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://healthitanalytics.com/news/how-big-data-analytics-can-mitigate-covid-19-health-disparities
How Big Data Analytics Can Mitigate COVID-19 Health Disparities
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, big data analytics have helped organizations pinpoint and
reduce health disparities among patient populations.
By Jessica Kent
September 15,
2020 - While the rapid spread of COVID-19 has exposed many unflattering
healthcare truths, the glaring health disparities highlighted by the pandemic
are perhaps the most detrimental to patient health.
The virus has
had a disproportionate impact on minority and underserved communities, shining
a spotlight on existing clinical and non-clinical inequities.
“Minorities
are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions like high blood pressure,
diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Additionally, these patient populations
typically lack access to adequate healthcare, or have a limited understanding
of the healthcare system,” said Sampson Davis, MD, an emergency medicine
physician.
“These
individuals also tend to work in the service industry – transportation, the
food industry, or airports. In these jobs, there's no work-from-home
possibilities that can allow people to distance themselves socially. In that
sense, there’s a heighted risk of exposure to COVID-19.”
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/how-telehealth-accelerated-post-acute-digital-transformation
How Telehealth Accelerated Post-Acute Digital Transformation
By Emily Sokol, MPH
September 17,
2020 - Telehealth and interoperability solutions enable TriHealth’s
digital transformation and give providers more time for patient care.
Lori Baker,
MSOL, MSW, director of ambulatory care management, senior services, and
post-acute network at TriHealth highlights her health system’s digital
transformation process in a recent episode of Healthcare Strategies, an
Xtelligent Healthcare Media podcast,
“We have had
a lot more patients who have engaged in seeing their doctors through
telemedicine visits,” Baker said. “It has been amazing to see that
transformation and how, as we continue to move forward, we try to engage more
patients in preventative care.”
TriHealth
is leveraging multiple telehealth solutions to push forward the digital
transformation including telemonitoring
programs for various patient populations.
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https://www.techradar.com/news/professional-ransomware-how-to-deal-with-these-new-corporate-criminals
Professional ransomware: how to deal with these new corporate criminals
By Geraint
Williams 17 September, 2020
A new wave of
criminal is making themselves known
The
opening lines read like your typical product launch press release: “We created
Darkside because we didn’t find the perfect product for us. Now we have it.”
However,
this is not your typical company press release – this is a group of cyber
criminals who have created the latest strain of ransomware
designed to hunt down and target big-game organisations for millions. But
instead of dealing with back alleyway and flick-knife criminals, these crooks
practically wear a suit and shake your hand with attacks that are shroud with
an unnerving manner of professionalism.
They’ll
break into your systems, steal and encrypt your files, lock you out, and then
threaten to publicly expose your sensitive data unless you pay the ransomware
fee. Very much like your typical ransomware attack, except that these criminals
will pleasantly deal with the negotiator with a smile on their face and a
helpful, can-do attitude. They offer real-time chat support, guaranteed
turnaround times and discounts if payment is received in a timely manner.
Darkside even have a corporate responsibility pledge – they promise not to
attack schools, non-profits, governments or hospitals, and will only target those
who they know can pay based on their net worth.
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https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200911.401376/full/
Ethical Considerations In The Use Of AI Mortality Predictions In The Care
Of People With Serious Illness
September 16, 2020 10.1377/hblog20200911.401376
Predicting
prognosis is as old as medicine itself. Recent breakthroughs in artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning have led to algorithms that promise
to answer one of life’s ultimate questions: When will I die? Analyzing
electronic health record (EHR) and other data, different
algorithms
now
exist
to predict mortality, seemingly with unprecedented accuracy and without the
direct input of clinicians or patients.
The
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has arguably further stoked the fire of this desire
to know patient prognoses. Accurately predicting mortality due to COVID-19
would supposedly offer a technological way out of vexing resource allocation
decisions. Patients could be ranked by likelihood of survival, and scarce
resources (such as ventilators) could be allocated accordingly to maximize
lives saved. Having prognostic information in hand could spur patients,
families, and health care professionals to have advanced care planning
discussions, and avoid non-beneficial or unwanted interventions, such as
cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Well-intentioned
though these efforts are, the rapid dissemination of mortality algorithms by
EHR software raises serious ethical concerns, such as the potential use of AI
to reduce use of services rather than align care with patient goals or to
unintentionally worsen health disparities, and raises questions about how these
models should be used in practice.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/ransomware-hacking-groups-post-data-from-5-healthcare-entities
Ransomware Hacking Groups Post Data from 5 Healthcare Entities
NetWalker,
REvil, SunCrypt, and Pysa, or Mespinoza, ransomware hacking groups posted data
allegedly stolen from five healthcare entities in recent weeks to blackmail them
into paying the ransom.
By Jessica Davis
September 17,
2020 - The hacking groups
behind Pysa, or Mespinoza, SunCrypt, REvil,
and NetWalker ransomware variants posted
data allegedly stolen from five separate healthcare entities on
the dark web for sale, in an effort to force the organizations into
paying their ransom demands.
Double extortion
– where hackers gain a foothold onto a network, proliferate to connected,
vulnerable devices, and exfiltrate sensitive data before launching a
ransomware payload – was first made popular by the Maze
hacking group.
The hackers
notoriously targeted healthcare providers, and other hacking groups soon
followed the trend: with NetWalker and REvil actors
quickly taking advantage of the profitable technique. The FBI has
warned NetWalker has continued to target healthcare entities throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/rwjbarnabas-health-ehr-user-experience-tool-helps-reduce-clinician-burden
At RWJBarnabas Health, EHR user experience tool helps reduce clinician
burden
Its Cerner
EHR is now able to anticipate the most relevant information to display to
the clinician to deliver a better experience, increase their
productivity and reduce burnout.
