As this Editor was Pondering the Squandering last week of $28 billion HITECH Act funds meant to achieve EHR interoperability but falling well short, we recalled another Big EHR Squander: the integration of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) AHLTA with the Veteran Affairs’ VistA, an iEHR effort which collapsed in February 2013 at a mere $1 billion, in addition to dysfunctional or failed upgrades in both systems at just under $4 billion [TTA 27 July 13]. For civilians, this may not sound like much for concern, but for active duty, Reserve and National Guard service members transitioning from active to... Continue Reading
Search Results for ehr implementation
Set that disease data free! A call to break down those data silos.
...they are: Hospitals, even research based centers, struggle to codify their genotype and phenotype data of their patients in a meaningful way that would be usable for clinical decision making. We’ve also noted (oddly not Mr Shaywitz) the long implementation process of IBM Watson cognitive processing/decision making tools in healthcare, the concentration on single diseases and their spread into other industries plus third-party integration outside of healthcare [TTA 9 Oct 14]. US patient privacy laws (e.g. HIPAA) which are strict and carry Federal penalties for violations. Data protection of the institutional sort: researchers not wanting to share, management very aware... Continue Reading
Pondering the squandering redux: $28 billion gone out the HITECH window
...study. Five Senators who have been following HITECH’s implementation through HHS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) process the fail in Health Affairs Blog: Stage 1 incentivized the adoption of EHRs that are difficult to use and are not interoperable without expensive upgrades. (If they even exist. This Editor has previously observed the 2009-12 boom in practice EHRs, many by IT firms with no previous healthcare experience. By 2011-12 there were at least 600 to reportedly 1,000 for practices, many of which have either merged or vanished–along with many millions of HITECH funds.) EHRs... Continue Reading
Assistive tech for older adults gets fresh developer interest, funding
...tremors (as in Parkinson’s) while eating; Caremerge which has EHR, care coordination and secure messaging features for the care team in long-term and transitional care, but also connects families with a smartphone app and residents with reminders; GeriJoy [TTA 3 July 14], a tablet that combines an interactive pet avatar/companion with engagement, reminder and education tools for older and cognitively impaired adults. While we’ve noted many developments along similar lines over the past ten years, interest and financial backing is aligning. AARP has its annual Health Innovation50+ LivePitch event on 14 May in Miami, which generates press interest and possible... Continue Reading
Scotland invests £30M over 3 years on telehealth (UK)
In a news release this morning (19 March 2015) the Scottish Government said it is to allocate [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/scotland-gov-logo1.gif” thumb_width=”150″ /]£200m over two years to support the implementation of health and social care integration. According to the release the investment will extend the current Integrated Care Fund into 2016/17 and 2017/18, and comes on top of £100 million of funding already allocated for 2015/16. The money will be distributed among the 32 local NHS and social care partnerships that have been set up as part of the move towards integrated services. The Integrated Care Fund forms part of over half... Continue Reading
Integrating mobile apps between clinicians and patients
Your Editors have noted many well-funded companies working in the wings to link up and find meaning in the hugeness of Big Data generated by a gazillion medical systems and devices (Validic, the recently seen QpidHealth at HealthIMPACT East). However what’s been scarce on the ground are companies that are front-end, point of service, integrating mobile communications between clinicians, then with consumers/patients, then with EHRs, operations and patient portals. We noted ZynxHealth at HealthImpact, interestingly part of media giant Hearst, but they confine their secure messaging to clinicians. Now spanning both worlds is an early-stage company, Practice Unite, out of... Continue Reading
The hypealicious, hyperluxus Apple Watch debut–what the healtherati are interested in
...health apps beyond HealthKit, partnering with the stars in the medical research firmament. As reported: The ResearchKit can pull data from other applications as well as HealthKit, which has 900-odd apps alone. iPhone users can opt-in to use these research apps and essentially, crowdsource participation, a boon to researchers. HealthKit also integrates with the Epic EHR. Five research applications were created by Apple in conjunction with leading academic healthcare organizations. A Parkinson’s Disease app that analyzes gait after 20 steps with an iPhone in the pocket: University of Rochester, Xuanwu Hospital and Capital Medical University. Diabetes research: Massachusetts General Hospital... Continue Reading
New alliance for m-health in Europe
...in healthcare the two companies are planning to develop remote patient monitoring systems that are enabled through smartphones. HCL and Tele2 will work together in an effort to reduce transactional and operational costs for their partners, whilst tapping into the lucrative revenue opportunities that exist within the European IoT/M2M market.” The news article continues “HCL will be responsible for the implementation, integration, roll-out and ongoing support of M2M/IoT solutions, in addition to device connectivity through its flagship Device Gateway product – Aegis. This becomes feasible through Tele2’s Control Center, which is the market leading M2M/IoT connectivity platform in the world.”... Continue Reading
Epic Systems getting into the app store business (US)
Epic Systems, the #1 company in the hospital and large practice EHR business, is launching its own app store, reportedly within a few weeks. This opens up interesting possibilities not only for mHealth app developers–who need application standards and guidelines soon–but also for Epic’s reputation as a closed system that shies away from interoperability with other EHRs like Cerner, Meditech and McKesson–a serious wrinkle with their Department of Defense EHR joint bid with IBM to replace AHLTA. The HIT Consultant article quotes a leading Epic customer consultant on that the first apps will be clinical, then crossing over into consumer;... Continue Reading
Widespread remote GP consultations getting closer; no shortage of implementation advice
...can develop integrated care through implementation of TECS“. However this editor, though fully registered with the site, was unable to access it: if others have the same problem, this will be a shame for Simple Telehealth (aka Flo/Florence) because when he finally got in, he found that they had sponsored the report and indeed feature in every one of the eight case studies. As ‘doing’ can be hard work, particularly when there is a queue of people telling you how to, those of a more cerebral bent may prefer to consider a conceptual model for telehealth intervention, design and evaluation.... Continue Reading
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