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://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/09/patients-wait-longer-for-care-under-integrated-care-systems-analysis-finds/
Patients wait longer for care under integrated care systems, analysis
finds
An
analysis of integrated care systems has revealed patients waited longer than
the national average for treatment under flagship plans to join up health and
care.
Andrea Downey
– Sep 10, 2021
The Centre
for Policy Studies (CPS) looked at the performance of 13 pilot integration
areas in England finding that delayed transfers of care increased by an average
of 24% between 2016 and 2020.
The figure
for the rest of England in the same time period was just 9%.
The think
tank has warned the evidence base for Integrated care Systems (ICS) was
“alarmingly thin” and called upon the government to scrap plans for them to
become law until the is a more “robust” evidence base.
The upcoming Health and Care Bill will see Integrated Care Systems (ICS)
enshrined in law, splitting the NHS into 42 ICSs in a bid to drive
collaboration and more joined up care.
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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/stanford-medicine-develops-physician-consult-platform-that-mines-1m-ehrs.html
Stanford Medicine develops physician consult platform that mines 1M+ EHRs
Hannah Mitchell – 16 September, 2021
Researchers
from Stanford (Calif.) Medicine developed a new type of medical consult that
uses millions of EHRs to bring insights to physicians.
Five
study insights:
- The Clinical Informatics Consult
Service is a platform for physicians looking for more information on
illnesses that are hard to treat and diagnose, according to a Sept. 15 news
release on the study. Physicians can use the platform to look at
millions of deidentified cases for data that may help with treating their
patients.
- The study detailed the results of
the first 100 consults, which were conducted in 2017 and 2018.
- "Medicine has been dreaming
about doing this for 50 years,'' said Nigam Shah, PhD, associate CIO for
data science at Stanford Healthcare and professor of medicine and
biomedical data sciences at Stanford University, who led the study.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/parents-viewing-teens-patient-portals-spur-talk-of-proxy-accounts
Parents Viewing Teens’ Patient Portals Spur Talk of Proxy Accounts
More than
half of patient portals belonging to teens get seen by parents or guardians,
prompting researchers to emphasize education about proxy accounts.
By Sara Heath
September 17,
2021 - More than half of adolescent patient portal accounts allow guardian
proxy access, according to data published
in JAMA Network Open, something the researchers said should be a consideration
as organizations outline adolescent patient portal privacy items.
Managing the
patient portal for a teenaged patient can be a challenging area for healthcare
organizations. On the one hand, the teenager is technically still a child with
a parent or legal guardian acting as that child’s healthcare proxy. With that
logic, the parent or guardian can take a look at the patient’s medical records
within the patient portal.
But teens are
also quickly approaching adulthood, developing their own personal autonomy and
responsibility while beginning to encounter more personal health matters.
Having their parents or guardians review their patient portals could be a
breach of that autonomy and, in some cases, discourage patients from disclosing
sensitive health matters, like sexual activity.
“In many
health systems, adolescents are permitted separate access to their electronic
health record through an online patient portal,” the researchers said,
outlining a common solution used across the country.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/majority-teen-patient-portals-accessed-guardians-raising-privacy-concerns
Majority of teen patient portals accessed by guardians, raising privacy
concerns
In a new JAMA
study, researchers found that parents and guardians may be using their
adolescents' personal health records to communicate with clinicians, leading to
questions about confidentiality.
By Kat Jercich
September 17,
2021 04:05 PM
A
study published this week in the Journal of the American
Medical Association Network Open found that more than half of
adolescent patient portal accounts with outbound messages were accessed by
guardians.
The
findings, say the researchers, could be useful in guiding health system
approaches to protecting confidentiality with regard to patient portals.
"Confidential
communication is necessary for many adolescents to feel comfortable seeking
care for sensitive health needs," read the study.
"Although
further studies with more data and control for confounders are warranted, our
preliminary observation raises questions whether adolescents may be less
willing to share sensitive health topics via the portal when aware that their
guardians have access to their portal accounts," it continued.
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https://ehrintelligence.com/news/directtrust-launches-consensus-body-for-sdoh-data-exchange-interoperability
DirectTrust Launches Consensus Body for SDOH Data Exchange
Interoperability
DirectTrust
has announced the launch of a consensus body to advance social determinants of
health (SDOH) data exchange interoperability.
By Hannah Nelson
September 16,
2021 - DirectTrust has announced
the launch of the Information Exchange for Human Services (IX4HS) Consensus
Body to support social determinants of health (SDOH) data exchange
interoperability.
The consensus
body will evaluate the Direct Standard and other existing standards for SDOH
data exchange between healthcare settings and human service organizations, creating
new standards as needed.
Healthcare
organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of SDOH
data exchange to support care for populations served by human services
providers such as state Medicaid programs, federally qualified health centers,
and accountable care organizations.
Greater interoperability
between healthcare organizations and human services providers is expected to
streamline referrals, information exchange and requests, and care coordination,
DirectTrust officials said.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/mhealth-wearables-detect-pandemic-related-stress-in-healthcare-workers
mHealth Wearables Detect Pandemic-Related Stress in Healthcare Workers
Researchers
using mHealth wearables to measure healthcare workers’ physiological responses
found that a lack of resilience and emotional support increases stress.
