News 3/17/15

Top News

Healthcare.gov will reopen this Sunday to give nearly 4 million people facing a tax penalty one last chance to sign up for health insurance. The new sign-up period is for the 37 states served by the federal insurance exchange, and will end on April 30.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Spring seems to finally have sprung in my part of the world. While the seasons won’t technically change until Friday, March 20, the warming temperatures, tax-return preparations, and shrinking New Year’s resolution crowds at my local Y all signal that Winter is indeed nearing an end. St. Patrick’s Day celebrations also help to usher in a new equinox. While the days of green beer are behind me, I do fancy Shamrock Shakes. The full-fat concoction peddled by McDonald’s has nothing on the healthier version pictured here.

Webinars

March 31 (Tuesday) 1:00 ET. “Best Practices for Increasing Patient Collections.” Sponsored by MedData. Presenter: Jason Bird, director of client operations, MedData. Healthcare is perhaps the last major industry where the consumer does not generally have access to what they owe and how they can pay for their services. Collecting from patients is estimated to cost up to four times more than collecting from payers and patient pay responsibility is projected to climb to 50 percent of the healthcare dollar by the end of the decade. Learn how creating a consumer-focused culture, one that emphasizes patient satisfaction over collections, can streamline your revenue cycle process and directly impact your bottom line.

Here is the video of last Thursday’s webinar by West Corporation titled “Turn Your Contact Center into a Patient-Centered Access Center.” I’ve created a Storify recap for those with shorter attention spans.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Data center operator ByteGrid Holdings acquires Sidus BioData, a managed hosting and IT consulting company specializing in biotech, pharma, medical devices, and healthcare IT, for an undisclosed sum. Sidus CEO Jason Silva will become a ByteGrid executive once the acquisition is final.

The local tech news outlet profiles Aptible, a venture-backed startup with roots in the Y Combinator accelerator program and experience with Rock Health Capital. The fledgling company, now based in Brooklyn, helps cloud-based healthcare IT startups navigate the often tricky waters of security and HIPAA.

Eko Devices receives $2 million in new funding and will begin clinical trials at UCSF of its Eko Core digital extension for analog stethoscopes.

Announcements and Implementations

Mettrum Health Corp., a Canada-based medical marijuana producer and distributor, launches an online portal to help physicians register, review, and renew patient medical documents, recommend specific strains, and monitor the quantities and strains patients are purchasing.

EHNAC releases final criteria for the Practice Management System Accreditation Program. Developed in collaboration with WEDI, the program evaluates PM vendors on privacy, security, mandated standards and operating rules, and ICD-10 implementation and support.

Presagia Sports partners with neurobiological training and technology company CogniSens to enhance its EHR with performance and concussion management tools.

Government and Politics

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signs legislation delaying the state’s mandatory electronic prescribing law for one year to March 27, 2016, the same bill he giddily approved in 2012.

Research and Innovation

A WEDI survey finds that awareness of the Blue Button PHR interoperability initiative among industry stakeholders has decreased overall since 2013, while provider awareness has remained flat. Somewhat disappointing  (but not surprising given the industry’s current slog towards interoperability) was the finding that the top three communication priorities for respondents continue to be email, text messages, and direct mail.

Hot on the heels of the AMA’s decision to open an Interaction Studio within Matter Chicago’s offices comes news of Washington, D.C.-based AHIP opening a 26,000 square-foot Innovation Lab in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. The lab will house healthcare professionals working on issues like chronic care management, population health, big data, fraud and abuse, and telemedicine. GE Healthcare, Accenture, and Amgen have formally announced their support.

Telemedicine

NASA selects VSee’s telemedicine platform for astronauts to use on board the International Space Station. The new tool will enable astronauts to video chat with doctors and family, collaborate with other scientists, and engage in public outreach with school children. Galactic news like this makes me wonder how long it will take for the issues of reimbursement and physician licensing to get sorted out here in the states. If the ISS can figure it out …

After a successful pilot program with Techstars Austin, CirrusMD partners with Austin Regional Clinic (TX) to offer its eMD Access service to local employers. The telemedicine tool will enable employees to virtually connect with ARC physicians after an initial in-person visit to review health history.

