Here are a few
I came across last week.
Note: Each
link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on
the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links
may require site registration or subscription payment.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-apis-streamline-patient-access-to-health-information
How APIs Streamline Patient Access to Health Information
HL7
FHIR-based application programming interfaces (APIs) can help boost
interoperability for streamlined patient access to health information.
By Hannah Nelson
August 20,
2021 - To comply with federal interoperability regulations for patient
access to health information, many stakeholders are adopting application
programming interfaces (APIs).
A portion of
the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
Interoperability rule calls
on providers and device developers to promote patient access to health
information through APIs or third party applications. Compliance for this
portion of the rule began on April 5, 2021.
“Delivering interoperability
actually gives patients the ability to manage their healthcare the same way
they manage their finances, travel and every other component of their lives,”
Don Rucker, MD, former national coordinator for health information
technology, said of
the final rule at the time. “This requires using modern computing standards and
APIs that give patients access to their health information.”
“A core part
of the rule is patients’ control of their electronic health information which
will drive a growing patient-facing healthcare IT economy and allow apps to
provide patient-specific price and product transparency,” Rucker continued.
Additionally,
the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final
rule requires payers and providers to remove the industry siloes that
prevent seamless patient data exchange across the care continuum.
Compliance
for the final rule began on July 1, 2021.
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/how-broad-data-collection-can-eliminate-health-disparities
How Broad Data Collection Can Eliminate Health Disparities
Broad data
collection can improve precision medicine, artificial intelligence, and
predictive analytics to eliminate health disparities.
By Erin McNemar, MPA
August 20,
2021 - With the use of broad data collection, medical professionals can
provide better care for their patients and eliminate health disparities.
However, as health analytics advances to improve outcomes for patients, there
are also opportunities for potential health inequities.
To ensure all
patients are receiving equal and quality care, analytic
health technology should engage in broad data collection practices. By focusing
efforts on diverse data collection, these tools can improve precision
medicine, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics to eliminate health
disparities.
Data
Collection for Precision Medicine
The success
of precision
medicine relies on large databases containing information regarding
genetics, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices. Clinicians can use
precision medicine to determine treatment options that work best for a patient
depending on that patient’s unique personal characteristics.
Not only does
precision medicine require large databases, but the databases should also
contain data from diverse populations to eliminate health disparities. Racial
disparities in chronic
diseases are well documented in the medical field.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/nemours-survey-parents-like-telehealth-but-more-need-to-be-convinced-to-use-it
Nemours Survey: Parents Like Telehealth, But More Need to Be Convinced to
Use It
A survey
conducted by Nemours Children's Health and Amwell finds that parents flocked to
telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many hope to continue using it,
but there are still gaps in their understanding of the value of virtual care.
By Eric Wicklund
August 20,
2021 - The pandemic has proven the value of telehealth to parents,
according to a recent survey by Nemours Children’s Health. But it has also
highlighted the need to continue emphasizing the value of virtual visits to
overcome barriers to care and improve health and wellness.
A
survey of more than 2,000 adults conducted earlier this year in conjunction
with Amwell found that while 35 percent of parents used telehealth prior to the
COVID-19 crisis (based on a 2017 survey), that percentage jumped to 77 percent
during the pandemic. In addition, almost 80 percent have accessed pediatric
telehealth services, compared to 35 percent before the pandemic.
Overall, the
survey reports, more than 60 percent of parents want to continue using
connected health services after the pandemic – including almost 30 percent of
parents who hadn’t used any telehealth in the past.
“While one
might expect that factors such as income or access to technology are barriers
to telehealth, this survey underscores how telehealth proved to be a viable
solution to expanding access and reducing disparities in providing timely care
during COVID-19,” R. Lawrence Moss, MD, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s
Health System, said
in a press release. “Regulations that were eased during the pandemic need
to become permanent to support telehealth access for the long-term. Telehealth
can be part of building health equity among people experiencing social,
economic and family challenges.”
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/patient-communication-strategies-for-chronic-disease-prevention
Patient Communication Strategies for Chronic Disease Prevention
Patient
education, shared decision-making, and motivational interviewing are key
patient communication tactics for chronic disease prevention.
By Sara Heath
August 20,
2021 - Chronic disease prevention is a critical aspect of patient care at
all risk levels, but becomes particularly important when a patient moves into
rising risk. When that happens, clinicians need to employ targeted patient
communication strategies to drive patient engagement with key lifestyle and
healthy behavior changes.
Those patient
communication strategies should be varied and tap into individual patient
motivations. Through strong patient education, shared decision-making,
motivation interviewing, and empathy, clinicians can coach their patients
through chronic disease prevention with the ultimate goal of staving off
illness.