By Victoria Bailey
September 16,
2021 - Mount Sinai researchers used wearable devices to monitor
physiological effects in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and
found that high resilience and emotional support are linked to a reduced risk of
stress.
The study
focused on 361 healthcare workers across seven hospitals in the New York City
health system and leveraged a customized mHealth application along with the
wearables.
Participants
used the app to complete weekly surveys that gauged perceived stress, emotional
support, optimism, quality of life, and resilience, which was defined as “the
ability to overcome difficulty and a reduced vulnerability to environmental
stressors.” The healthcare workers also wore an Apple Watch that measured their
heart rate variability, a physiological marker of stress.
Researchers
found that participants who reported high levels of resilience, optimism, and
emotional support were less likely to experience perceived and longitudinal
stress.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ftc-emphasizes-security-standards-for-mhealth-apps-devices
FTC Emphasizes Security Standards for mHealth Apps, Devices
The
Federal Trade Commission has issued a policy statement re-emphasizing that
mHealth apps and devices must conform with the Health Breach Notification Rule.
By Eric Wicklund
September 16,
2021 - The federal government is strengthening efforts to ensure than
mHealth apps and connected devices protect personal health information.
The Federal
Trade Commission this week issued
a policy statement affirming that connected health tools that collect or
use consumer health information must comply with the Health
Breach Notification Rule, which sets guidelines for notifying consumers and
other groups when a platform is breached and data is accessed.
The policy
covers and ever-growing market of mHealth apps and devices, not all of which
are covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
It ensures that mHealth tools falling outside HIPAA’s purview still face
accountability for data breaches.
“While this
Rule imposes some measure of accountability on tech firms that abuse our
personal information, a more fundamental problem is the commodification of
sensitive health information, where companies can use this data to feed
behavioral ads or power user analytics,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said
in a press release. “Given the growing prevalence of surveillance-based
advertising, the Commission should be scrutinizing what data is being collected
in the first place and whether particular types of business models create
incentives that necessarily place users at risk.”
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/opennotes-patient-education-site-targets-access-to-clinical-notes
OpenNotes Patient Education Site Targets Access to Clinical Notes
The
website offers patient education and navigation to help ease patient access to
clinical notes, a key provision of the 21st Century Cures Act.
By Sara Heath
September 16,
2021 - OpenNotes, a leader in promoting patient access to clinical notes,
and health IT vendor Ciitizen have teamed up to create
WhereIsMyMedicalRecord.org, a website dedicated to helping individuals navigate
patient data access.
This comes
following implementation of the ONC information blocking final rule, which
lists clinical notes as a form of data that cannot be withheld from relevant
parties, including patients. Under the rule, which went into effect on April 5,
patients must be able to immediately access their clinical progress notes in a
digital format, usually via the patient portal.
But this can
be a confusing process, OpenNotes and the vendor noted. Not every patient knows
they have the right to see their progress notes, and even they do, the path to
actually viewing them on the patient portal isn’t always intuitive.
And that’s
not to mention the patient who opens her clinical notes but doesn’t understand
them, potentially confusing the patient.
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https://patientengagementhit.com/news/a-third-of-seniors-saw-access-to-care-snags-during-pandemic
A Third of Seniors Saw Access to Care Snags During Pandemic
Thirty-seven
percent of American seniors said they had access to care disruptions during the
pandemic, fragmenting their chronic disease management.
By Sara Heath
September 16,
2021 - Older adults in the United States were more likely to have access
to care problems during the pandemic than older adults in any other similarly
developed nation, according to research
from the Commonwealth Fund and SSRS, highlighting a slog of a pandemic for
individuals over age 65.
In addition
to the healthcare obstacles, older adults in the US were also more likely to
experience economic and social struggles than those over age 65 in other
similarly developed nations, the study added.
The study,
fielded between March and June of 2021, adds to the Commonwealth Fund’s
literature on the state of US healthcare as it compares to other developed
nations. Those nations included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
After nearly
a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, for which adults over age 65 were largely at
risk, the data shows considerable medical, economic, and social challenges not
related to the novel virus. In other words, older adults in the US had more to
contend with than just avoiding COVID.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/google-microsoft-amassed-the-most-vulnerabilities-in-h1-2021
Google, Microsoft Amassed the Most Vulnerabilities in H1 2021
Research
revealed that tech giants Google and Microsoft accumulated the most
vulnerabilities in the first half of 2021, leaving them open to potential
cyberattacks.
By Jill McKeon
September 16,
2021 - Google and Microsoft amassed the most vulnerabilities compared to
other major tech companies in the first half of 2021, research
from Atlas VPN revealed. During the first half of 2021, Google accumulated 547
registered vulnerabilities. Microsoft followed close behind at 432.
Both
Microsoft and Google maintain a vast suite of services, making them prime
targets for cyberattacks. It also means that vulnerabilities are more common
and can be more detrimental if left unchecked.
Google Chrome
has more than 3 billion users, making it a lucrative opportunity for hackers.
With more users comes more vulnerabilities and more potential cyberattack
victims.
Bad actors
also took advantage of Microsoft
Exchange Server vulnerabilities and deployed ransomware, while other
attackers planted cryptocurrency miners from the post-exploit web shells.