Online doctor visit service HealthTap launches RateRx, which lets its member doctors rate the effectiveness of individual drugs and treatments.

People

The Indiana HIE promotes John Kansky to president and CEO.

PDR appoints former Surescripts President and CEO Harry Totonis as an independent director.

HHS names Mary Wakefield (HRSA) acting deputy secretary.

Other

Kudos to Jamee Steen, MD who opened a new primary care practice within the same building as the YMCA, courtesy of landlord Palmetto Health (SC). “I would make recommendations on lifestyle changes all the time, and I wouldn’t know until I see [my patients] again if they had followed them,” Steen told the local paper. “Now, we’ll physically walk them over and attach them to a resource.” Patients won’t even need a way-finding app to navigate from door to door. This type of nascent business model is a perfect example of letting IT take a backseat to simpler, more user-friendly solutions. Now, if only the Y and local physicians could figure out a way to reward healthy lifestyle choices with discounts at each other’s establishments.

Pediatrician Chris Magryta, MD outlines his disdain for EHRs in the local paper’s Op/Ed, chronicling his frustrations with digital charting from his days at Emory University’s School of Medicine to present-day practice pressures associated with Meaningful Use and lack of interoperability:

“What we need is one system that traverses the entire medical community and is not used until it has proven to enhance medical care and be efficient. This does not exist in today’s medical practice. Patients are now treated to a physician who is busy staring at a screen in order to check all of the required boxes in order to meet the insurance companies and the governments desires for a quality visit, so called bullet points. Let me be very clear. This has in no way improved the quality of care that I deliver. I reiterate that I am on average 20–30 percent less efficient in my daily visits. As a healer I am irritated that this obstacle impedes my ability to see more patients. I find myself apologizing to my patients for the computer time and my lack of eye contact at times. I find myself constantly trying to catch up and be on time with my visits. Remember that I used to see more people, chart and have more time to teach and educate each patient. That was quality care.”

It’s official: “Password1” is the worst possible password, according to Popular Science. Strings of consecutive numbers like the ever-popular “123456” don’t fall far behind. In light of John Gomez’s eye-opening Readers Write on hacking healthcare conferences, it might be worth revisiting all the passwords you’ve accumulated over the years to determine whether they fall into the “easily hackable” category.

Sponsor Updates

• Medicity publishes “The Challenges and Benefits of Interoperability.”
• Nordic leads off its “HIT Breakdown” podcast series with an episode on population health and adds a new video in its series on Epic conversion planning.
• Healthwise commemorates Patient Safety Awareness Week with “Why Safety is Personal When it Comes to Medical Care.”
• Greenway Health is named one of the Top 10 Innovative Technology Companies in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

Get HIStalk Practice  updates.
Contact us online.

News 3/12/15

Top News

CMS releases updated Meaningful Use numbers, noting that the program has so far doled out $29 billion to nearly half a million EPs. Just over 50,000 of those attested to Stage 2, with CMS optimistically noting in its slide deck that 125,000 are still scheduled to do so. It will be interesting to see how the agency reconciles the low Stage 2 numbers with announcement of Stage 3 details, likely coinciding with a need to generate show-floor buzz at HIMSS.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

I’m a sucker for a good healthcare technology event, and my recent early-morning trek to a local Life Time Fitness did not disappoint. I joined a few dozen of my peers on the basketball court to better understand the ways in which wearables and analytics are changing care delivery. My favorite sound bite came from CardioScout CEO James Fonger, MD who thinks IoT and the connected home have a role to play in changing patient behavior: “I’m sure we’d see medication compliance change for the better if a patient’s TV turned off because they didn’t take their meds at the appointed time.” Weight-loss programs might also benefit.