By Bill Siwicki
September 18,
2020 11:46 AM
RWJBarnabas
Health is the largest health system in New Jersey. It serves more
than five million patients annually across nine counties and
employing 33,000 people – making it the state’s largest private employer. As a
national health system leader, RWJBH recognizes clinician burnout as a complex
workplace syndrome affecting not only physicians, nurses and staff who deliver
care to patients, but also patients and their families.
THE
PROBLEM
The
health system’s clinicians are the lifeblood of the organization and help it
deliver the best possible care to its patients. They should be empowered
with the right tools and technologies that allow them to do their jobs as
efficiently as possible.
But
electronic health record systems require clinicians to click through dozens of screens
to find the information they need to make treatment decisions for patients.
Clinician burnout is a national problem, and the EHR has been shown in many
studies to be a significant contributor.
PROPOSAL
“EHR
systems are largely static, displaying information in the same way to every
healthcare provider for each patient,” said Dr. Stephen O’Mahony, vice
president and chief health information officer at RWJBarnabas Health. “This
contributes to frustration and inefficiency, because users are required to
search across many screens with numerous clicks to find the information they
need.”
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/09/18/proximity-matters-using-machine-learning-and-geospatial-analytics-to-reduce-covid-19-exposure-risk/
Proximity Matters: Using Machine Learning and Geospatial Analytics to
Reduce COVID-19 Exposure Risk
September 18, 2020
Guest Author
The
following is a guest article by Manjula Julka, MD, MBA, PCCI’s Vice President, Clinical
Innovation and Albert Karam, MS, PCCI’s Director of Data Governance and
Analytics.
Since
the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest challenges for
health systems has been to gain an understanding of the community spread of
this virus and to determine how likely is it that a person walking through the
doors of a facility is at a higher risk of being COVID-19 positive.
Without
adequate access to testing data, health systems early-on were often forced to
rely on individuals to answer questions such as whether they had traveled to
certain high-risk regions. Even that unreliable method of assessing risk
started becoming meaningless as local community spread took hold.
Parkland
Health & Hospital System (the safety net health system for Dallas County,
TX) and PCCI (a Dallas, TX based non-profit with expertise in the practical
applications of advanced data science and social determinants of health) had a
better idea. Community spread of an infectious disease is made possible through
physical proximity and density of active carriers and non-infected individuals.
Thus, to understand the risk of an individual contracting the disease (exposure
risk), it was necessary to assess their proximity to confirmed COVID-19 cases
based on their address and population density of those locations. If an
“exposure risk” index could be created, then Parkland could use it to minimize
exposure for their patients and health workers and provide targeted educational
outreach in highly vulnerable zip codes.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/good-patient-provider-relationship-proves-to-boost-outcomes
Good Patient-Provider Relationship Proves to Boost Outcomes
When the
patient-provider relationship improved, as did patient-reported functional
health status, researchers found.
By Sara Heath
September 16,
2020 - A good patient-provider relationship has long been understood as
the foundation of a high patient satisfaction score, but new evidence suggests
these relationships can have greater impacts. A study in the Annals of
Family Medicine has found that a better patient-provider relationship can mean
better patient health outcomes.
The pursuit
of a good patient-provider relationship is not exactly new, the researchers acknowledged.
Positive relationships can help improve patient satisfaction and yield patient
loyalty. And when a patient has a regular source of healthcare, data has shown
health outcomes can improve, the researchers reported.
But
patient-provider relationships may go beyond improving the patient
experience, the researchers said.
“Whereas
consistent access to a provider is important, the quality of each clinical
encounter is equally important in shaping a patient’s experience and overall
health outcomes,” the investigators, hailing from Case Western Reserve
University, explained. “Specifically, the quality of the physician-patient
relationship warrants closer research. The physician-patient relationship is a
valued primary care process on which other primary care processes depend.”
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/could-customer-reviews-give-transparency-into-health-it-tools
Could Customer Reviews Give Transparency into Health IT Tools?
ONC and
researchers developed a crowdsourcing website aimed to rate and review
interoperability solutions.
By Christopher Jason
September 16,
2020 - Crowdsourced ratings face three key barriers to providing
transparency for interoperability and health IT products, according
to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics
Association (JAMIA).
From Yelp to
Glassdoor, crowdsourced consumer ratings are a common and essential avenue to
show transparency in product quality. However, in the healthcare industry,
crowdsourced ratings have yet to see similar or substantial results.
That is about
to change as developers become subject to new health IT policies and
regulations.
Following the
21st
Century Cures Act, health IT developers will now collect consumer
performance data. The law specifically calls for limits on, gag clauses and
rules against sharing screenshots and videos of product performance.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/ahima-joins-forces-with-meditech-to-develop-ehr-training-program
AHIMA Joins Forces with MEDITECH to Develop EHR Training Program
Healthcare
professionals are beginning to value the importance of EHR training early in a
career to help ease the transition to the next level.
By Christopher Jason
September 16,
2020 - MEDITECH and its health IT solutions partner teamed
up with AHIMA to develop a new EHR training program for 16,000 students at
over 300 colleges and universities across the country.
AHIMA will
deliver a custom, virtual EHR training curriculum for associate, baccalaureate,
and graduate degree programs. The organization will also offer certificate
level and continuing education unit programs to qualifying students.
Quality EHR
training is essential to users, especially those new to the technology. Research shows
it is the highest prognosticator of EHR user satisfaction. Researchers
recommend a minimum of four hours of EHR training to boost EHR satisfaction.
The
AHIMA VLab, an online portal that features several health information software
applications and courses, will offer the training on MEDITECH Expanse EHR.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/iranian-hackers-targeting-exploiting-vpn-flaws-of-us-healthcare-it-orgs
Iranian Hackers Targeting, Exploiting VPN Flaws of US Healthcare, IT Orgs
FBI and
CISA warn Iran-backed hackers are targeting US federal agencies and businesses,
including those in healthcare and IT, exploiting known vulnerabilities in VPN
connections.
By Jessica Davis
September 16,
2020 - Hackers with ties to Iran are exploiting flaws found in
commonly used Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) across a range of
federal agencies and businesses, including those in the healthcare
and IT sectors, according to a joint alert from
the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Agency and the FBI.