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https://healthitsecurity.com/news/61m-fitbit-apple-users-had-data-exposed-in-wearable-device-data-breach
61M Fitbit, Apple Users Had Data Exposed in Wearable Device Data Breach
An
independent cybersecurity researcher discovered a wearable device data breach
that exposed the records of 61 million Apple and Fitbit users.
By Jill McKeon
September 16,
2021 - Over 61 million fitness tracker records from both Apple and Fitbit
were exposed online in a recent wearable device data breach, according to a report
from WebsitePlanet and independent cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler.
Researchers
found that the data breach stemmed from GetHealth, a New York-based health and
wellness company that allows users to unify their wearable device, medical
device, and app data. The exposed data belonged to wearable device users around
the world and contained names, birthdates, weight, height, gender, and
geographical location.
The database
was not password-protected, and the information was clearly identifiable in
plain text. Fitbit was listed in over 2,700 records, and Apple’s Healthkit was
mentioned over 17,000 times.
It is also
likely that other apps were impacted since GetHealth’s website states that it
can sync data from other vendors such as 23andMe, GoogleFit, Microsoft,
Runkeeper, Strava, Android Sensor, Daily Mile, and more.
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/practices/docs-press-cms-for-permanent-telehealth-flexibility-relief-from-pay-cuts-fee-schedule
Docs press CMS for permanent telehealth flexibility, relief from pay cuts
in fee schedule comments
by Robert King
Sep 14, 2021
11:40am
Several
doctor groups are pressing the Biden administration to not just extend Medicare
telehealth reimbursement flexibilities through 2023 but to be made permanent.
The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed
in the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule to extend telehealth flexibilities
through 2023 instead of through the end of the COVID-19 public health
emergency, which is expected to run through this year. Doctor groups in
comments on the rule, the deadline for which expired Monday, called for a
permanent solution and more flexibility for mental health telehealth services.
“Given the
addition of a record number of eligible beneficiaries, telehealth may be the
only way beneficiaries can gain access, especially those in rural or
underserved communities,” according to a letter from 60 provider and health IT
groups including the Health Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS).
The Medical
Group Management Association also commented that removing services after a
“predetermined or prescriptive date” could create a major administrative burden
for practices already strained financially by the pandemic.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ama-survey-charts-explosive-growth-of-telehealth-services-in-2020
AMA Survey Charts Explosive Growth of Telehealth Services in 2020
The
American Medical Association's new Physician Practice Benchmark Survey shows a
surge in telehealth adoption between 2018 and 2020, driven by the shift from
in-person to virtual care during the pandemic.
By Eric Wicklund
September 15,
2021 - Telehealth use by physicians jumped from 25 percent in 2018 to
almost 80 percent in 2020, while almost 85 percent of psychiatrists connected
with the patients via video visit or telephone during the height of the pandemic,
according to the American Medical Association.
The data contained
in the AMA’s latest Physician Practice Benchmark Survey falls in line with
dozens of similar studies and surveys, all showing that the use of connected
health platforms soared last year as providers looked to shift as much care as
possible from in-person to virtual care.
Drawing from
the responses of thousands of post-residency physicians across the country, the
survey found that video-based visits jumped from 14.3 percent in 2018 to 70.3
percent in 2020 while 67 percent connected with patients last year via phone.
Almost 60 percent used telehealth in 2020 for chronic care management, up from
about 20 percent in 2018, and the amount of physicians who used telehealth to
diagnose or treat patients increased from 15.6 percent to 58 percent.
Remote
patient monitoring jumped as well, with 20 percent of physicians say they used
RPM in 2020, almost twice as many as in 2018. Broken down further, one-third of
specialists used RPM, led by cardiologists (63.3 percent) and endocrinologists
and diabetes care physicians (41.6 percent).
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/state-union-speech-outlines-eu-priorities-health-and-digital
State of the Union speech outlines EU priorities for health and digital
Ursula von
der Leyen announced pandemic preparedness and cybersecurity plans.
By Tammy Lovell
September 16,
2021 12:05 PM
European
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen outlined flagship initiatives for the
European Union (EU) in her State of the Union address yesterday (15 Sept).
The
EU’s vaccination efforts featured strongly in the address, with Von der Leyen
stating that more than 70% of adults in the EU are fully vaccinated. She added
that the EU had delivered more than 700 million doses to countries in the rest
of the world and will increase its donation commitment by a further 200
million doses.
More
than 400 million EU Digital COVID Certificates (EUDCCs) have been generated
across Europe, according to von der Leyen, with 42 countries in four continents
using the scheme.
She
referred to digital as “the make or break issue,” and said that digital
spending in NextGenerationEU recovery plan would overshoot the 20%
target. The NextGenerationEU €800 billion temporary stimulus package
contributes towards the EU4Health programme and Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
The
EU will focus on digital transformation including investment in 5G, fibre and
digital skills, von der Leyen said. She called for a new European Chips Act
which will create a “state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem” to ensure
security of supply and develop new markets for European tech.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/skills-gap-healthcare-it-industry-cause-security-threats-according-new-report
EMEA
Privacy
& Security
Skills gap in healthcare IT industry cause security threats, according to
new report
New research
shows that 40% of staff are missing cyber security expertise while 39% lack
essential data protection knowledge.