Patient
education
One of the
first steps to any patient engagement endeavor is offering strong patient
education. After all, a patient doesn’t know what she doesn’t know, and it is
far more difficult to engage with her health when she doesn’t understand it.
Healthcare
providers should lean on patient education strategies during patient
communication and chronic disease and preventive care.
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https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/08/the-privacy-problem-with-health-related-apps-is-linked-to-insecure-coding/
The privacy problem with health-related apps is linked to insecure coding
In his
next column for Digital Health, Davey Winder, explores the privacy issues
surrounding health-related apps.
Davey Winder
17 August, 2021
A study
published in the British Medical Journal has served to confirm an inconvenient
truth: mobile health apps may not be as private as you think. I’m not convinced
that’s the biggest issue with mobile health apps, truth be told.
47% of apps
analysed didn’t comply with their own privacy policy
The cross
sectional study, authored by Gioacchino Tangari, Muhammad Ikram, Kiran
Ijaz, Mohamed Ali Kaafar and Shlomo Berkovsky, set itself the objective of
analysing what user data is collected by health and fitness related apps on
Google Play and thus reveal any associated risks to privacy.
The
researchers performed their in-depth analysis on a total of 15,838 global apps
from the Australian store with a 8,468 non-health apps used for the baseline
comparison. Of these, the vast majority (88%) were using either cookies or some
form of tracking identifier relating to user activity, and 28% of the apps
didn’t have any privacy policy. Of those that did, only 47% of the apps
complied with that policy.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/08/20/google-and-apple-both-scaling-back-healthcare-efforts/
Google and Apple Both Scaling Back Healthcare Efforts
August 20,
2021
John Lynn
Looks like
Google and Apple have both run into the proverbial healthcare wall that so many
have faced. In fact, in Google’s case, we can say that they’ve ran into
this wall…again. Yes, in some ways this feels like Groundhog Day for
those of us who have followed this industry for as long as we have here at
Healthcare IT Today. Most of you will remember the patient portal/PHR
that was called Google Health. It was shutdown before really making any
sort of impact. However, given the size of the healthcare market, you had
to wonder when Google would return again and return they did.
Google’s
return to healthcare was little by little with a number of very targeted
projects that were eventually pulled together under one umbrella called Google
Health (why not reuse the name right?). When you look at the list of big
names they brought on to the Google Health team, you could see they were really
investing in healthcare in a way they hadn’t done previously. Most
prominent on the Google Health Team
is Dr. Karen DeSalvo who is still Google’s Chief Health Officer and of course
Dr. David Feinberg who was tapped to run Google Health after being President
and CEO of Geisinger Health.
Yesterday,
news broke that Dr.
Feinberg was leaving Google Health in order to be CEO of Cerner. Now,
Business Insider is reporting
that Google is shutting down the Google Health division that Dr. Feinberg led
and projects will be split across other parts of Google. Did Dr. Feinberg
see the writing on the wall or is him leaving prompting the
reorganization? Hard to say. However, what’s clear from this
reorganization is less of a focus on healthcare by Google.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/digital-health-is-booming-and-this-young-startup-has-ambitious-plans-to-take-patient-care-to-the-next-level/
Digital health is booming, and this young startup has ambitious plans to
take patient care to the next level
Ukrainian
med-tech startups are offering innovative and exciting solutions for patients
and medical workers alike. One young startup is enjoying early success.
By Bojan Stojkovski
| August 20, 2021 -- 08:33 GMT (18:33 AEST) | Topic: Innovation
Healthcare
innovations have been on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting
companies to invest in various products, pharmaceuticals, masks, and
medicines.
With
lockdowns and other restriction measures across Europe being both on and off
during the past few months, and with more and more activities being undertaken
remotely, healthcare providers worldwide are turning to new technological
advancements now more than ever.
In Ukraine,
the med-tech industry is becoming increasingly popular, with the country having
14 startups included in the EMERGE list of 100 most promising startups in the Central
and Eastern Europe region.
Telemedicine
company ComeBack
Mobility is one of the startups on that list. Established in 2020, the
company has designed a telemedicine device that attaches to the end of walking
crutches and helps aid patients' recovery from leg injuries.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/cdc-launches-public-health-data-exchange-interoperability-center
CDC Launches Public Health Data Exchange Interoperability Center
CDC has
announced the creation of a new center that aims to boost public health data
exchange interoperability to prepare for future emergencies.
By Hannah Nelson
August 19,
2021 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced
a new center that aims to accelerate public health data exchange
interoperability to support public health forecasting.
Once
established, the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics will bring
together expert disease modelers, public health data, and public health
emergency responders to accelerate the use of data for public health
decision-making.
The center’s
goal is to provide public health officials with the information they need to
mitigate the effects of disease threats. The center will also support
innovation and research on disease modeling.
