Just think what information should be readily in the public domain regarding the #myHealthRecord and is being kept secret to avoid embarrassing the ADHA and the DOH on how poorly the system is performing in delivering real clinical benefit? We. the public, are spending a fortune on the #myHR and we should know how well it is working or not!
Case made for a much higher level of Government transparency I believe!
David.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Has Health Minister Hunt Been A Bit Too Clever By Half On The #myHealthRecord? He Is Now Stuck With It!
I don’t know about you but it seems to me that the political class have suddenly totally lost interest in the #myHealthRecord since the last federal election in May.
Most will be aware that it was only in the last few weeks before the election that the Coalition thought it had any chance of victory and because of that there was a feeling that the final fate of the #myHR would not be a problem that they needed to be address, after the total mess that was made of the opt-out process with sufficient public concern being raised that 2.5 million voters decided to opt-out, as the incoming health minister would inherit the problem!
To make sure the new minister was fully on the hook for solving the difficult problem Minister Hunt, knowing that the #myHR was not popular, kept talking up its virtues pre-election to ensure the apparent policy switch would be seen as a major backflip when the incoming Minister realised just how unloved and unused the system was, and decided to can it.
Well, guess what? The #myHR problem has rebounded back on Minister Hunt and it has to be said that his remarks on the #myHR have been sparse at best and totally absent at worst.
Mr Hunt now has a full 3 years to try and work out what to do with this Government ‘white elephant’ in the face of an imminent ANAO audit reporting on the myHealthRecord Program, and a clear need to an inevitably pretty expensive ‘replatforming’ exercise if it is to be continued with.
Mr Hunt's decision making will surely also be hampered by the loss of senior ADHA staff recently - with the most recent being the Chief of Staff of the organisation. Informal feedback on the blog also suggests there is quite a high level of turnover lower down in the ranks and that there is a waning amount of technical skill remaining there.
The sudden absence of reporting of activity statistics makes a good deal more sense in this light.
See here:
https://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2019/10/i-wonder-why-government-is-so-secretive.html
As I see it he can either press on with a failing project at considerable ongoing expense and risk or actually take a decision and wind the nonsense down.
I wonder what he will do. Doing nothing and staying quiet for 3 years really isn’t really an option!
What do you think?
David.
Most will be aware that it was only in the last few weeks before the election that the Coalition thought it had any chance of victory and because of that there was a feeling that the final fate of the #myHR would not be a problem that they needed to be address, after the total mess that was made of the opt-out process with sufficient public concern being raised that 2.5 million voters decided to opt-out, as the incoming health minister would inherit the problem!
To make sure the new minister was fully on the hook for solving the difficult problem Minister Hunt, knowing that the #myHR was not popular, kept talking up its virtues pre-election to ensure the apparent policy switch would be seen as a major backflip when the incoming Minister realised just how unloved and unused the system was, and decided to can it.
Well, guess what? The #myHR problem has rebounded back on Minister Hunt and it has to be said that his remarks on the #myHR have been sparse at best and totally absent at worst.
Mr Hunt now has a full 3 years to try and work out what to do with this Government ‘white elephant’ in the face of an imminent ANAO audit reporting on the myHealthRecord Program, and a clear need to an inevitably pretty expensive ‘replatforming’ exercise if it is to be continued with.
Mr Hunt's decision making will surely also be hampered by the loss of senior ADHA staff recently - with the most recent being the Chief of Staff of the organisation. Informal feedback on the blog also suggests there is quite a high level of turnover lower down in the ranks and that there is a waning amount of technical skill remaining there.
The sudden absence of reporting of activity statistics makes a good deal more sense in this light.
See here:
https://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2019/10/i-wonder-why-government-is-so-secretive.html
As I see it he can either press on with a failing project at considerable ongoing expense and risk or actually take a decision and wind the nonsense down.
I wonder what he will do. Doing nothing and staying quiet for 3 years really isn’t really an option!
What do you think?
David.
AusHealthIT Poll Number 497 – Results – 20th October, 2019.
Here are the results of the poll.
Do You Believe The ADHA Does Not Release Clinical Usage Statistics For The #myHealthRecord Because They Are So Low And Would Reveal The System To Be A Failure?
Yes 97% (95)No 1% (1)
They Have Another Reason For Secrecy (Please Expain In A Comment) 1% (1)
I Have No Idea 1% (1)
Total votes: 98
Well that was pretty clear. The vast majority think the #myHealthRecord statistics are a secret because they are not very good in terms of clinical usage of the system.
Any insights on the poll welcome as a comment, as usual.
A very reasonable turn out of votes.
It must have been a fairly easy question as only 1/98 readers were not sure what to respond.
Again, many, many thanks to all those that voted!
David.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Weekly Overseas Health IT Links – 19 October, 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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Beyond skin deep: using machine learning to prevent 250,000 cancer deaths
SkinVision is on a mission to save 250,000 lives in the next decade through early detection of skin cancer using machine learning. Digital Health’s Owen Hughes caught up with SkinVision CEO, Erik de Heus, at the Intelligent Health conference in Basel last month to find out more.
Owen Hughes – October 8, 2019
A key facet of preventative health initiatives is mobilising health around individuals in a way that allows them to become more proactive in their wellbeing.
Giving patients the power to do this using technology they already possess can therefore play a huge role in helping people stay aware of their health and acting before an issue turns into something more serious.
SkinVision embraces this idea by turning the smartphone into a tool for the early detection and monitoring of skin cancer.
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Only 15% of healthcare apps meet safety standards, research reveals
Only 15% of healthcare apps meet minimum safety standards, highlighting a “desperate need” for a proper review process, new research has concluded.
Andrea Downey – Oct 9, 2019
Health app evaluation organisation ORCHA evaluated more than 5,000 apps against 260 performance and compliance factors and found that majority do not meet the minimum safety requirements.
Most notably, 75% of apps aimed at people with blood pressure concerns and 85% of femtech and pregnancy apps do not meet ORCHA’s quality threshold.
Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA’s chief executive, said: “We believe that digital health apps are one of the most important tools available to help tackle health issues in an ageing population that’s facing more complex, long-term problems.
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Of Slide Rules and Stethoscopes: AI and the Future of Doctoring
First published: 03 October 2019
Abstract
Historically, the practice of medicine has been a physically intimate endeavor. Physicians have used their hands to palpate and reveal the secrets hidden within the body. Smelling the breath for the ketosis of diabetes or tasting the skin for the saltiness of cystic fibrosis were among the physician's essential practices. Today, perhaps the most defining characteristic of a brilliant clinician is the ability to synthesize many images—from electrocardiograms, ultrasounds, CT scans, and so forth—into a coherent picture that can guide our diagnosis and treatment. Yet this is rapidly becoming a Sisyphean task. Just as we are about to drown in a deluge of data, AI is throwing us a life preserver, to save not only our patients but ourselves. But where will AI take us?
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How to build a better cybersecurity defense with deception technologies
This new cybersecurity defense mechanism proactively protects organizations and prevents attacks.
When you think of deception technology you may envision stolen passwords via social engineering, phishing attacks, malicious pop-ups, bogus websites, and the like. In fact, deception technologies, a new cybersecurity defense mechanism, actually protects organizations instead of exploiting them.
