Digital Health Space Services

Our mission statement is written on the header of all our posts.

"DIGITAL HEALTH SPACE.......The distance between providers represents the space that Digital Health Space is attempting to close using virtual applications, websites, social media, email, web portals, custom developer open source and telehealth"

The list of available software offerings are not limited to electronic health records or specifically 'designed' for medical practice. Some are simple adaptations used in other industries or from consumer sources.

How beneficial would it be to be able to automatically reach out to a patient when they are overdue for a specific type of visit?  If you are planning to attest for MU2 you will need to report on having sent these types of reminders to a minimum of 10% of your patients (MU Measure-12).  Even if you don't plan to attest for MU2 this is still something that allows your practice to be more proactive in providing patient care.  Examples:

- Diabetic overdue for an A1C

- Child at X months of age overdue for X vaccine series, or Well-Child visit

- Female overdue for Well-Woman visit, Mammogram or re-PAP...

Software developer's Mission Statement

We are passionate about the idea of assisting healthcare organizations with patient outreach by automating communication that is necessary to create a more compliant, and ultimately healthier, patient population.

As reimbursement models continue to shift towards Accountable Care and outcomes-based medicine, there is a growing need for improved patient compliance.  We all see that reality.  The question is, how will your organization manage all of those details affordably?   There is an answer.

Today, patient engagement technology is being applied to all categories of patient communication. Whether the message is related to health maintenance, appointment, or collections Relatient allows the individual care provider to decide how, when, and at what interval those health reminders are delivered.

There are 3 types of patients:  the Compliant, the Distracted, and the Careless.  The Relatient team is focused on finding ways to move more patients into the Compliant category, and to benefit their lives while making the Provider more successful as well.

We care about you, your patients, and your staff.  Give us an opportunity to partner with you, and we will spend each day reaching for a better healthcare system, together.

Patient Engagement software providing these services and much more.  In fact, our software vendor often provides MORE functionality at a fraction of the price charged by other Patient Engagement vendors.  How do we do it?

• FLAT RATE PRICING...instead of the old per-contact model.  The more you use it the better the results!

• NO LONG-TERM CONTRACT...use it as long as you want and stop at any time with no penalty

• NO DAILY REPORT BUILD & EXPORT...we will interface to your PM/EHR systems 

• NO COSTLY SERVERS...we utilize Amazon Web Services to send everything via the Internet

• Appointment Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED

• Collections Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED

• Health Maintenance Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED

• Patient Surveys via email...UNLIMITED

This software provides the follow options:

• Appointment Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED
• Collections Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED
• Health Maintenance Reminders via phone, text or email...UNLIMITED
• Patient Surveys via email...UNLIMITED
• 
  

Programs

With custom options to match your organization's unique needs - Relatient has the right combination of services to be your partner in automated reminders!

• 

  Timely and effective appointment reminders
 
• 

  Unlimited, custom health event reminders
 
• 

  Reduce your A/R and generate capital efficiently
 
• 

  Any message, delivered to any audience, affordably
• 

  Better your practice through Surveying your Patients

If you would like to hear more about how we can help enhance patient care while at the same time reduce your no-show rate AND reduce your AR, please contact me.  @glevin1 or leave a comment here.

email: digitalhealthspace@gmail.com

When Analytics Fall Short

"The joys of unintended consequences never end. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required hospitals to get paid based on how much they improved their patients' health rather than on how many tests and procedures were completed. The intent was to improve patient care.

But some data brokers saw dollar signs in those changes and have started mining patients' payment card data, public records and loyalty programs and using that to create risk profiles, which they are then selling to hospitals and insurance companies. For asthma, they look at pollen counts associated with the current residence as well as cigarette purchases, plus pharmacy records indicating whether prescriptions are being refilled regularly and on time, suggesting compliance, according to a Business Week report.

Data analytics is generally a wonderful thing, but I'm not seeing how this program could really deliver much of a benefit to anyone involved, other than the data brokers who sell it."

So says Evan Schuman

Follow him on Twitter @eschuman.

Although there are absolutely privacy issues raised, there are some initial limits. However, it's unclear how long those limits will remain in place. For example, the individual information is analyzed and massaged by the data broker, who turns it into a series of risk numbers, but the hospital isn't told the purchase/public record facts that went into those crunched numbers. In other words, the hospital won't be told that a gym membership lapsed or that 20 pizzas are being ordered a week, but will solely see that weight gain risk increased.

