< + > InnovationRx: FDA Greenlights Omicron Boosters; Plus: Biotech’s Cash Cushion

InnovationRx is your weekly digest of healthcare news. Sign up!

< + > 400 Americans Are Dying Each Day From Covid—Here’s How That Can Become Nearly Zero

Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center, explains how the tools are there to nearly eliminate Covid deaths—they just need to be deployed.

< + > New Startup Raises $7 Million To Help More Patients Access Clinical Trials

Many clinical trials fail due to low enrollment. Most patients don't even know clinical trials are an option. New startup Power is trying to change all that.

< + > Five Reasons A Clinician Should Attend ATA’s Annual Conference

CME conferences are great. You get to see old friends and meet new colleagues in your field. But often CME conferences have topics centered around traditional healthcare. Also, after being in healthcare for a decade, the topics are familiar and unless you’re in academia and research, probably not always that impactful on your medical practice day-to-day.

The ATA conference, along with offering some qualifying CME sessions, is made up of more broad topic discussions, meant to bring value to many different industry roles and professionals.  The ATA Annual Conference offers disruptive, equitable, and sustainable digital health innovation conversations, often inspiring new ways to imagine how traditional healthcare is delivered and how patients and providers engage.

The ATA just announced that their 27th annual American Telemedicine Conference and Expo will be March 5-7, 2023 in San Antonio, TX (Check out our list of healthcare it conferences), I wanted to share some of my experience as a clinician attending the event.  Read on to see why you should attend.

1. Get the most up to date info about telehealth reimbursement and digital health care policy

Are your patients asking for telehealth but so far you are having a hard time justifying its sustainable place in your practice?  2022 ATA’s annual conference had sessions discussing the barriers and successes to implementation and adoption of telemedicine and digital health under traditional revenue models.  I heard about examples of where digital health currently is being reimbursed well and where it is struggling to be cost effective along with the many factors to consider when applying to different practice models.

Economically, it is essential to weigh the reliability of universal payment for digital health services or technology and the ROI and health outcome benefit they realistically have for patients, providers, and practices since especially in primary care, profit margins can be very slim.   One thing I felt was stressed often was that telehealth & digital health reimbursement often can only improve through healthcare policy change and modernizing state medical practice law as CMS is usually the reference for most payers.

The ATA is an active leader in defining digital health and telemedicine and best practices on implementation, reimbursement, and sustainability.  Many of the sessions at the 2022 ATA conference were centered around the role that entrepreneurs, government, policymakers, patients, providers, executives, and industry leaders play for the necessary changes to occur in health care policy especially when it comes to reimbursement and practice standards.  Sessions encouraged those in the industry to participate as a collective to help secure telemedicine’s role in all practices moving forward so that patients have equitable options to engage in their health.

At this past year’s conference, I connected with the policy team at the ATA and learned that they often find passionate clinicians and help empower their voices in federal and state policy initiatives.  I personally can attest to the impact of mobilizing clinicians in health care policy decisions and using their experience in healthcare to advocate for equitable care and inform/support their state and federal representatives in making informed decisions on a policy level.

Let’s face it, if providers aren’t advocating for our patients access to telemedicine, legislators might not think that it’s important to make permanent space for it.  Because these conferences are focused on digital health and telemedicine, you will likely connect with those who are in healthcare policy and can educate you on how to participate and inform you on changes that might affect your practices bottom line and your patient’s care.

2. Digital health is cool.

Get to see the amazing technology, geek out and imagine what the future may look like, not only for our patients, but also for providers.  The outlook right now on your day-to-day work environment may be a stressful thought, full of everyday obstacles to provide a good health care experience for both patient and provider.  At the ATA conference, you can step outside of that perspective.  You can imagine the future of healthcare with examples of disruptive innovation and exciting alternative ways to deliver medicine and dream of a better overall experience leveraging new types of engagement patients can have with their providers.

Especially if you’re interested in optimizing telehealth to your own practice, this is the place to get the inside scoop on all the user experiences of many different products integrated or independent of your EMR.  You may be surprised to see what technology is possible and be inspired.

One thing to also consider: believe it or not but you don’t have to have to always go with your EMR’s solution or have all your software integrated. Let’s face it, many clinicians were using FaceTime and Google Meet as our telehealth video technology during the pandemic and it got the job done.  Another thing to consider is that not only are there telehealth solutions at the ATA conference.  The ATA conference hosts a broad array of digital health exhibitors including hardware, software, advocacy organizations, and consulting services.  I was shocked at some of the innovation that was represented in the exhibitor hall.

3. Adopt a new community, find mentorship and professional opportunity.

If you have been toying with the idea of trading in your clinical hat for a role in digital health, you are likely to find other clinicians at the ATA annual conference that did just that and are looking to help mentor others. When I decided to transition from clinical day-to-day practice into the digital health space, especially during the pandemic, I felt isolated and unsure where to start.  I did not initially have a large community of colleagues that made a transition into digital health and it took a lot of searching and networking to finally grow my network.

One way of getting a great head start on building your knowledge base and your professional network would be by attending the ATA’s annual conference and meeting with likeminded individuals and examples of clinicians that have made the transition successfully.  With all the options online but limited time to spend navigating the content and community forums, the community that attends the ATA conference is welcoming, supportive, and energetic.  There is no doubt you will find a large community that will embrace your interest and connect with you.

4. Get to play with cool technology and provide your feedback to their designers.

Not only will you get to learn more about the digital health products themselves, but you might end up in a conversation with the person who created it and provide valuable feedback or get a chance to strike a deal to try the technology in your practice as a pilot.  As a clinician who has been approached to use new medication or treatment technology, I always hesitated and needed to really understand the product.  Who has time throughout their clinical day to really get the time to ask all your questions and usually they want to set up another meeting to show you the actual product.

At the ATA conference, you are surrounded by superusers and early adopters of these products and get to interact with often the people who created and tested the product.  An additional benefit is you will bring a great deal of knowledge back to share with your patients and colleagues.  Who knows, you might even find a product you will want to try now and be able to work out a good deal.

5. Find an opportunity for a side hustle or a full-time position in digital health.

One thing that I was impressed to see is the level of interest and emphasis on having clinicians to help lead the development and improvement of digital health technology. Let’s face it, we are often the super users they are designing for.  Digital health solutions are often inspired by a person who encountered a problem as a patient or caregiver and unfortunately their organization may consist of mostly technology specialists and business experts with little clinical experience or frontline industry knowledge.  They are passionate about a problem and are determined to solve it.

It is important to highlight that clinicians are essential and an asset to a digital health organization given their skillset, healthcare experience, and deep understanding of both the health care industry and patient behavior.  Clinicians can direct product strategy for successful adoption and implementation into a practice, help identify new value propositions, and ultimately provide a testing environment in their practice.

At the ATA conference, I met with many company leaders.  I observed many opportunities for a clinician to connect with an entrepreneur or an organization whey they may end up inspired to consider transitioning into product development, implementation design, or becoming a subject matter expert for their team.  As a clinician, keep your mind open to these opportunities and don’t hesitate to have conversations about what role a clinician can play in these organizations.  You might be surprised to find out who these companies are currently using for medical direction and their knowledge of the industry they are solving for.

Lastly, some advice.