I discussed the topic of deception technologies with Tushar Kothari, CEO, Attivo Networks, a cybersecurity defense organization.
Scott Matteson: What exactly is deception technology? How does it close major gaps in cybersecurity detection?
Tushar Kothari: With emerging attack surfaces and increasing attacker sophistication, traditional security controls have proven they are no longer sufficient to prevent all attackers from getting in. As a result, some of the biggest challenges facing security teams today include greater dwell times, slow remediation times, and the shortage of high-skilled staff.
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Canadian Project Using mHealth, Telehealth to Create a Smart Suite
The University of Manitoba is developing a prototype living space embedded with mHealth sensors and a telemedicine infrastructure to help seniors live longer at home and foster more remote patient monitoring programs.
October 11, 2019 - Canadian researchers are taking telehealth into the home in an effort to create a living space capable of enabling seniors to live longer in their homes and giving care providers more opportunities for remote patient monitoring.
A research team at the University of Manitoba is using a $50,000 grant to develop a Smart Suite, described as a replica of living quarters that is equipped with mHealth tools and platforms to monitor the activities of its occupants.
Backed by a telemedicine infrastructure, the Smart Suite will include such enhancements as Doppler radar, smart floor mats and motion sensors designed to detect time, location and frequency of movement and certain activities like going to the bathroom, bathing, opening the refrigerator, washing hands and resting in bed or on the living room couch.
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mHealth Proves Better at Medication Adherence Than Eyes-On Therapy
A new study finds that an mHealth platform that remotely monitors medication adherence is more reliable and better received than having care providers watch their patients take their medications.
October 10, 2019 - A new study finds that an mHealth program using ingestible sensors is better at ensuring medication adherence than having the care provider watch the patient take his or her medications.
As reported in PLOS Medicine, the analysis of a tuberculosis care management program run in several southern California clinics found that the Proteus Digital Health platform, which includes an ingestible sensor and corresponding mHealth wearable and monitoring tools, was roughly 93 percent accurate in determining that a patient had taken prescribed TB medication. When the clinician watched the patient take his/her medication, the accuracy rate was only about 63 percent.
California-based Proteus is one of several digital health companies developing wirelessly observed therapy (WOT) platforms for care management and medication adherence. The platforms generally use ingestible sensors and/or mHealth wearables to digitally monitor when a patient takes medications, and can also collect biometric data that can help determine whether the medication or the treatment plan are effective.
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How New Health Care Platforms Will Improve Patient Care
October 11, 2019
Hardly a day goes by without another new entrant declaring its foray into healthcare. Through a series of strategic acquisitions, Best Buy expanded from selling electronics and deploying its Geek Squad for repairs to providing home health services and remote monitoring. As the company’s president suggested, achieving the goal of reducing healthcare’s spiraling costs will require some “interesting new bedfellows.”
Among these bedfellows is Lyft, which launched a healthcare-specific offering to reduce costly no-shows and remove transportation barriers for patients, especially those with chronic disease. Care teams can now order a ride in the same workflow as they do blood tests and, under some plans, have it covered by insurance. Then there’s the explosion of apps, virtual consults and health chat bots making up the telemedicine market, which is expected to grow to $64 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.
What these trends point to is a dramatic expansion over the coming years of healthcare’s “front door” as the locus of care shifts from the hospital or clinic to patients themselves — at work, home, or wherever their smartphones take them. Paired with a shift to value-based care and alignment of incentives to outcomes, this burst of innovation offers the promise of a more personalized approach to medicine focused on keeping patients well and out of the hospital, reducing overall cost of care. But it also brings with it some significant challenges that demand new approaches and safeguards.
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HopeLab builds digital health tools aimed at Millennials and Gen Z
Margaret Laws, chief of the social innovation lab, offers a preview of her keynote at the upcoming HIMSS Connected Health Conference, discussing the kinds of tools these young people want – and healthcare organizations would be wise to adopt.
By Bill Siwicki
October 11, 2019 11:40 AM
Millennials and Gen Z, the generations born after 1980, now make up more than 50% of the U.S. population. Technology is central in the lives of these “digital natives,” and it extends into every aspect of their lives, including health and well-being.
At the 11th Annual HIMSS Connected Health Conference (October 16-18 in Boston), Margaret Laws, president and CEO of HopeLab, will present a keynote address, “How Digital Natives are Changing Digital Health,” on October 17. She’ll explore how the lifestyles, expectations and perspectives of young people are changing the landscape of digital health.
Behavioral science and user-centered design
Laws leads a multidisciplinary team combining behavioral science, user-centered design and partnership with innovators to create technology products to help improve health and well-being for teens and young adults.
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Lousy digital experiences leave younger consumers frustrated – and ready to switch
Healthcare providers hoping to maintain competitive advantage should keep digital patient experience top-of-mind, as tech-savvy consumers have shown they'll go elsewhere for a better one.
By Nathan Eddy
October 11, 2019 11:27 AM
A frustrating digital experience will push younger healthcare consumers to seek new providers and leaving withering reviews of bad experiences, according to a new survey of more than 1,600 U.S. consumers.
WHY IT MATTERS
The study, sponsored by patient payment and engagement platform provider Cedar and conducted by research firm Survata, also revealed one in five have already stopped or switched providers over a poor digital experience.
The study, sponsored by patient payment and engagement platform provider Cedar and conducted by research firm Survata, also revealed one in five have already stopped or switched providers over a poor digital experience.
Younger Americans are the most frustrated with patient billing processes and the most likely to switch providers if they have a poor experience, with two-thirds of survey respondents 18-24 years old indicating frustration with their provider’s lack of digital tools.
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Hospitals Shifting To More Strategic Uses Of Telehealth Technologies
October 11, 2019
For quite some time, hospitals have been adding to their portfolio of telehealth services, in part as a way to keep their brand top-of-mind with consumers in their service area. Well before physicians were prepared to tackle the process, hospital leaders began to offer virtual care options, especially access to options like telestroke care which work well as a digital service.
But this was just a prelude to bigger things. In recent times, health systems have begun to make increasingly strategic uses of telehealth, often in ways that stand to change the entire workflow within their organizations.
Perhaps the most recent example of such shifts in thinking comes from central Pennsylvania provider WellSpan Health, which recently created an online-only urgent care unit. Through this service, which costs $49 per visit, patients see a doctor or advanced practice clinician and receive a diagnosis, treatment plan and prescriptions if needed.
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Medical Malpractice Claims Related to Electronic Health Records Errors Rising in U.S.
Chris Nace Oct 10, 2019
Medical malpractice lawsuits related to electronic health records (EHR) errors are on the rise, according to a recent data analysis of 216 closed malpractice claims from 2010-2018. The data analysis, which was conducted by the Doctors Company, revealed that EHRs contributed to nearly four times as many claims in 2018 than they did in 2010.
Doctors’ Company researchers found that the EHR-related claim rate is rising, with a low of seven cases reported in 2010 up to an annual average of 22.5 cases between 2017-2018. While EHR claims are still low compared to other forms of malpractice, accounting for 1.39% of malpractice claims in 2018, the rise is still concerning. EHR errors represented just 0.35% of claims in 2010, indicating that today’s nearly universal implementation of EHRs in medical facilities may mean they pose a greater malpractice risk than before.
