Turning Interoperability Talk into Action
Despite significant public and private efforts, healthcare IT systems are usually not interoperable, impacting patient care, reimbursement, and research alike. As a result, real action is needed to turn ongoing discussions about interoperability into action. One way forward may be focusing on application with the people who use the systems most.
CMS Publishes Proposal to Improve the Prior Authorization Process
The US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule ensures patient acccess to clinical data, adjucated claims, and other health information. The newly published Advancing Interoperabilty and Improving Prior Authorization Processes Proposed Rule would, if implemented, extend the prior rule with 5 key proposals targetting health data access and prior authorization.
Transparency, Oversight, and Opt-in Consent Makes Patients More Open to Sharing Data
A newly published paper in JAMA Network Open found that patients are more likely to participate in patient data sharing programs if certain conditions are met. Survey data from 3,500 hundred patients showed that patients valued transparency, opt-in informed consent, oversight mechanisms, and privacy.
CDC Launches Initiative to Accelerate Health Data Modernization Efforts
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a new initiative to modernize its public health data infrastructure. The Initiative, announced today, February 27th, will be a cooperative public-private effort led by the agency, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the CDC Foundation, an independent non-profit started by Congress.
Most Healthcare Organizations Behind on SDoH Data
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has released a white paper detailing the state of social determinants of health (SDoH) data collection and usage. The authors surveyed 2,637 members, finding that the majority of healthcare organizations are collecting SDoH data but have issues analyzing and using it.
Protecting Practices from Cybersecurity Threats
Cyber attacks on healthcare electronic infrastructure are on the rise, putting patient care at risk. However, there are ways to beef up cybersecurity at practices of all scales. This includes identifying vulnerabilities, creating secure communication environments, and prioritizing the security of electronic health record (EHR) systems.
Patients Face Disparities in Access to Health Information
Although patients have the right to access their health-related information, many do not or are unable to take advantage of this resource. Health IT solutions have been developed to streamline these processes, but disparities still remain. Many patients are unaware of how to access their healthcare portal because their provider did not inform them of it, in particular, Black and Hispanic patients.
Spring Health Launches Compass Platform for Mental Health Electronic Health Records Management
Mental healthcare professionals waste significant amounts of time creating and sorting through electronic health records (EHR). To help providers focus on patient care, Spring Health has released its Compass platform. Using the software platform, providers and other users have access to an integrated documentation, billing, and scheduling system.
US Patients Now Have Digital Access to Their Electronic Health Records
Earlier this month, US patients gained access to their full health records. The new federal laws give patients unprecedented access to their electronic health records (EHR) in digital form, upon request. This move is meant to end the widespread practice of information blocking, wherein patients had limited access to their data all while it is sold to private data brokers.
Ransomware Attack Hits CommonSpirit Health System in US
Yet another healthcare system has been hit by a ransomware attack, disrupting care and the use and collection of electronic health records (EHR). The attack against CommonSpirit, based out of Chicago, IL, caused surgeries and appointments to be cancelled in hospitals across the US. Law enforcement and cybersecurity experts are working to quickly address the issue.
Electronic Health Record Outage Makes UK Hospitals Revert to Pen and Paper
The Oracle Cerner electronic health records (EHR) experienced and outage yesterday, October 11th, leaving many hospitals in the UK out on a limb. In response, many healthcare systems had to switch back to pen and paper records. The issue with the platform has been resolved this morning as of 9AM.
The Push for Value-Based Drug Prices Requires Electronic Health Record Interoperability
There has been a push towards value-based pricing (VBP) for prescription drugs, especially with new drug pricing reform in the US. Reaching this goal will require extensive data to determine the value of medications. An important resource is electronic health records (EHR), but these sources are rarely interoperable. In a new article on Healthcare IT Today, Girisha Fernando of Lyfegen discusses why data interoperability is so essential for VBP.
Researchers Put Forward New Healthcare Data Use Framework
A group of researchers from around the world have proposed a new framework for the use of healthcare data in research. The framework, published in several journals, guides researchers in several aspects of healthcare usage, such as transparency, quality assessment, and more. The team constructing the framework consisted of stakeholders from healthcare, government, research, and patient advocacy groups
Addressing Healthcare Data Sovereignty with Synthetic Data
Real-world data (RWD) sources are used across the world but are governed by their origin countries, which often have different legal frameworks than the nation they are used in. These conflicts over “data sovereignty,” as it is called, hold back research and development and create international issues of patient privacy. A potential path forward is the use of synthetic data, simulated data based on existing datasets.
Apple Adds Interoperable Medicine Tracking Feature to iPhone Health
Apple has launched a new medication tracking feature to its iPhone health app. In the process, the company moved a step closer to creating its own interoperable electronic health record (EHR) ecosystem. Apple will likely only share said data with apps within the app store that have been thoroughly vetted for privacy issues. However, some point out that there may be setbacks and downsides with that approach.
nference Introduces nSights Real-World Evidence Platform
The company nference has launched nSights, a real-world evidence generation platform built on de-identified electronic health record (EHR) data from academic medical centers. The platform is designed to help users can glean therapeutic and diagnostic insights from the data, which consists of clinical notes, lab results, radiology records, and more. In the announcement, the company also touched on its ongoing collaboration with the Mayo Clinic.
New RWE Study Unveals Full Range of Medical Needs of Patients with Diabetes
A paper published in the journal eClinical Medicine explores the scope of illnesses patients in Europe with type II diabetes face. The study, which pulled data from around 224,000 patients with diabetes from North-West London, found that patients were most likely to present with one or more of five conditions when diagnosed as diabetic. The data came from the Discovery-NOW data set, which contains electronic health records (EHR) data from 2.5 million patients.
Health Affairs Today: Using EHR to Boost Vaccination Rates in Unhoused or Incarcerated People in Minnesota
Compared to the rest of the population, vaccination rates are much lower amongst Minnesotans who are unhoused or in the [...]
Arcadia and Datavant Announce New Partnership to Promote Real-World Data Platform
Datavant, leaders in connecting health data to organizations, and Arcadia, the healthcare data analytics platform, have announced a new partnership. [...]
AI for Mental Healthcare Must be Developed Carefully to Best Serve Patients
Artificial intelligence (AI) has risen into prominence in healthcare, providing patients and providers with helpful tools to improve healthcare outcomes. [...]
Critical Path Institute and Tufts Medical Center Announce New Real-World Data Collaboration
A new collaboration has been announced by the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) and Tufts Medical Center to use real-world data [...]
Case Study: Speech Recognition Cut Costs and Time for Surgery Center
Taking accurate clinical documentation and digitizing it bogs down workflow at many medical facilities, costing time and money. Some [...]
Study: HealthCore’s Data Partnership Helped Drive the FDA’ Sentinel Initiative
The US Food and Drug Administration’s Sentinel Initiative tracks the safety of drugs, medical devices, and biologics on the market [...]
NHS Trust Aims for 90% Electronic Patient Records by 2023
Sajid Javid, the UK Health Secretary, has set a goal for 90% of NHS trusts to implement electronic patient records [...]
Study: Electronic Health Records Reveal Racial Bias in Healthcare
Black patients are 2.54 times as likely to have negative descriptors on their electronic health records (EHR) as white patients, [...]