I encourage clinicians, if they are interested in helping digital health organizations, to propose a partnership and lead the discussion on the value of their expertise.  Entrepreneurs can come across curious with clinicians and gaining valuable insights that lead to their own product profitability.  Recognize you might be inadvertently saving them the time and cost of finding a SME or paying for a consultant to help them by providing your advice and acknowledge your insights and time has a value.

Advocate for yourself and recognize that giving your feedback to improve a product for patient/industry improvement is not something to be undervalued and that your time can and should be compensated for.  You may end up finding a new opportunity to play a different role in health care that may also impact the lives of more than you could as a traditional clinician and help shape the future of health care.   Undoubtably, connecting with a network of digital health clinicians is valuable when exploring these opportunities further, so I hope to see you at the next conference or reach out if you are interested in getting connected.

< + > Friendly Tech and Compassionate Humans Drive Innovative Interventions to Help the Chronically Lonely

The following is a guest article by Cindy Jordan, CEO at Pyx Health

The idea of loneliness as something that impacts health isn’t novel. For years, medical professionals have written and spoken about its impact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links it to serious health conditions. However, common misconceptions around loneliness persist: that it is “fixable” by being near others, that it is simply a “feeling” someone is experiencing, that it only impacts the elderly or that technology always makes loneliness worse.

Those positions don’t do justice to the devastation that loneliness causes. It’s a medical condition that leads to overutilization of the health care system and potential consequences for human life. It is also not limited to any single age group or demographic. Miscalculations about the impact and reach of loneliness have led to a lack of effective, evidence-based treatments.

The science behind loneliness includes numerous studies and hard data. However, health care organizations must wade through many misconceptions to get to the root of loneliness and understand how technology and human connection play a vital role in addressing it.

Social isolation and loneliness aren’t the same

We all know more about social isolation after the pandemic. The impact of isolation can be devastating on mental and physical health. But although isolation is a societal problem, it’s not synonymous with chronic loneliness. Simply having others in proximity to a lonely person cannot resolve the complex problem of loneliness.

People who experience loneliness are disengaged from their health care teams and often battle needs related to social determinants of health (SDOH). For example, they may live with food and shelter insecurity. With these challenges, they may feel they cannot relate to others and have difficulty getting care.

Even if people with chronic loneliness have resources and people around them, they are unable to receive care or forge and maintain strong relationships. They feel like they are the only ones who understand their plight. As a result, they don’t reach out for help, affecting their health in various ways and often delaying care. When someone who is lonely faces a health issue, they typically end up utilizing the costliest but most easily accessible way to receive care: the emergency department.

Seniors aren’t the only lonely demographic

Much of the loneliness discussion, funding and solutions focus on seniors. Although this population is at high risk of loneliness, we must understand it is not solely a senior problem. Instead, our data tells us that people ages 45-54, who are many times caregivers for their aging parents or parents themselves, have the highest rates of loneliness. Young adults (18-24) rank next on the list.

For this reason, it’s imperative to realize loneliness does not solely impact seniors. People suffering from loneliness must have access to a whole-person solution, regardless of their demographics.

Technology and human connection, together, are critical to addressing loneliness

The right type of technology can enable treatment programs to scale, support initial engagement and act as a screener for loneliness and SDOH, which are often linked. In many cases, technology works as a tool to break down the barriers that loneliness builds. However, it can’t fix the problem alone.

Tech and compassionate humans need to work interdependently to drive engagement and address the root causes of loneliness. With both elements in place, programs can better personalize their recommendations, positively impact outcomes and reduce costs.

Use technology to engage the least engaged

As noted, lonely people have high rates of disengagement. So what can technology do to change this?

Any technology used to treat loneliness needs to be friendly, empathetic and personal. First and foremost, the technology should build a trusted connection with the end user. This framework means users are treated like humans. A chatbot, for example, shouldn’t treat a user like a disease state or health condition. Instead, it needs to be interested in knowing how the user feels, just like a friend would. Based on the individual’s response, the chatbot can provide compassionate feedback, offer self-management tips or provide available resources in the community.

The biology of loneliness is also a factor in disengagement and worsening feelings. Lonely people tend to misread facial expressions, develop distorted realities and show signs of disinterest. These biological markers make it impossible for the acutely lonely to engage in relationships, their lives or with their own care. Those with behavioral health issues often experience stigma when receiving or discussing treatment. Talking to an affable chatbot is less intimidating because there’s no judgment.

Consider this example: Majority of people wouldn’t call a health line to tell them they are sad, lonely or need to talk. They would be less hesitant to say this to a chatbot, therefore opening an opportunity for engagement and intervention that might not otherwise have been available. This empathetically programmed technology can then guide them to online resources and act as a bridge to connect them to human support for personalized companionship, interventions and referrals. Technology also plays a crucial role in scaling these interventions in ways that human outreach simply cannot.

With access to evidence-based interventions rooted in technology, people can break cycles of disengagement and acquire the skills needed to re-engage. Individuals can talk to and get support from technology outside of traditional health care environments. The technology provides a central location for members to find information and connections to address their physical health, mental health, and social needs. It also builds a bridge that lonely individuals can use to make human connections with mental health professionals and friends who are crucial in their fight against loneliness.

Ensure collaboration between technology, health care, and social services

Strategies to address loneliness should marry technology, health care and social services. Thoughtful technology becomes a gateway for more interactions. Plus, plans get valuable data from both technology and humans, guiding solution personalization and innovation.

By addressing loneliness, health plans see many benefits, including positive health outcomes, significant savings to the health care system and improved satisfaction — the lauded “triple aim” in health care. Most importantly, people struggling with loneliness can make meaningful connections and reduce loneliness as an impediment to their health goals.

About Cindy Jordan

Cindy Jordan’s eclectic professional experience has aligned her work life with her deep care for the well-being of others. This culminated in the launch of Pyx Health in 2018 — the first loneliness solution solely focused on helping the most vulnerable.

< + > Ochsner integrates precision medicine capabilities within Epic EHR

Clinicians can now order tests and access discrete biomarkers within the patient's electronic health record, rather than rely on PDF-based genetic testing results.

< + > The continuing evolution of physician specialist IT

What do physician group EHRs need to include over the next decade? What are differences between GP and specialist systems that must be considered as the technology evolves? One expert offers advice.

< + > Featured Health IT Job: Director/Sr Director of Finance

We like to regularly feature a healthcare IT job that might be of interest to readers. Today, we’re featuring the Director/Sr Director of Finance position that was recently posted on Healthcare IT Central. This position was posted by Rochester RHIO and is in Rochester, New York.

Here’s a description of the position:

Job Title: Director/Sr. Director of Finance
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer
Job Type: Full-Time, Exempt
Location: Rochester, NY area
Hybrid Work Options Available. Some on-site work required.

As the trusted data steward for secure health information exchange, Rochester RHIO is one of the most respected, trusted and successful health information exchanges in the United States. Rochester RHIO serves 14 counties in the greater Finger Lakes Region and 1.5 million residents. At Rochester RHIO, we love connecting with talented people who get excited about making a difference in patient care with health data.

Rochester RHIO requires all employees to follow the company’s COVID-19 vaccination policy upon hire. Please include 2-3 job references with your resume.