Speaking of exercise, folks from Wahoo Fitness were also in attendance, showcasing connected fitness tech like the Kickr Power Bike Trainer for hard-core cyclists like Dr. Jayne. It syncs with Bluetooth and variety of apps to help athletes manage structured workouts and virtual courses. I’m unlikely to try it, since the only thing I run after is a tennis ball.

Webinars

March 12 (Thursday) 1:00 ET. “Turn Your Contact Center Into A Patient-Centered Access Center.” Sponsored by West Healthcare Practice. Presenter: Brian Cooper, SVP, West Interactive. A patient-centered access center can extend population health management efforts and scale up care coordination programs with the right approach, technology, and performance metrics. Implementing a patient-centered access center is a journey and this program will provide the roadmap.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Kareo acquires patient engagement and marketing technology vendor DoctorBase.

U.S. Army veteran Robert Foley formally launches Florida-based EHR Transcriptions. The idea for the digital transcription service was born out of Foley’s experience as a patient and his work with Pfizer at Stanford Medical Center. It’s worth noting that the company donates 15 percent of profits to organizations that help U.S. veterans and the families of those killed in action.

Intraprise Solutions launches Intraprise Healthcare, a new division that will provide strategic consulting and software engineering solutions to healthcare stakeholders.

Doctor house call vendor Pager raises $10.4 million from existing investors despite what would seem to be significant scaling barriers.

Announcements and Implementations

Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group (IL) goes live with Forward Health Group’s PopulationManager.

PatientPoint and Telemundo partner to deliver Spanish-language education and informational materials to Hispanic patients at the point of care.

DaVita Healthcare Partners selects Cureatr as its mobile care coordination technology partner for secure messaging and care transition notifications.

St. Peters Health Partners Medical Associates (NY) chooses Phytel for population health management.

Telemedicine

An Altarum Institute literature review combs through 99 articles to provide a fairly thorough summary of the state of telemedicine as it relates to cost, outcomes, effectiveness of care, regulatory concerns, and reimbursement. Kudos to Altarum for not forcing me to sign up before downloading the report. Gated content has always been one of my pet peeves.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts partners with American Well on a two-year pilot program that will offer physicians the ability to treat patients with certain conditions by video. The WellConnection pilot will launch with physician groups from Emerson Physician Hospital Organization and Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization.

In related news, American Well’s AmWell solution receives the American Telemedicine Association’s first Accreditation for Online Patient Consultations. The program recognizes a telemedicine vendor’s security of patient information, transparency in pricing and operations, and qualifications and licensing of providers and clinical practices.

Telehealth solutions vendor Ostar Healthcare technology announces its cell-enabled, vendor-neutral gateway that integrates payer and provider systems with remote monitoring devices such as scales and glucometers.

Government and Politics

CMS launches the Next Generation ACO Model, which will enable participants to take on more financial risk with more predictable financial targets, and the potential to gain greater financial reward. The new model also opens up telemedicine opportunities since it waives certain geographic restrictions related to reimbursement for care. For the first time, telemedicine coverage will be extended to 80 percent of Medicare beneficiaries living in metropolitan areas and from any service-originating site, such as the home.

HHS announces that close to 11.7 million consumers selected or re-enrolled in health insurance plans via Healthcare.gov by the end of open enrollment, surpassing initial projections of between 8 and 9 million. State-based exchanges (excluding Oregon, which had zero and is shutting down) brought in just under 3 million sign-ups.

Research and Innovation

A six-month primary care study finds that families that used the MyAsthma portal to track treatment goals, symptoms, and concerns reported fewer asthma flares and fewer days of missed work than those families that did not.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration launches a suicide-prevention app, coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which has answered more than 7 million calls since 2005. The Suicide Safe app helps physicians integrate prevention strategies into their practice and address patient risk.

Fortune’s Dan Primack points out that Apple’s open-source ResearchKit platform won’t reach enough patients to enact meaningful change in clinical trials and research because iOS users make up only 14.8 percent of global smartphone users. He takes Apple to task for not working with Google “behind the scenes” to develop an Android version, lamenting that, “Sure there are difficulties … but nothing that couldn’t have been overcome for the public good.” 