By Sara Mageit
September 16,
2021 07:09 AM
Research
from European provider of cloud infrastructure and cloud services, IONOS Cloud,
has found that 37% of healthcare IT decision-makers say their organisation is
at risk of security threats due to skills gaps.
Additionally,
four in 10 (39%) are facing a skills gap in data protection, with a quarter
(25%) saying it means they are not adhering to necessary legislation or
following the correct data protection procedures (21%).
The
survey polled 203 healthcare IT decision-makers as part of a wider survey of
609 respondents.
WHY IT
MATTERS
The
aim of the report was to better understand the current challenges businesses
are facing in the wake of the pandemic, and where cyber security and data
protection standards are sitting on healthcare business’s IT priority lists.
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https://www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/09/16/how-virtual-assistants-and-artificial-intelligence-can-help-ensure-patient-information-is-secure-and-streamline-operations/
How Virtual Assistants and Artificial Intelligence Can Help Ensure Patient
Information Is Secure – and Streamline Operations
September 16, 2021
The
following is a guest article by Pranay Jain, CEO and Co-founder of Enterprise Bot.
The
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was introduced in
1996 mainly to help migrate insurance coverage details of employees between
organizations, prevent insurance fraud, reduce wastage of medical resources and
eliminate improper payments.
In
a study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), it was
observed that over 8% of all healthcare payments were improper in 2018 alone.
To
reduce all forms of erroneous payments, CMS introduced a testing practice known
as Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT). The methodology employs engineered
AI algorithms and Predictive Analytics to detect fraudulent healthcare payments
and other forms of payment-related errors. By doing so, the United States
government has saved
around USD 42 Billion in total.
Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP)
have made massive strides across the patient journey by improving R&D
processes for Drug Discovery, eliminating errors in Drug Administration, and
revolutionizing the world of Diagnostics/Medical Prognosis. By analyzing
clinical data and physician notes across Electronic Health Records (EHRs), the
quality of healthcare imparted has seismically elevated into a new era of
patient care management.
However,
the entire Patient Care Management (PCM) journey involves a list of backend
operations across healthcare establishments. To avoid roadblocks and
operational mismanagement, these backend/admin tasks need to be fluid and
seamless. This would enable healthcare providers with the ability to provide
better patient experiences.
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https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ama-survey-charts-explosive-growth-of-telehealth-services-in-2020
AMA Survey Charts Explosive Growth of Telehealth Services in 2020
The
American Medical Association's new Physician Practice Benchmark Survey shows a
surge in telehealth adoption between 2018 and 2020, driven by the shift from
in-person to virtual care during the pandemic.
By Eric Wicklund
September 15,
2021 - Telehealth use by physicians jumped from 25 percent in 2018 to
almost 80 percent in 2020, while almost 85 percent of psychiatrists connected
with the patients via video visit or telephone during the height of the
pandemic, according to the American Medical Association.
The data contained
in the AMA’s latest Physician Practice Benchmark Survey falls in line with
dozens of similar studies and surveys, all showing that the use of connected
health platforms soared last year as providers looked to shift as much care as
possible from in-person to virtual care.
Drawing from
the responses of thousands of post-residency physicians across the country, the
survey found that video-based visits jumped from 14.3 percent in 2018 to 70.3
percent in 2020 while 67 percent connected with patients last year via phone.
Almost 60 percent used telehealth in 2020 for chronic care management, up from
about 20 percent in 2018, and the amount of physicians who used telehealth to
diagnose or treat patients increased from 15.6 percent to 58 percent.
Remote
patient monitoring jumped as well, with 20 percent of physicians say they used
RPM in 2020, almost twice as many as in 2018. Broken down further, one-third of
specialists used RPM, led by cardiologists (63.3 percent) and endocrinologists
and diabetes care physicians (41.6 percent).
-----
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/94504
Open Notes Shines Light on Errors in Patient Medical Records
— Will the new rule lead to a flood of correction requests?
by Cheryl Clark,
Contributing Writer, MedPage Today September 14, 2021
A retired San
Diego physician sought a second opinion on some vision issues that had
progressed.
But when the
medical records from his first ophthalmologist were forwarded to the second --
after repeated requests -- he discovered an unwelcome surprise.
Absent was
any description of the growth on the surface of his lens. Nor was there a
reference to his progressive impairment, necessary to support his need for the
intraocular implant the doctor had recommended.
Also missing
was any note about his family history of macular degeneration. His medication
list was wrong, as well. "The record was completely inaccurate," he
said.
With the
April 5 implementation of the federal Information Blocking
rule -- also known as "Open Notes" -- "actors" defined as any health provider (including
physicians) must make 16 categories of electronic records available
electronically to the patient upon request as soon as they're available, with more categories qualifying in the future.
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https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/94502
Patients Can Get Medical Record Errors Amended, but It's Not Easy
— Technology is lacking, process may be unclear
by Cheryl Clark,
Contributing Writer, MedPage Today September 14, 2021
Changing
a medical record to correct an error is anything but an easy process.
Under
federal HIPAA rules, patients have the right to request that doctors fix
errors, but the provider has up to 60 days to respond, and can ask for a 30-day extension.
