Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links – 29th June, 2019.

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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Calls for BMA to oppose Hancock’s ‘ill-conceived’ ban on outdated tech

Setting “arbitrary dates” to stop using outdated technology puts patients “at risk”, regional medical councils have said as they called on the BMA to oppose blanket policies.
Andrea Downey – 18 June 2019
Several motions are expected to be discussed at the British Medical Association’s annual representatives meeting (ARM), calling on NHS England, NHS Digital and individual trusts to collate the advantages and disadvantages of all communication methods currently used in the health service.
East Midlands Regional Council proposed a motion labelling secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock’s, flagship Axe the Fax and Purge the Pager campaigns “premature and ill-conceived”.
The region is calling on the BMA to oppose the blanket policies until “feasible alternatives” are determined.
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Morale among some Ottawa Hospital doctors low amid 'chaos' of new records system rollout

Elizabeth Payne
Updated: June 19, 2019
Anxiety levels are high among some physicians at The Ottawa Hospital as it transitions to a new electronic health record system.
One doctor, who contacted this newspaper, said some physicians feel they were not adequately trained before the June 1 launch and are not receiving the support they need.
“We feel abandoned.”
In a statement, the hospital’s director of communications and engagement, Kate Eggins, said that 98 per cent of physicians had training. Additional training and support were also provided.
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Data breach forces medical debt collector AMCA to file for bankruptcy protection

The aftermath of the data breach seems to be too much for AMCA to bear.
By for Zero Day | | Topic: Security
US medical bill and debt collector American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) has filed for bankruptcy protection in the aftermath of a disastrous data breach.
AMCA was hacked last year in a time period estimated to be from August 1, 2018, to March 30, 2019, resulting in the theft of information from corporate clients including Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, BioReference Laboratories, Carecentrix, and Sunrise Laboratories.
The companies in question used AMCA's payment portal to bill their medical customers.
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DirectTrust Urges ONC to Build on Existing Interoperability Networks

DirectTrust suggested ONC adopt a lightweight approach to its developing TEFCA draft that builds on existing successes in the HIE marketplace.
June 20, 2019 - DirectTrust recommended ONC build on networks and frameworks within the health information exchange (HIE) marketplace that have already proven successful in the federal agency’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) in a recent comment letter.
The non-profit healthcare industry alliance urged ONC to adopt a lightweight approach to the framework, and suggested the federal agency establish the minimum conditions necessary for efficient health data exchange to occur rather than imposing strict requirements.
“While we applaud the goals of TEFCA Draft 2 to advance nationwide healthcare interoperability between existing networks,” said DirectTrust President and CEO Scott Stuewe, “we advocate for a more agile and iterative approach, which would, appropriately, tie back to the goals of Congress in the 21st Century Cures Act.”