“This is an
amazing opportunity for CDC and public health as we stand up the country’s
first government-wide public health forecasting center,” CDC Director Rochelle
P. Walensky, MD, MPH, said in a public statement.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/1-in-10-adults-delayed-care-in-spring-2021-due-to-covid-19-concerns
1 in 10 Adults Delayed Care in Spring 2021 Due to COVID-19 Concerns
Black and
Latinx adults were more likely to delay care due to COVID-19 concerns, along
with low-income individuals and those with multiple chronic health conditions.
By Jill McKeon
August 19,
2021 - One in ten nonelderly adults delayed care in spring 2021 due to
COVID-19 concerns, according to a new
report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latinx and Black adults
delayed care at higher rates than White adults, and low-income individuals and
those with chronic conditions reported high rates of unmet healthcare needs.
Researchers
analyzed results from the Urban Institute’s April 2021 Health Reform Monitoring
Survey, which fielded responses from over 9,000 US adults.
Adults ages
18 to 64 reported delaying at least one type of care in the past 30 days
because of COVID-19 exposure concerns.
About 16.2
percent of Latinx adults and 13.3 percent of Black adults delayed care due to
fear of virus exposure, compared to 8.7 percent of White adults. Additionally,
14.9 percent of adults with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty
level were more likely to postpone care compared to higher-income individuals.
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https://www.aiin.healthcare/topics/diagnostics/ai-nudges-clinicians-triage-decisionmaking
AI nudges clinicians at triage decision making
Dave Pearson | August 18, 2021 | Diagnostics
Going
head-to-head against a small group of clinicians in 50 care episodes, an
AI-based smartphone app has equaled or bested the humans at triaging patients
to the most appropriate site of care.
The
clinicians were seven ER physicians, five internal-medicine specialists and a
handful of physician assistants from various specialties.
The
care episodes were verbal vignettes (example: A 25-year-old man with
severe shortness of breath for a few hours. The symptoms started after a motor
vehicle accident in which he was the driver of the car involved. He also
complains of chest pain).
For
each scenario, the researchers asked the clinicians and the app to present the
patient with one of four directives:
- “Go to an ER or call 911
(life-threatening injuries or symptoms that need immediate treatment)”
- “Go to urgent care [e.g., a walk-in
clinic] within 24 hours (non-life-threatening but need treatment”
- “Go to primary care physician (PCP)
within three days (not immediately life-threatening and can wait three
days before being seen by a primary care physician or specialist)”
- “Self-care, remain at home and only
report to primary care or urgent care if the condition worsens”
The
researchers conducted the experiment in several phases to test the app against
individual clinicians as well as against consensus decisions made by five MD
hospitalists specialized in internal medicine at a major academic medical
center.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/voice-technology-opens-new-avenues-home-healthcare
Voice technology opens new avenues for at-home healthcare
The evolution
of speech recognition will also help patients navigate the user interfaces of
remote monitoring devices and personal health devices, said experts in a
HIMSS21 Digital session.
By Nathan Eddy
August 19,
2021 01:11 PM
The
dynamic world of voice technology is impacting healthcare through a number of
use cases, as technologies like natural language processing allow computers to
understand what humans can say – and allowing computers to speak back.
In
a HIMSS21 Digital discussion between David Metcalf, director of UCF's institute
for simulation and training, and Teri Fisher, physician and clinical assistant
professor at the University of British Columbia, Fisher pointed out voice
allows providers to multitask, and is also efficient and omnipresent.
"We
are at a very interesting time for healthcare and voice technology, because of
the computing power – we're already starting to see some radical changes in the
way we experience the healthcare journey," Fisher said.
Metcalf
and Fisher pointed to the advances in the ability for voice technology as
aiding telehealth advances, noting a mix of modalities – between chatbots, text
and voice – will provide patients with the right tool for the right time in the
right place.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/apac/study-shows-increased-use-digital-mental-health-services-following-covid-19-australia-and
Study shows increased use of digital mental health services following
COVID-19 in Australia and New Zealand
The study
looked at the number of people who engaged two online cognitive behavioural
therapy service providers.
By Thiru
Gunasegaran
August 19,
2021 06:07 AM
A
recently published study found a marked increase in the number of
Australians and New Zealanders turning to digital services for mental health
support during the pandemic.
The
study looked at the uptake of two online cognitive behavioural therapy services
– This Way UP in Australia and Just a Thought in New Zealand. Both
companies undertook the research.
WHY IT
MATTERS
There
was a significant increase in use of both services post-COVID-19. In the
three months prior to the pandemic, 2806 people registered for a This Way
UP course and 1907 people registered for a Just a Thought course. During the first
three months of the pandemic, 21,872 and 5442 registered for a This Way UP
and Just a Thought course, respectively.