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At Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Workarounds Are Key to Telehealth Integration
The New Hampshire health system has eight different telehealth service lines and deals with a wide range of EMRs and connected health platforms that don't always synch. So they use workarounds to make sure things work right.
October 10, 2019 - One of the primary challenges to telehealth adoption is EHR integration. The healthcare landscape is filled with telemedicine technology, but it’s not always easy to synch then various parts into an effective and efficient whole.
And that’s a challenge at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The Lebanon, NH-based health system serves roughly 2 million people across a wide – and very rural – swath of northern New England, and its connected health platform features eight different service lines. But that network, connecting some 1,800 care providers, includes a wide range of hospitals, clinics and offices and more than a few EMRs.
That’s where workarounds come in.
“It’s all about the care,” says Kevin Curtis, Medical Director for Connected Care at the health system’s Center for Telehealth. “We can’t wait around (for different telehealth platforms to try to match up), so we spend a lot of time on workarounds that allow us to do what we need to do.”
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The risk-based approach to cybersecurity
October 2019 | Article
By Jim Boehm, Nick Curcio, Peter Merrath, Lucy Shenton, and Tobias Stähle
The most sophisticated institutions are moving from a “maturity based” to a “risk based” approach for managing cyberrisk. Here is how they are doing it.
Downloadable Resources
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Top managers at most companies recognize cyberrisk as an essential topic on their agendas. Worldwide, boards and executive leaders want to know how well cyberrisk is being managed in their organizations. In more advanced regions and sectors, leaders demand, given years of significant cybersecurity investment, that programs also prove their value in risk-reducing terms. Regulators are challenging the levels of enterprise resilience that companies claim to have attained. And nearly everyone—business executives, regulators, customers, and the general public—agree that cyberrisk is serious and calls for constant attention (Exhibit 1).
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What fake science journals may do to your health
Tom Spears
Published: October 9, 2019
Updated: October 9, 2019 1:38 PM EDT
Kelly Cobey studies the shadowy world of scammers who publish fraudulent medical journals, but a few years back her professional field took a personal turn.
A colleague’s mother had cancer. Medical treatment failed to stop it, so the woman turned to an alternative practitioner who advised her to have vitamin infusions, backed up by a published study that promoted this treatment.
But there was a problem: The study was published by an Indian company that specializes in publishing groundless or substandard science studies. This is a scam that helps under-qualified scientists pretend they are doing real research, paying these “predatory” journals to advance their careers. (The company in question was later fined $50 million by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for a pattern of deceptive practices.)
The vitamin study was worthless, and all it did was give false hope to a woman who was very sick. As well, Cobey said, “she may have changed her care plan as a result of what she was given.”
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New Website Allows Better Access to Personal Health Information
Category: Local News
Published: Wednesday, 09 October 2019 14:27
Written by Zach Drake
MySaskHealthRecord is open to Saskatchewan residents who are 18 years of age and older.
It was announced this week that residents of Saskatchewan will now be able to take their health into their own hands.
Health records, medical history and laboratory results will now be accessible through MySaskHealthRecord, a secure website that gives online access to personal health information to those eligible.
MySaskHealthRecord is open to Saskatchewan residents who are 18 years of age and older with a valid Saskatchewan health card, SGI driver’s licence, or SGI photo ID card.
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Online patient portal usage linked to higher rates of flu shots, blood pressure checks
Chronic conditions affect more than half of U.S. adults, and preventative screenings are linked to better care outcomes.
Patients who use online patient portals are 50% more likely to get a flu shot and twice as likely to have their blood pressure checked as compared to patients who do not interact with these portals.
A new Penn Medicine study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, also showed that patients using portals were 50% more likely to have their cholesterol checked, adding to the list of preventive health behaviors linked to portal use.
Chronic conditions -- heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and the like -- affect more than half of U.S. adults, and primary prevention measures such as screenings and monitorings are considered among the top strategies for reducing their prevalence.
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National Institute on Aging makes awards for dementia care apps
October 09, 2019, 11:21 p.m. EDT
Atlanta-based MapHabit has won a first place prize of $250,000 in the National Institute on Aging’s dementia care coordination challenge for its mobile device app.
MapHabit’s software “provides behavior prompts with customizable picture and keyword visual maps to assist memory-impaired people with accomplishing activities of daily living,” such as taking pills and brushing teeth, according to NIA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.
“The care management platform employs different interfaces depending on whether the user is a person with impaired memory, caregiver or long-term care community manager,” states the announcement. “Caregivers can monitor adherence to medication schedules or track other activities.”
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/health-leaders-ramp-ai-investments-confidence-technology-grows
Health leaders ramp up AI investments as confidence in the technology grows
Administrative process improvements top the list of investment priorities, led by technologies to help automate business processes like administrative tasks or customer service.
By Nathan Eddy
October 10, 2019 12:03 PM
Trust in artificial intelligence technology is rising sharply across healthcare, with many leaders predicting tangible cost savings in under three years.
WHY IT MATTERS
That's boosting investment in AI systems, according to a new Optum survey of 500 U.S. health industry leaders from hospitals, health plans, life sciences and employers, which also found 22 percent of respondents are in the late stages of AI strategy implementation.
That's boosting investment in AI systems, according to a new Optum survey of 500 U.S. health industry leaders from hospitals, health plans, life sciences and employers, which also found 22 percent of respondents are in the late stages of AI strategy implementation.
The study found revealed a nearly 90 percent increase in the number of respondents who said their organizations have a strategy in place and have implemented AI, with an average investment of just under $40 million over the next five years.
Administrative process improvements top the list of investment priorities, led by technologies to help automate business processes like administrative tasks or customer service.
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Implementation best practices: Teeing up telemedicine
Five telehealth technology experts share their decades of expertise, with advice to help healthcare CIOs and other IT leaders launch new telemedicine programs.
By Bill Siwicki
October 10, 2019 11:50 AM
Telemedicine has been gaining a lot of steam in recent years. And it has become an increasingly important component of healthcare delivery.
As a result, provider organization CIOs and other health IT leaders have had their hands full finding and implementing new telemedicine technologies to help their organizations best reach as many patients as possible in the most efficient manner as possible.
Here, five telemedicine technology experts offer best practices for implementing the technology. They share their hard-fought wisdom from years of experience working with this unique health IT. And they offer advice on a comprehensive array of topics health IT workers face when working in the field of telehealth.
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The Legal Pitfalls of Using a PDF Chart Summary or Cold Storage as a Healthcare Data Archiving Strategy
October 10, 2019
The following is a guest blog post by Justin Campbell, Vice President, Strategy, at Galen Healthcare Solutions.
When decommissioning healthcare systems to archive legacy data, there are often significant tradeoffs. For example, sacrificing fidelity (how well the original shape and precision of the data is preserved) for accessibility (how easy it is to get at the needed information). Another trade-off may compromise simplicity to gain greater accessibility.