It appears
the threat actors are connected to a hacking group known as Pioneer Kitten and
UNC757, based on an analysis of indicators of compromise (IOCs) and
tactics, techniques, and procedures. The group is actively exploiting
several known vulnerabilities in Pulse Secure VPNs, Citrix NetScaler, and F5 network solutions.
CISA and the
FBI have repeatedly warned throughout the year that hackers are actively
targeting these vulnerabilities. In fact, threat actors
have successfully exploited Pulse Secure VPNs using stolen credentials,
even if the organization has applied the patch.
In
the latest widespread campaign, officials observed the threat actor
using these vulnerabilities to gain access to a victim’s network and
maintaining persistent access on successfully exploited networks for several
months using a variety of techniques.
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https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/09/16/americans-want-federal-government-to-make-sharing-electronic-health-data-easier
Americans Want Federal Government to Make Sharing Electronic Health Data
Easier
Survey shows clear majorities support better patient matching and access
to records
Article September 16, 2020
By: Ben Moscovitch Topics: Health Care Projects: Health
Information Technology Read
time: 5 min
A
survey released Sept. 16 shows that clear majorities of Americans support
efforts to improve how their medical information is shared among doctors and
clinicians, and that they want greater access to their own health data.
A
majority said they are comfortable with the use of technologies such as
smartphone applications to access their own electronic health records (EHR),
but they voiced significant concerns about privacy when federal health data
protections are not in place. Likewise, respondents expressed support for
several methods to improve the accuracy of how their medical records are linked
from place to place—including the use of biometrics like fingerprints.
The
survey, commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts, included a nationally representative
sample of 1,213 adults (ages 18+). It was conducted online and by phone between
June 1 and July 3, 2020, with a margin of error of +/- 3.49%. Public Opinion
Strategies and Hart Research Associates designed and administered the survey in
conjunction with Pew. The survey was conducted using NORC at the University of
Chicago’s AmeriSpeak panel, a nationally representative, probability-based
panel of the U.S. household population.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/patients-want-download-their-own-health-data-report-shows
Patients want to download their own health data, report shows
With
compliance requirements for ONC's info blocking rule just around the corner, a
poll from Pew Charitable Trusts finds a big appetite for patient access, and
widespread support for providers to do better information sharing between EHR
systems.
By Kat Jercich
September 17,
2020 03:03 PM
With
the deadline quickly approaching for healthcare providers to implement
the new information blocking rules put in place under the 21st Century Cures
Act, a new survey suggests that patients are on board with the changes to come.
The
survey commissioned by Pew Charitable Trusts found that the
majority of patients want easy access to their health data, specifically via
applications on mobile devices. Patients also generally support allowing
different healthcare providers to share data between electronic health records
systems when caring for the same patient.
"Generally,
respondents support sharing key information that federal interoperability
policies don’t currently prioritize," noted Ben Moscovitch, health IT
director at Pew Charitable Trusts, in a blog post about the findings.
"For
example, more than two-thirds want their different doctors, hospitals, and
other health care providers to share advanced care plans or end-of-life
preferences, images, and family medical histories," Moscovitch continued.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hospital-ransomware-attack-leads-fatality-after-causing-delay-care
Hospital ransomware attack leads to fatality after causing delay in care
A German
woman died after Düsseldorf University Clinic's servers were encrypted, which
necessitated that she be relocated to a hospital 20 miles away.
By Mike Miliard
September 17,
2020 03:21 PM
Prosecutors
in Germany are eyeing negligent manslaughter charges as they seek the person or
persons who launched a large-scale ransomware attack on Düsseldorf University
Hospital – freezing up 30 of its clinic's servers. The data loss required
patients to be moved to different facilities – including a critically-ill woman
who died before she could be treated.
WHY IT
MATTERS
According to an ABC News report, the patient had to be relocated to another
hospital in Wuppertal, more than half an hour away, after Düsseldorf's IT
system was encrypted in the cyberattack. The hour-long delay in care proved
fatal.
The
attack that locked clinicians out of critical data on September 10 –
necessitating that operations be postponed and emergency patients be relocated
to other sites – appeared to exploit a vulnerability in a piece of "widely
used commercial add-on software," ABC reports.
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https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/4-essential-data-and-it-articles-read-during-time-covid-19
4 Essential Data and IT Articles To Read During the Time of COVID-19
By Mandy Roth |
September 17, 2020
Healthcare systems share how they are fueling innovation, plus
organizations report key political and regulatory updates, as well as insights
into future IT priorities.
Information
technology (IT) departments play a key role in helping hospitals and healthcare
systems fight COVID-19 by supplying the technology and data powering many
innovative initiatives. Here's a look at initiatives underway at organizations in
Illinois and Oregon. In addition, we share insights from the Health Information
and Management Systems Society's government relations team about relevant
political and regulatory issues that may impact IT work, as well as findings
from LexisNexis Risk Solutions research that shines a light on CIO priorities
moving forward.
As
the coronavirus pandemic began to impact Illinois, the department of decision
sciences at Memorial Health System in Springfield went into
overdrive. Using standard data management and visualization tools, within a
matter of weeks the 11-person team of data scientists and engineers developed a
dashboard that gave executives an at-a-glance recap of key COVID-19 indicators
including case counts, bed tracking, lab turnaround times, personal protective
equipment (PPE) "burn rates," and more. In addition, without adding
to their workforce, the team devised an internal contact tracing system, local
surveillance system to predict COVID-19 surges, and geospatial tools to
identify community "hot spots."
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https://healthitanalytics.com/news/google-gives-8.5m-to-fund-covid-19-data-analytics-ai-projects
Google Gives $8.5M to Fund COVID-19 Data Analytics, AI Projects
The
donation will support 31 organizations around the world in using artificial
intelligence and data analytics to better respond to COVID-19.