Job Summary

We’re seeking an experienced accountant leader in the role of Director of Finance. The ideal candidate will have proven industry experience as an accountant in a senior role. As a strong communicator and skilled financial analyst, you will make it your mission to streamline our budgeting, payroll, and financial reporting processes.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring consistent corporate financial strategy through a range of avenues such as managing and allocating accounts, financial statements, and tax data. The candidate will also be the point of contact for banks, auditors, and tax authorities.

Duties/Responsibilities

Oversees company financials, including, budget, budget forecasting and cash flow management, and more.
Provides strategic financial support to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Provides comprehensive financial updates to the Senior Leadership Team and Board of Directors by evaluating, analyzing, and reporting appropriate data points.
Co-develops goals with the Senior Leadership Team to determine the financial strategic goals to be reported on for the organization.
Provides strategic financial support to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Ensures appropriate budget communications with executive leaders and directors.
Guides financial decisions by applying company policies and procedures to current economic landscape.
Assists with day-to-day financial planning and company accounts.
Develops, implements, and maintains financials controls and guidelines.
Achieves budgeting goals with proper scheduling, analysis, and corrective action plans.
Maximize process efficiencies through innovative process development.
Oversees and works in collaboration with the Financial Controller.
Responsibility for the managing of accounts, ledgers, and reporting systems ensuring compliance with appropriate standards and regulatory requirements as well as the requirements of private contributions, loans, and government contracts.
Maintains internal control safeguards for the receipt of revenue, costs and both team and organizational budgets and actual expenditures.
Establish financial and operating benchmarks, budgets, program monitoring, and reporting standards on a bi-weekly, monthly, and annual basis.
Implement consistent accounting policies, practices, and procedures across all programs, upholding federal, state, and local legal standards by remaining knowledgeable about existing, new, and future legislation.
Develop and enforce internal controls to maximize protection of company assets, policies, procedures, and workflow.
Ensure compliance in all tasks.
Acts as a backup on key human resource tasks, including payroll.

Required Skills and Abilities

Bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, or related field required; Master’s degree strongly preferred.
5+ years of experience as a senior-level accounting or finance manager with significant leadership experience preferred.
Strong working knowledge of detailed financial data analysis.
Proven experience with streamlining accounting processes.
CPA Strongly Preferred.
Understanding of US GAAP.
Working knowledge of finance law and regulatory standards.
Proficiency with current financial software.

More About the Company

Health information exchange services allow a medical care team to share records across institutions and practices, making patient information available wherever and whenever needed to provide the best care. Patients benefit from fewer repeated tests, easier second opinions, and a reduced risk of mistakes caused by poor handwriting or incomplete records, and more informed care during office visits and emergencies. Rochester RHIO is a Qualified Entity of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), and was founded in 2006. You can learn more at https://ift.tt/o4YiPKT.

Rochester RHIO is an equal opportunity employer, and we celebrate diversity at our organization.

Looks like a great opportunity for those with experience with finances at an HIE. If this looks like a position that would interest you, check out the full details for the job and how to apply.

As always, you can search our Health IT job board for a variety of jobs from leading companies in the industry. You can also register for free and post your resume where recruiters search for job candidates regularly.

< + > Two Years Of Covid Caused The Steepest Drop In U.S. Life Expectancy In Nearly 100 Years, CDC Data Reveals

Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped for the second consecutive year as Covid-19 claimed nearly 500,000 lives in 2021.

< + > Covid Has Reached Every Corner Of The World—But These Three Places Claim To Be Virus-Free

Omicron managed to break through the defenses of the last remaining Covid-free states, leaving just one country and a handful of territories still claiming to be Covid-free, though experts doubt some have managed to evade the virus for more than two years.

< + > Australian Institute of Health and Welfare gets $2M for COVID-19 linked data project

The linked data can be used to look at the effects of COVID-19 on health outcomes and health service usage.

< + > Healthcare Interoperability with Anil Jain, MD from Innovaccer

It’s one thing to talk about interoperability in healthcare and it’s another to talk about where sharing of health data is really happening.  That’s the discussion I had with Anil Jain, MD, Chief Innovation Officer at Innovaccer, when I asked him where we’re at when it comes to healthcare interoperability.  In this video interview, Dr. Jain shares where healthcare organizations are really asking him to help with interoperability.  He shares some of the practical areas that interoperability is really happening today.

I also ask him what’s holding interoperability back and what he’d like to see from the vendors who hold health data.  I’ve always been fascinated by startups that want to facilitate health data exchange and the challenges they face in getting health IT vendors to share that data.

When it comes to healthcare interoperability standards, I was interested to hear what Dr. Jain thought about the standards we have today and whether we have enough standards or if our current standards are going to fall short.  You may remember when I asked Dr. Don Rucker a similar question about health data standards.  It seems like the standards we have today are the ones we’ll be using for at least the next decade.  Although, those standards will continue to mature and evolve.

Finally, I ask Dr. Jain to share what he sees happening with healthcare interoperability in the next 5 years.  He shares a really interesting vision of how healthcare providers and vendors are going to become dependent on interoperability such that it’s going to need a more robust infrastructure supporting it since the consequences of it failing will be so much worse.

Check out our interview with Dr. Jain from Innovaccer below to hear his perspectives on healthcare interoperability.

Learn more about Innovaccer: https://www.innovaccer.com/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

< + > How The WTA Is Encouraging Women To Advocate For Preventive Care

On Thursday, August 25th, the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and Hologic, united some of the world's most renowned female athletes and healthcare experts to discuss preventive care for women.

< + > Game-Changing Voice Banking Technology Ensures ALS Patients Maintain Their Individuality

I Will Always Be Me, an award-winning technology collaboration to reduce by orders of magnitude the amount of time it takes an ALS patient to bank their voice is a triumph of user-led design and what can be achieved when major companies work together towards a common goal.

< + > Raffles Medical Group Sees China On The Mend From Covid As Its Expansion Continues

Raffles Medical Group from Singapore plans to increase the number of cities it serves in China from the current eight to 20 in the next three to five years.

< + > Smartphone screening doubled Afib detection

The 2-stage study compared app-based smartphone with conventional screening and found digital exams superior at detecting atrial fibrillation.

< + > Newest Digital Health Programs Address Digestive Disease Management

The following is a guest article by Bill Snyder is CEO of Vivante Health.

More than 70 million Americans suffer from a wide gamut of digestive diseases, but until recently few digital health solutions were available to help them manage their conditions. There are smartphone apps for tracking everything from exercise, sleep and calorie consumption to blood pressure, COVID-19 symptoms and even diabetes management, but gut health has largely been left in the digital dust – in part because there is no one-size-fits-all solution for a category spanning so many different disorders.

Today that’s changing as health tech companies begin to tackle the toll that chronic digestive disease takes on patients, productivity and healthcare costs.

Reducing Medical Spend & GI Symptoms

On the patient side, the havoc wreaked by GI disease includes debilitating effects like nausea, constipation and diarrhea as well as a staggering 8.3 million emergency room visits annually for digestive complaints. (Abdominal pain is the #1 cause of acute ER admissions.)

On the medical spend and productivity side, the toll includes $136 billion in annual medical claims – exceeding the total healthcare bill for trauma, mental health and even heart disease – along with a per-person cost of up to $72,000 in yearly prescription drugs and up to 35 days of absenteeism per year. GI issues are also among the top five healthcare expenses for many companies.

