By Alex Zlatin, CEO, Maxim Software Systems.
Technology is changing everything that we know.
Artificial intelligence makes suggestions about what we should buy at the grocery store. If we need transportation to get to the grocery store, we can use ride-sharing applications. Swiping right on a dating app has become a new way to look for romance. Banking with your phone, without the need to physically visit a branch office, is common practice.
If, in the past, the public did not trust technology enough, nowadays, the convenience aspects of technology outweigh the risks.
But healthcare has always been a conservative industry when it comes to technology. For the most part, this is a good thing. I’m sure you wouldn’t have liked to be treated with a fairly new drug or piece of equipment, or to be diagnosed by a robot-doctor.
On the other hand, technology has come a long way and is now more reliable, stable and trustworthy than ever. It has already penetrated the health industry, which means you are going to see more and more of it. The combination of rising costs, Amazon’s promise to go into healthcare, and the government pressure for affordable care are pushing healthcare providers to embrace technology and adapt to all the risks and benefits it brings.
Technology at its core is being used to reduce overhead cost, provide better data analysis (to facilitate better decision-making), automate human tasks, and provide comfort and convenience in our day-to-day lives. When it comes to the health industry, what we all would like to see is (in no particular order):
- Increased Access to Care – Access to care has been, and still is, a major concern throughout North America. When speaking of access to care, we oftentimes think of financial barriers to care. However, there are many other barriers that are as prevalent: Geography (distance and mobility to a healthcare provider), anxiety and even opening hours of a healthcare provider can be serious barriers for access to care.
Telehealth is quickly becoming a technological solution to resolve the above mentioned challenges and increase the ability for the general public to receive healthcare services in a way that is convenient for them. When we look at telehealth from the perspective of remote communities, it is the difference between seeing a healthcare provider and not seeing one at all.
- Better Diagnostic – We look up to doctors and expect them to be able to identify our illnesses and prescribe the treatment that would enable us to overcome them. In reality, illnesses are becoming more complex and require interdisciplinary collaboration to diagnose with better accuracy and prescribe an effective treatment. There is no way of achieving this without the use of technology.
A centralized database that will store all health information from all practitioners is the only way to provide doctors the information they need, when they need it. Having information from all healthcare providers you have visited provides a better picture of habits, complaints and parallel treatments already prescribed (without the need for the patient to remember and be able to verbalize correctly). This is crucial to be able to treat you more effectively.
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By Peter Bonis, MD, chief medical officer, clinical effectiveness, Wolters Kluwer, Health.
Unwanted care variability is harmful, global and persistent.[i] It is a complex problem that is rooted in many factors including knowledge dissemination, patient preferences, patient adherence, resource availability, technology and healthcare financing approaches. Over-, under- and inappropriate utilization potentially harms patients and contributes meaningfully to the unsustainable trajectory of healthcare costs.
Despite the systemic challenges, there are two approaches healthcare leaders can adopt in the near-term to curb this variability.
- Provide evidence-based content
In every patient encounter, clinical decisions represent the finely balanced combination of patient preferences, evidence and clinician experience. These individual decisions can contribute to care variability in a region, among a population or for a particular condition.
To address this, many healthcare organizations enlist multidisciplinary clinical committees to build guidelines or protocols to standardize care. Yet, the burden of keeping such protocols routinely updated and the challenges in promoting their adoption ends up hampering their overall effectiveness.
Turning to technology solutions in the clinical workflow that help clinicians quickly find current, evidence-based clinical and drug information can help care teams align decision making, in both familiar and unfamiliar scenarios. It is important that such content be harmonized across user types. Physicians, allied health professionals, nurses, pharmacists and patients should all have access to the same evidence-based approaches.
- Empower patients
Patient engagement tools empower people to take ownership of their health outcomes. Several approaches are available including apps, interactive multimedia and leveraging interactive voice technology.
The benefits vary with the approach and with the conditions being addressed but the impact can be clinically important. For example, prescribing educational multimedia presentations for upcoming procedures can reduce anxiety and no-shows as patients better understand what to expect. Automated, personalized follow up calls after discharge can help nursing teams track thousands of patient readings, like pain levels and weight loss, that would be difficult to achieve with human power alone.
Turnkey fixes to cure unwanted care variability remain elusive. However, solutions that empower care teams and patients to align decision making and harmonize care are a promising start.