People

New York’s Healthix RHIO names Todd Rogow (HealthInfoNet) as SVP/CIO.

Vitals names Heyward Donigan (ValueOptions) CEO, and appoints Jeffery Boyd (Priceline Group) advisor and board director.

Other

Charity Miles puts a new spin on incentivizing health and wellness, donating money to charities for miles run or biked. Nearly 1 million people have downloaded the app, raising $1 million in the process. This philanthropic concept seems like one the world of wearables needs to pay attention to.

Sponsor Updates

• Clockwise.MD is named a semifinalist in the HIMSS HX360 Innovation Challenge.
• Culbert Healthcare Solutions highlights “Issues to Consider When Sunsetting a Legacy Practice Management System.”
• ADP AdvancedMD offers tips to create “The EHR-Switch Prep Plan.”

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

Get HIStalk Practice  updates.
Contact us online.

News 3/10/15

Top News

Apple unveils Research Kit, an open source API designed to connect medical researchers with research study participants to improve communication and streamline data capture. Five projects are already live on the framework, including a breast cancer research project from Dana Farber, a diabetes project from Massachusetts General Hospital, and a Parkinson’s disease diagnostic tool from the University of Rochester. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the press coverage of Monday’s Apple Watch event. Much has been made of the healthcare features that will and won’t be included once it starts shipping on April 24. What boggles my mind is the price. Basic models start at $349, and you can shell out over $10,000 for the 18-karat gold edition.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

In case you missed it: Mr. H announced the recipients of the HIMSS Conference Patient Advocate Scholarships. I’m looking forward to meeting them, and catching up with scholarship supporter Regina Holliday, in just a few weeks. In the meantime, I’ll follow them on Twitter (@CarlyRM, @bostonheartmom, @woodymatters, @LAlupuslady, @leffetpapillon, @ReginaHolliday) via the #HIStalking hashtag.

I had a great time presenting the unique award above to Atlanta’s healthcare IT leaders in honor of the city’s landslide HIStalk reader poll win as healthcare IT capital of America. It’s always fun to run into readers like Robert Hendricks of McKesson who are not only passionate about healthcare IT, but ardent fans of HIStalk, too. (On second thought, you probably can’t be one without being the other.) I have a feeling we’ll see him cutting a rug at HIStalkapalooza.

Listening: Thanks to @mandibpro for turning me on to London-based electronic string quartet Escala.

Webinars

March 12 (Thursday) 1:00 ET.  “Turn Your Contact Center Into A Patient-Centered Access Center.” Sponsored by West Healthcare Practice. Presenter: Brian Cooper, SVP, West Interactive. A patient-centered access center can extend population health management efforts and scale up care coordination programs with the right approach, technology, and performance metrics. Implementing a patient-centered access center is a journey and this program will provide the roadmap.

Here is the recording of Zynx Health’s recent webinar, “Care Team Coordination: How People, Process, and Technology Impact Patient Transitions.”

Here’s the recording of the “5 Steps to Improving Patient Safety & Clinical Communications with Collaborative-Based Care ” webinar.

If Twitter is more your speed, you can check out Storify recaps of recent HIStalk webinars here.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

Northeast Kentucky Regional Health Information Organization relocates from West Liberty to Morehead to be more centrally located to its clients. The seven-year-old RHIO serves mainly rural practices across 19 counties.

The local business paper profiles Go2Nurse, an app that provides Chicago-based consumers with house calls from RNs on demand. The app offers teleconsultation and payment features, and Practice Fusion’s EHR for its nurses. The company launched a pilot program with 1,000 patients at Southland Care Coordination Partners (IL) last year, and anticipates closing a deal with a large medical group in the coming months.

Announcements and Implementations

The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum launches the LaHIE patient portal.

Deloitte Consulting and Cognitive Scale will collaborate on defining open cognitive healthcare cloud standards for first- and third-party data, sourcing, provisioning, and use; and on developing methods to foster interoperability and access on cognitive systems.