Early efforts to utilize digital health programs to address these challenges indicate that a comprehensive approach can help chip away at both the human and the financial toll by significantly reducing flare-ups and associated medical claims.

One Organization’s Experience

One large nonprofit employer that implemented Vivante Health’s GIThrive compared claims data for 470 participating employees against 1,880 non-participants for the year before and the year after program adoption. Users were matched with non-users based on gender, age category, presence of any GI disease, and healthcare cost.

After removing outliers with a total medical spend above $50,000 from both groups, the analysis revealed that the employer had achieved an average savings of more than $840 annually per member – a 15% reduction in digestive-related healthcare expenses. Pharmacy spend had actually increased because of medication adherence encouraged by the program’s health coaches and dietitians, but that was more than offset by a substantial drop in emergency room visits and inpatient admissions stemming from participants’ better management of their digestive symptoms.

Equally significant, 70% of employees enrolled in the program reported major improvements in their overall digestive health and well-being. As one participant said, “My gut is healing, and the support from my dietitian makes all the difference.”

The Power of Personalization

Like other digital health applications, digital digestive disease programs benefit from the ability to tailor nutrition and behavior modification recommendations to each user’s symptoms, health profile and even their food likes and dislikes. These advantages are a direct result of automated analysis of user questionnaires and symptom tracking as well as users’ ability to remotely access registered dietitians and health coaches for live chats or phone meetings for one-on-one support.

Some platforms offer additional personalization capabilities such as at-home microbiome analysis of each user’s gut chemistry and hydrogen breath testing that helps identify food triggers based on intestinal absorption.

These features help generate individualized action plans that combine with other app-based tools such as symptom tracking, food diaries, recipe libraries and educational materials to help users monitor and manage their conditions, improve medication compliance, and ultimately reduce digestive-related episodes without lab visits or in-person appointments.

Help for Undiagnosed Users  

Another benefit of leveraging digital health capabilities to improve digestive health and wellness is the ability to make a difference in the lives of consumers suffering from GI symptoms who have never received a specific diagnosis. Some don’t realize their symptoms may be a sign of a serious condition or are embarrassed to discuss the issue with their doctors. Others have tried but failed to identify the cause of their digestive distress because of the time, expense and challenges involved in evaluating disorders that frequently have non-specific and/or overlapping symptoms, or because of the difficulty of getting an appointment with a gastroenterologist.

In fact, one survey of 2,000+ adults found that more than half of Americans experiencing GI symptoms at least several times a month have never mentioned the problem to their primary care doctor; only 24% of those who have consulted with a healthcare professional have received a diagnosis; and 11% reported visiting their primary care doctor two or more times before receiving a diagnosis or being referred to a specialist.

By requiring users to log food and symptoms daily, monitoring trends over time, and providing access to a care team to provide diet and lifestyle recommendations as well as encouragement, digital health programs can frequently help undiagnosed participants alleviate the frequency and/or severity of their GI troubles and potentially guide them to seek medical help.

Employee Benefit for Companies

While no comprehensive digital digestive health programs are currently available for consumers, companies are beginning to adopt corporate-focused solutions as part of a broader initiative to provide digital health benefits as a means of attracting talent, improving retention, and building a strong corporate culture.

One recent survey of more than 16,000 workers and 1,300 employers in 13 markets around the world found that 68% of U.S. employers plan to invest in more digital health solutions over the next five years. Another report found that the average U.S. employer already offers 14 discreet digital health solutions – nine from a health plan and five from third-party vendors.

Given the high cost of digestive disease in terms of medical spend, absenteeism and lost productivity even when users report for work, digital digestive health solutions promise to deliver significant value to both employers and employees by enabling users to take control of their GI symptoms. It’s yet another advance in the digital health movement that is fundamentally transforming healthcare delivery by increasing consumer access to solutions that can help them live better, healthier lives.

About Bill Snyder

Bill Snyder is CEO of Vivante Health, a digital healthcare company that is reinventing the way chronic conditions are managed. Vivante’s all-in-one gut health program, GIThrive, empowers people to improve digestive health through easy-to-use technology, advanced science and on-demand human support while also lowering their cost of care.

< + > U.S. Cancer Moonshot Needs Stronger Int’l Effort To Make Substantial Progress – Kevin Rudd

"International trials have been key to accelerating the breakthroughs that we've seen so far," Rudd told the Forbes China Healthcare Summit

< + > Nurse EHR satisfaction slides during pandemic

The new Arch Collaborative Nursing Guidebook 2022 contains data on best practices for engaging nurses on EHR mastery.

< + > Putting patients' needs at the heart of a care model

This HIMSS22 Asia-Pacific conference speaker will share how Mayo Clinic is helping providers deliver patient care through its unique model of care.

< + > U.S. Open Tennis Stars Help Raise $1.2 Million For Ukraine Crisis

The lineup for the “Tennis Plays for Peace” event included Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, John McEnroe, Dayana Yastremska, and Sergiy Stakhovsky.

< + > From Patient To Policy Insider: Greg Simon’s Cancer Rx Includes A Better White House Rallying Call

The “Cancer Moonshot” should be renamed “Human Moonshot” as part of a true global effort, Simon tells Forbes China Healthcare Forum

< + > Why COP27 Must Accelerate Access To Clean Cookstoves For A Just Energy Transition

According to the World Health Organization, around 2.4 billion people worldwide, or one-third of the global population do not have access to clean cookstoves.

< + > Bonus Features – August 28, 2022 – Epic data shows only 5% of OD patients get tested for fentanyl, 40% of clinicians plan to add AI to their day-to-day work, and more

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

News and Studies 

A report from Epic Research and the University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) found that just 5% of overdose patients are tested for fentanyl in the ED, compared to an opiate testing rate of roughly 50%. The positivity rate for fentanyl tests exceeds 40%, more than three times the positivity rate for opiate testing. The findings suggest that standards for testing panels may need to be amended to include synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which accounts for more than 80% of opioid-related overdose deaths.

The latest survey from Definitive Healthcare found that about 40% of healthcare professionals plan to incorporate AI and machine learning into their daily operations in the next two years, while 73% of organizations already using AI plan to expand their use. Those surveyed said improved diagnostic accuracy is where AI/ML will have the greatest impact on patients.

More than 60% of the 1,700 doctors, nurses, and therapists surveyed by telehealth infrastructure firm SteadyMD are interested in full-time telehealth work. Another 85% of clinicians said they were open to practicing on weekends using telehealth, especially therapists, and 64% were interested in working night shifts.

ONC released a framework to improve integration of health IT tools used to treat drug overdose patients. The aptly named Integration Framework covers how to integrate state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) with clinical systems such as EHRs, HIEs, and pharmacy systems in hospital, primary care, and outpatient settings. Eight health systems across five states assisted ONC and CDC in developing the framework.

Partnerships

• Chronic disease management platform Engooden is partnering with Tribe Health, a care management organization.
• VR simulation firm simulation FundamentalVR is collaborating with Teleflex, which develops medical equipment for specialty care, to create a VR training platform for Teleflex products.
• Toronto-based PRM platform CloudDX is integrating with Teladoc Health, making Teladoc’s Solo virtual care platform available in the CLoudDX patient app.
• RPM and analytics vendor physIQ is partnering with InCarda Therapeutics and Syneos Health on a Phase III clinical trial that will measure the effectiveness of InCarda’s inhaled atrial fibrillation medication using physIQ’s wearable biosensor.
• Analytics and value-based payments platform vendor Clarify Health expanded its collaboration with Datavant, a healthcare data repository.

