Digital Health...What is?

What is it ?

Digital health has grown from using a simple electronic health care record into a complex set of uses.

How Millenials are re-shaping digital health. This demographic began learning how to code in elementary school. By the time they reach high school or college they are competent in many forms of digital communications.  Many are very familiar with design of computers and their use for many tasks. All have taken examinations using computer testing methods.  Millenials use computers and software just as my generation previously learned to write with a #2 Yellow pencil and a legal size pad. If a #2 Pencil was not available, the fall back was a 

Bic pen 

or a PaperMate pen

Today's millenial physicians use smartphones, tablet pc and in the near future will be using wearables and speech driven input or output. Efficiency has become as important as quality for many reasons.

In Medical School and while training,  millenials used EHRs and became famiiar with health information exchanges.

During the past decade physicians and health personell had to be trained on the job. Now they are enrolled in courses such as the UC San Diego Course on Essentials of HIE.

Those who were early adopters of HIT will bear testimony to the difficulties using immature systems which actually decreased efficiency.

Ten or more years ago there were few physicians using electronic health record systems. The number has grown exponentially in the past five years (2010-2015), fueled by federal incentive dollars. The same applies to Health Information Exchanges.

Constructing Health Information Exchanges was difficult. There were few, if any models. HIEs required legal means for sharing private and confidential patient information.

In California several organizations have grown from a mish-mash of early committees, outlined here .

Health Information exchanges are now performing essential infrastructure activity, without which quality metrics, outcome studies, and administration of accountable care organizations could not take place. Nevertheless it will take time for the system to become integrated and build health community trust.

HIEs have yet to be formally evaluated nor determining "best of breed".  There are as yet many unanswered questions.

RAND: Systematic Review of Health Information Exchange

A Call To Action for a Nationwide Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure

The 'system' is still evolving, in some cases using trial and error planning.

In our next post we will discuss mobile health, telemedicine, remote monitoring and the anticipated role of the FDA and the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission pre-empted the FDA by sanctioning and filing a cease and desist order against fraudulent claims by 'MELAPP", a smartphone app claimed to be able to identify malignant melanomas.

Phil Bauman whose blog is  

                                 Health Is Social

                      Infusing Social Media into Healthcare

Awesome Referral Trick Using Facebook and DoctorBase

Feb 24

The only way we've seen Facebook consistently work for practices is through an automated integration with your existing practice management & survey software - meaning your patient reviews don't just appear on the web - they appear automatically on Facebook as well.


Through this software based methodology, each positive patient review generated through DoctorBase has the potential to reach approximately 600 of your patient's friends and family members through their News Feed. It's an incredibly exciting way to replace your simple Facebook Fan Page with something that actually works.
We're releasing a much more advanced version of this feature soon, and a much deeper level of integration into Facebook next week. You can setup a time to go over how this would work for your practice - the consultation is absolutely free.

Click Here to Setup a Consultation Time Convenient for You

"Many thanks to all at DoctorBase, a necessary component of today's world of social media and internet presence. It has been a great addition to our group." Dr. Henry Mentz, MD, FACS

This email was sent to gmlevinmd@gmail.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may unsubscribe at any time.

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The Internet of Things-The Reality of Connected Health Care

Health Care is connected. 

How will IoT be able to increase the efficiency of the system benefiting both practitioner and patient alike?

Health Information Exchange, Portals, eRX, Mobile Health Apps, Health Insurance Portals, Secure email, Telemedicine, Webinars and the Cloud  During the past decade siloes of information have diminished substantially.

PROS:

While interconnectivity can be a good thing there are some precautionary tales to tell.

CONS:

Privacy, and security are at risk from cyber-sleuths who attempt to financially gain by accessing data-bases such as health insurance records, EHRs, Health Information Exchanges, and government data bases to retrieve personal information such as social security numbers, driver's license numbers and other data to be used and or sold. Criminal enterprises exist with the sole purpose of stealing digital data to be sold to other parties. Many physicians are reluctant to use cloud technology for storing patient records, however this is becoming more commonplace, as it decreases capital investment and the need for onsite software upgrades.

The 2015 HIPAA Toolkit and Customizable Compliance Plan aids in minimizing these risks.

"The Internet of Things, the idea that everything will someday be totally connected, is no longer a Jetson’s era fantasy. It’s becoming closer to a reality in healthcare."

We’ve discussed IoT in healthcare and what its impact could be, but what would that look like? How can healthcare be ready for this total connectivity? Most importantly, how will IoT be able to increase the efficiency of the system benefiting both practitioner and patient alike?

Forbes discusses how IoT will be able to increase efficiency in healthcare in multiple ways

For example, some hospitals have begun to use smart beds, alerting nurses when patients are trying to get up, or the bed itself can help patients get up using varying pressure and support. Devices can even help patients once they leave the hospital like smart pill bottles that know when a prescription needs to be refilled or a patient hasn’t take their medicine."

"Greater connectivity will become apparent with these new devices, but how can these technologies be incorporated into everyday practices? Take for example Google Glass. Pierre Theodore, MD talks about the possibilities that Google Glass can provide for the doctor as opposed to the consumer. "

Remote monitoring promises to be valuable as a data collection source for patients during everyday activities. These metrics will be transmited to the cloud or directly to a provider's EHR for analysis.

Wearables offer self monitoring of fitness, blood pressure, pulse and other metrics for preventive health care. The addition of cell and internet connectivity brings these metrics to the provider. AliveCor offers a smartphone ECG real-time measurement device.

A series of white papers and e-Books are available, as well as Webinars, Stages of Meaningful Use and MU News

About the Author: Kelley Sullivan currently resides in the Boston area and is a health IT blogger at DICOM Grid. This article was originally published on DICOM Grid and is republished here with permission.

Health Care Social Media in Academia

In 2010 few in academia or clinical medicine appreciated how social media would evolve, and contribute to the spread of knowledge and analytics.

Today many institutions have established formal social media departments. The Mayo Clinic was one of the first institutions to offer a social media residency program.  Lee Aase is a pioneer in this effort, offering a social media residency program which offers a formal course catalog and learning modules.

Many #hcsm efforts are those of private individuals who develop their own private network of healthcare social media enthusiasts. What began for some as a hobby has evolved into formal analytics and networks. The introduction of computer algorithms has expanded the social media niche into a rich testbed for studies of population health as well as disease.

Symplur Signals offers a launching point about health care social media analytics and Symplur hashtags is the ontologic equivalent to Webster's dictionary. Symplur also categorizes hashtags for tweetchats , conferences, diseases, ontologies, and a summary page. 

In addition to private social networks the true power of social media is in the proliferation of platforms such as twitter, facebook, google plus, rss feeds, blogger, wordpress.  The ease with which anyone can publish is a double edged sword. Twitter, facebook, google plus, linkedin, offer their own search capabilities and at times bypass google search, focusing on relevant health sites.

A relevant question is,

 Which social media platform should you use?"

Hospitals, Clinics, Universities all have their own Facebook page, Google plus page, Twitter, and a presence on other social media platforms.

The USC Digital Scholar Training Initiative offers courses in 

Using Social Media Data to Gain Insights into Community Trends