Salient HHS and d-Wise partner to launch ACO Advance, a turnkey information-delivery and analytics platform for ACO performance management and reporting.

Government and Politics

In a desperate attempt to play off the Hilary Clinton email “scandal,” the Topeka Capital-Journal questions former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about her email practices while at the government agency. After finding no fodder in her reply, the reporter turns to Martin O’Malley, former governor of the state of Maryland, who puts things in perspective: “I didn’t come here to talk about the email issue, but I’m glad to talk about the things we need to do to complete reform of Wall Street.”

The Institute for Health Information Technology, Technology Association of Georgia, and Metro Atlanta Chamber partner to coordinate Georgia-based support for comments on the ONC Interoperability Roadmap.

The Washington Post covers the pros and cons of bringing mental health professionals into the Meaningful Use fold. Noted barriers include cost, concerns about patient privacy, discrimination by providers, and the lack of interoperability experienced by current program participants. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) plans to reintroduce bipartisan legislation to improve mental-health services, which would also extend EHR-adoption incentives to mental health providers.

FDA releases its first mobile app, which identifies drug shortages.

The Illinois HIE, having blown through $19 million in HITECH money in four years and still running at a loss, doesn’t have funds allocated in the proposed state budget that will take effect July 1.

Telemedicine

Pacify, a pediatric telemedicine startup based in Washington, D.C., secures $1.1 million in seed funding from accelerator Acceleprise and a dozen angel investors. Launched in part to help prevent unnecessary pediatric visits to the ER, the company seems to have found a niche, according to CEO and former Rhodes Scholar Ben Lundin: “Nothing induces panic like early parenting.” The commercial version of the Pacify app will launch within the next month or two.

The local paper reports that telemedicine kiosk company HealthSpot has received several multimillion-dollar investments and an undisclosed investment from Cox Communications. The cash infusion prompted the company to publicly state it will add 40 jobs in its hometown of Dublin, Ohio by 2018.

CloudVisit Telemedicine launches a mobile app for iOS and Android. A physician version is in development.

Web-based consultation and care-coordination system developer Safety Net Connect partners with TeleMed2U to offer video consultations to the underserved and rural populations SNC caters to.

The Washington Post profiles telemedicine and other technology services offered to veterans through charity groups and the VA itself.

Research and Innovation

NIH launches the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Portal, a new Big Data sharing and analysis resource for Alzheimer’s research that will help scientists from a variety of disciplines translate knowledge faster and more successfully into new therapies.

AHRQ offers $5 million in grant funding for healthcare organizations interested in working to develop Patient Safety Learning Laboratories, “places and professional networks that allow multidisciplinary teams to identify closely related threats to patient safety, stretch professional boundaries, envision bold design innovations, and take advantage of brainstorming and rapid prototyping techniques that other leading-edge sectors of the economy employ.” Letters of intent are due March 27.

People

Turner Taliaferro Smith (Rubbermaid Healthcare) joins consulting startup TeleHealth Solutions as vice president of business development.

CareCloud clarified a reader’s rumor report that CEO Albert Santalo was asked to step down. Per the company, he’ll be “focusing his time almost entirely on advancing our products for the next several months,” with an emphasis on meeting the needs of large-practice customers, but will remain chairman and CEO.

Other

Ken Jeong, MD tells NPR about his early days as a full-time physician who moonlighted as a stand-up comic: “During the day, I was a doctor. At night, you know, I was a comic. And it was really just to let off some steam. It just became my golf, you know, in many ways. Most doctors have golf as a hobby. Mine was doing comedy.” Jeong, whose wife is also a physician, will soon star in a pilot aptly called “Dr. Ken.”

A Venture Beat profile on the upcoming SXSW Accelerator competition calls out the impracticalities of HIPAA and lack of patient input as two of the biggest barriers to mobile health innovation. SXSW organizer Dana Abramovitz points out that, “The conversation currently is between the policy makers, the companies (making the mobile apps) and the hospitals. The person — the patient — that is who is being left out of the conversation. Why can I deposit a check on my mobile phone but I can’t e-mail the results of an MRI of my foot to my doctor?”