Sales

• Medicaid insurance plan CalOptima Health chose ZeOmega for care management and member engagement.
• BronxCare Health System selected Force Therapeutics for digital care management for orthopedics patients.
• Cone Health insurance subsidiary HealthTeam Advantage chose Bamboo Health to provide real-time ADT notifications for its PPO and HMO Medicare Advantage plans.
• Enterprise pharmacy service provider CPS Solutions will deploy Glytec insulin management software across its network of more than 800 healthcare facilities.
• ScionHealth selected Cadence to to implement remote care management in the health system’s 18 community hospital campuses.

Products

• First Databank launched FDB Navigo, which provides clinical guidance to retail pharmacists at the point of care.
• Operations outsourcing firm Conduit Health Partners launched a 24/7 RPM service fully staffed and supported by nurses.

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo.

< + > Physicians Would Need Almost 27 Hours A Day To Provide Optimal Patient Care, Per New Study

There are literally not enough hours in the day to provide optimal care.

< + > Weekly Roundup – August 27, 2022

Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.

Rusty Yeager on EHR Standardization and Rehabilitation Hospitals. In the latest CIO Podcast, Yeager, the Senior VP and CIO at Encompass Health, talked to John Lynn about the benefits of deploying a standardized EHR across an organization. The conversation also covered some of the unique IT needs of a rehabilitation hospital. Read more…

What It Takes to Build Out Digital Fax. Like it or not, fax is still part of today’s solution to healthcare’s interoperability problem. John talked to Kno2 co-founder Theresa Bell and John Mannion of Consensus Cloud Solutions about the benefits of integrating fax into healthcare communication tools. Read more…

Healthcare Web Site Accessibility and Disabilities. In the first of a three-part series, Andy Oram explained why it’s critical for healthcare web sites to take accessibility seriously from a legal and regulatory perspective – and why there are so many factors to consider when designing web sites with patients with disabilities in mind. Read more…

Enabling Web Site Accessibility via Automation. In the second part of the series, Andy explored how automation can identify and address issues of web site accessibility. These tools can detect problems such as missing or incorrect image alt text, hard-to-read fonts, or animations that could trigger epileptic symptoms. Read more…

The Importance of Simplicity in Healthcare Accessibility. In the third installment of the series, Andy discussed why accessibility is more than easy-to-use web sites. From virtual visits that don’t require a proprietary app to educational resources written that are in clear language, vendors and providers alike have much to consider. Read more…

How DirectTrust Is Improving Its Directory. Writing from The Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference, a Collaboration with the DirectTrust Summit, John shared updates on ongoing work DirectTrust is doing to improve the directory of Direct addresses. In a nutshell, real-time updates enabled by FHIR are the future. Read more…

Education and Communication Can Catalyze HIE Adoption. In another dispatch from the Civitas Networks / DirectTrust event, John learned that many HIE projects suffer from a marketing problem. Teams are so in the weeds with the data and technology they’re developing that they forget to tell a compelling story about the work they do. Read more…

Federal or State Health Data Collection? Conversations about health data sharing can be tricky given that private and public entities, as well as state and federal agencies, are all involved in data collection. John provided some highlights of a fascinating talk on federalism vs. states’ rights at the Civitas Networks / DirectTrust event. Read more…

Exploring the Future of Primary Care. In the latest Healthcare IT Podcast, Colin and John unpack the many challenges facing primary care at the moment, especially the potential impact of technology vendors and retail clinics entering the market. Read more…

Funding and M&A Activity:

• Virtual care provider Biofourmis added Intel Capital to its Series D funding round, which was initially announced in April. The extension brings the total funding raised in the round to $320 million.
• Wisconsin-based provided ThedaCare made a $3 million investment in Qventus, which provides care operations automation software. The investment was part of a $50 million growth capital round.
• SaaS-based EHR, HIE, and telehealth vendor Netsmart acquired CORE Analytics, the skilled nursing facility (SNF) claims data analytics offering previously owned by Zimmet Healthcare.
• Medical conversation AI vendor Abridge received $12.5 million in Series A funding, bringing the company’s total to $27 million.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our latest Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundups.

< + > Dogs Also Cry Out Of Happiness Because Of Oxytocin Or The “Love Hormone”

In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, lead author Takefumi Kikusui of Azabu University in Japan and colleagues demonstrated how the love hormone could make dogs teary-eyed whenever they feel happy or get excited.

< + > The Healthcare Industry Is Crumbling Due To Staffing Shortages

Many organizations are unable to provide proper care to their communities.

< + > Student loan forgiveness for healthcare IT workers

Monthly payments to be cut in half, and those eligible for public service loan forgiveness must complete a waiver by October 31 to get credit for past payments.

< + > The Cloud, Eye Exams, and Bad Ad Placement – Fun Friday

Happy Friday!  Congrats on making it to the end of the week.  You know what that means.  It’s time for another edition of Fun Friday where we delight and entertain you (or at least try) to send you off into the weekend with a smile on your face.

First up is a look at some cloud humor.

#facts pic.twitter.com/utouBBAD12

— Aaron Miri (@AaronMiri) August 24, 2022

Yes, it’s true that it’s just someone else’s computer. However, someone else’s computer is often much better, more secure, faster, and pre-built with the right software by people who often know more about configuring it at scale and it can do so much more than your in house server. Although, fundamentally the cloud isn’t some mythical object. It really is just another computer.

Poor Harold. How many eye exams have you crammed for??#Optometry #Cartoon #EyeExam #OpticRelief pic.twitter.com/2TcwDqeHyl

— Optometry Times (@OptometryTimes) August 16, 2022

I’d say health literacy is a problem. Reminds me of the great movie, Pearl Harbor, where he has reading issues and memorizes the eye chart to try and pass the eye exam. The nurse notices it and asks him to do it again, but backwards. All of this highlights the complexity of healthcare and health literacy. Something we haven’t done a great job addressing, but hopefully technology can help us address it.

United Healthcare is playing ads on videos where I make fun of United Healthcare pic.twitter.com/UMSK44Lk0Q

— Dr. Glaucomflecken (@DGlaucomflecken) August 22, 2022

Ok. This is really a HITMC healthcare marketing joke, but the irony is too funny. This is what happens with what they call programmatic advertising. You can make exceptions to it to avoid these issues, but it’s hard to do at the scale I’m sure United Healthcare is doing. It’s kind of nice to have United Healthcare supporting Dr. Glaucomflecken.

Have a great weekend!

< + > Roundup: Japan to pilot e-prescriptions and more briefs

Also, a district in Seoul, South Korea has rolled out AI companion robots for adults living alone.

< + > Roundup: NSW Ambulance gets new cardiac care tech and more briefs

Also, Asthma New Zealand has deployed a new CRM system to enhance health data collection from communities.

< + > ScionHealth to launch RPM for chronic care at 79 hospitals

S ScionHealth is launching data-driven remote care management to expand clinical support as needed for chronic care at home.

< + > OptimizeRx AI pilot identifies non-adherence risks

After identifying risks that patients may not take medications, providers received information on financial resources information to share with them.