By Jessica Kent
September 14,
2020 - Google.org is
donating more than $8.5 million to 31 universities, nonprofits, and other
academic institutions that are using artificial intelligence and data analytics
to combat COVID-19.
The funding
is part of Google.org’s $100 million commitment to COVID-19 relief and focuses
on four key areas where new information and action is needed to mitigate the
impact of the pandemic.
These areas will
include projects centered around monitoring and forecasting
disease spread, which will lead to a better understanding of where the
virus is likely to spike.
“Understanding
the spread of COVID-19 is critical to informing public health decisions and
lessening its impact on communities,” Mollie Javerbaum, program manager of
Google.org, and Meghan Houghton, university relations program manager wrote in
a recent blog.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/features/providers-plan-a-post-pandemic-future-with-telehealth-strategies
Providers Plan a Post-Pandemic Future With Telehealth Strategies
They’ve
tried the technology and tested the workloads. Now that telehealth is here to
stay, providers are looking closely at what telehealth strategies do and not
work for them.
September 14,
2020 - With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March, healthcare
providers across the country launched or expanded telehealth platforms with the
goal of moving as much care as possible into the virtual realm.
Half a year
later, the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction, with access to
in-person care on the rise and telehealth visits declining. But while some
critics suggest the shift marks a death knell for virtual care, others feel the
healthcare industry is just looking for firm footing in an uncertain landscape.
Providers are sifting through changing patient demands and a still-uncertain
payer landscape to find out what can – and should – be done via telehealth and
what still needs to be done in person.
The variable
in the equation is reimbursement. With the COVID-19 crisis creating a public
health emergency, federal and state regulators issued a string of directives
aimed at expanding telehealth coverage. They opened the door to new types of
care providers and services, and added coverage for new modalities, such as the
audio-only phone, but only for as long as the nation is in a public health
emergency.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/patient-engagement-technology-is-a-doorway-to-care-at-adventhealth
Patient Engagement Technology Is a Doorway to Care at AdventHealth
At
AdventHealth, building a patient engagement technology isn't enough. The health
system responded to COVID-19 by creating virtual pathways to care.
By Sara Heath
September 14,
2020 - Like so many hospitals and health systems across the country, the
emergence of the novel coronavirus forced AdventHealth to go from zero to sixty
launching consumer-focused patient engagement technology.
While before
March the health system, which has over 80,000 employees enabling medical
care in nine states, was behind the scenes building its digital front
door, the COVID-19 outbreak forced AdventHealth to unlock it for patients, and
fast.
“Our work
plan for the whole year got stood up in probably a period of a month to six
weeks,” Tricia Smith Edris, senior vice president and chief consumer officer at
AdventHealth, told PatientEngagementHIT. “And we just started adding to it as
we started to understand more of the patient needs and phases that we were
going to experience.”
From
the get-go, AdventHealth quickly needed to prop up some sort of communication
channel to help patients seeking information. In March, there was so little
information about the coronavirus — even less of it accessible for the
layperson — and AdventHealth knew it would need to be a contact point for
worried patients.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/how-to-optimize-and-keep-up-with-the-evolution-of-interoperability
How to Optimize and Keep Up with the Evolution of Interoperability
Cerner
says the evolution of technology has helped it maintain and facilitate
interoperability and patient data sharing over the last 40 years.
By Christopher Jason
September 15,
2020 - From the early-eighties to now, interoperability, its definitions,
and the scope of it has evolved tremendously. Whether it’s data integration or
data interfacing, interoperability is all about data sharing.
Not only is
interoperability the exchange of patient data, but at Cerner, it’s the process
of making patient data accessible for health systems and ensuring the data is
always relevant to patient care.
However,
while Cerner consistently looks forward and adapts to various evolutions in
technology, EHR vendors, throughout history, have faced several
interoperability challenges.
“Getting
to a common understanding of the data that needs to be exchanged and the
increase in the number of stakeholders that we are able to connect to is a
challenge,” Hans Buitendijk, director of interoperability strategy at Cerner,
said in an interview with EHRIntelligence.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/amazon-cloud-partnership-cerner-moving-beyond-ehrs-to-become-digital-platform-company
Cerner senior exec: Amazon cloud partnership is driving Cerner's shift to
become digital platform company
by Heather Landi
Sep 16, 2020
7:15am
As
part of a new deal with Amazon, Cerner is letting users of Amazon's new Halo
fitness tracker share
wearable data directly with their providers. It's just one example of
how the health IT company is expanding beyond its traditional medical
records business as part of a broader strategic partnership with Amazon.
A
year ago, Cerner announced
a collaboration with Amazon's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Cerner
plans to tap into Amazon's expertise in customer experience and its
artificial intelligence capabilities to drive future growth for its health
IT business.
The
tie-up with Amazon includes migrating many of the health IT company's solutions
to the public cloud.
But,
more broadly, it's also driving Cerner's strategic shift from being an
EHR-centric company to a digital platform organization, according to Dan
Devers, Cerner's senior vice president of cloud strategy.
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https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/massmutual-explores-health-data-from-wearables/d/d-id/1338923
MassMutual Explores Health Data from Wearables
Life insurance giant MassMutual is exploring the use of
health data from wearables to further refine its data science-created
underwriting models.
9/16/2020 08:00 AM
Jessica Davis
Your Apple
Watch or your FitBit can tell you how many steps you've taken in a day, what
your resting heart rate is, and a range of other measurements about your daily
habits and how they contribute to your overall health. You can take this
information and make positive changes to your habits. Or you can monitor your
own progress with goals.
But
you aren't the only one who is interested in these data points such as your
step count and hours of sleep per night. Just like car insurance companies
offer discounts to drivers who allow monitoring of their safe driving habits,
health and life insurance companies may one day offer discounts to those who
comply with good health habits.