Ed Marx is writing a book called “Voices of Innovation” and invites readers to contact him about being part of it.

Sponsor Updates

• Bill Kinsley, enterprise architect for NextGen, will chair the HIMSS EHR Association’s privacy and security workgroup.
• Healthwise offers a blog on how it helps its customers get the information they need.
• The Daily Practice blog from Navicure asks, “The Times They Are a Changin’ … So How Do You Get Ready for Value-Based Modifier Payment Models?”
• Nordic launches a video on its successful affiliate extension project with ThedaCare.
• The latest nVoq blog covers speech-recognition solutions for mobile physicians.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

Get HIStalk Practice  updates.
Contact us online.

Readers Write: ICD-10 Readiness – What Do Your Colleagues Think? (And What Are They Doing?)

ICD-10 Readiness: What Do Your Colleagues Think? (And What Are They Doing?)
by Jim Denny

Here’s a quick survey for all the HIStalk readers out there: Which of the following is the most common occurrence?

1. An ant in an anthill
2. A mullet (hairstyle, not fish) at an Eagles concert
3. An ICD-10 article on a healthcare technology website

I should probably add option (d) all of the above, since each is pretty common. Just as you’d expect to see an ant or several hundred when you brush up against an anthill, I’m sure you’ve brushed up against quite a few ICD-10 how-to articles in recent months. I’m not mocking these articles – as a matter of fact, Navicure is responsible for many of them, so why would I? But, I’m sure some of you are tempted to skip over this piece simply due to its title. After all, what could I possibly say that hasn’t been said?

Keep reading — it will give you a sense of what your colleagues across the nation have accomplished (and are concerned about accomplishing) to prepare for ICD-10, and how they feel about the impending transition date. Between 2013 and 2015, Navicure conducted three surveys with physician practices as participants to obtain insight into their leaderships’ plans, attitudes, and progress related to ICD-10. Most recently, we released key findings from the 2015 survey. Here are a few of note:

• The state of ICD-10 preparedness varies widely, but practice leaders are very optimistic they’ll be ready by the transition date. In Navicure’s most recent survey, only 21 percent of respondents believed they were on track with their ICD-10 plan. Even so, 81 percent were confident they’d be ready by October 1, 2015. This level of optimism is great; a doomsday attitude can’t be conducive for learning and preparing. On the other hand, the optimism shouldn’t be at the expense of detailed orientation and thorough planning. If your organization hasn’t kept up with its original ICD-10 plan, it’s a good time to make adjustments and come up with something your team can truly accomplish in the months remaining.
• The ICD-10 delay impacted practices positively and negatively. Not surprisingly, nearly 60 percent of practices “pressed pause” on their ICD-10 implementation efforts when CMS announced the delay in 2014. Between Meaningful Use, value-based reimbursements and other strategic priorities, this extra year has been a gift. In the final stretch, though, it’s important to regain any lost momentum and keep your organization on task. A plan that builds on weekly progress across key components such as vendor updates, coding, and clinical documentation will keep your organization on track.
• Physician practice leaders don’t think ICD-10 will be delayed again. Slightly more than two-thirds of respondents believe the transition date will take place on October 1, 2015 as planned.
• Most recently, respondents believe the biggest challenge they’ll face is dealing with unprepared payers. In the January 2015 survey, 41 percent of respondents cited lack of payer readiness as the most challenging aspect of the transition. End-to-end testing with payers remains a priority, but the number of practices opting out has increased. In the two earlier surveys, respondents cited training as their greatest challenge.
• The greatest concern amongst practice leaders is how ICD-10 will impact revenue and cash flow. The overwhelming majority of respondents in all three surveys cited revenue and cash flow as their top ICD-10 concern. This isn’t surprising, since every facet of ICD-10 preparedness – from training to vendor updates – can impact cash flow. Having a contingency plan – for instance, establishing a line of credit with a bank – can give you peace of mind and ensure your practice operates smoothly during the initial weeks of the transition.

