By Adrian Johansen, freelance writer; @AdrianJohanse18.
Anyone who watches the news should be aware of the constant threat of identity theft. Every day, hackers create new scams and tactics to steal private information that they can sell to the highest bidder or use to take out loans and credit cards and put victims in debt. Unfortunately, few industries are as exposed to these threats as the healthcare industry.
Every time someone goes to the doctor, they are sharing personal details with their medical provider and other staff, which gets logged into a computer for later — and hackers are eager to unlock this treasure trove of private info. As technology advances, so will the threats, so extra precautions will be necessary. Below are the threats coming down the pike and how to prevent them.
Emerging Healthcare Threats
Healthcare will always be a huge target for cyber thieves simply because of the pure amount of information that is created with every doctor’s appointment or surgical procedure. An emerging threat that is gaining steam is ransomware attacks, where hackers take control of patient data with the hope of illegal profit.
Just one example includes how, early in 2019, hackers gained access and encrypted the data within the computer system of provider NEO Urology. Fearing the worst, the staff paid the requested $75,000, and the data was freed. It was a painful price to pay for a threat that could have been avoided.
All it takes is one successful scheme to bring the criminals out of the woodwork. Since the NEO hack, several other ransomware attacks have occurred around the country, including instances in New York and California, where thousands of patient records have been compromised. When these attacks occur, it is not only patients that face the consequences, but also the business, as the cost to repair a corporate image and fix the damage could cost a company millions.
New technologies are on the horizon, but they too must be safeguarded from cyber threats. Lately, the idea of integrating artificial intelligence into hospitals has been gaining steam, as experts believe that this technology could limit the number of hospital errors as well as assist with earlier detection of medical issues. However, while this technology continues to evolve, it is still open to the risk of cybercrime.
As a first step to securing your hospital systems, a penetration test should be completed. Penetration testing involves inspecting your system for vulnerabilities, such as weak firewalls or poor security policies, and creates a report, so you know what to fix to protect patient information involved. Your baseline security should be intact before adding any new features.
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By Kim Huynh and Esther Ketelaars, health and life sciences experts, PA Consulting.
Studies unanimously show the negative effects medication non-adherence has on clinical outcomes and healthcare costs. Adherence is critical to ensure that medications work properly and important for pharmaceutical companies because it helps keep their drugs covered under health plans. Healthcare insurers want to ensure their covered drugs are treating their members effectively and are seeking to prevent more costly health care.
So, while traditionally medical adherence solutions have been paid for and promoted by pharma and payors, a new player has a chance to enter the scene and challenge the status quo. Now is the time for providers to proactively address medication adherence as they start to bear more financial risk through value-based care models.
How can providers play a larger role?
Provider organizations who focus on medication nonadherence have a great opportunity to improve patient outcomes and support their value-based care models. According to the Center for Disease Control medication nonadherence results in 10% of hospitalizations and 125,000 preventable deaths in the U.S. each year. Likewise, low medication adherence leads to treatment failures between 30% and 50% of the time.1 These negative impacts become even more relevant to providers as patient outcomes continue to be more closely tied to reimbursement and payment incentives.
Pharmaceutical companies, payors, some providers, other consumer-focused companies in the healthcare value chain, and even governments have tried to address nonadherence. With the recent growth of digital health solutions especially, many have focused on leveraging novel technologies. However, there are a myriad of reasons for patients not compliant with their medication and adopting a single tool or technology has rarely been effective in reducing nonadherence.
A one-size-fits-all approach will often only address a single issue for a limited number of patients. With their direct access to patients, providers have a better chance of addressing the complex mix of reasons for nonadherence and design medication adherence programs customized to each patient. Personalized intervention plans invite a direct solution to each patient’s reasons for nonadherence with the appropriate tools that address the underlying cause for that individual.
Developing such a program requires factoring in root causes and reasons for nonadherence, using predictive analytics to identify high-risk patients, and gathering a diverse set of interventions to address those root causes. The position and shared decision-making power between providers and consumers indicate that providers can address medication adherence for more patients, improve patient outcomes, and reinforce value-based care.
Designing a patient-centered medication adherence program
Many of the tried and tested programs have been designed based on an assumption of the underlying reason for nonadherence. However, for these programs to be truly effective provider organizations need to understand and diagnose the patient’s reasons for nonadherence and tailor their intervention with the right tools.
Understand the reasons for medication nonadherence
Exploring the factors contributing to nonadherence allows organizations to understand the inherent complexity of nonadherence. Most interventions fail to produce the desired results because they don’t consider the many contributing factors. The reasons for nonadherence go beyond simple forgetfulness. Only 30% of patients cite forgetfulness as the cause of their nonadherence.
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The coronavirus is dangerous because of how easily it spreads from person to person. If you believe you have it or have been confirmed to have it through testing, then you will need to self-quarantine.