Massachusetts
Mutual Life Insurance Company or MassMutual is one of them. This century-plus old company is
looking to pioneer the analytics of health data from wearable devices to
predict long term mortality risk -- whether someone will die in 20 years or 30
years or more. Those with healthy habits could earn a health discount on their
premiums.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/hipaa-compliance-onc-updates-security-risk-assessment-tool
HIPAA Compliance: ONC Updates Security Risk Assessment Tool
The
Security Risk Assessment (SRA) tool was designed in collaboration between ONC
and OCR and is designed to help healthcare entities ensure compliance with
HIPAA safeguards.
By Jessica Davis
September 15,
2020 - The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in collaboration with
the Office of Civil Rights released
an update to the Department of Health and Human Services Security Risk
Assessment Tool designed to support small- and medium-sized healthcare
providers ensure HIPAA compliance.
Updates to
the SRA tool include various new features, such as improved navigation
throughout the assessment sections, export options for reports, and enhanced
user interface scaling.
Under HIPAA,
covered entities and their business associates are required to perform a risk
assessment to assess compliance with HIPAA’s administrative, physical, and
technical safeguards. An effective analysis will reveal potential security gaps
that could put protected health information at risk.
Industry
stakeholders have also reminded organizations that risk assessments and
analyses are crucial to any resilient healthcare information security program.
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https://in.reuters.com/article/health-global-goals-gates/covid-19-has-set-global-health-progress-back-decades-gates-foundation-idINKBN2660D3?il=0
September 15,
20201:24 PM
COVID-19 has set global health progress back decades - Gates Foundation
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - The knock-on
effects of the coronavirus pandemic have halted and reversed global health
progress, setting it back 25 years and exposing millions to the risk of deadly
disease and poverty, a report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation warned
on Tuesday.
Because of COVID-19, extreme
poverty has increased by 7%, and routine vaccine coverage - a good proxy
measure for how health systems are functioning - is dropping to levels last
seen in the 1990s, the report said.
“It’s a huge setback,” Bill Gates,
co-chair of the Foundation and a leading philanthropic funder of global health
and development, told a media briefing on the report’s findings.
The Foundation’s Goalkeepers
report, which tracks progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) of reducing poverty and improving health, found that in the past
year, by nearly every indicator, the world has regressed.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/europe/study-finds-94-care-environments-benefit-going-digital-during-lockdown
Study finds that 94% of care environments benefit from going digital
during lockdown
The study is
particularly critical as the government urges the health industry to be
prepared for potential COVID-19 second wave.
By Sara Mageit
September 16,
2020 04:42 AM
Provider
of digital care systems, Person Centred Software, is calling on the health
sector to utilise agile technology to prepare for a potential second wave.
A
study found that 94% of users found its coronavirus-specific features
beneficial.
WHY IT
MATTERS
Over
the last four months, its software has been used in 2,000 care homes
across the UK to evidence care interactions via innovative icons.
It
has seen the implementation of eight new features to help protect the elderly
and vulnerable.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/heres-what-primary-care-clinicians-say-they-need-effectively-implement-telehealth
Here's what primary care clinicians say they need to effectively implement
telehealth
Researchers
surveyed hundreds of primary care providers in the New York City area about the
hurdles they're still facing to integrating telemedicine into their practices.
By Kat Jercich
September 16,
2020 01:53 PM
Primary
care providers in New York City, one of the U.S. epicenters of the COVID-19
crisis, were some of the first to feel the brunt of the disease's effects. With
patients afraid to seek care in person and social distancing necessitating as
little face-to-face contact as possible, many clinicians pivoted to telehealth
– some with more success than others.
"It
made sense that all eyes were on the hospitals, because they were overwhelmed
with sick patients," said Dr. Donna R. Shelley, a professor in the
Department of Policy and Public Health Management at the New York University
School of Global Public Health. "But primary care doctors are the front
line of healthcare in this country, and their patients still needed
care."
In
partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's
Bureau of Equitable Health Systems, the research team surveyed hundreds of area
primary care providers from April to July about the impact of COVID-19 on their
practices.
Their
findings, published this past week in Health Affairs, demonstrate the positive impact
that temporary federal changes to telehealth-related regulations have had on
virtual care adoption. At the same time, the researchers noted, several hurdles
remain for primary care providers when it comes to integrating telemedicine.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/europe/great-ormond-street-hospital-children-nhs-ft-awarded-stage-7-o-emram
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS FT awarded Stage 7 O-EMRAM
The UK
hospital is the first health institution in England to achieve the validation.
By Tammy Lovell
September 16,
2020 10:33 AM
Great
Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS FT (GOSH) in London has been awarded
Stage 7 on the O-EMRAM by HIMSS this week, making it the first hospital in
England to achieve the validation.
O-EMRAM,
or the Outpatients
Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, measures the adoption and
maturity of a health facility’s outpatient EMR capabilities from 0 to 7. It
tests for clinician documentation, including orders, e-prescribing, patient
engagement and population health analytics.
Shankar
Sridharan, paediatric cardiologist, chief clinical information officer at GOSH,
said that achieving the validation was “a marker that we are using data and
analytics to improve the care and outcomes for our patients and their
families”.
He
added: “We have a really driven and passionate hospital that is committed to
applying digital solutions, data and analytics to drive safer, better and
kinder care. The NHS is amazing; COVID has shown that it is the heart of the
nation. Digitally augmenting the NHS allows us to truly leverage the NHS’
potential and allow us to do more, better.”
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/two-digital-health-experts-predict-whats-around-corner-it
Two digital health experts predict what's around the corner for IT
Christopher
Lee and Babak Movassaghi said artificial intelligence and augmented reality
will soon occupy much larger roles in the digital healthcare landscape.
By Kat Jercich
September 16,
2020 09:28 AM
It's
no surprise at this point that the COVID-19 pandemic turned the digital
healthcare world (and the rest of the world) inside-out, accelerating the use of telemedicine while throwing a
wrench into the plans of anyone depending on a somewhat predictable 2020.
"Back
in January, I had friends who were reading reports about how telehealth had
reached its apex" and the height of its expansion, said Christopher Lee,
cofounder of the virtual second opinion platform InfiniteMD (recently acquired
by ConsumerMedical). "The investment sphere was looking elsewhere."
