A 2016 study revealed that medical errors as the third leading cause of death in America. In fact, medical errors take 251,000 lives every year which works out at almost 700 deaths per day. There is a duty of care expected from medical professional towards their patients and these figures clearly indicate the need for change within the healthcare system.
What is medical negligence?
Medical negligence comes in many forms. Some common examples of medical negligence include unnecessary surgery, misdiagnosis and medication errors. These errors have been avoided if the medical practitioner followed the standard of care expected of them.
Medical negligence: A systemic problem
Healthcare systems link hundreds of different processes, practices, procedures, and technologies to deliver safer and accurate diagnoses. In many cases, medical negligence stem from systemic issues for example a breakdown in communication when patients are passed from one department to another. While these are of course built with patient safety as the priority, the sheer complexity can lead to mistakes happening despite everyone’s best efforts.
What can medical practitioners and physicians do?
Medical practitioners and physicians can do their bit to help lower instances of medical negligence by taking the time to learn about the most commonly occurring errors. It’s also important to make the patient your partner in the diagnostic process. Poor communication can negatively impact the healthcare provider-patient relationship and damage the patient’s perception of the quality of care received.
What can patients do?
Patients can also play a role in preventing diagnostic errors before they lead to serious harm by becoming more knowledgeable themselves, asking questions and getting second opinions if necessary.
Learn more about medical negligence
If you would like to find out more about why medical negligence occurs, why not take a look at the highly informative infographic guide below from the team at Hussey Fraser Injury Solicitors.
As technology continues to develop, artificial intelligence has taken leaps from a science-fiction fantasy to being included in everyday tasks. The telehealth industry is one of the newest industries to begin utilizing artificial intelligence, affecting everything from the distribution of electronic medical cards to personable interaction. As telehealth spreads across the United States, artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful forces shaping it.
Changing Diagnosis
One of the trickiest parts of telehealth is diagnosing any illness or issue. When so many ailments share an incredible amount of symptoms, doctors and medical professionals often need patient interaction to fully diagnose an issue. Artificial intelligence has begun to find ways around this and help to deliver accurate prognoses to patients.
Massive companies like Google have set their sights on the telehealth and e-health markets in recent years. Wearables allow doctors to diagnose issues from a distance by taking vitals such as body temperature and blood pressure. The inclusion of wearable smart gadgets keeps tabs on patients to help ensure that proper treatment is being adhered to as well, logging the data to help medical professionals gather all the data they need for treatment.
Connecting Health Cards
In a world so increasingly connected to the internet, there’s been a powerful increase in the use of electronic medical cards. Artificial intelligence is being trained to help advise patients in the best card and plan for them to keep a healthy balance between care and cost. Google’s efforts to use artificial intelligence as helpful assistants to medical professionals include being updated on card plans and working with patients to keep all parties as informed as possible.
Telehealth and electronic medical cards commonly go together, mostly due to their similar nature of an online-focused existence. This means that any advance in one field is likely to be tied to the other in some way. The training of artificial intelligence for telehealth provides a massive boon for those that utilize electronic medical cards for their health plans.
Improving Communication
When a patient is put on a new medication, keeping an accurate schedule can prove challenging. Studies show that as many as half of all patients fail to take their medicine on time, or at all. This is partially because so many patients fail to remember the new part of their daily regimen, allowing the important medicine to go forgotten.
Artificial intelligence is often utilized in speakers and home-based assistants to help with reminders. A common usage is to set a time each day where the AI will inform their patient to take their medicine. Some doctors have even begun having telehealth patients log their doses with artificial intelligence programs to keep real-time tabs on whether a patient is following the instructions they were given.
Telehealth has grown considerably over the last years and shows no signs of stopping. Through the utilization of electronic medical cards, telehealth provides an excellent alternative for those who may have difficulty travelling or otherwise reaching medical help. The ever-growing internet of things draws telehealth and artificial intelligence closer into an excellent combination for patients in need.
By Meghan Marx and Jenna Phillips, healthcare experts, PA Consulting.
Meghan Marx
Now that the 2019 health insurance Open Enrollment period has concluded, healthcare industry stakeholders are watching closely for any shifts in consumer behavior regarding enrollment and the overall uninsured rate. After a record drop in the uninsured rate from 2008 to 2016 in response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the uninsured rate has begun to increase again, by 1.3 percentage points from 2016 to 2017, according to data from Gallup and Sharecare reported on the Health Affairs blog. Additionally, at the December 15 close of the 2019 open enrollment period, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that 300,000 fewer individuals enrolled for 2019 than for the previous year. Under the policies of the current administration, the trend of decreased enrollment in exchange market plans, coupled with an increase in the U.S. uninsured rate, is expected to continue.