Want to learn more about what your colleagues think about ICD-10? Download the complete report. And please take advantage of those thousands of how-to resources available across the industry so you can be ready for October 1, 2015.

Jim Denny is president and CEO of Navicure in Atlanta.

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan

More news: HIStalk, HIStalk Connect.

Get HIStalk Practice  updates.
Contact us online.

News 3/5/15

Top News

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell and predecessor Kathleen Sebelius attend oral arguments in the King vs. Burwell Supreme Court case, which is expected to wrap up by the end of June. At issue is the legality of the subsidies for an estimated 7.5 million subscribers in the 34 states that chose not to run their own health insurance exchanges. Critics argue that the law, as written, permits the subsidies to go only to people who use state-run exchanges. Administration officials contend the subsidies were intended to be available in all states.

HIStalk Practice Announcements and Requests

Thanks to the following sponsors, new and renewing, that recently supported HIStalk Practice. Click a logo for more information.

The HIMSS 15 media requests have started to trickle in. Note to PR and marketing professionals who may reach out to the HIStalk team with interview opportunities: There’s a good chance we won’t respond if your opening line is “Hello XX.” That tells me right off the bat that you don’t have a vested interest in our team, and that you’re not very attentive to detail and/or proofreading. Should you work at a PR firm, it also does no favors for your clients. While I have few pet peeves, laziness is definitely one of them.

I completely neglected to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss on March 2, despite the fact that several school-age children in close proximity are honoring him this entire week. Fortunately, Mark Gettleman, MD penned this poem in homage. You can read my interview with him (Dr. Gettleman, not Dr. Seuss) here.

Webinars

March 5 (Thursday) 2:00 ET. “Care Team Coordination: How People, Process, and Technology Impact Patient Transitions.” Sponsored by Zynx Health. Presenters: Grant Campbell, MSN, RN, senior director of nursing strategy and informatics, Zynx Health; Siva Subramanian, PhD, senior VP of mobile products, Zynx Health. This webinar will explore the ways in which people, process, and technology influence patient care and how organizations can optimize these areas to enhance communication, increase operational efficiency, and improve care coordination across the continuum.

March 12 (Thursday) 1:00 ET.  “Turn Your Contact Center Into A Patient-Centered Access Center.” Sponsored by West Healthcare Practice. Presenter: Brian Cooper, SVP, West Interactive. A patient-centered access center can extend population health management efforts and scale up care coordination programs with the right approach, technology, and performance metrics. Implementing a patient-centered access center is a journey and this program will provide the roadmap.

Acquisitions, Funding, Business, and Stock

The local business paper profiles JobMedic LLC, a Houston-based startup that’s looking to be Monster.com for healthcare. The eight-month-old company is piloting a program that allows health organizations to import their job listings directly to the site, and plans to target HR departments across the country with a similar service.

Medic Management Group Managing Director Tom Ferkovic points out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, at least when it comes to hospital-employed physicians in Ohio. “The pendulum has swung,” he says, adding that physicians have started to leave hospital umbrellas in the northern part of the state to form 30-plus doctor groups. “Some are doing really creative things with quality measures and contracting for risk and bundled payments,” he adds. “They’re faster, they’re more nimble when they have an issue on fixing those, because its their money."

Announcements and Implementations

Cornerstone Health Enablement Strategic Solutions (NC) chooses Lightbeam Health Solutions for population health management.

Chase Brexton Health Care (MD) selects i2iTracks population health management solution from i2i Systems to help care for 30,000 patients across seven clinics. It partnered with the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers and other FQHCs in Maryland to purchase the company’s PopIQ analytics tool.

Government and Politics

The Citizens Council for Health Freedom offers Minnesotans a way to petition against a state mandate that requires all healthcare providers use an interoperable EHR without giving individuals the right to opt out. Its one-page citizen petition argues, among other points, that, “Interoperability also limits patient access to unbiased second opinions.” I’d like to hear from physicians if this is indeed the case. Does seeing another physician’s diagnosis and notes tend to sway you in the same direction?