Use
of the Just a Thought service was more pronounced in the three months following
the COVID-19 outbreak, compared to three months before:
- Website views increased from 22,937
to 167,972
- Course registrations increased
from 1907 to 5442
- Clinician registrations increased
from 181 to 441
- Course prescriptions
increased from 480 to 794
The
study also found limited evidence of elevated anxiety and
depressive symptoms severity during the COVID-19 period.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/08/19/changing-ehr-leadership-new-ceos-at-cerner-and-meditech/
Changing EHR Leadership: New CEOs at Cerner and MEDITECH
August 19, 2021
John Lynn
In
just the last month, we have two new CEOs of two of the largest EHR vendors in
the industry. The news
came out today that Cerner was appointing David Feinberg, MD as President and
CEO of Cerner. Dr. Feinberg will also be a member of the Board of
Directors with William Zollars as independent chairman effective October 1,
2021. Former Cerner CEO, Brent Shafer will assist Dr. Feinberg through
the transition and Donald Trigg, current Cerner President will be leaving
Cerner.
This
is quite an interesting choice by Cerner. Dr. Feinberg was previously the
President and CEO of Geisinger Health and has most recently been Vice President
of Google Health. While Dr. Feinberg’s leadership experience is
extensive, it will be interesting to see how well he does as the head of an EHR
company. Although, Cerner has been increasingly diversifying away from
just being an EHR vendor and so Dr. Feinberg’s experience at Google Health
could be very helpful in that regard.
Just
over a month ago, MEDITECH announced
Michelle O’Connor as the new President and CEO of MEDITECH. While many
outside of MEDITECH weren’t familiar with Michelle O’Connor, I’d heard for
years that O’Connor who had served as MEDITECH’s COO for a long time was the
heir apparent to Howard Messing. O’Connor had worked at MEDITECH since
1988 where she started as an implementation programmer.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/health-it-adoption-disparities-impede-digital-health-transformation
Health IT Adoption Disparities Impede Digital Health Transformation
A new
study suggests that a national policy is needed to support widespread health IT
adoption and digital health transformation for healthcare planning.
By Hannah Nelson
August 18,
2021 - While COVID-19 accelerated the digital health transformation,
disparities exist in health IT adoption of tools that help healthcare planning
and preparation, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research
(JMIR).
The
University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver) Business School researchers conducted
a survey of 135 healthcare system CEOs from February to March 2021.
The survey
explored health system differences between four types of digital orientations:
analytics-oriented digital technologies (AODT), customer-oriented digital
technologies (CODT), growth and innovation–oriented digital technologies
(GODT), and futuristic and experimental digital technologies (FEDT).
As COVID-19
overwhelmed the industry, many health systems adopted consumer-facing health IT
tools that align with existing EHR systems to support virtual care delivery.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/onc-develops-health-it-protocol-for-care-coordination-interoperability
ONC Develops Health IT Protocol for Care Coordination, Interoperability
ONC is
working with health IT stakeholders to develop two new health IT protocols to
support greater interoperability for enhanced care coordination.
By Hannah Nelson
August 18,
2021 - As COVID-19 underscores the need for greater interoperability, ONC
is working with industry stakeholders to rapidly deploy health IT
implementation guidance in support of care coordination, according to a blog
post written by ONC officials Brett Andriesen and Holly Miller.
ONC’s 360X
project is a series of Integrating the Health Care Enterprise (IHE)
International profiles that leverage health IT standards to streamline patient
care transitions, Andriesen and Miller noted. The project currently has
IHE-balloted profiles for two transitions of care use cases: ambulatory
referrals and acute/ambulatory transfers to skilled nursing facilities.
This past
year, the 360X group focused on use cases to enhance care transitions most
critically needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Andriesen and Miller explained.
ONC and its
industry partners aim to identify and complete balloting for the following two
use cases for rapid deployment.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/biden-administration-to-invest-19m-to-expand-telehealth-rural-underserved-areas
Biden administration to invest $19M to expand telehealth in rural,
underserved areas
by Heather Landi
Aug 18, 2021
8:02am
The
Biden administration is investing $19 million to expand telehealth in rural and
underserved communities to help increase access to care during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The
investments will provide funding for telehealth incubators to pilot new
telehealth services and track outcomes in rural medically underserved areas
that have high chronic disease prevalence and high poverty rates. The funding
also will provide training and support to primary care providers in rural,
frontier, and other underserved areas.
The funding
will be distributed to 36 award recipients through the Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), a federal official said in a press release.