< + > Biofourmis Raises Additional Funding from Intel Capital in Series D Extension and Names Top Healthcare Leaders to its Board

Additional funding brings Series D round to $320M total

Trevor Fetter, MBA, senior lecturer on the faculty of Harvard Business School and former longtime Tenet Healthcare chairman and CEO, named to Board

Sachin H. Jain, physician executive with government, pharmaceutical, payer and provider experience, joins Board

Biofourmis, a Boston-based global leader in virtual care and digital medicine, today announced that Intel Capital, the strategic investment arm of chipmaker Intel Corporation, has joined its Series D financing in an extension that brings the total funding raised in the round to $320M. The initial Series D funding round was announced in April and was led by global growth equity firm General Atlantic with participation by CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Trevor Fetter and existing investors.

Biofourmis announced earlier that it is using the funds from the Series D round to scale up its virtual care offerings that drive high-quality care-at-home across the continuum as well as digital medicine initiatives, including building digital companion therapeutics to augment existing and upcoming novel therapies.

“Biofourmis is laser-focused on delivering real-time patient insight to clinicians to improve the home-based care experience,” said Mark Rostick, Vice President and Senior Managing Director at Intel Capital. “Through edge computing and edge-to-cloud processing capabilities, Biofourmis is redefining the patient and provider journey leveraging advanced technology.”

Biofourmis continues to buck health tech funding trends with this Series D extension, which comes during a downturn in digital health investment. According to a recent Rock Health report, the first half of 2022 saw 329 digital health funding deals totaling $10.3 billion—down from $14.7 billion raised in the first half of 2021 across 372 deals.

“To receive this additional funding from the venture capital arm of a global technology giant during an unpredictable time in digital health investment is further validation of Biofourmis’ market strength and potential and validates that we are distinguishing ourselves in the market,” said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, founder and CEO at Biofourmis. “We are on a strong trajectory for continued strategic growth in the coming years in terms of customers, partners and solution development.”

Biofourmis today also announced the appointment of two esteemed healthcare leaders to its Board: Trevor Fetter, MBA, senior lecturer on the faculty at Harvard Business School and former longtime Tenet Healthcare Chairman and CEO; and Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA, president and CEO at SCAN Group and SCAN Health Plan.

Fetter led one of nation’s largest for-profit health systems

Helping Biofourmis scale its company and solutions will be Fetter, who is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Fetter was formerly chairman and CEO of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, one of the largest health systems in the U.S., which he helped grow to $20 billion in revenues and steadily increased margins.

Fetter also launched adjacent businesses—Conifer Health Solutions and United Surgical Partners International—which are now multi-billion-dollar enterprises and leaders in their respective fields. Fetter retired as chairman and CEO of Tenet in late 2017. He is also an active corporate director and investor, including participation in Biofourmis’ initial Series D round.

“What attracted me to Biofourmis was not only its flexible, scalable and powerful turn-key technology, but also its recent strategic diversification in offering remote, specialized care teams to healthcare organizations to fill clinical staffing gaps with around-the-clock management and care,” said Fetter, referring to the launch of the Biofourmis Care@Home offering for chronic disease management. The complex chronic disease service currently offers five virtual care programs: heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, lipid management and atrial fibrillation. The specialty care programs are delivered remotely by Biofourmis’ trained health navigators, who are frontline care coordinators, as well as a multidisciplinary team of licensed clinicians, including physicians, nurses and advanced practice providers.

Dr. Jain contributes healthcare delivery reform insight

Dr. Jain, a board-certified internal medicine physician, has 20 years of experience in clinical medicine, health policy, managed care and healthcare delivery leadership. He was Special Assistant to the National Coordinator in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and was part of the founding team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). He was the global Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Merck and served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at CareMore Health and Aspire Health, both divisions of Anthem. At CareMore, Dr. Jain launched hospital-at-home and home-based primary care programs and implemented novel clinical interventions to address loneliness and social isolation.

Today, Dr. Jain is president and CEO at SCAN Group and Health Plan, a diversified healthcare services organization that serves more than 300,000 older adults with $4 billion in revenues. Under his leadership, SCAN has grown its membership and footprint and has launched four new care delivery divisions that focus on home and community-based care: WelcomeHealth, HomeBase Medical, Healthcare in Action, and MyPlace Health. He also serves on the boards of Cardiovascular Systems Inc. and Make-A-Wish America.

Dr. Jain’s experience in public and commercial health insurance will be invaluable to Biofourmis as more payers and “payviders” (health systems that also sell and administer their own health plans) ramp up their implementation of virtual care programs across acute, post-acute and chronic condition management given the significant potential cost, clinical outcome and patient experience benefits.

“The convergence of greater acceptance of virtual care models, as well as the broader use of value-based payments, creates a moment where many of the digital health and care delivery ideas that have long been gaining momentum are now coming to full speed,” Dr. Jain said. “Biofourmis is at the forefront of helping bring those concepts to life, and I look forward to helping define the future of digital health and to support a company that is leading this transformation.”

About Biofourmis

Biofourmis, based in Boston, is a global leader in providing advanced technology and clinical support for Care@Home and digital therapies. We are driven by a passion to personalize care and predict clinical worsening before it happens. Our clinically validated platform, powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, enables better healthcare, maximizes the effectiveness of high-value drugs, and lowers costs across the entire care continuum. For more information, visit www.biofourmis.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

< + > South Korea to streamline rules on medical AI, digital technology devices

It will cut down the period of evaluation and licensing of such medical devices to around three months.

< + > UK: GE Healthcare and AWS announce first European cloud deployment

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will offer intelligent productivity tools to radiologists.

< + > Samsung Medical Center achieves EMRAM Stage 6

The hospital has a user adoption rate of 100% for clinical documentation and CPOE use.

< + > Amazon Care To End Just Months After Touting Big Virtual And In-Person Health Services Expansion

Amazon Care is shutting down later this year just months after the online retailer said it was expanding in-person healthcare services to more than 20 new cities in 2022.

< + > InnovationRx: R-Zero’s Ultraviolet Disinfection; Plus, A Flu-Covid ‘Twindemic’?

InnovationRx is your weekly digest of healthcare news. Sign up!

< + > A Specialist In Viral Infections Explains Why We Need Updated Covid-19 Vaccines

Dr. Matt Binnicker, an expert in clinical virology and the diagnosis of infectious diseases, discusses how mutations allows the Covid-19 virus to slip past our immune system and why updated variant-specific vaccines are needed, similar to the flu.

< + > Retirement RVers: Here’s What You Need To Know About Medicare Coverage

Medicare and motorhomes can be a tricky combination.

< + > The Healthcare System Is Facing Higher Acuity And More Sick Patients

This is one result of deferred care during the Covid-19 pandemic.

< + > Just One Hour Of Less Sleep Could Make People Decide Against Helping Others

Published in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers found that a person’s decision to withdraw help is associated with reduced activity in a set of brain regions known as the social cognition network.

< + > England’s E.R. Crisis May Be Causing Hundreds Of Deaths A Week: Analysis

Fresh data analysis has shone a light on the likely consequences of England’s emergency care crisis.

< + > Healthcare IT leaders on cloud adoption challenges

A new survey found healthcare is still struggling with cloud transformation, with security cited as the top barrier and compliance as a leading driver.

