities have 60 days after discovering a breach to report it to HHS.
-----
April 04, 2022
EHR alerts boosted prescription of guideline-recommended heart failure therapies
WASHINGTON — A personalized alert triggered via the electronic health record during office visits resulted in more frequent prescription of guideline-directed medical therapies for patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction.
The EHR alerts also increased the rate of uptitration of currently prescribed HFrEF therapies, when the alert indicated that doing so may be beneficial, according to results of the PROMPT-HF trial, which were presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.
‘Easily scalable strategy’
“We know that guideline-directed medical therapy improves clinical outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, but it remains pervasively underprescribed,” said Tariq Ahmad, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, medical director of advanced heart failure and cardiovascular medicine, and chief of the heart failure program at Yale School of Medicine. “Efforts to optimize guideline-directed medical therapy are abundant and resource intensive, but limited evidence supports their use. Electronic health records may be used to target and individualize guideline-directed medical therapy recommendations. This approach is easily scalable and a low-cost way to accelerate high-value care.”
The PROMT-HF trial included 100 providers and more than 1,300 patients with HFrEF (median age, 72 years; 31% women; median left ventricular ejection fraction, 32%) in the Yale-New Haven Health System, and utilized its integrated EHR data (Epic Systems). Researchers did not enroll patients with HFrEF already on quadruple therapy.
-----
https://capitolweekly.net/california-setting-up-statewide-medical-data-exchange-grid/
California setting up statewide medical data-exchange grid
by posted 04.04.2022
California is developing a long-sought statewide health information exchange for providers and payers to deliver better care for patients.
The health information exchange, or HIE, has received little public attention. But it would cover 40 million people in California’s 58 counties, and would in part quickly inform emergency room doctors and nurses of a patient’s medical history, e.g., a preexisting condition, before her care.
A framework for the data-exchange program is supposed to be completed by this July by the California Health and Human Services Agency.
It marks the first time California has begun putting together such an exchange. The data exchanges in the past have often been fragmented and limited to the local or regional levels, experts say. A statewide network does not yet exist in California, leaving a gap in the provision of services.
The law establishing HIE, AB 133 authored by Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Eureka), was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as a budget trailer bill in July 2021
-----
Is momentum finally building for the ‘zero trust’ security strategy?
The rise in cyberattacks, a shift in federal strategies and legislative efforts all could be catalysts for the updated cybersecurity approach.
Apr 05 2022
Editor-in-Chief, HDM
The “zero trust” cybersecurity strategy, which has been around for more than a decade, has seen significant adoption in many sectors. But relatively few healthcare organizations have fully adopted the model.
However, momentum for adopting the strategy in healthcare could grow as a result of the growing risk of cyberattacks – including ransomware incidents –the ongoing shift to the zero trust approach in the federal government and new legislative initiatives, among other factors.
Radical shift in approach
The main concept behind the zero trust security model is "never trust, always verify,” which means that devices should not be trusted by default – even if they are connected to a corporate network or were previously verified. The strategy involves implementing user and device authentication every time system access is requested, but it goes far beyond the use of any one security technology.
The healthcare sector, like many others, has long used a security strategy based primarily on protecting the corporate perimeter. But cloud computing has made a “perimeterless” security approach more appropriate. And the zero trust model is particularly appropriate in healthcare because of a dispersed workforce, the rising use of personal devices, the growth of connected medical devices and the push toward interoperability. All of these factors, after all, increase the risk that cybercriminals can enter networks and find pathways to critical medical information.
-----
Groups raise alarm over lack of protection rules for third-party apps
In a letter to federal agencies, two industry organizations call for certification or other regulatory oversight to protect patient privacy.
Apr 05 2022
Editor-in-Chief, HDM
Industry groups are raising concerns and seeking a federal-private approach to address privacy risks posed by third-party apps that use application programming interfaces to access patients’ information.
The apps will ease patients’ access to their health information, but critics say they need some degree of oversight to ensure that consumers have guidance in selecting which apps to use – otherwise, they likely will be ill-equipped to ascertain potential risks, according to a letter sent to federal agencies last week.