To limit cost and effort, many healthcare delivery organizations make the backup of raw data from their various databases and file systems their formal archival strategy, or they load PDF chart summaries warehoused in a file store into a document management system. Such approaches are often determined by how much activity, how often, or how necessary it is to be compliant with legal requirements.
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Physician Satisfaction with Electronic Health Records – the Data Might Surprise You – Part 2
October 10, 2019
In case you missed part 1 of the EHR Physician Satisfaction Series, be sure you read it to understand the research background behind these predictors of EHR satisfaction and to learn about the first two predictors of physician satisfaction: Training & Education and Communication & Governance.
In part 2 of this series, we’ll share what the research tells us about two other important predictors of physician EHR satisfaction: Data Insights and Long-term Focus.
Data insights: It can be challenging to collect, analyze and gain insight from disparate systems. Many organizations should take the opportunity to measure important clinical and financial parameters to gauge their success. Measured data often reveals areas that would benefit from process improvement, education or best practice guidelines. This data is valuable, but we also must ensure it is accurate, timely, and provides key insights that drive change and improvement.
- Work with your teams to establish your KPIs
- Set realistic goals to gain momentum: share results early and often
- Be relentless in the pursuit of clinical and financial outcomes
- Commit to utilizing metrics to identify areas for improvement and follow through with proposed changes
- Don’t try to boil the ocean: start with a basic metric that will show a real impact, such as the percent of charts closed each day, or time spent on after-hours charting, for example. Establish a baseline, apply the intervention, and then measure your users’ post experience. Understanding progress in iterations can help save thousands of dollars and hours of frustration.
- Seek feedback from end users, especially disenfranchised ones. Organizations who can engage the toughest customers and still show improved outcomes have the best chance of not only deeper engagement, but becoming strong advocates.
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AI and Predictive Analytics Enable Tampa General to Save $10 Million, Reduce LOS
By Mandy Roth | October 08, 2019
Command center enable the hospital to take real-time action on data to reduce bottlenecks and improve the patient experience.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· CareComm enables providers to accelerate care through access to real-time data.
· A departure lounge frees up patient beds immediately after discharge and provides a comfortable setting for those waiting on medications and transportation.
· Capabilities will expand to include combining remote monitoring and sepsis protocols with artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to further improve care.
· The center will also expand its purview outside the hospital walls into ambulatory settings, physician offices, and postacute care.
In the quest to reduce cost, improve the patient experience, and wrangle a massive amount of data into actionable insights, some hospitals and health systems are building NASA-style command centers, fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics. They also corral teams of people who once worked in separate areas into one space to enhance collaboration and decision-making.
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Industry Voices—6 low-budget ways physicians can promote their websites to attract patients
by Joel Headley
Oct 8, 2019 4:15pm
More than 80% of people in the U.S. have a smartphone, so trying to get people’s attention through a printed local directory is about as useful as printing your business card on the bottom of a doorstop.
Now, healthcare providers are tasked with finding a more effective strategic approach to attract prospective patients from online sources instead of print. In the world of online marketing and promotion, a practice website is a necessary tool to reach new patients and help them stick with you long-term.
Here’s how physicians on a limited budget can attract patients by taking their websites to the next level, an especially important facet of business when targeting millennials.
1. Include "need to know" information on your website.
Most healthcare providers understand the significant role their practice website plays in attracting new patients to their practice. However, only a few know what content they should offer and how they should organize it.
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Climate impact: How the business of healthcare is changing with climate change
Oct 8, 2019 12:00pm
For decades, preparing for climate change felt like waiting for a meteor to hit: Sure, it could happen. But the threat didn't feel imminent compared to the challenges businesses faced.
But concern has been rising as more communities and companies across the U.S.—including those in healthcare—have begun recognizing potential disruptions to the way they do business and seeking better ways to respond to a changing world.
Among the most tangible threats?
"Changes in temperature and precipitation are increasing air quality and health risks from wildfire and ground-level ozone pollution," according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment. "Rising air and water temperatures and more intense extreme events are expected to increase exposure to waterborne and foodborne diseases, affecting food and water safety. With continued warming, cold-related deaths are projected to decrease and heat-related deaths are projected to increase."
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What's the best way to protect your PACS?
Erik L. Ridley, AuntMinnie staff writer
October 8, 2019 -- It can be challenging for healthcare institutions to protect their PACS against cybersecurity threats. In an effort to help, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a draft practice guide aimed at helping healthcare organizations achieve PACS security.
October 8, 2019 -- It can be challenging for healthcare institutions to protect their PACS against cybersecurity threats. In an effort to help, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a draft practice guide aimed at helping healthcare organizations achieve PACS security.
Produced by the NIST's National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), the practice guide details a reference architecture for how to securely configure and deploy PACS. Built using commercially available and standards-based tools, the reference architecture describes how to implement defense-in-depth, access control mechanisms, and a holistic risk management approach, according to the NCCoE.
The defense-in-depth model features network zoning, which enables more granular control of network traffic and limits communications capabilities to the minimum necessary to support business functions, the NCCoE said. Meanwhile, the center recommends implementing access control mechanisms, including multifactor authentication for care providers and certificate-based authentication for imaging devices and clinical systems, and limiting vendor remote support for medical imaging components.
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New Algorithm Could Improve Accuracy of Machine Learning Models
The algorithm combines features of two widely used prediction models and could boost machine learning accuracy.
By Jessica Kent
October 09, 2019 - Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered a once-hidden through-line between two widely used predictive models that could increase the accuracy of machine learning tools.
The discovery could spread machine learning much wider throughout healthcare and other industries.
“In medicine, the cost of a wrong decision can be very high,” said one of the study’s authors, Lyle Ungar, PhD, a professor of Computer and Information Science at Penn.
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Virtual ‘scribes’ help doctors focus on patients, not note-taking
REVERE — Dr. Amy Wheeler set a small tablet computer on the table as she turned to face her patient. Then she did something that’s become increasingly rare for doctors in the digital age: She talked to him without typing or clicking anything.
Wheeler didn’t have to take notes, because the microphone on her tablet recorded everything. While she slept that night, a trained doctor working in an office building across the world in Mumbai listened to the recording and typed up a summary.
Patient documentation is a critical but tedious task for physicians, part of the mounting administrative burden that is driving many to exhaustion and burnout. Hospitals and physician groups are testing new strategies to alleviate that burden and free up harried doctors for other tasks — including seeing more patients.
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New patient engagement app designed to help the chronically ill
October 09, 2019, 3:33 p.m. EDT
A new app has been released to help persons with chronic conditions manage their daily treatments.
Wave App, developed by TTI now is available for all iPhone and Android platforms, as well as some wearable devices and tablets.
The app enables patients to track and record activities, symptoms, side effects, medications, sleep patterns, moods and physical activity along with the ability to share health updates with loved ones and healthcare providers.
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HIT Think
How to avoid the most common digital transformation pain points
October 09, 2019, 3:42 p.m. EDT
Digital transformation is like any journey: before beginning, there must be a plan.
An organization needs a timeline mapping out what happens when, who does what and the key milestones. Crucially, a timeline must identify the pain points and when things could become difficult.