Senators John Thune (R-SD), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Mike Enzi (R-WY), authors of the 2013 REBOOT report, express their frustration with HITECH’s $35 billion investment, pointing fingers at ONC and its lack of “nitty gritty” vision for interoperability:

“The long-term sustainability of EHR systems remains one of the biggest unknowns. ONC’s roadmap is surprisingly silent on this topic, which is stunning considering that there is only $7 billion in funding left from the HITECH Act. While the President’s Budget does request a significant increase in funding for ONC, the administration seems to ignore the reality that taxpayers have already committed billions of dollars toward a goal that is still vague.”

The HIT Strategy & Innovation Workgroup attempts to provide a high-level summary of 400 public comments on ONC’s 10-year Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. Its recommendation that the plan “must hold federal partners accountable, with regular, transparent reporting on progress toward goals,” especially stood out to me, given the senatorial concerns noted above.

Telemedicine

Georgia Partnership for Telemedicine representatives install five telemedicine carts in Lusaka, Zambia as part of the Zambian Defense Force telemedicine project. The GPT team will travel back to Zambia next month to install three additional carts and provide training to Zambian clinical staff.

A bill to expand telemedicine in Colorado heads to Governor John Hickenlooper’s desk after passing muster in both the state House and Senate. The governor now has 10 days to sign or veto the legislation, which would require insurers to reimburse equally for telemedicine and in-person services in counties of all sizes. Previous legislation allowed for reimbursement in counties with 150,000 or fewer residents.

Research and Innovation

A study of diabetes patients 50 and older finds that the majority have no use for mobile apps to help manage their condition. Of the 32 study participants, half refused to use apps because they saw no added benefit. Twelve percent experienced problems with interoperability (or lack thereof), and another 12 percent decided against them because of poor user experience.

@QualcommLife’s tweet from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona captures in a 140-character nutshell the mobile health experience of the diabetes study participants.

Physicians have just a few days left to participate in the 13-question WEDI survey on ICD-10 readiness.

People

William Kinsley (NextGen) is elected to chair the HIMSS EHR Association Privacy and Security Workgroup.

ChartSpan appoints Patrick Carter vice president of product, in addition to his existing roles as co-founder and senior medical officer.

Other

News coverage of a recent rape investigation at the University of Oregon brings to light privacy issues related to student medical records. Students are crying foul over the fact that their on-campus medical records can be used against them in court because they are covered under the Family Education Right and Privacy Act (FERPA) rather than HIPAA.

A Wall St. Journal article titled “The Next Marketing Frontier: Your Medical Records” highlights the alerts and reminders sent to patients in Practice Fusion’s EHRs, with some of those messages paid for by drug companies. Practice Fusion’s CEO defends the practice, saying that with regard to the alerts and presumably the company’s free EHR, “someone has to pay for it” and adds that new agreements have been signed to deliver sponsored alerts from Aetna and another drug company. He also states, “For every project we do that drives forth public health or gives data away, we need to make sure it’s balanced out by a monetizable exercise.”

NHS GP Samir Dawlatly writes a piece for The Guardian about what NHS England will be like in the future, given that “automatons” will be in almost total control:

“I feel around for the micro USB port behind my left ear. Even though wireless transmission rates are pretty good, I still prefer the ultrafast USB 12.2 link to download the latest medical updates. I’ve had the last three days off, so there will be a lot of new guidelines, alerts, emails, novel medicines and recommendations to stop dangerous old therapies to download onto my integrated organic digital hybrid memory hard drive inserted into my hippocampus – the centre for memory and learning in my brain. I notice that my own computer still takes several seconds to boot up. I wonder why doctors have the worst hardware and the slowest software, even though we have people’s lives in our hands. At least mistakes have decreased since the advent of the integrated hippocampal hard drive, enabling all medical knowledge to be deposited and updated weekly in the doctor’s memory.”

Contacts

Jennifer,  Mr. H, Lorre, Dr. Jayne, Dr. Gregg, Lt. Dan

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