Self-quarantining is a precaution that everyone should aim to take if they have been in an infected area or are experiencing flu-like symptoms. Though the chances of you yourself dying or reaching a critical state are overall low, if you are infectious, you could pass the disease on to someone who is at risk. Those who are older or who have underlying health conditions are at risk of reaching a critical state if they catch the coronavirus. Quarantine yourself if you have a cold, take these precautions, and get better fast:
Try to Stay Away From Non-Infected Family Members
This can be difficult if you live in a small space, but if you can try to stay away from members of your family who aren’t sick as much as possible. This might mean further quarantining yourself to your room while testing is done or while you are sick. It might mean having your non-sick family member stay with a friend in the area instead. Go through your options to help reduce the risk of spreading the disease to others.
Order Food and Supplies to Your Door
When you are under self-quarantine, you won’t want to leave your home, even if it’s just to buy groceries. Thankfully there are many door-to-door options out there. Your grocery store might offer a delivery option, or you might have to go with a company like Uber Eats or Post Mates.
Do note that some companies have changed their policies in light of the coronavirus, so you might not see the delivery person, and instead have your order placed outside the door instead of handed to you.This also applies to supplies. There are many online retailers to help you bulk up, even for medical supplies like a finger bandage or medicine. Knowing how and where to shop for these items is going to be important when it comes to caring for and providing for your family under self-quarantine.
Catch the Cold
While you are sick, you will want to catch the cold, so to speak. Have tissues at the ready to cover your mouth or nose if you cough or sneeze. Immediately throw the tissue out and then wash your hands. This will help reduce the spread of the coronavirus in your own home.
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HIMSS and Forrester today announced the results from a study that investigates adoption of consumer and employee experience capabilities within healthcare. Respondents were asked about their current strategies for improving both patient and provider experiences, and the perceived value of those programs.
Based on insights from more than 170 U.S. health systems respondents, the study found that strategies used to improve customer and employee experience in other industries are largely underutilized in healthcare. Additionally, the study finds that nine out of 10 health system workers do not believe that providers in their organization are equipped to deliver the best care possible.
Results further reveal that provider experience remains the forgotten leg of the Quadruple Aim – emphasizing that healthcare organizations (HCOs) must not ignore provider burnout within their organizations.
Currently, 60 percent of HCOs lack a formal strategy to accurately measure this. At the same time, more than a third of the health systems surveyed report that they have no strategy in place to measure electronic health record (EHR) satisfaction. According to the study, the most successful HCOs moving forward will be the ones that invest in a patient-centric and outcome-first digital strategy that helps build lasting doctor-patient relationships.
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The American Medical Association (AMA) today announced that the CPT Editorial Panel approved a new addition to the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set that will help streamline data-driven resource and allocation planning in the battle against the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to rise in the United States.
“In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPT Editorial Panel has expedited approval of a unique CPT code to report laboratory testing services that diagnose the presence of the novel coronavirus,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. “The new CPT code assigned to the test for the novel coronavirus provides analytical advantages for tracking, allocating and optimizing resources as testing ramps up in the United States.”
For quick reference, the new Category I CPT code and long descriptor are:
- 87635 — Infectious agent detection by nucleic acid (DNA or RNA); severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]), amplified probe technique
The code is effective immediately for use as the industry standard for reporting of tests for the novel coronavirus across the nation’s health care system. In addition to the long descriptor, CPT code 87635 has short and medium descriptors that can be accessed on the AMA website.
The CPT Editorial Panel, the independent body convened by the AMA with sole authority to manage revisions to the CPT code set, expedited the code development process for the novel coronavirus test. Development, review and approval of the new CPT code involved broad input from practicing physicians, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other experts.
The AMA continues to invest in resources that keep physicians informed of the CDC’s guidance and updates, including the recent launch of the AMA’s Physician’s Guide to COVID-19, a quick-start reference to help physicians and their practices prepare for the pandemic. This is an expanded, downloadable and shareable version of resources available on the AMA’s COVID-19 resource center for physicians. Additionally, the AMA’s JAMA Network™ has a comprehensive overview of the novel coronavirus—including epidemiology, infection control and prevention recommendations—available on its JN Learning website.
Tools4ever, one of the world’s largest providers of identity governance and administration solutions and services, is proud to announce that it has been certified for the ISO 27001 standard. This certification is issued by Brand Compliance, a leader in the field of audits and certifications. The ISO 27001 standard certification guarantees to Tools4ever’s customers and partners that the information security within its products are at the highest possible standards.
ISO 27001 is the worldwide standard signifying the highest degree of information security products available. The standard specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, executing, checking, assessing, maintaining, and improving a documented Information Security Management System (ISMS).
ISO 27001 certification requires extensive auditing to prove that a management system allows an organization to:
- Systematically examine information security risks while taking account of threats, vulnerabilities, and impacts of potential threats;
- Design and implement a coherent and comprehensive suite of information security controls and/or other forms of risk treatment (e.g. risk avoidance, risk transfer) to address risks deemed unacceptable;
- Adopt an overarching management process to ensure that the information security controls continue to meet information security needs on an ongoing basis.
As ISO 27001 covers more than just IT processes, the ISMS under consideration must meet the above criteria when it comes to specified business units or the organization as a whole. Tools4ever’s certification demonstrates further that its solutions and consultancy expertise extend beyond isolated point solutions to cover identity management across entire operations.