< + > Health Insurance Lobby Rolls Out Mental Health Goals As ‘Whole Person Care’ Takes Hold

AHIP, the lobby for the health insurance industry, committed to “further improve access to mental health care and substance use disorder treatment for every American.”

< + > Disabilities and Accessibility in Health IT: The Need Is Constant – Part 1

Of all industries, health care above all should provide accessible web sites to support people with disabilities or special needs. Our field deals disproportionately with the elderly and with people who suffer a range of disabilities, physical and mental. Furthermore, the field is getting more and more digital with wellness sites, telehealth, and fitness devices—so making them accessible is crucial to making health care accessible.

Caroline Jerome, a designer who is a partner and chief creative officer at TBGA, pointed out to me that digital technologies have expanded the options available to disabled people. Accommodations, televisits, haptic feedback, etc., are great advances. But services designed without disabled people in mind can be discriminatory.

Many countries require web sites to meet accessibility guidelines; in the United States, both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and HIPAA include such requirements. Lawsuits to enforce these regulations have hit many companies. As Dylan Barrell, CTO of Deque Systems, writes in his Agile Accessibility Handbook (available for free by filling out a form): “The number of disability-related lawsuits increased by 181% in 2019 alone, and the cost of responding to a lawsuit (independent of the settlement costs) is $350,000.” (page 32 of the PDF)

But conforming to the innumerable recommendations is exhausting, and few site designers even know them all. I heard a story from Rafael Glantz, Partnership Success Manager at accessiBe, which offers tools for making web sites more accessible. When he spoke at an optometrists’ conference, he couldn’t interest the doctors in making their web sites more accessible to vision-impaired visitors. I guess it was an achievement at least to be invited to their conference.

During my interview with UserWay we ran a test on Healthcare Scene, the site where this article appears. Healthcare Scene uses a WordPress template. The test quickly turned up a lot of accessibility problems: For instance, some text would be hard for many people to read because its color was too close to the background color.

This series explores what constitutes accessibility online, and what experts are doing to move the health care field forward. We’ll hear more from accessiBe, as well as UserWay, UniDoc, and Deque Systems, creators of the open source Axe-core. The series will also interview an UI/UX design expert and some organizations that are succeeding in the continuous process of making their sites accessible.

Accessibility isn’t simple

A huge number of conditions get in the way of people traversing online interfaces. A few such conditions include vision problems, hearing problems (applicable to videos and some alerts), attention problems such as ADHD, and mobility problems that make it hard to use a keyboard or mouse.

Most web sites today are not hand-coded, but use templates from DIY tools such as WordPress and Squarespace. Many of the early DIY tools omitted the clues that disabled visitors depend on—for instance using raw markup to make a phrase look like a heading when they should use an HTML tag for headings. The tools are doing better, though.

Brandon Cooper and Jennifer Dunphy Bowers, who lead the accessibility efforts at Get Real Health, point out that a disability might be temporary, caused perhaps by an accident or a surgical operation that requires extended recovery.

The topic of accessibility gets even broader. We shouldn’t forget people who are trying to understand displays in a language they don’t know well, or people who didn’t get the education to help them parse complex sentences. I’ll touch on these issues later in the series.

Jerome mentioned the experiences of their CTO, who is in a wheelchair and requires a ventilator. He navigates websites by traversing each link and tab. Each extra click on a mouse requires a great expenditure of energy. To him, accessibility includes minimizing the number of pages he has to click through and the number of dialogs he has to confirm.

The series focuses on web sites because they are ubiquitous, they benefit from comprehensive Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the World Wide Web Consortium, and most of the experts I talked to were working on them. Some principles also apply to devices and other interfaces.

For instance, UniDoc designed a modular virtual clinic that offers a private physical space for telehealth visits that offer full diagnostic capabilities. This H3 Cube environment, which I covered in a recent article. The Cube was designed specifically to meet ADA Standards for Accessible Design and international equivalents. The Cube is wheelchair-accessible and accessible to blind people as well as those who have trouble using computers. A trained technician or nurse is also always present and can enter the Cube to help the patient, if requested to do so.

The next article in the series looks at the relationship between automated and manual reviews of accessibility, and discusses some automated tools.

< + > Health Data Federalism vs States Data

This week I’m attending the The Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference, a Collaboration with the DirectTrust Summit, which I previously described as The Woodstock of Healthcare Interoperability.  I’m happy to say that it’s lived up to billing with an incredible group of people who understand the challenges of health data exchange.

One of the most interesting sessions at the conference was a discussion with Craig Konnoth, Professor at University of Virginia School of Law and Muhammad Chebli, a self proclaimed Interoperability Geek and VP, Solutions at NextGen.  Their discussion was prompted by this paper that was published on “Health Data Federalism.”  While I haven’t had a chance to read the 80 page paper yet, the concept of federalism versus states rights applied to health data is a fascinating one that I had never heard discussed before.  Plus, it was interesting to see the mix of political and legal frameworks Konnoth references in the discussion.

Obviously, you should go read the paper to get the more detailed picture.  Also, Chebli did this great thread summarizing some of the key points.  Nothing like reading a Twitter thread cliff notes version of a paper.  Below, you can also read some of the key insights I gleaned from the in-person discussion.

Fascinating discussion about federal vs states and health data with @NextGen at #Together4Health2022 pic.twitter.com/eDdXqmoR96

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

Public and private entities can be both good and bad. #Together4Health2022 #hitsm @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

This was said in the larger context that the paper wasn’t advocating for public or private approaches to health data. However, he’s right to point out and highlight that there are good and bad things that come from public entities that have and control your health data and the same for private entities that control health data. I’d just suggest that it’s key for us to understand the differences.

As a general rule, most health it funding has shifted from public entities to private companies. @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

Given the above perspective, it was interesting to hear his observation that most health IT funding has shifted from funding public entities to funding private entities. This is an important observation to consider as we look at health data sharing going forward.

It’s important to engage private equities so they have inclusion of the public values. #Together4Health2022 @muhammadc @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

This was an interesting idea on how to approach the move noted above towards private entities. While private and public both have pros and cons, the idea of encouraging public values on these private entities is worthy of consideration. Konnoth didn’t elaborate in the discussion about how this could happen. My guess is that it could be done through a mix of funding requirements and selection criteria. Plus, in healthcare there are also regulatory options.

Supporting funding for state data collection is important. #Together4Health2022 @muhammadc @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

Konnoth did suggest that when it comes to health data, he thought there was value in continuing to fund state collection of health data. That when it comes to health data it shouldn’t all be federal and there’s value to a distributed state based collection of health data as well.

There are a number of ways to get states involved in health data exchange. It seems odd that so much of healthcare is by state, but health data exchange would be privatized. @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

This observation is a good one when you think about healthcare, much of it is state by state. So, it’s intriguing that health data wouldn’t follow a similar pattern. We could certainly argue whether that’s good or bad.

What do you think about data federalism vs states data? Fascinating discussion from @CKonnoth and @muhammadc #Together4Health2022 @NextGen

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 22, 2022

As you can see, this was a fascinating discussion at the conference full of a lot of nuance. I’d love to hear your perspectives on health data federalism versus state data.  Thanks to Konnoth for bringing his research to the event and NextGen for facilitating a great discussion. What are your thoughts on the right approach to health data? Are there ways we should change course? Let us know in the comments or on social media.