Lee,
along with one of his InfiniteMD cofounders, Babak Movassaghi, told Healthcare
IT News that the surge in telehealth use is just one facet of the
changes the digital health sphere will see over the next few years.
-----
https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/dod-taps-google-cloud-for-ai-enabled-digital-pathology-solution
DoD Taps Google Cloud for AI-Enabled Digital Pathology Solution
The
project will deliver an AI-enabled digital pathology solution to DoD’s medical
facilities to help improve the accuracy of patient diagnoses and lower overall
healthcare costs.
By Samantha McGrail
September 10,
2020 - Google Cloud recently announced
it was chosen by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), part of the Department of
Defense (DoD), to prototype an artificial intelligence-enabled digital
pathology solution to help detect cancer on multiple disease areas.
The project
will leverage artificial intelligence to help doctors and researchers identify
potentially cancerous tissues through an augmented reality microscope. They can
then study the cancer tissues more in depth.
Augmented
reality includes information in the form of texts, graphics, audio, and
other virtual enhancements that are integrated with real-world objects.
Google
noted that early access to the digital pathology platform is intended for research
use only, and will only be available at select Department of Defense
facilities.
-----
https://healthitsecurity.com/features/cyber-resilient-vendor-relationships-for-healthcares-threat-landscape
Cyber Resilient Vendor Relationships for Healthcare’s Threat Landscape
A
healthcare third-party vendor breach can have a devastating impact on multiple
entities, which means it’s crucial to have cyber resilient vendor relationships
to keep pace with these threats.
September 14,
2020 - The threats targeting healthcare continue to increase in both their
frequency and sophistication. And if the latest third-party vendor security
incident is any indication, the need for developing a cyber resilient vendor
management process will be crucial to reducing risks to the enterprise.
The 2020 Blackbaud
incident
is one of the best examples of just how great an impact a seemingly simple
breach can have when it impacts a vendor. The cloud computing vendor provides
services to a range of nonprofits, healthcare systems, and hospitals.
The
ransomware attack in question occurred between February 7 and May 20, 2020.
Much like other double extortion incidents reported this year, the hackers
exfiltrated a subset of data from a self-hosted environment belonging to
Blackbaud’s clients before the hackers were locked out of the system.
What’s
worse, the vendors paid the ransom demand “with confirmation that the copy they
removed had been destroyed.”
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/google-gives-8.5m-to-fund-covid-19-data-analytics-ai-projects
Google Gives $8.5M to Fund COVID-19 Data Analytics, AI Projects
The
donation will support 31 organizations around the world in using artificial
intelligence and data analytics to better respond to COVID-19.
By Jessica Kent
September 14,
2020 - Google.org is
donating more than $8.5 million to 31 universities, nonprofits, and other
academic institutions that are using artificial intelligence and data analytics
to combat COVID-19.
The funding
is part of Google.org’s $100 million commitment to COVID-19 relief and focuses
on four key areas where new information and action is needed to mitigate the
impact of the pandemic.
These areas
will include projects centered around monitoring and forecasting
disease spread, which will lead to a better understanding of where the
virus is likely to spike.
“Understanding
the spread of COVID-19 is critical to informing public health decisions and lessening
its impact on communities,” Mollie Javerbaum, program manager of Google.org,
and Meghan Houghton, university relations program manager wrote in a recent
blog.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/taskforce-telehealth-policy-releases-final-report-safeguarding-virtual-care
Taskforce on Telehealth Policy releases final report on safeguarding
virtual care
Its
recommendations include lifting limitations on originating sites, allowing
telehealth for various types of conditions and reinstating the HIPAA provisions
temporarily lifted during the public health emergency.
By Kat Jercich
September 15,
2020 02:01 PM
The
Taskforce on Telehealth Policy released a final report on Tuesday outlining its findings and
recommendations around safeguarding the future of telehealth after the COVID-19
pandemic.
The
task force, which was convened by the National Committee for Quality Assurance,
the Alliance for Connected Care and the American Telemedicine Association,
represented a broad spectrum of stakeholders who spent the summer building
consensus around the challenges and opportunities for virtual care.
"We
pulled together an incredible group of people who really can see the potential
for telehealth and want to make sure that it's not going to be a thing that
just happened during COVID-19 and goes away again," said NCQA President
Peggy O'Kane in an interview with Healthcare IT News. "People do see the
potential here for a better experience for patients, better outcomes."
"For
years, many of us in healthcare have been trying to promote telehealth and the
advantages of it," said Dr. Regina Benjamin, founder and CEO of the Bayou
La Batre Rural Health Clinic and former Surgeon General of the United States,
to
Healthcare IT News.
-----
https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2020/09/15/image-sharing-file-transfer-screen-image-capture-and-screen-sharing-telehealth-features-series/
Image Sharing, File Transfer, Screen Image Capture, and Screen Sharing –
Telehealth Features Series
September 15, 2020
John Lynn
In
this Telehealth
Feature Series, we’re going to cover the long
list of potential telehealth features available today. As you’re
considering your own approach to telehealth, we will provide you a look at all
the possible features telehealth
companies are offering on the market. Plus, we’ll offer our insight
into the nuances of each feature so you can select the right telehealth company
or companies you use. Not all telehealth is created equal, so taking the
time to understand all the possible features and options is worth the effort.
The
next feature we’re going to cover is Image Sharing, File Transfer, Screen Image Capture, and
Screen Sharing.
While
this isn’t the perfect grouping, this highlights some of the interesting add on
features that many telehealth vendors offer to make the telehealth experience
more than just a video call. This list is also an illustration of why
telehealth needs to be more than Facetime with your doctor. Let’s dive
into each.