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Artificial intelligence is poised to make a major impact on healthcare and healthcare technology. Investment in the healthcare AI sector alone is predicted to reach $6.6 billion by 2021. By 2026, that number will balloon $150 billion. And there’s no doubt about the transformative power of artificial intelligence, however, in terms of healthcare, its restorative effects are truly life changing.
Today, there’s a term in healthcare called the “iron triangle.” The iron triangle refers to three combined factors that can have negatives trade offs: affordability, access, and effectiveness. Though closely interlocked, improving one area without neglecting another is very difficult—even in modern times. With AI, the healthcare is much better equipped to tackle these conundrums. Here’s how artificial intelligence will impact the future of healthcare tech:
Prevention Intervention
One of the biggest benefits of AI in healthcare is the ability to predict potential issues and eradicate them before they become too serious. Machine learning is a major part of prevention intervention. With machine learning, computer systems are handed data and use statistical techniques to identify patterns over time and “learn” more about the information it processes. Doctors can use these targeted analytics to make more accurate diagnosis, spot potential issues before they arise, assess risks, and offer better treatment plans.
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DrChrono Inc. rolled all of the DrChrono features from iPad and iPad Pro into iPhone mobile EHR/practice management app. DrChrono EHR is fully compatible with the new iPad 7, iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. In addition, for the first time ever, a medical records app can now use Apple Pencil features.
New iPhone EHR Features
DrChrono created parity, putting all of the DrChrono features from iPad and iPad Pro into the iPhone. Using the new “Messages” icon on the DrChrono EHR on iPhone, physicians can get any information about their practice including incoming and outgoing faxes, lab results, prescription requests, referrals, and online appointments.
“Tasks” are also now available on iPhone to allow staff and physicians to track complex patient workflows. For example, if a provider orders a lab for a patient, a task can be set for the provider to follow up with that patient. On iPhone, some of the new “Tasks” features include task creation, custom statuses, categorization, filtering, searching, setting due dates, the ability to associate a task to inbox messages and/or patients and task templates for common tasks.
New iPad EHR and Apple Pencil Feature
DrChrono also supports the new seventh generation iPad, which includes a 10.2-inch retina display, support for Apple Pencil, a full-size smart keyboard, and A10 fusion chip at a $329.00 price point. DrChrono also just launched the first Apple Pencil medical record experience, allowing providers to double tap on Apple Pencil while drawing on medical record images.
“We are excited about the new iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch that were just announced. With our commitment to Apple, DrChrono just launched a big enhancement to our mobile EHR app on iPhone to ensure that we’re creating the very best experience on both iPad as well as iPhone,” said Daniel Kivatinos, Co-founder and COO of DrChrono. “We envision a world where providers can do everything on iPhone, making a physician’s life easier.” Kivatinos adds, ”It is the little things that make an amazing experience, for example the new Apple Pencil double-tap is a wow experience which allows providers to do their very best work while seeing patients.”
Eagle Telemedicine has begun a telehospitalist/telenocturnist program at Jersey Community Hospital (JCH) in Jerseyville, Ill. The rural hospital about an hour north of St. Louis now joins the more than 150 hospitals nationwide that use Eagle’s TeleHospitalist and TeleSpecialty services.
“We are pleased to welcome JCH to the Eagle family,” said Talbot “Mac” McCormick, MD, president and CEO of Eagle Telemedicine. “JCH was at a turning point, the kind of thing a lot of hospitals face today. When the private physicians were in their offices seeing patients and a full load of work in front of them, calls from the hospital encountered constant interruption, delays, and disconnect in communication. JCH took a bold step to do something different.”
JCH had faced challenges like those of many rural hospitals. Licensed for under 50 beds, it was unable to sustain a full-time onsite hospitalist program and was putting too great a strain on local physicians to share rounding and emergency calls, especially at night and on weekends. Patient retention was suffering. When its part-time hospitalist announced plans to begin semi-retirement, the hospital’s leadership knew it had to try a different approach, something that was a long-term solution.
NPs and Telehospitalists Work Collaboratively
Now with Eagle, JCH has implemented a model where onsite nurse practitioners (NPs) work collaboratively with Eagle telemedicine physicians, who provide support and guidance whenever they are needed.
“We have NPs who are the boots-on-the-ground on the medical floor,” said Michael McNear, M.D., JCH’s chief medical officer. “They are here seven days a week and are the touchpoint with the Eagle telephysicians.” Now the facility is no longer struggling to compete for physicians with larger hospitals in St. Louis and has greatly eased the burden on primary care physicians practicing in Jerseyville.