Farid Ouachour, security and consultancy manager at Tools4ever, said: “As a software company, we have always been actively involved in information security and have continuously improved our products in this area. Through certification, we have demonstrably put our information security processes in order; both our technical solutions and overall governance have been tested and confirmed by Brand Compliance. Our customers and partners can trust that they work with a professional organization that takes information security seriously.”
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There isn’t a single area of modern life that hasn’t been transformed by technology in the previous decades, and healthcare is no different. Doctors and nurses have always relied on a variety of technology to fulfill their roles, and this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Below are four types of technology that we expect to play a significant role in the evolution of nursing over the next few years.
Automated IV Pumps
IV pumps automatically deliver both nutrients and medicine directly into the patient’s veins. They are one of the most common and most important pieces of hospital equipment. Without IV pumps, a nurse’s work would truly never be done. The next generation of automated IV pumps will be much more capable than those that have come before and offer a number of advantages for nurses.
- Automatically change feeds: Nurses do a lot of important work, but the majority of their day is spent completing relatively mundane tasks. Changing patients’ IV lines over is one such task. With an automated IV pump that can automatically switch the lines over for a nurse, there is one less thing for them to juggle. Nurses are only human, and they will occasionally make mistakes and forget things. An automated IV pump means that even if they forget to change a patient line, the patient will not suffer.
- Save time: IV drips need to be changed according to the patient’s needs, and doing so usually ties up a nurse for at least a couple of minutes. If a nurse has a number of patients to see, this time quickly adds up. Having the feeds change automatically saves nurses time and enables them to focus on other essential tasks.
- Standardized procedures: Different hospitals have different procedures and policies in place for ensuring that patients’ IV lines are changed when they need to be. While there are several different automated IV pumps on the market, each of which works a little differently, the introduction of automated systems enables hospitals to standardize their procedures more closely.
Digital Study Aids
Education can quickly get expensive, regardless of the degree that you are studying. But nursing can be particularly expensive, especially at the higher levels, owing to the expensive reading materials and textbooks that are required. Fortunately, there are now ways of bringing those costs down, especially if you are willing to embrace digital learning tools.
- Ebooks: Textbooks aren’t cheap. In fact, they are the bane of many students’ existence. Even if you purchase textbooks second-hand, they can still set you back a surprising amount of money. However, if you are willing to embrace ebooks and digitized textbooks, you can obtain even the more expensive text at an affordable price.
- Revision apps: Whether you are looking to learn something new entirely, or you want to brush up on your existing knowledge, there is now a plethora of apps that enable you to do just that. Nursing is no exception to this; if you look in any of the major app stores, you will find numerous education and reference apps designed for nurses. These include digitized databases of common drugs and their recommended dosages and interactive guides to human anatomy. Even the premium reference apps tend to be significantly cheaper than a textbook or physical reference guide would be.
- Online degrees: One of the big advantages of pursuing a career in nursing is that you can advance through the ranks at your own pace. Studying isn’t cheap, but the advent of online degrees has made university courses both more accessible and more affordable. You can now study all levels of your nursing degree online. For example, if you have already earned your BSN, you might want to consider enrolling in one of the many online BSN to MSN programs that are now available. Studying online is cheaper than a campus course, and you can complete your studies over a longer period.
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By Kayla Matthews, freelance journalist, Productivity Bytes.
Health-tracking wearables — which include monitoring devices like Fitbits and smartwatches — have entered the mainstream. They are providing both consumers and health care professionals alike with unprecedented amounts of data, ranging from info on heart and cardiovascular issues to sleep quality.
These wearables can also offer unique new datasets that could help us learn more about some of the most difficult-to-treat disorders — like Parkinson’s disease.
A new study has highlighted wearables as a potential method of data-collection in the treatment of the disease and could help with Parkinson’s research. Here is how wearable tech could help us learn more about this disorder.
Wearables Help Patients with Parkinson’s Record Data
The study, published in January in Digital Medicine, highlighted how mobile data-collection devices — like wearables — could improve upon the self-report diaries currently used in the treatment of Parkinson’s. They can provide doctors with better data about patient symptoms.
Right now, in the standard course of treatment for Parkinson’s disease, patients are advised to keep motor diaries, fill out questionnaires or participate in structured clinical exams to keep track of the progression of their symptoms. While these strategies can be effective, they also introduce significant room for error.
The study demonstrated that it can be difficult for patients to commit to keeping a motor diary, which requires an entry every 30 minutes that they are awake.
During the course of the study, 38% of patients who maintained a motor diary missed a quarter of entries and had an average delay of greater than four hours. This could potentially degrade the quality of information available, as they recalled the severity of their symptoms hours later.
Self-reports also contained high numbers of false negatives in involuntary muscle movement. Patients also consistently underestimated the severity of their symptoms.
By comparison, automated wearable sensors provided much more accurate data and were able to record information on symptoms more consistently than any other method of symptom-tracking. Consistent data is especially vital in the treatment of Parkinson’s, where symptom severity can vary significantly from hour to hour.
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