The digital health space refers to the integration of technology and health care services to improve the overall quality of health care delivery. It encompasses a wide range of innovative and emerging technologies such as wearables, telehealth, artificial intelligence, mobile health, and electronic health records (EHRs). The digital health space offers numerous benefits such as improved patient outcomes, increased access to health care, reduced costs, and improved communication and collaboration between patients and health care providers. For example, patients can now monitor their vital signs such as blood pressure and glucose levels from home using wearable devices and share the data with their doctors in real-time. Telehealth technology allows patients to consult with their health care providers remotely without having to travel to the hospital, making health care more accessible, particularly in remote or rural areas. Artificial intelligence can be used to analyze vast amounts of patient data to identify patterns, predict outcomes, and provide personalized treatment recommendations. Overall, the digital health space is rapidly evolving, and the integration of technology in health
Showing posts with label electronic health records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electronic health records. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Progress on the Frontiers of Health and Medicine

The frontiers of medicine are not only in the development and transformation of delivering health care, but is also a physical impediment to delivering a level of quality health care.Rural health care presents unique challenges for delivery of care. There are fewer providers, facilities, and less economic support.

As described by Leila Samy, Meghan Gabriel, and   Jennifer King on HealthITBuzz

Leila Samy
  

                                                                Meghan Gabriel
                                                                                                               Jennifer King


              
Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), some with a census of fewer than 10 patients, are the smallest of the small rural hospitals. In some regions, such as frontier areas, a CAH may be the only local health care provider serving an area the width of the state of Rhode Island! CAHs are small, geographically isolated and have limited resources.

CAHs are found in every region of the country, and represent roughly 30 percent of hospitals nationwide. Often serving as the focal point for all health care services in a rural area, CAHs often own and run the local rural health clinics and skilled nursing facilities. They may also be responsible for public health and emergency medical system services. These hospitals extend services to places where they wouldn’t otherwise be available. And those are the reasons why it is important for CAHs to have access to health IT systems and capabilities.
As of 2013, 89 percent of CAHs had an EHR in place; 62 percent of CAHs with an EHR had a fully electronic health record system, and 27 percent had a health record system that was part electronic and part paper.
Most CAHs adopted (as of 2013) or planned to adopt (by the end of 2014) the health IT capabilities evaluated in this study (i.e., telehealth, teleradiology, care coordination and health information exchange with other providers and patients).
As of 2013, CAHs reported the highest rates of adoption for teleradiology (70 percent) and telehealth (59 percent) capabilities. Fewer CAHs reported other capabilities related to electronic exchange of key clinical information with other providers. Even fewer (15 percent) of CAHs reported patient engagement capabilities (i.e., offer patients ability to view, download and transmit their health information
Among the challenges to health IT adoption among CAHs, financing and workforce related challenges were most commonly reported.
CAHs that pooled resources with other hospitals were more likely to have EHR and capabilities related to health information exchange and care coordination, compared to those that did not pool resources or engage in group purchasing.
CAHs with faster Internet upload speeds were more likely to have the capability to provide patients with the option to view, download, and transmit their health information compared to those with slower upload speeds.
The Federal Government is offering funding opportunities and offers Creative Solutions to Expand  Rural Health IT Funding

Benefits of Health IT adoption among CAHs and other small, rural hospitals





Monday, June 16, 2014

One in 10 U.S. Residents Affected by Large Health Data Breaches

One in 10 U.S. Residents Affected by Large Health Data Breaches

TOPIC ALERT:

More than 1,000 medical record breaches involving 500 or more people have been reported to HHS since federal reporting requirements took effect nearly five years ago, according to HHS,Modern Healthcare's "Vital Signs" reports (Conn, "Vital Signs,"Modern Healthcare, 6/13).
HHS has been tracking data breaches since September 2009, when the HIPAA breach notification rule went into effect. The agency reports health information breaches affecting more than 500 individuals on its "wall of shame" website (iHealthBeat, 4/1).
Since 2009, HHS has received:
  • 1,026 reports of breaches involving 500 or more individuals; and
  • More than 116,000 breach reports involving records of fewer than 500 individuals through March 1, 2013.
In total, large health data breaches reported by health care providers and their business associates have affected the medical records of about one in 10 U.S. residents, or 31.7 million people. 
Meanwhile, more than 32,600 HIPAA complaint cases have been investigated, with more than 22,500 of them closing with corrective action, according to HHS Office for Civil Rights spokesperson Rachel Seeger ("Vital Signs," Modern Healthcare, 6/13)

Privacy Penalties on the Rise

In related news, HHS Chief Regional Civil Rights Counsel Jerome Meites at an American Bar Association Conference last week said he expects penalties under HIPAA to increase drastically in the next year, The Hill reports.
Since June 2013, HHS has received more than $10 million for HIPAA violations, according toLaw360. However, Meites said, "I suspect that that number will be low compared [with] what's coming up" (Viebeck, The Hill, 6/13).
Many EMR and EHR services are cloud based, and dependent upon internet connectivity.  Despite HIPAA we can expect breaches from otherwise secure sites. It is important to notify patients when breaches occur.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Networked Intelligence in Health and Medicine fueled by Social Media


Attribution given to Bryan Vartabedian, MD

How does a hospital or provider move into the digital space ? And what part of the space should you participate ?