Most of the physicians on the Eagle team are in Kansas and are part of a Great Plains consortium founded to help rural hospitals in critical access areas solve staffing challenges.
Patient Transfers Already Reduced
Though it’s too early to have metrics showing the positive contribution of the Eagle program—it went live May 13—Dr. McNear says it’s clear the program has reduced the number of patients JCH was transferring to other hospitals.
“We had seen a general movement of more patients being transferred from our Emergency Room (ER) to other hospitals for several reasons, including the fact that our physicians just weren’t comfortable caring for a higher level of patients. With Eagle’s telemedicine physicians handling our admissions and our coverage, we have eliminated that. They are very experienced and comfortable with hospital medicine and caring for critically ill patients.”
Program Well-Accepted
Patients and staff have adapted well to the new program, according to Julie Smith, RN, JCH’s chief nursing officer. “After the announcement of the program at JCH, we had a lot of questions about rolling a computer robot into patient rooms,” she said. “But when the telemedicine physicians appeared on the monitor and talked with us, everyone was really impressed. When we finally went live, the patients were easily happy with the situation. There weren’t any naysayers left after the first week.”
Erin Kochan, population health director for JCH, had worked with Eagle at her previous position at HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, Ill., which has a TeleStroke/TeleNeurology program managed by Eagle. She helped JCH make the initial connection with Eagle.
“Fifteen years ago, before I got into administration, I probably would have said that telemedicine will never work,” said Dr. McNear. “But over the last 10 years, you start to see the bigger picture. These kinds of programs absolutely can work. The main thing the patient wants is to be treated well and be listened to. Wherever that comes from, they’re going to be happy.”
Humankind is prone to much insecurity. Human beings are fragile creations, and they tend to slip in and fall for various wrong things that might often land them into a tizzy.
One of these is, of course, drug addiction– a weapon from the dark side that looms a catastrophic shadow on the brightest of minds squanders aspirations of millions of young people and stops countries from growing their productivity. Yes, this problem is indeed a fatal epidemic.
Now that we are on a canvas where blotches of drug and substance abuse are ubiquitous, shouldn’t we be the ones put an end to it? Well, it’s easier said than done, and this is all the more a reason to work with the masses and put an end to drug addiction. The question that everyone asks is, how can drug addiction be stopped? We don’t have any control over the person’s cravings or his/her nerves, so what do we do? The answer is simple.
The important thing that we have to do to stop drug addiction is to kill the baby before it transcends into a gregarious monster. For that reason, it is imperative to catch symptoms of someone getting hooked to drugs and substances to refrain them from falling into its enchanting trap. And this is not only valid for people around us, our family and our friends — but to the person reading this.
Now’s the time to take over the wheel and here’s how you can make sure that you or anybody around you doesn’t give in to drug or substance addiction and you must come out unscathed too. Drug abuse is no joke, and people out there suffer from it. The fact that (if) you are sober calls for a celebration itself and this reevaluating joy should be shared among all your peers too.
Now that we know that drug addiction is all in one’s head, it should be a more straightforward task to move on from drugs. Even if you are the most rational person in the world and you took a solemn vow for yourself to never get addicted to drugs, still give it a read. It might be of help one way or another, according to drvorobjev clinic.
Here are some things individuals have to keep a check on so that they stay away from this severe and catastrophic problem of drug addiction. Read away and share of your wisdom with others, for your kind words might save a person from the evils of drug addiction.
Get your life together
We wanted to use the phrase “get your sh*t together,” but we thought it was too strong to be put out there. The biggest reason for alcohol, substance, and drug abuse is the inability of a person to cope with life’s pressures. Don’t worry, and these problems aren’t even as big as you think they might be. They are just daily life jitters that become too much to handle– something like you dropping your apartment keys while unlocking it after a tough day at work.
People often find alcohol, drugs, and various substances helpful in becoming their “escape route” from the realities of life. Many songs have tangibly brought forth how people “drink to forget” what they are going through. This is a severe test of your wits, rational thinking, and determination– stay away from drugs and alcohol as much as you can, focus on getting your life on track and never look back to lament on things.
They’re not your peers if they push you into drugs
“Here, try it once.”
This is how drug addiction kicks off in a general sense. A group of friends chilling out together, talking about things that aren’t going to change things and it’s all fun and games until one rotten fish pollutes the whole pond by pulling out drugs and substances and offering it for trial. This happens more than anything else in case of teenagers who can’t do a whole lot but get into the groove for fame. Drugs and substances are no longer dopamine releasers, and they are fashion statements too.