“Telehealth is crucial to providing convenient and sustained care for
patients,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement. “This funding
demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s strong commitment to expanding
access to quality health care for everyone, including in rural and underserved
communities. I will continue to support innovative solutions that will
strengthen our health care system.”
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https://www.govinfosecurity.com/information-blocking-rule-understanding-exceptions-a-17295
Information Blocking Rule: Understanding the Exceptions
Privacy Attorney Adam Greene on Data-Sharing Rule
Compliance Challenges Marianne
Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • August 17, 2021
Adam Greene,
partner, Davis Wright Tremaine
Although
the federal information blocking rule spells out practices that are not considered
violations of the regulation, healthcare entities must carefully assess the
validity of privacy or security concerns before denying access, exchange or use
of patient data, says attorney Adam Greene of the law firm Davis Wright
Tremaine.
The
Department of Health and Human Services' 21st
Century Cures Act information blocking rule, which went into effect for
compliance in April, generally prohibits healthcare providers, health IT
developers and health information exchanges from knowingly interfering with the
access, exchange
or use of electronic health information.
The
rule, however, contains eight exceptions - including one pertaining to privacy and
one to security - that spell out practices that are not considered information
blocking.
But
not every possible issue involving health data privacy or
security is a valid excuse for failing to share patient data, Greene explains
in an interview with Information Security Media Group.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/nrhi-shiec-partner-to-support-hies-interoperability-infrastructure
NRHI, SHIEC Partner to Support HIEs, Interoperability Infrastructure
NRHI and
SHIEC have teamed up to form an organization that aims to support local HIES
and strengthen the national interoperability infrastructure.
By Hannah Nelson
August 17,
2021 - The Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) and the
Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) have partnered
to form Civitas Networks for Health, a new organization that aims to support
local health information exchanges (HIEs) and collaboratives to strengthen the
national interoperability infrastructure.
The
partnership comes after a one-year due diligence process that will end on October
1, 2021 with the official organization launch.
NRHI
represents regional health improvement collaboratives (RHICs) and
state-affiliated partner organizations. RHICs are neutral, nonprofit
organizations governed by multi-stakeholder boards of consumers, providers,
payers, and purchasers of healthcare. These organizations help local
stakeholders implement healthcare strategies that aim to improve the health and
healthcare of their communities.
SHIEC
represents statewide, regional, and community HIEs.
SHIEC’s HIE members are nonprofit organizations governed by multi-stakeholder
boards and state-designated entities that support secure health data exchange.
SHIEC’s members work to boost care coordination and care management across
healthcare systems and communities through enhanced interoperability.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/understanding-the-risks-complexity-of-healthcare-cybersecurity
Understanding the Risks, Complexity of Healthcare Cybersecurity
One
emergency medical physician and health IT adviser shares insights on the growing
cybersecurity challenges in healthcare today.
By Lisa Gentes-Hunt
August 16,
2021 - From the fields of Fenway Park to the halls of
the emergency department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
in Boston to the classrooms of the University of Florence
in Italy, Dr. Sean Kelly is on the forefront
of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the
cybersecurity threat-outbreak that is plaguing
healthcare institutions across the country.
Kelly is
not only a practicing emergency medicine physician in Boston, but also a
member of the CHIME Opioid Task Force (a team of health IT
leaders,) an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical
School, a visiting professor at the University of Florence, a first aid
physician at Fenway Park in Boston, and an adviser on the
clinical practice of healthcare IT security.
Kelly shares
his insights into the growing cyberthreats that hospitals, doctors' offices and
healthcare facilities across the country are facing.
The Unique
Nature of the Healthcare Industry
Kelly said
that because of the unique nature of the industry and its workers,
keeping data and computer systems protected is a complex task.
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https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/568122-us-to-recommend-booster-shots-for-most-americans-8-months-after-fully
Boosters to be expanded to most vaccinated Americans: reports
By Mychael Schnell - 08/16/21 10:55 PM EDT 2,672
The
Biden administration is reportedly planning to announce that most Americans
should receive a COVID-19 booster shot eight months after they have been fully
vaccinated, expanding the pool of people who should get the extra doses beyond
those with compromised immune systems.
The
New York Times reported that the U.S. could begin offering a
third shot as soon as mid-September, citing two administration officials familiar
with the discussions. The Times reported that health officials
“envision” administering Americans the same vaccine they were initially given.
The
Washington Post reported that the boosters wouldn't be administered
until an application by Pfizer for additional shots is cleared by the Food and
Drug Administration.
Biden
officials will reportedly announce the new guidance as soon as this week.
The
Times and Post reports came days after the FDA authorized
a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for certain people with compromised
immune systems.
-----
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/15/inside-americas-covid-data-gap-502565
Inside America’s Covid-reporting breakdown
Crashing computers, three-week delays tracking infections, lab
results delivered by snail mail: State officials detail a vast failure to
identify hotspots quickly enough to prevent outbreaks.