Are you a part of it, and do you want to be a part of it? Is this a necessity, or just a fad ?


Do you have an overall marketing plan, or separate department for marketing?


You will need to assess your reasons for HIT and social media.  Electronic Health Records, Health Information Exchanges, mHealth, social media, all serve different needs, some elective and some necessary.


An important component is time and money, neither of which are an infinite resource. Given the current massive health reform that is being legislated practice resources must be aligned with regulatory mandates.


Reality plays a big role.  Many social media users do it for pure enjoyment as a break from conventional routines of their day.  Some do it for making new contacts, social or medical, based on current interests.  Others look for new vistas, hobbies, and activities one would never entertain,unless in the process of social media it happens spontaneously.  Some social media hobbyists transition into a vocation in marketing, education, or entertainment.


Your regional  social media politically correct standards may play a role in your decision making. Social media is just that…….voluntary.  Let’s compare social events such as medical staff meetings, part business, part pleasure, and a source of much information and communication.  If you think about your daily activities, meetings, learning experiences, creative thinking can create reasons for using social media.


You may want to expand your visibility either locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally.


There are choices:


1. Do it yourself.  This requires significant time and effort as well as a learning curve to
do it efficiently. There are many who are willing and able to teach you, some for free, and
others who charge a fee.  One example is the Social Media Residency offered by Lee
Aase and the Mayo Clinic.


2.Hire someone or a professional digital marketer to do it for you. Since you are in
the business of medicine, highly skilled and have a relatively high ability to generate
income. Why bother yourself with these tasks.


There are innumerable online companies offering software products to encompass
a marketing plan.


3. Like Real Estate the main concern is ‘location, location, location. So too is social
media.  Your choices and perhaps limitations will depend on where you practice ?
Factors such as the form of your medical practice, solo,group, specialty, or academic
will more than influence your options. Listen to this story from “33 Charts”, a well known
blog.


DECEMBER 14, 2013Albert Flexner, M.D. (courtesy, National Library of Medicine)
Last year was part of a small group charged with building a social media toolkit for medical schools.  An early conference call participant made it clear that if the project didn’t meet certain criteria for academic advancement, he’d be unable to participate.  It was the last time we heard from him.  Unfortunate but predictable.
There is a movement to qualify and/or quantify social media publishing by clinicians and scientists. In an article published on iMedicalApps, one pharmacist had this to say about this prospect,


What counts is what brings value


New forms of knowledge creation and how they fit into a dated system of promotion is a growing preoccupation for many physicians.  And the question of what should ‘count’ toward academic advancement is one that’s received attention lately.  Some have approached advancement committees to have their blogs recognized as evidence of scholarship.  I haven’t decided whether these attempts are noble or laughable.
What counts is what brings value.  And what brings value in medicine are cameos in peer-reviewed publications.  This makes sense.  Because in the era of analog medicine, this was the only means by which physicians communicated ideas and findings.  Appearance in this 17th century tool of idea transmission has defined leadership through most of medical history.

Embedded habits are slowly eroded, as better solutions appear.

The age of networked intelligence will spawn a new kind of leader

But things have changed and doctors have new ways to share ideas and change minds.  Now every doctor, independent of institutional affiliation, tenure, pedigree or lineage is empowered with the capacity to grow, share and develop ideas.
And so the age of networked intelligence will spawn a new type of leader.  Expect to see regular doctors emerge as influential not based on lists of publications but on the strength and novelty of their ideas.  Leadership will be determined in part by the capacity to leverage new tools to build, communicate and influence.
But don’t expect them to be promoted.  For now.

Think much, publish little

Despite how we connect and communicate, peer-reviewed research will remain an important element in the advancement of medicine.  But it represents only one way to lead.  For those early in their career, there are some things you can do.
Perhaps we should think more before we publish our blogs, tweet or build facebook and/or google pages.  (or at least make our posts less often, and shorter.
Thanks to Dr. Vartabedian for his insights.