The
provider also can refuse, but must specify the reason in writing.
If
the fix moves forward, the doctor can't alter the original note, but the
patient has the right to have an amendment with his or her version of the facts
placed in their electronic medical record (EMR).
Most
EMR program modules do not let the patient edit or question something in an
electronic note, although software entrepreneurs are working on solutions that
will enable that feature.
-----
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/telehealth/va-requests-proposals-for-1b-telehealth-contract-4-takeaways.html
VA requests proposals for $1B telehealth contract: 4 takeaways
Hannah Mitchell – 15 September, 2021
The
Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking contractors for a $1 billion
telehealth contract as the department seeks to modernize its system, according
to a Sept. 13 Bloomberg
Law
report.
Four
takeaways:
- The contract, titled Veterans
Affairs Remote Patient Monitoring - Home Telehealth, is a two-year base
contract with six one-year options.
- The $1.032 billion opportunity
covers hardware, software and patient data privacy protection, according
to the report.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/taking-stock-sudden-evolution-telemedicine
Taking stock of the sudden evolution of telemedicine
A virtual
care expert leads readers through the recent history of telehealth and offers
tips on new medical services that can be delivered via telehealth while
complying with HIPAA.
Bill Siwicki
September 15,
2021
Telehealth
continues to grow as a crucial part of patient care, especially when supporting
patients who live in remote areas and senior citizens. Research firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts a sevenfold growth in
telehealth by 2025 – a five-year compound annual growth rate of 38%.
The
bottom line is that people want to have access to healthcare anytime, anywhere,
across multiple devices and in the language of their choice. In fact, many new
areas of telehealth – such as tele-oncology and tele-stroke – have become
part of the mainstream healthcare system.
The
idea of triaging patient issues and prescribing medication or assigning tasks
such as physical therapy is just a part of the picture. There also has been an
uptick in the use of telepsychiatry, especially for patients who are suffering
from anxiety, depression and isolation.
For
healthcare providers, telehealth presents an opportunity to address patient
care needs, improve the customer experience and reduce costs. Healthcare
IT News sat down with Linda Comp-Noto, division president
for healthcare enterprise operations at telemedicine technology and
services vendor Teleperformance, to discuss the evolution of telehealth, unique
aspects of supporting remote customers and senior citizens, approval of more
than 80 new medical services that can be delivered via telehealth and the
creation of new diagnostic codes, and tackling privacy issues related to HIPPA.
-----
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/technology/cybersecurity-patient-safety
Cybersecurity Is Patient Safety
Analysis
| By PSQH |
September 15, 2021
Where
healthcare and security meet.
This article
was originally published September 9, 2021 on PSQH by Matt Phillion.
Cyberattacks
target every industry all the time, and healthcare is no exception. According
to a recent IBM study, the average cost per healthcare cyberattack is a hefty
$7 million. Despite numbers like this, cybersecurity often isn’t the C-suite’s
top priority. How can CISOs in hospitals and other healthcare organizations
demonstrate the value of strong cybersecurity while a host of other issues vie
for leadership’s attention?
“To me,
cybersecurity actually is a patient safety issue,” says Wes Wright, chief
technology officer with Imprivata. “The industry did both areas a disservice long
ago when they separated them.”
Clinicians
and other professionals who see patients on a daily basis aren’t necessarily
thinking about cybersecurity from a patient safety standpoint. That makes
password requirements, security education and training, and other requirements
seem less directly connected to patient care and safety—even though they
actually are integral to both.
The way to
fix this, Wright says, is to ensure that cybersecurity compliance and clinical
efficiency improve together. Without the latter, staff will balk at the former.
“Healthcare IT professionals were guilty of trying to make folks jump through
some pretty onerous hoops in the name of cybersecurity,” he says. “The key is
to make doing the right thing—and the right thing here is ensuring things are
cyber-protected—as easy, if not easier, than doing the wrong thing.”
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/api-ehr-integrations-grow-but-fhir-data-exchange-adoption-trails
API EHR Integrations Grow, But FHIR Data Exchange Adoption Trails
The number
of API EHR integrations grew from 2019 to 2020, but the proportion of APIs that
support FHIR data exchange remained about the same.
By Hannah Nelson
September 14,
2021 - While the number of application programming interfaces (API) EHR
integrations increased from 2019 to 2020, the proportion of APIs that support
the FHIR data exchange standard remained relatively the same, according to a study
published in JAMIA.
Researchers
gathered data from the public app galleries hosted by five of the leading EHR
vendors: Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner Corporation, Epic Systems
Corporation, and SMART.
Cerner, Epic,
and SMART had a net increase in the total number of apps in their galleries,
while athenahealth and Allscripts had a net decrease in apps. The Epic App
Orchard saw the largest net increase of 43 percent, adding 169 apps during the
study period.
While support
for FHIR increased from 19 percent of APIs at the end of 2019 to 22 percent of
APIs at the end of 2020, the increase was not statistically significant.
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/should-ehr-vendors-share-health-it-patient-safety-responsibility
Should EHR Vendors Share Health IT Patient Safety Responsibility?