Recognizing and knowing where to find the most common pain points in advance allows the organization to allocate the additional time or resources needed to push through to prevent the whole project from stalling. What’s more, the timeline must acknowledge that those pain points are going to happen for different people in the organization at different times.
In all likelihood, the IT leader will have been involved in implementing some trial programs. Once it’s time to roll it out to the rest of the organization, however, they need to start concentrating on the road ahead. The change to the business has been defined, now it’s time to make it happen.
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Cerner launches new cognitive platform, enters strategic deal with Geisinger
Project Apollo, built using AWS cloud infrastructure, was unveiled by CEO Brent Shafer at the Cerner Health Conference, where it was also announced that Geisinger signed a 10-year deal to make Cerner's HealtheIntent the preferred analytics platform.
By Mike Miliard
October 09, 2019 12:44 PM
Several big announcements were made at the Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City this week – with the biggest being the unveiling of a next-generation technology, code-named Project Apollo, that Cerner says will offer powerful new cognitive computing resources to its healthcare clients.
The technology, still in development, is built on AWS infrastructure, and Cerner says the cloud-based automation platform will enable faster innovations by removing manual steps that cast roadblocks for new advancements.
The company will be developing new algorithms for the platform in the months ahead, focused on new approaches to care delivery and user experience
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FDA’s bill of materials creates a cybersecurity blind spot for medical devices
A cybersecurity expert explains the bill, and offers advice on how CIOs and CISOs can overcome some of the challenges it presents.
By Bill Siwicki
October 09, 2019 11:53 AM
The FDA’s cybersecurity bill of materials has major implications – both good and bad – for healthcare provider organizations’ IT and security teams.
While it may seem like a no-brainer to allow manufacturers access to update their own firmware in medical devices to improve cybersecurity, opening the door to devices introduces a conflicting set of challenges.
The draft bill of materials guidance is aimed at having manufacturers disclose other vendors’ software they may be using in addition to their own software/firmware. The intent is to give the IT security staff more context on the device software.
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5 Actions Hospitals Should Take Now to Prepare for Interoperability
October 9, 2019
The following is a guest article by Deborah Hsieh, Chief Policy & Strategy Officer at Ciox.
Focus on interoperability for health data systems has increased recently given multiple proposed Department of Health and Human Service’s regulations addressing how health data is shared. Healthcare providers are a primary source of health data and should be aware of how to prepare for these new regulations. While each hospital has its unique approach to managing its health data and sharing of that information, there are actions all hospitals can take to prepare for heightened expectations for health data interoperability.
1. Connect business and policy conversations in the hospital
When you think of policy conversations, you might expect most of the activity to happen in the Government Affairs office. However, new regulations will have long-lasting and far-reaching business consequences. There is a need for business administrators affected by the regulations to also be informed. Ask for an update on the discussions that are occurring at the state and national level. Consider what the consequences could be for you. Understand how information about regulations is being disseminated throughout the organization. For example, are there impacted departments that are not included? Help advise your Government Affairs team so that they can represent the potential impact of regulations comprehensively in external discussions.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/almost-all-healthcare-execs-expect-ai-roi-sooner-later
Almost All Healthcare Execs Expect AI ROI Sooner than Later
By Jack O'Brien | October 08, 2019
Fifty percent of healthcare executives expect to see savings related to artificial intelligence in less than three years.
Healthcare executives expect to see a quicker turnaround on their investments in artificial intelligence (AI), according to an Optum survey released Tuesday morning.
Ninety percent of healthcare executives predict that they will see a return on investment for AI sooner than expected, with 50% stating that it will come in less than three years.
Executives also reported an acceleration of investments in AI, increasing nearly 88% in 2018, which shows the growing interest among C-suite leaders to implement technology to aid their organizations.
Respondents estimated that the average investment in AI over the next five years will be $39.7 million, an increase of $7.3 million compared to the 2018 survey results.
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How digital records are changing NHS care in Wales
Written by on 9 October 2019 in Features
e-Health records are enabling pharmacists to make informed decisions about treating patients and relieve pressure on GPs, writes Gill Hitchcock
The NHS in Wales could have found a way to transform the treatment of minor illnesses by enabling community pharmacists to access digital healthcare records.
In a recently completed pilot, called Sore Throat Test and Treat, instead of waiting for a GP appointment for a niggling sore throat, patients can see a community pharmacist.
Crucially, access to e-health records means pharmacists can make an informed decision about treatment. For instance, the record will show them if the patient is undergoing other treatment, or has allergies to medications. And the pharmacist will use the e-record to note the treatment they have delivered, which could include a prescription for antibiotics.
The first step to Sore Throat Test and Treat is for the patient to register with a local pharmacy. They also need to give permission for the pharmacist to access their health record.
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HIT Think
Why healthcare organizations should take a fresh look at online posts
October 08, 2019, 3:47 p.m. EDT
For the first time, a medical practice received a HIPAA fine as a result of an online post. The settlement provides a clear lesson on the limitations of social media for healthcare organizations and the need to carefully consider what information will be posted before clicking submit.
The resolution agreement resolving the issue reveals that Elite Dental Associates-Dallas is a dental practice. Patients apparently were posting bad reviews of Elite on Yelp. While Yelp is often thought of in the context of restaurants, there is a robust array of reviews available on the website, including for healthcare professionals.
On June 4, 2016, Elite responded to a review on Yelp by posting information about a patient including the patient’s last name, details of the patient’s treatment plan, insurance information and cost information. That is a fairly significant amount of information to disclose about a patient on a public platform.
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Patient portal usage associated with better preventive health engagement
October 08, 2019, 11:06 p.m. EDT
Patient use of an online portal has been linked to significant improvements in preventive health behaviors, according to a study of 10,000 patients by Penn Medicine researchers.
Results of their retrospective observational cohort, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, show that those who used an online patient portal were 50 percent more likely to get a flu shot and twice as likely to have their blood pressure checked, compared with patients who do not use portals.
In addition, patients using the portal were 50 percent more likely to have their cholesterol levels checked.
In the study, patients used a Penn Medicine–branded version of Epic’s MyChart portal—called myPennMedicine—that gives users real-time information about medical records and test results, prescriptions, appointments as well as other important health information.
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NLM taps EHRs, FHIR to improve sharing of medical research data
October 08, 2019, 12:06 a.m. EDT
The National Library of Medicine is developing analysis tools to mine electronic health records to help discover adverse drug reactions, identify promising drug targets and detect transplant rejection earlier.
Director Patricia Flatley Brennan told a House appropriations subcommittee late last month that NLM is working on tools to facilitate research use of HL7’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard, which is being widely adopted for use in EHR systems.
“The goal is to ensure that clinical data created in one system can be transmitted, interpreted and aggregated appropriately in other systems to support healthcare, public health and research,” said Brennan in her testimony. “NLM produces a range of tools to help EHR developers and users implement these standards and makes them available in multiple formats including via application programming interfaces, or APIs.”
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Oct 7, 2019, 02:48pm
Digital Medicine Movement Is Growing Up And That’s A Good Thing
There has been a lot of hype about the digital transformation of healthcare. Some commentators are beginning to say the field is growing too fast and others say it has already peaked. Sure, there have been many promises but now the initial exuberance is being tempered as people focused on responsible progress and real payment models come into the picture, setting the stage to help address healthcare’s many problems.