< + > The Doctor Is In... Your App: Online Providers Of Gender-Affirming Care

Plume, a healthcare company that pioneered telehealth services specifically aimed at the transgender population, announced their Series B funding round of $24 million.

< + > Envision And Aira To Bring On-Demand Sighted Guidance For The Blind To Smart Glasses

Envision, a producer of smart glasses to help blind people navigate their environment and Aira, a provider of remote visual interpreting services, are teaming up to create an entirely novel assistive technology offering for blind people.

< + > Google Ventures Has Created A Remarkable Presence In Healthcare

Technology giants are investing billions in healthcare.

< + > Santa Cruz Health Information Organization to integrate SDOH data

By safely sharing more accurate data, Santa Cruz providers can help address health equity, improve patient care and save time.

< + > Regular Exercise Slashes Risk Of Covid, Study Suggests

Racking up 150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, each week offers the best protection against Covid-19, new research suggests.

< + > Integrating Digital Fax Into Your Health IT Solution

While many would like to eschew fax in healthcare, the reality is that faxes are still an extremely important part of data sharing that happens in healthcare.  At least in the current environment, if you want to solve the healthcare interoperability problem, you’re going to have to include some faxing.

This was the reality that Therasa Bell, Cofounder, President & CTO at Kno2, found as her team and her worked to make communication of health data seamless for their end users.   Rather than building out the fax infrastructure themselves, Kno2 decided to integrate eFax Corporate by Consensus Cloud Solutions directly into the Kno2 product.

I was able to sit down with Bell from Kno2 and John Mannion, VP of Partnerships and Alliances at Consensus Cloud Solutions, to learn more about this decision and about the fax integration.  Along with diving into the partnership, Mannion shared more about why health IT companies are choosing to integrate faxing into their products and what it really takes to build a robust digital fax infrastructure (Spoiler Alert: It’s much harder than you’d think).

Bell and Mannion also shared the benefits to end users and patients of having this integration seamlessly available to them and the impact on patients when that data isn’t being shared properly.  Needless to say, it creates a bad experience for patients and doctors.  Finally, Mannion shared a few more details on how Consensus can help partners beyond fax including their jSign eSignature product and some of the exciting new efforts their working on.

To learn more about Kno2’s partnership with Consensus Cloud Solutions and integrating digital fax into a health IT product, check out the interview below.

Learn more about Consensus Cloud Partnerships: https://www.consensus.com/partners/

Learn more about Kno2: https://kno2.com/

Learn more about eFax Corporate: https://enterprise.efax.com/

Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.

And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter.

Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.

 Consensus Cloud Solutions and Kno2 are proud sponsors of Healthcare Scene.

< + > Australian Health Department criticised over accuracy of COVID-19 vaccination data

It is now planning to make a review of IT controls for data entered into externally managed systems.

< + > Study Evaluates Global Burden Of Cancer Based On Preventable Risk Factors

The global burden of cancer based on risk factors continues to rise. Many of these risk factors are preventable.

< + > When Will AI Beat The Eroom’s Law In The Pharmaceutical Industry?

The term Eroom’s law in pharma was coined by Dr. Jack Scannell and colleagues in 2012 in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. It is the opposite of Moore's law in semiconductors and states that the inflation-adjusted cost of developing a new drug roughly doubles every nine years. Can AI break this trend?

< + > FDA: Novavax Covid-19 Vaccine Is Now Authorized For Ages 12 To 17

Here's what makes the Novavax vaccine different from the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna ones.

< + > Should You Get A Polio Vaccine Booster? Here’s How To Decide

The re=appearance of the poliovirus in New York has left many adults wondering whether they should get a booster even if they were vaccinated as a child.

< + > Health Insurance Subsidies, Set To Expire At The End Of 2022, Extended Via The Inflation Reduction Act

Prescription drug price negotiations are a key part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Less attention has been paid to important provisions that will reduce health insurance premiums.

< + > Bonus Features – August 21, 2022 – DirectTrust sending 75 Million messages per month, HIMSS23 submission deadline is September 12, and more

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

News

DirectTrust, the industry alliance enabling secure PHI exchange among providers and between providers and patients, announced that the Direct Exchange has sent and received nearly 3.3 billion messages since 2014. This amounts to more than 75 million transactions per month. DirectTrust also said the number of providers engaging in Direct Secure Messaging has increased 14% from Q2 2022 compared to the same time last year. All told, 2.6 million Direct addresses exist.

The U.S. Department of Labor ordered a Pittsburgh-based home care agency to pay more than $1.4 million in back wages to 218 workers who were paid a straight-time rate instead of a time-and-a-half rate for overtime. The department’s Wage and Hour Division also discovered that Everest Home Care failed to include recruitment commissions and hourly coronavirus hazard pay in employees’ required rates of pay when calculating overtime.

HIMSS has issued its call for proposals to speak at HIMSS23, which is April 14-17 in Chicago. The submission deadline is Monday, September 12 at 5 p.m. Central time.  Check out our full list of health IT conferences.

Partnerships

• Houston Methodist will be opening a technology center inside Ion, an innovation hub owned by Rice University that counts ExxonMobil among its backers and NASA among its partners.
• HIE infrastructure provider CRISP Shared Services is the first partner for eHealth Exchange’s planned Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN).
• Handheld ultrasound device maker EchoNous has partnered with Samsung to make its point-of-care ultrasound platform available on Galaxy Tab Active Pro tablets.

Sales

• In the first growth report issued since its acquisition, Oracle Cerner reported 11 new clients in Q2 2022, primarily in the critical access and community hospital market. The company also reported 150 extended or expanded contracts.
• Connectivity service provider MedAllies selected the Lyniate Enterprise Master Patient Index by NextGate for identity data management.
• CHRISTUS Health selected the KyruusOne platform from Kyruus for provider data management across its health systems in four states and its owned health plan.
• Duke Health chose Scanslated for patient-centered radiology reporting across three hospitals and 14 outpatient imaging centers.
• Bamboo Health’s Crisis Management System is supporting the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in two states; the company announced that deployments in additional states are forthcoming.

Products

• Wearable device maker Mawi released its single-use cardiac diagnostic monitor known as Mawi Heart Patch.
• Conversational intelligence company Authenticx launched a quality management tool for healthcare call centers.

People

• Mental health collaboration tech provider Resilience Lab announced three additions to its leadership team. Patrick Morselli joins the company as Chief Operating Officer, John Hamby has been named General Manager, and Alyssa Lin has been hired as Head of Growth.
• Value-based care technology platform Lumeris named Julie Hammes as Senior Vice President of People and Culture.

Awards

• Analytics and contract services firm IQVIA received healthcare and life sciences partner of the year recognition from Snowflake, a cloud data service provider.
• Clinical data platform MRO made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies for the eighth year in a row.
• Patient experience vendor eHealth Technologies was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo.

< + > Monkeypox Virus DNA Found On 21 Objects, Including Toilet Seat, Light Switch, Here Are Caveats

Other objects were a couch, blanket, fleece, toilet handle, refrigerator handle, coffee maker, faucet handle, shower door handle, bannister, mouse, and keyboard.

< + > How To Mend A Broken Heart

A group of scientists at Harvard University has developed a new method to grow artificial hearts from scratch. This study serves as a significant stepping stone toward artificial hearts that are fully functional.