The letter – from the Confidentiality Coalition and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) – support the seamless flow of healthcare information that apps can facilitate, but the groups want to ensure some form of data privacy and protection with their use, such as that afforded by the Healthcare Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). That law, in force for more than 20 years, extends only to traditional healthcare providers and their business associates but doesn’t apply to the third-party applications that consumers may use to access health information or manage their conditions.
“A vast amount of health-related information does not fall within the HIPAA regulatory framework and is large unprotected from misuse,” the organizations’ letter states. “We urge the Departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services (HHS) to take action to protect patients from inappropriate disclosures of their health information.” Copies of the letter also were sent to legislative committees with oversight over health and consumer protection.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/geisinger-test-ai-tool-identify-cognitive-impairment
Geisinger to Test AI Tool to Identify Cognitive Impairment
Analysis | By Eric Wicklund | April 04, 2022
The Pennsylvania health system is partnering with a digital health company to test the value of the Passive Digital Marker is detecting early symptoms that may lead to dementia
The Geisinger health system is launching a study on the effectiveness of an AI tool in identifying cognitive impairment that could lead to dementia.
The Pennsylvania health system is teaming up with New Jersey-based Eisai on the project, which will study the value of the Passive Digital Marker on a set of de-identified data to identify which individuals are dealing with cognitive impairment. The algorithm was designed by researchers at Purdue University and Indiana University.
"As we continue to develop new treatments to prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's and related dementias, early detection is becoming even more important," Glen Finney, MD, director of Geisinger's Memory and Cognition Program and a board member of the Greater PA Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, said in a press release. "Early and accurate diagnosis and treatment of these conditions can drastically improve outcomes and quality of life for both patients and caregivers."
More than 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, and experts predict that number will rise to 78 million by 2030. In addition, some 40-60% of adults with probable dementia are undiagnosed.
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/health-data-privacy-key-to-clinical-research-of-native-communities
Health Data Privacy Key to Clinical Research of Native Communities
Native Americans called on clinical researchers to focus on specific communities' health data privacy preferences and cultural practices.
April 04, 2022 - Clinical researchers who collect and analyze health data from Native communities have a unique responsibility to protect this information in ways that align with the data privacy preferences of specific communities, according to a study published in JAMIA.
Researchers ran a workshop with 14 tribal leaders to co-design a research study to assess preferences concerning health data privacy for biomedical research. All interviewees had connections to the Strong Heart Study, the country's most extensive epidemiologic study of Native American health.
Workshop participants provided recommendations regarding who researchers should consult and what methods to use, underscoring the importance of relationship-building between clinical researchers and tribal communities.
During the workshop introductions, participants shared details about their ties to the SHS, either as current or former employees, study participants, or sometimes both participant and employee.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/charting-future-course-healthcare-let-s-think-bigger
In charting a future course for healthcare, let’s think bigger
AI, augmented reality, biomedical sensors and beyond – by mapping out a clear vision now, we can widen our ambitions and improve modernization strategies to better harness the vast potential offered by technology advances.
By Angela Jones
April 04, 2022 01:33 PM
Angela Jones is a program manager in digital health transformation at Booz Allen Hamilton. This article was co-written with Dr. Kevin Vigilante, chief medical officer at Booz Allen Hamilton.
For the past two years, healthcare agencies have been preoccupied with addressing the immediate priorities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout, they have been dramatically accelerating their adoption of telehealth capabilities to circumvent physical, in-person care limitations imposed by the pandemic. Without realizing it, agencies have taken their first steps towards the promising future of intelligent healthcare.
The confluence of today’s technological advances – in data analytics, digital sensor technologies, 5G networks, artificial intelligence and machine learning, genomic medicine, and elsewhere – offers the potential to transform medicine as we know it.
But of equal importance is the opportunity to transform the visit-based care models of today into new care-delivery paradigms that are connected, agile, personalized, and driven by patient needs. The result will be a shift from institutional-based, episodic, and illness-focused care to a model that promotes wellness through a longitudinal and holistic view of the patient.
Focused on the immediate and overwhelming needs of the pandemic, many healthcare agencies had little choice but to approach virtual care modernization in a real-time and unplanned manner. The result is more of a bolted-on capability than an integrated whole that can truly transform healthcare delivery in ways that improve outcomes, lower costs, reduce health disparities and re-imagine the patient experience to a fully evolved and connected care journey.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