The good news is that industry leaders are working slow and sure to build the field of digital medicine. The goal is to harness the power of technology to transform healthcare and secure the business model. Groups such as the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) are helping ensures this new field is evidence-based with effective and safe treatments. The DiMe scientific advisory board had its first meeting a couple of weeks ago (I am a board member) and committed to develop ethically sound “Good Digital Practice” types of guidelines.
Industry meetings are now focused on reimbursement and partnerships, not just cool shiny digital apps. The Digital Therapeutics (DTx) East conference was held on the Harvard Medical School campus. Attendance nearly doubled since the previous year and focus was on reimbursement, IPOs, partnerships and payors. The conference theme was integration of digital therapies into the healthcare system, which is code of course, for “How are we going to pay for this stuff?” Earlier themes centered on promoting science and excitement grew around positive clinical studies, which caught the attention of venture investors. But the field needed to mature and show that early speculators can get returns on their invested capital.
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Changing the cybersecurity culture
Ransomware and denial-of-service attacks make headlines when it comes to hospital cybersecurity, but internal cultural and technological vulnerabilities are often more to blame for an ongoing cycle of healthcare data breaches.
By Piers Ford
October 08, 2019 10:57 AM
Ransomware and malware attacks continue to plague hospitals and institutions, scoring frequent and disruptive hits. Internal data breaches are commonplace. Risk-laden network links with external agencies and partners abound. Security weak spots are discovered in legacy systems and new applications alike. Clinicians working around medical device security protocols expose chinks of vulnerability in the IoMT.
Anyone building a picture of the state of cybersecurity in healthcare globally would struggle to find encouragement for the beleaguered hospital CIO, with many organisations apparently unable to break out of a reactive cycle and shift to more proactive defence strategies.
Bold statistics do little to improve the anecdotal picture. In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported 44 healthcare data breaches for the month, a record. The fact that the number of individuals affected fell by 29% from 963,794 to 686,953 compared with March was not exactly grounds for optimism, given the potential scale of the impact.
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Learning from other countries’ experiences in digitising healthcare
An interview with Joe Gibson, director of epidemiology at the Marion County Public Health Department in Indianapolis.
October 08, 2019 07:08 AM
While it’s clear that there are fundamental differences between different regions across the globe grappling with the challenges of digitising their healthcare systems, cross-border collaboration can stimulate new approaches and help stakeholders learn from the failures and successes of others.
To facilitate sharing of information, the HIMSS Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Chief Technology Officer, launched earlier this year an exchange programme with NHS Digital, England’s national provider of information, data and IT systems for health and social care. It aimed to leverage data and help providers tailor services according to emerging demand, creating an opportunity to build meaningful and sustainable communities that could later expand to global partnerships.
At the end of August, the 10-day visit brought health informaticists, data scientists and data strategists from the U.S. to NHS Digital’s headquarters in Leeds to identify new ideas for health data science projects.
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Moody’s Frets Over Hospital Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
October 8, 2019
Readers of this blog know well that hospitals’ cybersecurity measures aren’t exactly impenetrable, as hack after hack attests.
This isn’t just a concern for health system execs, though. Financial analyst firm Moody’s Investors Service has just a released a new report outlining its concerns about the adequacy of hospital cyber-defenses and the consequences facilities could face if they don’t tighten those defenses substantially.
In the report, Moody’s takes official notice of the barrage of successful cyberattacks on hospitals, particularly ransomware and cyberattacks that compromise EHR, noting that these attacks not only expose information, they also threaten the facilities’ bottom line. Such attacks, it says, “[affect] hospitals’ revenue cycle and [disrupt] cash flow in the most severe cases.”
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NHSX will not develop new standards, says senior tech advisor
Open standards, open data and open source are the way forward for NHS interoperability.
By Tammy Lovell
October 02, 2019 09:34 AM
If you were wondering how NHSX will be developing new standards to speed up innovation, its senior technology advisor, Terence Eden, has a very blunt answer for you. They won’t.
“Developing standards takes a huge amount of time, effort and money and those are three things which we don’t have,” he told delegates at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology (HETT) event in London today.
Instead, NHSX will look for the best international open standards which are already in use.
“We want to be able to buy software from around the world and we want our software to integrate with other health systems. We can’t take a parochial attitude to data and integration anymore,” Eden said.
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ECRI's top health tech hazards for 2020 include EHR errors, alert fatigue, missing MRI data
The annual report from ECRI Institute spotlights the Top 10 technology dangers in hospitals, ambulatory clinics and LTPAC settings.
By Mike Miliard
October 08, 2019 01:05 PM
Timing-related EHR errors, which could delay the administration of critical medications if the order generated doesn't match the dose administration time intended by the prescriber, were one of the risks noted on this year's list.
For its new annual assessment of healthcare technology dangers, the nonprofit safety group ECRI Institute points to misuse of surgical staplers as the top hazard. But a few major health IT risks also round out the list.
WHY IT MATTERS
ECRI's Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2020 is meant to keep healthcare leaders informed about the patient safety risks they should be prioritizing.
ECRI's Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2020 is meant to keep healthcare leaders informed about the patient safety risks they should be prioritizing.
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Top 10 Medical Technology Hazards of 2020 Announced
By Christopher Cheney | October 08, 2019
Factors that the ECRI Institute considers in developing the medical technology hazard list include severity of risk, frequency of harm, difficulty of recognizing problems, and preventability.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
· Surgical staplers top the hazard list. From 2011 to 2018, there were more than 109,000 adverse stapler incidents, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
· Point of care ultrasound is second on the hazard list because the ability to use the technology safely has not kept pace with its adoption.
· Sterile processing risks are highest in physician and dental offices because they lack the sterilization resources found in hospitals.
Surgical staplers are the top medical technology hazard for 2020, according to the ECRI Institute.
Twenty years after publication of the Institute of Medicine's landmark report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, patient safety remains a significant concern for the healthcare sector. The Institute of Medicine report estimated 98,000 Americans were dying annually due to medical errors. Estimates of annual patient deaths due to medical errors have since risen steadily to 440,000 lives, which make medical errors the country's third-leading cause of death.
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https://www.techradar.com/au/news/malicious-apps-are-targeting-people-with-serious-health-conditions
These malicious apps could be a major threat to your health
Users warned to be careful about what app they download.
A new form of cyberattack is seeing criminals target victims with serious health conditions like diabetes, new research has claimed.
Yes, this is something of a new low with cybercriminals releasing health apps which purport to help folks with their condition, but are really a thinly veiled attempt to steal personal data, invade privacy, or push ads or malware onto the victim’s device.
This comes from security firm Fortinet, as revealed at the Virus Bulletin 2019 conference by principal security researcher Axelle Apvrille.