Image
Sharing and File Transfer
We’ll
group these two into one since in many ways this is the same thing. An
image is just a specific type of file that can be transferred to the
doctor. There are a lot of use cases for this, but the most common is a
patient uploading a high quality picture of whatever issue they have (wound,
rash, etc). The beauty of sharing the image is that the image is
generally higher quality than video is going to be. With wounds and many
rashes, the higher quality is needed for a doctor to make an appropriate
diagnosis.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/nyc-surveys-identify-five-strategies-to-boost-telehealth-adoption
NYC Surveys Identify Five Strategies to Boost Telehealth Adoption
The five
strategies, laid out in a recent Health Affairs blog, target barriers to
telehealth adoption that go beyond reimbursement issues.
By Eric Wicklund
September 11,
2020 - While federal and state regulators are developing strategies to
give telehealth room to grow after the coronavirus pandemic, a recent series of
surveys among New York physicians suggests that growth must be tied to efforts
beyond reimbursement changes.
The surveys,
conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau
of Equitable Health Systems and researchers from the New York School of Global
Public Health, identify five strategies beyond current policy to foster
telehealth growth in primary care. They’re featured
in a recent blog in Health Affairs.
According to
the blog, healthcare access is typically defined by five qualities –
affordability, availability, accommodation, accessibility and acceptability –
yet current telehealth policies only address the first two, and that’s not
enough to compel connected health integration in primary care beyond the
COVID-19 crisis.
“Other
policies … can optimize telehealth access and quality by promoting
‘accommodation,’ ‘accessibility,’ and ‘acceptability’ for telehealth, to
complement increased reimbursements,” the blog concludes. “Failing to address
these barriers - which affect the least resourced primary care practices that
are primarily serving the most vulnerable patients - will only serve to widen
patient-level disparities in access to quality telehealth care. These gaps
offer actionable opportunities for public and private insurers and policy
makers to intervene and improve the integration of telehealth into primary
care.”
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/using-an-ai-powered-chatbot-to-meet-patient-needs-during-covid-19
Using An AI-Powered Chatbot to Meet Patient Needs During COVID-19
A chatbot
powered by artificial intelligence is helping UCHealth to support patients
during COVID-19 and beyond.
By Jessica Kent
September 10,
2020 - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, artificial intelligence has
helped the healthcare industry navigate the novel and unknown.
From the
early stages of the virus’s spread, to the later months of looser social
distancing practices, AI has shed light on the impact of particular policies,
accelerated potential treatments, and forecasted future infection rates.
For some
organizations, AI-powered chatbots have
played a significant role in managing patients’ needs during the pandemic. With
nearly everything going virtual, people suddenly had to get used to the idea of
communicating with providers digitally – an optimal situation for chatbots and
AI.
“Conversational
artificial intelligence has been around for quite a while, and the technology
gets better year over year,” said Nicole Caputo, senior director of experience
and innovation at UCHealth.
-----
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/fitbit-s-ecg-smartwatch-app-gets-fda-nod-to-track-heart-rhythm-irregularity
Fitbit's ECG app gets FDA nod to track heart rhythm irregularities
by Heather Landi
Sep 14, 2020
2:04pm
Getting
up to speed with competitor Apple, Fitbit has gained medical device clearances
in the U.S. and Europe for its smartwatch electrocardiogram app.
The
wearables giant announced Monday its ECG app got a green light from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union's CE mark. The
regulatory approval opens up the capability for its ECG app to track
users' heart rhythm for signs of atrial fibrillation.
It
follows in the footsteps of the Apple Watch receiving FDA
clearance in 2018 for its ECG feature. Samsung got an
FDA nod in August for its ECG
monitoring app as part of the Galaxy Watch 3.
Amazon
also recently jumped into the wearables space with its Amazon
Halo fitness tracker. That device, which does not offer heart rhythm
tracking, monitors activity and sleep trends and has tools to measure
body fat and tone of voice as an indicator of overall well-being.
-----
https://medicaldialogues.in/urology/news/ai-can-successfully-predict-esrd-in-diabetes-patients-finds-study-69382
AI can successfully predict ESRD in diabetes patients, finds study
By Medha
Published On
11 Sep 2020 12:30 AM | Updated On 11 Sep 2020 5:31 PM
Netherlands: A machine-learning model can help in the successful prediction of
end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) in patients with nephropathy and type 2
diabetes, suggests a recent study in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and
Metabolism. The prediction of long‐term renal risk in type 2 diabetes patients
holds importance in clinical trials and clinical practice. Sunil Belur Nagaraj,
University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, and colleagues
hypothesized that machine learning models can accurately predict end‐stage
renal disease by using multiple baseline demographic and clinical
characteristics.
The study
included a total of 11 789 patients (with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy) from
three clinical trials: RENAAL (N = 1513), IDNT (N = 1715), and ALTITUDE (N
= 8561). Eighteen baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were used
as predictors to train machine learning models to predict ESRD (doubling of
serum creatinine and/or end‐stage renal disease). The area under the receiver
operator curve (AUC) was used to assess the prediction performance of models
and compared against traditional Cox proportional hazard regression and kidney
failure risk equation models.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/technologies-and-strategies-maintain-productivity-during-telehealth-transition
Technologies and strategies to maintain productivity during telehealth
transition
Los
Angeles-based Executive Mental Health has not laid off a single provider or
staff member since its shift to virtual care. Its CEO explains how.
By Bill Siwicki
September 14,
2020 12:16 PM
In
early March, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of skilled nursing
facilities restricted access to residents. These restrictions included, but
were not limited to, essential care providers, such as neuropsychologists and
psychologists.
THE
PROBLEM
For
Executive Mental Health in Los Angeles, California, and the clients served by
Executive Mental Health, these restrictions created two significant problems
related to the continuation of patient care and the safety of clinicians and
ancillary staff.
“With
regard to patient care, Executive Mental Health primarily provides mental
health care to skilled nursing facility residents, and that care was abruptly
cut off,” said Dr. Ari D. Kalechstein, president and CEO of Executive Mental
Health.
“That
was problematic because 40%-60% of skilled nursing facility patients are
diagnosed with a mental state condition, such as depression and/or anxiety.