Jenna Phillips
The uninsured rate has fluctuated over time, but factors like the Congressional repeal of the individual health insurance mandate and reduced funding for health insurance enrollment counselors to support consumers to enroll in health insurance mean that the uninsured rate is expected to climb further in 2019. The increases in the rate of uninsured may seem small, but a 1.3 percent increase in the number of uninsured Americans represents 3.2 million more adults who were uninsured in 2017, compared to 2016. While the upward trend in the uninsured rate is consistent across population segments, a few specific demographics are at especially high risk of becoming uninsured, including young adults, low-middle income earners, and Hispanics.
Here’s what we know:
Young people are less likely to purchase coverage than older adults, who tend to have higher healthcare utilization. The 18 to 25 age bracket was the least likely demographic group to have health insurance in 2017, while those aged 65 and older were the most likely group to be covered. Notable is the 2.9 percent rate difference in coverage of individuals who are 25 to 26 years old, the age when parent’s health plans end coverage, an option guaranteed under the ACA.
Lower rates of employment and education are also associated with lower rates of health insurance enrollment. Low wages for unskilled labor are typically paid on an hourly basis, rather than as an annual salary, and employees in this situation may struggle to secure work with healthcare benefits. As a result, there is a lower rate of access to employer-sponsored coverage. While the poorest individuals and families qualify for government-sponsored coverage, there is a sizeable segment of the population that cannot afford to purchase commercial insurance but is disqualified from Medicaid based on income or personal assets.
In 2017, Hispanic Americans had the lowest coverage rate of any U.S. demographic, at 83.9 percent, and the lowest rate of private insurance coverage, at just 53.5 percent. This gap in the insured rate was especially apparent in states where Medicaid has not been expanded to cover the undocumented population. Language and cultural barriers and economic disempowerment might also have exacerbated the disparity of coverage between Hispanics and other racial groups.
In the seventh annual Health IT Industry Outlook Survey conducted by Stoltenberg Consulting Inc., 42 percent of health IT leaders rate updating technology to improve the patient experience as the top objective for 2019, followed by measuring improvement in patient care (33 percent).
Coinciding with this pivotal focus on empowering the patient care journey, 45 percent of respondents identify value-based care as the most significant, pressing topic in healthcare this year, followed by artificial intelligence (26 percent) and cybersecurity (20 percent). Meanwhile, leveraging meaningful patient data (32 percent) serves as the largest overall hurdle for health IT teams in 2019, followed closely by ineffective IT or EHR operations (29 percent).
In the push to gain true value in value-based care initiatives, lack of system interoperability stands as the biggest operational burden for healthcare organizations (54 percent), followed by rising overhead and staff costs (17 percent), financial reimbursements (15 percent) and EHR burnout or reporting burden (14 percent).
Dan O’Connor
“Thanks to the continuing industry push for healthcare interoperability, significant progress is starting to come to fruition,” said Dan O’Connor, vice president of client relations at Stoltenberg Consulting. “We’re now seeing a clearer picture of how different players across the care spectrum will be held accountable to drive more transparent, engaged patient care journeys, which in turn will help healthcare providers meet their organizational goals.”
Other key survey findings indicate that despite nearly universal initial adoption across the country, EHR and application implementation support (34 percent) remains the top 2019 IT outsourcing request, followed by optimization work (27 percent), legacy system support (22 percent) and help desk support (17 percent). Yet, with current IT training offered, 63 percent of respondents say they feel “unprepared” or “very unprepared” to manage and execute effective IT operations within their healthcare facilities.
Stoltenberg conducted the survey at the 2019 Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Orlando. More than 300 survey participants represented a comprehensive spectrum of provider facilities, including health systems, standalone hospitals, physician practices and other ambulatory care facilities. Clinical IT professionals led survey participation (38 percent), while executive/C-suite leaders followed closely behind (36 percent).
For a complete look at the 2019 survey results and analysis, visit www.stoltenberg.com.
New data on the state of value-based care in oncology has found that while community oncologists are optimistic about the beneficial potential of value-based care, they see a conflict between the need to decrease episode costs and the rising prices of the most innovative novel therapies.
In an effort to dig deeper into current attitudes toward new value-based reimbursement models and novel therapies in cancer care, Integra Connect surveyed leaders and decision-makers in oncology practices. Respondents represented practices with approximately 530 community oncologists, all of whom are participating in value-based care programs.
The survey results yield useful insights into how oncologists are dealing with rising drug costs in the era of value-based care, which makes practices financially accountable for improving the quality of patient care while also lowering the overall costs of cancer episodes. As drug prices continue to increase to new levels, driven in part by groundbreaking therapies, respondents indicated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep costs below value-based care program targets.