By ERIN BANCO
08/15/2021 07:00 AM EDT
There were
too many cases to count.
Covid-19 was
spreading rapidly throughout the United States, as cold winter weather began to
drive people indoors, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was
flying blind: The state agencies that it relied on were way behind in their
tracking, with numbers trickling in from labs by fax or even snail mail.
In Oklahoma,
Dr. Jared Taylor, Oklahoma’s lead state epidemiologist, couldn’t see the
full picture.
Inside the
state health department in Oklahoma City, staffers shuffled through piles of
paper they’d pulled out of fax machines and sorted through hundreds of secure
emails to upload Covid-19 lab results manually to the state’s digital dashboard
— a system that often malfunctioned. Other employees desperately tried to work
with labs — many of whom had not worked with the state previously — to walk
them through the process of sending results electronically.
When the data
came in, state employees routinely found errors — instances where a person was
counted twice or two people with the same name were identified as a single
patient.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/american-board-telehealth-launches-certificate-virtual-primary-care
American Board of Telehealth launches certificate for virtual primary care
The program
will cover a range of topics and best practices, including workflow, barriers
to provision, regulatory considerations and health equity.
By Kat Jercich
August 17,
2021 02:03 PM
The
American Board of Telehealth announced this week that it is launching a
Teleprimary Care Certificate program, geared toward helping primary care
providers develop future virtual health strategies.
The
online program will cover a range of topics and best practices, including
workflow, regulatory considerations and health equity.
"Teleprimary
care is at the forefront of the telemedicine space, but it continues to evolve
and expand with the development of new technologies, innovative care models and
evolving reimbursement policies," said ABT Director of Education Whitney
Flanagan, RN, in a statement.
"Telehealth
training – whether it’s on the platform, regulations or webside manners – will
be critical to long-term success," Flanagan continued.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/deloittes-quantum-computing-leader-technologys-healthcare-future
Deloitte's quantum computing leader on the technology's healthcare future
Quantum
computing offers significant speed and analytics power and boosts the
ability to track and diagnose disease, modernize supply chains and help with
drug discovery, says Scott Buchholz.
By Bill Siwicki
August 17,
2021 11:44 AM
Quantum
computing has enormous potential in healthcare and has started to impact the
industry in various ways.
For
example, quantum computing offers the ability to track and diagnose disease.
Using sensors, quantum technology has the ability to track the progress of
cancer treatments and diagnose and monitor such degenerative diseases as
multiple sclerosis.
Modernizing supply chains
The
tech also can help modernize supply chains. Quantum technology can solve
routing issues in real time using live data such as weather and traffic updates
to help determine the most efficient method of delivery. This would have been
particularly helpful during the pandemic since many states had issues with
vaccine deliveries.
Elsewhere,
quantum technology can impact early-stage drug discovery. Pharmaceuticals can
take a decade or longer to bring to market. Quantum computing could lower the
costs and reduce the time.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telestroke-services-give-hospitals-an-effective-model-for-improving-clinical-outcomes
Telestroke Services Give Hospitals an Effective Model for Improving
Clinical Outcomes
Health
systems across the country are literally saving lives through telestroke
services, which use connected health channels to speed up diagnosis and
treatment for stroke victims.
By Eric Wicklund
August 13,
2021 - One of the early front-runners in proving the value of telehealth
is through telestroke
services, where the technology has literally saved lives.
Healthcare
providers have used telemedicine to treat stroke patients for more than three
decades, beginning with the strategy of using an audio-visual platform to allow
a neurologist to see a patient showing signs of a stroke. These platforms took
the form of a hub-and-spoke telemedicine network, with specialists at a large
health system or hospital occupying the hub and connecting to smaller, more
remote hospitals and clinics, or spokes.
Today’s
networks are more sophisticated, but the model is still the same. Neurologists
are in short order and high demand, and a telemedicine platform is an easy
means of allowing them to extend their reach and treat more patients,
especially those who can’t easily access emergency in-person care. Networks
have sprung up in many states, within large health systems with multiple sites
as well as via partnerships that allow hospitals to market their services to
other hospitals and clinics.
Measuring
Success in Minutes
The strategy behind telestroke
is to identify whether someone is experiencing a stroke as quickly as possible,
so that treatment can begin. The treatment often consists of administering
tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-dissolving drug first developed
for treatment of heart attacks in the 1980s and then fine-tuned for stroke
treatment in the early 1990s. The key to success in treatment, however, lies in
administering tPA as quickly as possible, to counter the effect of blood loss
to the brain. The shorter time period between stroke and treatment, the less
permanent damage to the brain.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/report-cites-success-of-vas-covid-19-remote-patient-monitoring-program
Report Cites Success of VA’s COVID-19 Remote Patient Monitoring Program
An analysis
of the Department of Veterans' Affairs' COVID-19 remote patient monitoring
program finds that the agency cared for more than 23,500 veterans in their
homes during the height of the pandemic and maintained a 4 percent
hospitalization rate.