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October 4, 2019
Potential Liability for Physicians Using Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly making inroads into medical practice, especially in forms that rely on machine learning, with a mix of hope and hype.1 Multiple AI-based products have now been approved or cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and health systems and hospitals are increasingly deploying AI-based systems.2 For example, medical AI can support clinical decisions, such as recommending drugs or dosages or interpreting radiological images.2 One key difference from most traditional clinical decision support software is that some medical AI may communicate results or recommendations to the care team without being able to communicate the underlying reasons for those results.3
Medical AI may be trained in inappropriate environments, using imperfect techniques, or on incomplete data. Even when algorithms are trained as well as possible, they may, for example, miss a tumor in a radiological image or suggest the incorrect dose for a drug or an inappropriate drug. Sometimes, patients will be injured as a result. In this Viewpoint, we discuss when a physician could likely be held liable under current law when using medical AI.
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Industry Voices—Without public policy changes, the U.S. risks losing the global race to innovate in healthcare
Oct 4, 2019 11:00am
A digital revolution in the healthcare industry has begun and will transform discovery and delivery of healthcare in the coming years. While the U.S. set the trend for adoption and use of health information technology, we risk losing the global race to innovate without policy changes that support the evolving landscape.
From developments in artificial intelligence to remote patient monitoring devices, digital health promises to improve patient outcomes and make healthcare more accessible, convenient and affordable. Yet the most promising new technology coming out of U.S. research and development labs is facing a regulatory regime that was designed before the advent of these technologies, and the uncertainty of the legal landscape may limit the development and use of such innovation in healthcare.
It is time for stocktaking. We need public policy approaches that promote digital health innovation with the flexibility to adapt to new opportunities embarked on by healthcare and technology communities in the future.
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Alabama health system pays hackers responsible for ransomware attack as FBI warns more to come
Oct 7, 2019 12:59pm
Alabama-based DCH Health System made a payment to hackers behind a ransomware attack that disrupted operations at three hospitals in the past week.
In collaboration with law enforcement and independent IT security experts, health system officials said they began a methodical process of system restoration, organization officials said in a statement posted on the health system's website Oct. 5.
"We have been using our own DCH backup files to rebuild certain system components, and we have obtained a decryption key from the attacker to restore access to locked systems," officials said.
According to the Tuscaloosa News, system spokesman Brad Fisher said in a statement issued Saturday morning that they "worked with law enforcement and IT security experts to assess all options in executing the solution we felt was in the best interests of our patients and in alignment with our health system’s mission."
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What's next in healthcare and digital health? Here are 4 trends to watch
Oct 4, 2019 1:32pm
NEW YORK CITY—Uber is looking to get into pharmacy medication delivery. Prescription eyeglass company Warby Parker is moving into virtual eye exams, and audio equipment maker Bose wants to help consumers get better sleep through hearing technology.
Consumer-focused companies are rapidly moving further into healthcare, and industry incumbents need to be ready for accelerating change: That was one of the big takeaways from CB Insights' Future of Health conference in Manhattan this week.
It’s not just startups attacking entrenched interests in healthcare; it's large companies as well, said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal during the conference.
"The field of play is changing pretty dramatically, and the competitive lines are constantly being redrawn," he said, noting Amazon’s "unbundling" of the pharmacy, Apple’s unbundling of the clinical trials process and Google’s unbundling of the hospital.
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What to do when your EHR derails productivity and value-based care
October 3, 2019
Like it or not, value-based care (VBC) is expected to account for 59 percent of healthcare payments by 2020, according to the Aetna 2018 Health Care Trends Report.
This means physicians will have to continue to do more with less: Every patient experience will need to support the Triple Aim goals of quality care under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including improved patient outcomes and lowered costs. Physician practices that can’t demonstrate high-quality, cost-efficient care may face steep financial penalties.
This is a daunting, onerous task for physicians, especially because existing communications technology may not adequately support Triple Aim goals. Electronic health records (EHRs) were supposed to support VBC by providing technology that enables primary care physicians to coordinate care across the continuum but many, if not most, EHRs don’t live up to the hype.
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Report: Nation state hackers and cyber criminals are spoofing each other
It's difficult to tell hackers apart says Optiv as US government agencies are warned by Check Point about new threats from a Chinese government-backed group.
Nation-state hackers and cyber criminals are increasingly impersonating each other to try and hide their tracks as part of advanced attack techniques says Optiv Security in its 2019 Cyber Threat Intelligence Estimate report.
The top industries being targeted are retail, healthcare, government and financial institutions. Cryptojacking and ransomware are new exploits that join the traditional list of computer threats from botnets, Denial-of-Service (DDoS), phishing, and malware.
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Listen: Don Rucker, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Season: 2 | Episode: 23
HHS's Office of the National Coordinator promotes widespread use of health information technology.
Fri, 10/04/2019 - 17:31
Dr. Don Rucker discusses his office's efforts in the nationwide implementation of the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information. Bringing experience from the private sector and medical practice, Rucker discusses the impact of emerging technology and initiatives including interoperability.
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VA Enables Secured EHR Data Sharing With Community Care Providers
The Veterans Health Information Exchange will help share EHR data for veterans accessing community care in 2020.
October 04, 2019 - Starting January 2020, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) will no longer require veterans’ hand-written authorization for EHR data sharing between the VA and participating community care providers, the agency said in a public statement.
Using the Veterans Health Information Exchange, the agency will be able to automatically share veterans’ health information safely and securely. The VA’s HIE will operate on an opt-out basis, meaning if the veteran does not want his information electronically shared to the community provider, he can opt out of electronic sharing by submitting a form.
This system will support the VA MISSION Act, which was signed into law in 2018 and launched in June 2019 and replaced the highly scrutinized Veterans Choice program. The MISSION Act revamped VA’s community care benefits, making it easier for veterans to access care at non-VA medical facilities.
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5 financial implications of precision medicine for physician practices
October 4, 2019
When healthcare leaders talk about the financial implications of care models like precision medicine, their thoughts often focus on the return on investment (ROI). How much will it cost to take this case to the precision medicine level? What are the potential downsides? What could it add to our bottom line?
Physicians who get on board with precision medicine early should note: It’s often difficult to prove the ROI of new modalities immediately. Early adopters must consider the broader financial implications and factor qualitative value into the overall equation, especially as precision medicine evolves. Most physicians recognize the inherent benefits of diagnosing and treating patients more precisely, but it will take time to generate the necessary body of data to demonstrate the positive return for adding precision medicine to the mix.
Below are five factors practice leaders must explore to evaluate how quickly to bring genomics and precision medicine into their daily practice.
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Hackers use worker survey as pretext for attack at UAB Medicine
October 07, 2019, 3:26 p.m. EDT
UAB Medicine is notifying 19,557 patients that their protected health information was exposed as the result of a recent email hack.
Investigators for the Birmington, Ala.-based organization say that the information could have been viewed by hackers seeking to access employee email accounts and the payroll system, which have increasingly become targets of such attacks.
In this case, the hackers sent an email created to look like an authentic request from an executive asking employees to complete a business survey. Hackers were successful in accessing information despite education and training of employees about this type of phishing attack, the organization told patients in a notification letter.
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Cincinnati Children’s to serve as NIH rare disease data center
October 06, 2019, 9:43 p.m. EDT
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $28 million grant to Cincinnati Children’s to serve as a data management and coordinating center for the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network.
The RDCRN program, overseen by NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, is meant to advance medical research on rare diseases by providing support for clinical studies and fostering collaboration, study enrollment and data sharing.