Moreover, these are statistics that were generated prior to the onset of COVID-19;
hence, it would be reasonable to assume that the prevalence of mental state
conditions was similar to or greater than these numbers after the onset of the
pandemic.”
Without
appropriate mental health interventions and given the facility restrictions
that precluded patients from seeing loved ones and all of their usual
healthcare providers, it is likely that at least a subset of these residents
would experience a worsening of their mental state symptoms, he added.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/europe/launch-date-announced-england-and-wales-contact-tracing-app
Launch date announced for England and Wales’ contact tracing app
UK government
announces that a new COVID-19 contact tracing app will be launched across
England and Wales on 24 September.
By Sara Mageit
September 14,
2020 05:58 AM
A
new COVID-19 contact tracing app will be launched across England and Wales
later this month and will use Apple and Google’s method of detecting other
smartphones.
The
app will let individuals scan QR codes to register visits to hospitality
venues.
Businesses are
being encouraged to display QR code posters in support.
WHY IT
MATTERS
Last
week, public health officials warned of “worrying signs” of infection among the
elderly, as the R number was raised between 1 and 1.2 for the first time since
March.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/info-blocking-compliance-date-nears-legal-experts-offer-toolkit-help
Info blocking compliance date nears: Legal experts offer toolkit to help
Attorneys
from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP have put together a resource to help providers
navigate the requirements of ONC's 21st Century Cures regs as the Nov. 2 due
date approaches.
By Mike Miliard
September 14,
2020 11:09 AM
With
more and more of its healthcare clients seeking help understanding the detailed
requirements for implementing the new information-blocking rules put in place
under the 21st Century Cures Act, law firm Davis Wright Tremaine decided to
create a new Information Blocking Toolkit to help others manage their
compliance.
WHY IT
MATTERS
The
info-blocking final regs, published March 9 by the Office of the National Coordinator
for Health IT as a way to enable more widespread access, use and exchange of
patient data, go into effect on November 2.
Healthcare
providers, vendors, health information exchanges and other organizations could
be subject (once an enforcement mechanism is in place) to penalties as high as
$1 million per violation should they interfere with the access,
exchange or use of electronic health information.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/kaiser-permanente-launches-virtual-first-health-plan-washington
Kaiser Permanente launches 'virtual-first' health plan in Washington
The plan will
make telehealth a foundational modality of care, with the option for patients
to follow up with in-person visits if necessary.
By Kat Jercich
September 14,
2020 12:59 PM
In
response to increasing patient demand for telehealth, Kaiser Permanente this
week announced the launch of a new "virtual-first" healthcare plan in
Washington state.
The
plan, which will be available January 1, 2021, through Kaiser Foundation Health
Plan of Washington's direct to employer groups and consumers, will center
telehealth as a foundational modality of care for patients with nonurgent
issues.
"Virtual
care is the health care of today and tomorrow," said Dr. Paul Minardi,
president and executive medical director of Washington Permanente Medical
Group, in a statement.
"The
pandemic has reinforced the need to provide care in the most convenient,
accessible, and safe way for our members, and that’s what Virtual Plus
does," he said.
-----
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1042-x
·
Comment
·
Published:
09 September 2020
Welcoming new guidelines for AI clinical research
Eric J. Topol
Nature
Medicine volume 26, pages1318–1320(2020)Cite
this article
With only a limited number of clinical
trials of artificial intelligence in medicine thus far, the first guidelines
for protocols and reporting arrive at an opportune time. Better protocol
design, along with consistent and complete data presentation, will greatly
facilitate interpretation and validation of these trials, and will help the
field to move forward.
The
past decade ushered in excitement for the potential to apply deep-learning
algorithms to healthcare. This subtype of artificial intelligence (AI) has the
ability to improve the accuracy and speed of interpreting large datasets, such
as images, speech and text. However, for deep learning to be accepted and
implemented in the care of patients, proof from randomized clinical trials is
urgently needed.
Randomized
clinical trials became commonplace in the early 1980s to provide the basis of
evidence for medical practice, but it was not until nearly two decades later
that the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) were developed in
1996 (ref. 1). In
contrast, the use of AI in medicine, and specifically the use of deep neural
networks, is still in the early stages — clinical trials using AI have been
initiated only in the past two years. Two new companion pieces in this issue of
Nature Medicine are devoted specifically to clinical-trial guidelines
for protocols (SPIRIT-AI Extension) and publication (CONSORT-AI extension)2,3.
-----
https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-needs-payer-support-for-continued-growth
Telehealth Needs Payer Support for Continued Growth
The use of
telehealth has exploded as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For it to
continue gaining momentum, private and public payers must appropriately
reimburse for telehealth, according to the latest report from Insights by
Xtelligent Healthcare Media.
By Emily Sokol, MPH
September 08,
2020 - Healthcare leaders will continue to invest in telehealth tools and
infrastructure. But organizations need support from public and private payers
for the technology to continue to grow after the pandemic, revealed Insights by
Xtelligent Healthcare Media’s latest report.
The Future
of Healthcare: Moving Beyond 2020 surveyed 363 healthcare stakeholders to
understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted organizations across the
healthcare industry from payers to providers. Building off of earlier work at
the start of the pandemic, the report articulates how industry leaders plan to
move forward and adjust to the new normal of care delivery.
A key piece
of the industry’s response
to COVID-19 was telehealth.
-----
https://histalk2.com/2020/09/11/weekender-9-11-20/
Weekly News Recap
- Hyland will acquire Alfresco.
- Amwell’s IPO plan values the
company at $3.6 billion.
- Zocdoc’s former CEO sues the
company, claiming his co-founders and the CFO ousted him in a coup.
- A federal court dismisses a patient’s
lawsuit against University of Chicago Medical Center and Google for using
his data for machine language training.
- HIMSS confirms that a HIMSS20
exhibitor has filed a class action lawsuit against it over refund policies
for the cancelled conference.
- VA accelerates its Cerner
implementation plan for VISN10 in the Midwest.
-----
Enjoy!
David.