CMS should
require EHR vendors to conduct self-assessments on their health IT products to
ensure patient safety, according to a JAMA op-ed.
By Hannah Nelson
September 14,
2021 - While a new CMS policy aims to improve patient safety through
hospital self-assessment of EHR systems, EHR vendors should also be responsible
for assessing their products to ensure they meet federal health IT standards,
according to a new Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) op-ed.
In August,
CMS published new rules regarding the Medicare Promoting Interoperability
Program and its Protect Patient Health Information Objective. Beginning in
2022, eligible hospitals will have to attest to having completed an annual
self-assessment of their EHRs using the ONC SAFER (Safety Assurance Factors for
EHR Resilience) Guides.
In the op-ed,
Dean F. Sittig, PhD, professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center
at Houston, argued that EHR vendors should be responsible for conducting
self-assessments of their products.
“Over the
past decade, emerging evidence has suggested that unsafe EHRs and unsafe use of
EHRs has continued and could lead to harm or potential harm that potentially
affects large numbers of patients,” he wrote.
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/predictive-model-projects-cervical-cancer-elimination
Predictive Model Projects Cervical Cancer Elimination
A
predictive model indicates the elimination of cervical cancer in low-poverty
areas 14 years before high-poverty areas.
By Erin McNemar, MPA
September 13,
2021 - A predictive model estimated that cervical cancer could be
virtually eliminated in the United States by 2030 in communities with low
poverty rates, but not until 2044 in communities with high poverty rates.
There are
approximately 14,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnoses each year in the United
States, leading to about 4,000 annual deaths. Over 90 percent of cervical
cancers are caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV)
infections.
HPV vaccines
became available in 2006 and currently protect against nine HPV types,
including seven of the 14 known to increase cancer risk. The vaccine regimen is
recommended for all adolescents and consist of two doses for children aged nine
to 15 or three doses for individuals ages 15 to 26.
With the
vaccine being 90 percent effective at preventing HPV-related cancers,
vaccination efforts could lead to “near-elimination” of cervical cancer.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/epics-director-nursing-discusses-new-research-its-sepsis-early-warning-model
Epic's director of nursing discusses new research on its sepsis early
warning model
The study,
from MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve University, suggests the AI-powered
EHR system can help alert clinicians before symptoms become visible and
potentially deadly to patients.
By Bill Siwicki
September 14,
2021 12:12 PM
A
new independent study in the Journal of Critical Care Medicine found
that Epic's sepsis early warning system led to faster antibiotic administration
and better patient outcomes without an increase in harmful clinical
interventions, like antibiotic or IV fluid overdose.
The
model, used by hospitals nationwide, detects the first risk factors of
infection in patients, allowing clinicians to enact early treatment measures
and save lives.
Earlier
this summer, a study in JAMA Internal Medicine using retrospective
data found that prediction algorithms included as part of Epic's electronic
health record may poorly predict sepsis.
But
the new independent study, conducted by MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve
University, shows the use of EHR sepsis warning systems flags clinicians before
symptoms become visible and potentially deadly to patients. Sepsis contributes
to one
in three deaths in U.S. hospitals today.
-----
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210909.961330/full/
Seizing The Moment For Telehealth Policy And Equity
For
years, the story of telehealth in the United States had been one of unfulfilled promise and limited niche market use. The
extraordinary circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and the urgent
need to provide safe access to medical care for millions of Americans during the public health emergency,
led to the rapid decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and private insurers to begin reimbursing virtual telephone
(audio only) and video visits in March 2020. Since that moment, telehealth has
been suddenly and irrevocably transformed into a ubiquitous and indispensable part of our health care
system.
According
to multiple surveys, patients report high levels of satisfaction with telehealth visits, which
can help reduce barriers associated with in-person care. And although the
majority of health care visits in the US have transitioned back to in-person,
telehealth is expected to continue to play an important role moving forward.
Virtual visits can offer convenience and improved access for patients by
reducing the need to take time off work, secure child and elder care, and find
transportation. Higher uptake of patient portal
use can improve
patient engagement and activation and reduce burdens on practices by giving
patients the agency to self-schedule appointments, request refills, review test
results, and communicate asynchronously with care teams using secure messaging
and eVisits. Telehealth also offers wide-ranging opportunities for flexibility
and innovative improvements in health care delivery by enabling new models for low-acuity
care and chronic disease management.
However,
virtual care can also exacerbate existing health disparities, as access to the
requisite technology, broadband, and digital
literacy vary widely among patient populations. Without intentional action
to help mitigate digital barriers associated with age, race, location,
preferred language, and socioeconomic status, permanent expansion of telehealth
could have the unintended consequence of reinforcing existing inequities in
health access in our highest risk and most underserved communities.
-----
https://www.bioworld.com/articles/511393-austro-japanese-team-developing-e-health-patches-that-can-monitor-pulse-and-blood-pressure?v=preview
Austro-Japanese team developing e-health patches that can monitor pulse
and blood pressure
Sep. 14, 2021
By Bernard Banga
PARIS –
Researchers at the Institute for Surface Technologies and Photonics in Weiz,
Austria, and the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research Osaka
University, Japan, have invented new ultra-flexible health monitoring patches
that use harvested bio-mechanical energy. “These new devices represent a
wireless e-health patch for accurate pulse and blood pressure monitoring,”
Andreas Petritz, from the Institute for Surface Technologies and Photonics (the
materials research unit of Joanneum Research FmbH), told BioWorld.