RDCRN’s Data Management and Coordinating Center at Cincinnati Children’s is designed to enable high-quality data collection and analysis as well as information sharing across the network of 20 individual clinical research consortia, supporting studies involving thousands of scientists.
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InterSystems unveils Clean Data as a Solution, helping normalize datasets for analytics ROI
The new offering, which includes patient matching, aggregation, normalization, deduplication and more, can help health systems launch more effective AI and machine learning projects, the company says.
By Mike Miliard
October 07, 2019 10:23 AM
In an effort to help healthcare organizations achieve more from their analytics – and better position them to take on new artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives – InterSystems has launched a new service it's calling Clean Data as a Solution.
WHY IT MATTERS
InterSystems says Clean Data as a Solution helps its customers meet a key organizational imperative: ensuring their clinical, financial and operational data is able to be normalized, aggregated and interpreted more quickly and accurately.
InterSystems says Clean Data as a Solution helps its customers meet a key organizational imperative: ensuring their clinical, financial and operational data is able to be normalized, aggregated and interpreted more quickly and accurately.
Clean datasets – no duplicate records, formatting errors, incorrect information or mismatched terminology – are critical to even the most basic analytics projects.
The service – which the company says can help not just hospitals and health systems, but also payers, life sciences companies, contract research organizations and more – can help position health organizations as they move toward more AI and automation to help manage datasets from multiple sources.
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SNF Setback: Acute Care Providers Share Limited Data when Transferring Patients to Post-Acute Care
October 7, 2019
The following is a guest article by Sean Vandeweerd, Sr. Product Manager, PointClickCare Technologies Inc.
As patients move from acute-care facilities to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), the sharing of critical patient information and associated data is extremely important for coordinating care. Despite best intentions, most acute-care providers are still not sharing all patient data and information.
In our 2019 Patient Transition Study, PointClickCare surveyed c-suite and other executives from acute and post-acute care facilities to better understand the types of technology used during transitions of care, as well as the challenges and opportunities that said technology present for providers to improve processes and care.
While the survey revealed transfer systems lacking in both provider settings, the results when looking at data transfers from hospitals to SNFs were particularly alarming: only 16 percent of acute-care providers reported sharing “all” patient data with their post-acute partners, 35 percent share “some,” and 7 percent share “very little.” While most provide critical data points such as medication information and demographic and diagnostic data, key elements such as measurements and observations, advanced care planning notes, and location and patient status information are largely missing.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2019/10/07/meditech-eh-investment-in-canadian-ehr-market-pays-off/
MEDITECH eh – Investment in Canadian EHR Market Pays Off
October 7, 2019
When MEDITECH released their latest statistics for their Canadian operations, I was floored – 47% market share and 35 years of collaboration in Canada. I knew MEDITECH had been in the country for a long time, but I had no idea their ROOTS ran so deep [Canadian readers will get the joke].
Recently, MEDITECH sent out a press release about their Canadian success. This release caught my eye because MEDITECH is one of the few US-based EHR systems that have enjoyed long-term success in Canada. After reading the two eye-popping statistics, I immediately reached out to the company to find out more about their Canadian history and operations.
Christine Parent, Associate Vice President at MEDITECH was more than happy to sit down with me for a phone interview. We spoke about paper records, population health and the similarities/differences between the Canadian and US healthcare markets.
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Wasteful Spending in U.S. Healthcare Estimated at $760 billion to $935 billion
By Christopher Cheney | October 07, 2019
Researchers focus on six categories of waste: failure of care delivery, failure of care coordination, overtreatment or low-value care, pricing failure, fraud and abuse, and administrative complexity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
This new research updates earlier estimates of wasteful spending that focus on six categories identified by the Institute of Medicine.
· In the new research, the biggest category of wasteful spending is administrative complexity, with annual waste estimated at $265.6 billion.
· Interventions to reduce waste in the six Institute of Medicine categories would result in annual savings from $191 billion to $282 billion.
· Waste accounts for about 25% of U.S. healthcare spending, new research indicates.
No other country spends more on healthcare than the United States, with the gross domestic product share of healthcare spending estimated at nearly 18% and rising. Earlier research on U.S. healthcare spending has estimated that waste accounts for about 30% of the spending total.
Reducing wasteful spending is a promising avenue to curb annual increases in the country's healthcare spending, according to the co-authors of the new research, which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Implementation of effective measures to eliminate waste represents an opportunity reduce the continued increases in U.S. healthcare expenditures," the researchers wrote.
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How to Support the Widespread Adoption of AI
Grow comfortable with being agile
By Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Oct 4, 2019 1:01 pm ET
Artificial intelligence is the biggest commercial opportunity for companies and industries over the next 10 to 15 years. Separate reports by McKinsey & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP recently concluded that AI has the potential to boost global economic output by between $13 trillion and $15 trillion between now and 2030.
Yet many organizations’ efforts are falling short, according to the authors of a recent Harvard Business Review article. They found that most firms are only using AI in ad hoc pilots or applying it to a single business process. Only 8% of firms are engaged in practices that support widespread adoption.
Why the slow progress? “It’s a reflection of a failure to rewire the organization,” write the authors, who are McKinsey partners. “AI initiatives face formidable cultural and organizational barriers…at most businesses that aren’t born digital, traditional mindsets and ways of working run counter to those needed for AI.”
To support the widespread adoption of AI, they suggest that companies must make three fundamental shifts.
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Weekly News Recap
- Northwell Health (NY) will work with Allscripts to develop a cloud-based EHR incorporating voice recognition and artificial intelligence.
- Walmart will pilot several programs across the country to connect its employees to healthcare services that it hopes will offer quality care at more affordable prices.
- Private equity firm Francisco Partners will acquire laboratory information systems vendor Orchard Software.
- Beginning next year, the VA will automatically share health data with community providers using the Veterans Health Information Exchange.
- Siemens Healthineers subsidiary Siemens Medical USA will acquire ECG Management Consultants from Gryphon Investors.
- FDA issues an alert about Urgent/11, a cybersecurity vulnerability found in IPnet third-party software that attackers may exploit to take over medical devices and hospital networks.
- After laying off half its staff this summer and filing for Chapter 11 earlier this month, UBiome will cease operations and liquidate assets.
- Canada’s New Brunswick Medical Society will close Velante, the for-profit company it created in 2012 as the sole EHR provider for the province’s doctors.
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WHO launches app to improve care for older people
Monday, 07 October, 2019
In recognition of the International Day of Older Persons on 1 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a package of tools, including a digital application, to help health and social workers provide better care for older people.
The world’s population is ageing at a fast pace: by 2050, one in five people will be over 60 and 426 million people will be over 80. While every older person is different, physical and mental capacity tend to decline with increasing age.
The interactive digital application, known as the WHO ICOPE Handbook App, provides practical guidance to address priority conditions including mobility limitations, malnutrition, vision and hearing loss, cognitive decline, depressive symptoms, and social care and support. Used in conjunction with the package of tools, including a new handbook, the app is designed to accelerate training of health and social workers to better address the diverse needs of older people.
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Enjoy!
David.
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