The biggest problem with such data collection is simply that the analysis could be highly inaccurate, mostly because a purchase made is not necessarily for the patient to personally use.

"It's important to remember that credit card and customer loyalty program data are not soundly indicative nor solely attributable to an individual's behavior. For one thing, individuals may be purchasing items for family members or even an elderly or disabled neighbor," said Pam Baker, a  business data analyst who has a new book out on the topic: Data Divination: Big Data Strategies.

Michael Dulin, chief clinical officer for analytics and outcomes research at Carolinas HealthCare, one of the health groups that is purchasing this kind of data, is quoted in the BusinessWeek piece, arguing that "information on consumer spending can provide a more complete picture than the glimpse doctors get during an office visit or through lab results." That's certainly true, but even if the data were accurate -- which is far from a given -- how much good is likely to come from it?

5 ways hospitals can use data analytics

George Zachariah, a consultant at Dynamics Research Corporation in Andover, Mass., explains the top five ways hospital systems can better use health analytics in order to get the most out of the information.

1. Use analytics to help cut down on administrative costs.

2. Use analytics for clinical decision support.

3. Cut down on fraud and abuse.

4. Use analytics for better care coordination.

5. Use analytics for improved patient wellness.

Mobile Health Annual Update

It has been 16 months since I wrote here about the proliferation of mobile health applications.  More so than  desktop health IT, these developments place HIT in the hands of consumers and patients, allowing for instant gratfication for questions they may have in real time.

Mobile health IT falls into one of three categories,  information access, monitoring, and guidance.

It is an appropriate time to review my last post on mobile health.

Heavy Weight in the Mobile Health Zone

During the past year several large internet presences, Google and Microsoft have taken an active interest, other than the Personal Health Record (PHR).  Market demand for PHR was sadly lacking, given that potential patients balked at entering their own health data. (much like providers). Time was a major deterrent  for data entry.  However the PHR  may be reincarnatedted as a subset or import from the  provider electronic record. (EHR)  In many ways this will improve accuracy, credibility and content.  Perhaps the  web portal may be a more eloquent means for editing and/or extracting personal health items from the professional EHR.

Google and developer Pathfinder have targetted the mobile health IT space.

 





 The Android Store

Microsoft store. a potential market place for Windows mobile has far fewer offerings. Sadly the Microsoft Store does not even have a category for Mobile Health Apps for the Windows Phone, or Surface Tablet (Microsoft's offering for tablet PCs) Again Open source is more attractive to developers.



Developer challenges with awards and stipends also are stimulating development by venture capitalists for the marketplace.

Android Developers
Surface and Windows Phone Developers


Late Breaking News:  Medicare and Telehealth

mHealth App Developer ? Contact the FDA first for Guidelines

Serious mobile health app developers would do well to contact the Food and Drug Administration regarding proposed regulations for mobile health applications.

Health care providers, patients and others are concerned about the safety and reliability of some applications. HPAA regulations forbid identifying data to ensure privacy and confidentiality for many HIT applicatioins.  As applications increase in number the offerings are often duplicated and complex.  There are a bewildering number of health apps currently on the market. 

The FDA is currently in the early phases of studying this area and is proposing "rule making"  This is a precursor to the process and a period of open comments for those interested in approval processes.

Apple adds rising star with background in FDA approvals & product testing to medical team

Source: Mark Gurman, 9to5Mac

Many  developers such as Apple, Google, Microsoft are investing in health technology experts to guide health app development.

                                     Apple has added Divya Nag, 

With experience in managing product launches, gaining FDA approval, and partnering up with existing healthcare industry behemoths, Nag could be the key to Apple being able to launch devices such as the iWatch and Healthbook software that could track the likes of blood sugar, pulse, sleep patterns, and blood pressure. Apple has previously met with the FDA on multiple occasions to discuss upcoming “Mobile Medical Applications.” 

Nag’s experience in medical product testing could also be valuable to the testing process for Apple’s future medical products. Apple job listings indicate that the Cupertino-company has been seeking engineers experienced in designing and executing tests of health-oriented products.