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Pillo Health and BLACK+DECKER today announced an ongoing collaboration to further the companies’ shared mission to help adults and their caregivers independently and proactively manage their healthcare at home. Now available, the Pria by BLACK+DECKER robot assistant is the first commercially available product created in partnership by the two companies. Pillo Health developed the innovative, proprietary technology platform that powers Pria, and BLACK+DECKER is facilitating its direct launch to consumers in need of an in-home solution to extend the circle of caregiving.
The companion robot market is expected to reach $34.1 billion by 2022 and, specifically, the smart home elderly monitoring market is projected to grow 600 percent by 2020. The Pillo Health technology bringing Pria to life leverages facial recognition and AI, enabling adults to maintain safety, independence and wellness in-home, while providing peace of mind to those who are deeply involved in their care through a mobile app. The device proactively facilitates in-home healthcare management by scheduling up to 28 medication doses, providing reminder alerts, dispensing proper medication at the proper times, and providing the user with fast access to family or caregivers with a simple voice command and built-in camera.
The partnership between BLACK+DECKER, Inc., and Pillo Health to launch Pria direct-to-consumer was executed by Stanley Healthcare, which provides innovative solutions and technology for safer, more secure and more efficient care in senior living. Pria by BLACK+DECKER will employ a comprehensive care platform designed for the 40-plus million adults in the U.S. who act as caregivers to adults aging in place. Pillo Health will market Pillo, its version of the companion, directly to healthcare providers and other organizations that want to revolutionize and improve the health and wellness of patients at home.
“Our goal is to help Pria by BLACK+DECKER address the needs of people who want to improve their quality of life and safety while living in the comfort of their own homes,” said Emanuele Musini, co-founder and CEO of Pillo Health. “Together, we’re also creating a way for caregivers to connect with loved ones in an impactful way, and broadening our portfolio of home health and wellness products that allow adults to stay in their homes longer thanks to an engaging smart device, mobile app and data catered to their individual needs.”
“Pria is the first true home care companion designed specifically to facilitate the wellbeing of independent individuals at home, while providing a platform for caregivers to monitor and manage the delivery of medication and care plans,” said Sean O’Brien, director, Health-at-Home Technologies, Stanley Healthcare. “Collaborating with Pillo Health helped us bring Pria to market quickly and collectively address two critical care-focused market segments.”
Pria by BLACK+DECKER™ is available to consumers on www.okpria.com and through select retail partners for $749.99 for the product and a one year subscription for use. For more information, visit www.okpria.com.
Pillo Health is currently seeking additional partners who are looking for new ways to improve the safety and quality of in-home healthcare. For more information, visit www.pillohealth.com.
CAQH CORE and Health Level Seven International (HL7) announce a collaboration to address long-standing healthcare industry challenges by accelerating automation and improving interoperability between administrative and clinical systems. This is the first time these two organizations, which conduct complementary work to improve the electronic exchange of data across the healthcare industry, have collaborated on solutions to specific technical and administrative burdens.
“Our collaboration will help move the healthcare industry towards greater automation and streamlined business processes,” said April Todd, senior vice president, CAQH. “We are delighted to work with HL7 to address some of the biggest interoperability issues facing the industry.”
The two organizations will initially collaborate in three areas:
- Prior Authorization: Currently, the prior authorization process is a labor intensive, time consuming, and costly administrative burden for providers and payers. It also frustrates patients and, in some cases, delays care. HL7 and CAQH CORE will collaborate to move the industry towards end-to-end automation of the prior authorization process.
- Exchange of Medical Documentation: According to the CAQH Index, 84 percent of attachments, or documents that prove medical necessity, are exchanged manually and often contain too much, too little, or the wrong type of information. This delays prior authorizations, hinders the transition to value-based payments, and costs plans and providers time and money. HL7 and CAQH CORE will work to align their respective efforts to support the electronic exchange of clinical information and medical documentation.
- Value-Based Payments: The transition to value-based payment models has been slowed by a patchwork of administrative and technical approaches and work-arounds. HL7 and CAQH CORE will work together to address the interoperability challenges causing administrative burden for innovative payment models.
“HL7 and CAQH have made great strides to improve the exchange of information in the healthcare continuum,” said Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO, HL7 International. “Our collaboration will enable better alignment and accelerate progress toward interoperability between clinical and administrative systems.”