By Eric Wicklund
August 16,
2021 - A new report finds that the Department of Veterans Affairs used
remote patient monitoring to provide care for more than 23,500 veterans during
the height of the pandemic, interacting with thousands of patients on a daily
level and greatly reducing hospitalizations.
The study,
conducted by members of the VA’s Office of Connected Care and
published this month in Telehealth and Medicine Today, says the department
was able to treat so many veterans at home and at such a successful rate
largely because it has been running a strong RPM platform for almost two
decades. The VA pivoted quickly to address veterans diagnosed with COVID-19,
researchers said, and was able to keep the hospitalization rate for those in
the program at about 4 percent.
“The success
of this effort demonstrates the importance of having infrastructure in place
and framing it in a way that provides flexibility and allows it to be scaled up
in times of greater need,” the research team concluded.
The Remote
Patient Monitoring-Home Telehealth (RPM-HT) program was launched by the VA’s
Office of Connected Care in July 2003, assigning 110 care coordinators to
manage roughly 1,500 veterans with acute and/or chronic conditions who
qualified for home-based care. That program now encompasses more than 2,800
care coordinators managing more than 75,000 veterans in more than 20
standardized programs, including hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and even depression.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/digital-health/facebook-youtube-stamping-out-online-covid-misinformation-much-more-than-plucking
HIMSS21: Facebook, YouTube say stamping out COVID misinformation is much
more than 'plucking all the weeds'
by Dave Muoio
Aug 16, 2021
4:25pm
From
infectious 5G networks to vaccine-induced magnetism, the issue of online
misinformation has been something of a constant throughout the pandemic.
Online
conspiracy theories that spread across online platforms like wildfire have been
highlighted by researchers, clinicians,
professional
organizations, public
health leaders, lawmakers
and even
the president as a direct contributor to the spread of COVID-19.
With
public health campaigns surrounding face mask wearing and vaccination hanging
in the balance, these stakeholders have called on social media giants time and
again to step up their efforts and stamp out online misinformation.
"Health
misinformation is an urgent threat to public health. It can cause confusion,
sow mistrust and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing
work to end the COVID-19 pandemic," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy,
M.D., said in a July advisory statement warning the public of health
misinformation.
-----
https://khn.org/news/article/apple-patient-health-data-pipeline-to-doctors/
Apple Aims to Push More Patient Data to Doctors. But Who Can Gauge Its
Impact on Health?
By Sarah Kwon August 12, 2021
Soon, Apple announced
recently, it will enable doctors to monitor health data from their patients’
phones and watches between visits, part of the push into health care that Tim Cook,
Apple’s CEO, has declared
will constitute the company’s greatest contribution to mankind.
Since 2014,
health systems around the country have partnered with Apple to tap into the
mountains of data the company’s devices generate from patients. But most are
still experimenting with these tools. While some doctors appreciate seeing
records of home-monitored blood pressure, exercise and the like between visits,
for others the data is more of a burden than an asset.
Over 100
types of data are available in Apple’s health app through iPhone, Apple Watch
and third-party apps. In June, Apple said patients whose doctors work with one
of the six
electronic medical record companies participating in the new feature will
be able to send them tracked data like heart
rate, sleep hours, exercise minutes, steps, falls or menstrual cycle
history.
Some see
great promise in building “pipes” between a patient’s phone and the health
records viewed by their clinicians. Apple is “democratizing the flow of health
data” between doctors and patients, said Anil Sethi, a former Apple health
director and current CEO of Ciitizen, a
startup that manages health data for cancer patients.
-----
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/telehealth/13-numbers-that-show-how-much-telehealth-visits-cost-your-hospital.html
13 numbers that show how much telehealth visits cost your hospital
Hannah Mitchell - Friday, August
13th, 2021
Print | Email
Researchers from Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine conducted a study in
August to determine if the costs hospitals pay for telehealth visits differ
from in-person visits.
Here are 13 numbers that demonstrate their findings:
- Physicians spent more
face-to-face time in virtual visits than in-person visits. Physicians, on
average, spent 13.8 minutes in a virtual
visit compared to 10.2 minutes when the
visit was in person.
- A physician-led in-person visit
cost the health system on average $26.84. When the visit
was virtual, it cost $27.26. If the virtual
visit was led by a physician assistant, the visit cost just $9.86.