-----
https://ehrintelligence.com/news/ehr-vendor-epic-unveils-website-for-health-it-best-practices-education
EHR Vendor Epic Unveils Website for Health IT Best Practices, Education
EHR vendor
Epic has created a new website that gives healthcare stakeholders a place to
share best practices to maximize their health IT investment.
By Hannah Nelson
September 13,
2021 - EHR vendor Epic Systems has launched a new website to support
healthcare stakeholder understanding of its health IT, according to reporting
from the Wisconsin State Journal.
EpicShare.org.
also aims to provide healthcare stakeholders and the public a place to exchange
ideas and best
practices for the use of health
IT.
The website
has gained thousands of subscribers in its first few weeks post-go-live, Leela
Vaughn, Epic senior executive, told the news outlet.
“We’ve been
working on EpicShare for just about a year, and this is one of the things that
came out of the early days of the pandemic,” said Vaughn.
-----
https://healthitanalytics.com/news/why-genetic-testing-is-key-to-advancing-precision-medicine
Why Genetic Testing Is Key to Advancing Precision Medicine
Increased
genetic testing is essential to improving the health of senior populations
using precision medicine.
By Erin McNemar, MPA
September 13,
2021 - Due to genetics, not every patient responds the same to
medications. With genetic testing, providers can better determine the best
treatment options for individuals, advancing precision medicine.
Jacob Johnson,
MD, a practicing otolaryngologist and president of San Francisco
Otolaryngology, spoke with HealthItAnalytics about the importance of genetic
testing in senior populations and the role associated with genetics in
medication relations.
"The
medications we take are primarily metabolized by our kidney and our liver. We
have enzymes in our liver that metabolize these medications. And each of us is
given a set of them, and they are genetically determined," Johnson said.
Depending on
the patient's genes, the enzymes could have low, medium, high functions,
leading to different metabolizing rates. According to Johnson, these differing
rates create problems for physicians when trying to prescribe medications.
-----
https://healthitsecurity.com/news/az-ransomware-attack-leads-to-unrecoverable-ehrs-data-loss
AZ Ransomware Attack Leads to Unrecoverable EHRs, Data Loss
An Arizona
medical center will have to rebuild thousands of patient records after a ransomware
attack resulted in corrupted EHRs and data loss.
By Jill McKeon
September 10,
2021 - Arizona-based Queen Creek Medical Center, also known as Desert
Wells Family Medicine, will have to rebuild patient medical records from
scratch after a ransomware attack corrupted and destroyed EHRs. Desert Wells began notifying
35,000 patients of the breach and made plans to implement a new EHR system.
The
practice’s IT staff discovered suspicious activity on May 21 and immediately
reached out to cybersecurity experts, an incident response team, and law
enforcement.
A third-party
forensics firm found no evidence that any protected health information (PHI)
was stolen. However, the bad actor managed to corrupt the provider’s medical
records system, resulting in significant data loss.
The records
contained information including patient names, addresses, Social Security
numbers, driver’s license numbers, patient account numbers, health insurance
plan member IDs, medical record numbers, treatment information, and billing
account numbers.
-----
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/onc-70-of-hospitals-have-issues-with-public-health-data-reporting.html
ONC: 70% of hospitals have issues with public health data reporting
Jackie Drees - Friday, September
10th, 2021
Seven
in 10 hospitals experience at least one challenge with reporting health information to public health agencies in
2019, according to a recent ONC data brief.
ONC
analyzed survey data from the 2019 American Hospital Association Information
Technology supplement to get a better understanding of the number and types of
challenges that hospitals have experienced when electronically reporting to
public health agencies prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here
are the top challenges hospitals cited with public data reporting in
2019:
- Lack of capacity to electronically
exchange information among hospitals and public health agencies: 50
percent
- Interface-related issues, such as
costs and complexity: 40 percent
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-robotic-assisted-surgery-can-improve-patient-outcomes
How robotic-assisted surgery can improve patient outcomes
A pioneer in
robotics and surgery discusses the genesis, the state of the art and the future
of the technology and techniques – and where AI fits in.
By Bill Siwicki
September 13,
2021 12:36 PM
Robotics
has started boosting surgery in ways not dreamed about not so long ago.
Robotic-assisted surgical systems have claimed a space in healthcare and are
evolving before surgeons' very eyes.
Brian Miller is chief digital officer at Intuitive, a
medical technology company known for its da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical
systems. He is one of the leading experts in the field.
Healthcare
IT News sat down with Miller to discuss the genesis of the robotic
surgery industry and how new technology combined with AI will transform what's
possible in healthcare.
Q. You
started your career in robotics developing software for robotic surgical
systems such as AESOP and ZEUS. What were the early capabilities of these
systems?
A.
We always knew we were onto something in those early days – but it is humbling
to see how far the robotic surgical field has grown. With AESOP and its
successor, ZEUS, our goal was to help enhance the ability of laparoscopic
surgeons, who spent long days standing next to – and over – patients, and had
to hold the endoscope and multiple instruments for very long stretches of time.