- The health system compared 250 virtual
visits and 250 in-person visits to determine if there was a difference in
no-show rates. For video visits, 58 percent of patients
completed their visit as scheduled, 33 percent of videos were
canceled and 8 percent of patients
no-showed their visit.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/indian-health-service-seeks-vendors-replace-its-health-it-system
Indian Health Service seeks vendors to replace its health IT system
The agency
determined that its internally developed Resource and Patient Management System
would not be sustainable in the long term.
By Kat Jercich
August 16,
2021 12:14 PM
The
Indian Health Service is seeking enterprise health IT software to replace its
current platform.
The
IHS currently relies on the internally developed Resource and Patient
Management System to support a broad range of processes at its facilities, as
well as at many tribal and urban healthcare organizations.
"The
IHS Office of Information Technology develops and updates the system regularly,
issuing patches that are installed on each instance by local staff,"
explained IHS staff in a draft statement of objectives published to a General Services Administration website this past week.
However,
the SOO continued, "in recent years, advances in health-related standards
and technologies, an increasingly complex regulatory environment around HIT,
and the decision of the VA, IHS’ longtime collaborative partner, to move
to a commercial off-the-shelf HIT solution, have combined to make the current
approach to IHS HIT development and support nonsustainable going forward."
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/accenture-reportedly-faced-50m-ransomware-demand
Accenture reportedly faced $50M ransomware demand
The
consulting firm told Healthcare IT News that the incident had no impact on its
operations or on its clients' systems.
By Kat Jercich
August 16,
2021 03:28 PM
The
consulting firm Accenture is reported to have faced
$50 million in ransom following an attack this past month, according to
cyber risk intelligence companies.
Researchers
from the cyber intelligence firm Cyble said on Twitter that the threat actors
claimed to have accessed more than six terabytes of data.
"Through
our security controls and protocols, we identified irregular activity in one of
our environments," said Accenture in a statement to Healthcare
IT News.
"We
immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers. We fully
restored our affected systems from backup. There was no impact on Accenture's
operations, or on our clients' systems."
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/zooms-head-healthcare-talks-future-telemedicine
Zoom's head of healthcare talks the future of telemedicine
Heidi West
discusses telehealth/hybrid in-person care, the communities that could
suffer without virtual care and the remaining obstacles to mainstreaming
telemedicine.
Bill Siwicki
August 16,
2021
Telehealth
continues to be a priority for the healthcare industry. It has proven itself
throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent
Zoom research found that in the U.S., 72% of survey respondents want to attend healthcare
appointments both virtually and in-person post-pandemic, demonstrating the
clear need for telehealth as an option for this hybrid approach to healthcare.
Despite
the success of telehealth during the last year and a half, some have questioned
its broader use as healthcare returns to in-person office visits. However, this
reversal could put certain communities and demographic populations at a disadvantage,
such as those in rural areas or ones without reliable transportation.
Healthcare
IT News sat down with Heidi West, head of healthcare at Zoom, to
discuss telemedicine's future, hybrid in-person/telehealth care, communities
that could be hurt without virtual care, and challenges to telemedicine
becoming fully mainstream.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/payer/alternative-data-paired-social-determinants-help-redraw-patient-health-outcomes
Alternative Data Paired With Social Determinants Help Redraw Patient
Health Outcomes
Analysis
| By Laura Beerman |
August 16, 2021
One payer
hopes to make healthcare more equitable by using alternative data.
KEY
TAKEAWAYS
·
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are a powerful
influence on human well-being.
·
Alternative data about how we live, work, and
play is helping to craft SDOH interventions.
·
A payer-data provider collaboration is looking
to change the game.
The film
Minority Report imagines a world where someone’s destiny can be viewed before
it occurs. Holographic, 3D maps illuminate people in bad situations—sometimes
due to choice, others trapped in circumstance, often a combination.
That was a
movie. But the truth is, there is a real map of probable, negative outcomes
that already exists. It’s often defined by a person’s ZIP code and what it’s
like to live there, marked by social determinants. If that reality was a heat
map, florid-red hotspots would mark a complex interplay of too much and not
enough—too much crime, poverty, and crumbling infrastructure and not enough
jobs, community centers, and grocery stores.
It has been
said that ZIP code is a better predictor of health than your genetic code, an
early and novel way of describing the social determinants of health (SDOH) and
their effect. But why do SDOH matter now more than ever before, and how are
payers using them to create solutions?
The role of
alternative data in SDOH
Enter
alternative data, or any data external to what a company (such as a payer),
collects on its own. Alternative data offers broader source, scope, and value.
The financial services industry was the first to use alternative data in a
significant way, with venture capital firms looking beyond traditional sources
(e.g., from personal and professional networks, SEC filings, and financial
statements) to make better investment decisions.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