-----
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/groups-recover-together-sees-great-success-treating-opioid-use-disorder-telehealth
Groups Recover Together sees great success treating opioid use disorder
via telehealth
Eighty-seven
percent of its members said they felt as supported or more supported in a
virtual care model.
By Bill Siwicki
September 13,
2021 11:47 AM
Groups
Recover Together is a national healthcare company for individuals with opioid
use disorder. It's based in Burlington, Massachusetts.
THE
PROBLEM
Addiction
is a disease of isolation. The success of Groups Recover Together's care model
relies heavily on building a supportive community for its members.
Before
COVID-19, this was in the form of weekly, in-person group therapy. In
March 2020, Groups Recover Together closed its physical locations, stood up a
telehealth platform and transitioned to 100% virtual care. It completed the
transition in just four days – no small feat considering it served more than
5,000 members across six states at the time.
Staff
did all this with great uncertainty about what the future might look like.
Their "keep us up at night" questions were:
●
Will members have sufficient technology or broadband
access?
●
Will staff be able to perform their jobs at a high level?
●
Will members continue to engage in treatment?
●
How will members do in a virtual setting?
●
Will staff see a degradation of outcomes?
------
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/jama-report-calls-ehr-vendors-do-annual-safety-self-assessments
JAMA report calls on EHR vendors to do annual safety self-assessments
With new CMS
rules, researchers say electronic health records should be more easily
configurable with ONC's SAFER Guide recommendations – which in turn should be
reviewed and updated by the agency each year.
By Mike Miliard
September 13,
2021 03:41 PM
A
new op-ed published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
offers some suggestions for a "shared
responsibility" for electronic health record safety.
WHY IT
MATTERS
This past month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated its
Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program – adding a new measure requiring
eligible hospitals, starting in 2022, to attest to having completed an annual
self-assessment of their EHRs using the SAFER
Guides sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
While
that's a big deal for patient safety policy, however, "additional steps
are required to strengthen the effects of these rules," write patient
safety researchers Dean F. Sittig of University of Texas Health Science Center
and Dr. Hardeep Singh of Baylor College of Medicine, in JAMA.
Going
forward, as hospitals work to comply with the new CMS rules, they'll need
to have help from their EHR vendors, they write, since many SAFER
recommendations depend on EHR features that must be provided by developers.
"For
example, one recommendation states, 'Information required to accurately
identify the patient is clearly displayed on all portions of the EHR user
interface, wristbands, and printouts,'" they point out. "The hospital
cannot comply with that recommendation if the developer has not implemented the
feature(s)."
-----
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2784288
Viewpoint
September 10,
2021
Policies to Promote Shared Responsibility for Safer Electronic Health
Records
Dean F. Sittig, PhD1; Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH2
Author
Affiliations Article
Information
JAMA.
Published online September 10, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.13945
On August 13,
2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published new
rules regarding the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program and its Protect
Patient Health Information Objective.1
Specifically, CMS added an unscored, attestation-only measure that requires eligible
hospitals to attest to having completed an annual self-assessment of their
electronic health record (EHR) using the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology (ONC)–sponsored SAFER (Safety Assurance Factors
for EHR Resilience) Guides2
beginning in 2022. This is a major development in health information technology
(IT) and patient safety policy, but additional steps are required to strengthen
the effects of these rules.
Historical
Context
A decade ago,
health IT–related errors were defined as “anytime health IT is unavailable for
use, malfunctions during use, is used incorrectly by someone, or when health IT
interacts with another system component incorrectly, resulting in data being
lost or incorrectly entered, displayed, or transmitted.”3
Over the past decade, emerging evidence has suggested that unsafe EHRs and
unsafe use of EHRs has continued and could lead to harm or potential harm that
potentially affects large numbers of patients.4
For example, Pacheco et al5
determined that 275 of 697 (39.5%) EHR-related products surveilled had
“nonconformities” with existing EHR certification regulations that were
associated with possible patient harm. Many nonconformities could have been
identified by the developer prior to product release. However, best practices
for safe EHR configuration, implementation, and use have not been widely
promulgated; health care organizations (HCOs), users, developers, and
government regulators often attribute EHR-related safety problems to one
another.6
-----
https://histalk2.com/2021/09/10/weekender-9-10-21/
Weekly News Recap
- Intelerad acquires Insignia.
- Sanford Health (SD) will use a
$350 million donation to develop a virtual care center.
- Period and ovulation tracking app
vendor Flo raises $50 million, valuing the company at $800 million.
- TransUnion is reportedly seeking a
buyer for its TransUnion Healthcare business for up to $2 billion.
- Invitae announces that it will
acquire Ciitizen for $325 million.
- A review finds that 34 of 36
systems that use AI for breast cancer screening are less accurate than a
single radiologist.
- The VA renews its CliniComp
contract for another five years.
- Four of six traveling nurses at a
California hospital quit on their first day when faced with using
Meditech, which the hospital is replacing with Epic.
- Baxter announces that it will
acquire Hillrom for $12.4 billion.
- Accenture acquires Gevity.
- Healthcare Triangle announces
plans for an IPO that will raise up to $50 million.
-----
Enjoy!
David.