Other key themes surfaced by the survey include: expectations for the future of value-based cancer care; how drug costs are affecting treatment behaviors; what oncologists need from pharmaceutical manufacturers; the influence and effect of care pathways; and the value of and vision for precision medicine.
The number one challenge for making value-based care work: Rising drug costs
When asked about the number one challenge for making value-based care succeed in oncology, the majority of respondents (57 percent) cited managing the rising cost of drugs, including promising but expensive novel therapies. Beyond the context of value-based care, 93 percent of oncologists describe increasing drug costs as a priority issue impacting the overall well-being of their practices.
Value-based care is driving changes in cancer treatment choices
With oncologists increasingly accountable for the cost of entire episodes of care, a full 87 percent of survey respondents said that value-based care is causing them to think differently about drug choices, compared to their approaches during the fee-for-service era. When it comes to the choice of drug for an individual patient’s treatment regimen, oncologists assert that they remain as committed as ever to delivering the best clinical outcomes, regardless of impact on episode cost.
Nonetheless, more than three-quarters of oncologists indicated that they are making changes to how they and their practices choose treatment regimens under value-based care programs. A sizeable group (38 percent) says that it may change drug choices and opt for lower-cost therapies, but only when efficacy and toxicity remain the same. An equal percentage of oncologists voiced a desire to develop a deeper understanding of drug value, not just cost, that helps them understand the patient impact of therapies on an individualized level.
Jane Smith, a 53-year-old diabetic patient, goes to her kitchen to grab a glass of water when she suddenly feels dizzy. She grabs her portable, battery-operated blood glucose monitor to check her blood sugar level and finds it is higher than usual. The HbA1c level from the device is immediately sent to her care team, who are connected with her via a common digital platform.
Her care coordinator calls and advises her to take an insulin shot at the earliest. Within a few minutes, she is visited by a nurse who assists in giving her the insulin received from the pharmacy. Jane is also asked to see her PCP as soon as possible. A week later when she consults her PCP, he is already aware of her medical condition and the medication dosage she received the other day. He looks at her profile on his EHR and marks the care gap that was created as closed.
Now, Jane, her care team, the PCP, the hospital, and the pharmacy can look into her medical records and manage her care with a few clicks on this online platform; and Jane herself has enough clinical insights to make an informed decision about her care.
Does all of this seem like a far-fetched dream?
Healthcare technology has birthed many dreams and turned them into a reality. And yet, it lacks the capability to share clinical data efficiently at the exact moment of care.
What do we want from 100 percent interoperability?
When we talk about technology, the first thing that pops into our heads is Google. It’s an absolute comfort when we get a notification on our calendars that we might be late for an upcoming meeting. This is not rocket science, just two different products interacting on the same layer of a platform to make our lives simpler.
By Alison Arthur, product and content marketing manager, Alacriti.
The financial well-being of healthcare organizations depends on steady, predictable revenue from their patients. However, healthcare payments are often impacted by a number of financial factors including insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and co-insurance.
Research from TransUnion shows that patients are becoming increasingly responsible for out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures. This means that the possibility of missed bill payments can increase as well. Healthcare providers know that sending unpaid bills to collections can be a significant expense and even lead to costly write-offs that negatively impact the bottom line.
How can healthcare organizations increase the likelihood of collecting patient payments on-time and in-full? Digital bill presentment and electronic payment technology can be a chief facilitator of timely bill payments. Here are some dos and don’ts for healthcare organizations to consider when adopting an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution.
Do allow patients to personalize their digital bill payments experience.
Consumers are growing more accustomed to electronic payments in all aspects of their lives. However, many healthcare providers still aren’t equipped to accept online payments from their patients. This continued reliance on in-person payments, agent-assisted transactions, and mailed payments can put a strain on internal resources that costs both time and money. In addition, there are security and compliance implications when employees handle sensitive payment information directly from patients.
EBPP technology can provide patients 24/7 accessibility to their accounts, meaning that patient payments no longer need to be processed exclusively during office hours. These payments can be made using a variety of digital channels that are aligned with patients’ preferences including mobile devices, text messages, and intelligent personal assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
DirectTrust is pleased to announce the inaugural DirectTrust Summit to be held at the Marriott Suites Midtown in Atlanta, GA, June 10-11. The event will bring health care industry leaders together to share ideas and best practices around improving health information exchange and interoperability. DirectTrust is a nonprofit healthcare industry alliance created to advance the electronic sharing of protected health information (PHI) between provider organizations, and between providers and patients, for the purpose of improved transitions of care, care efficiency and coordination, patient satisfaction and reducing healthcare cost.
Scott Stuewe
“We’re thrilled to be launching the DirectTrust Summit,” said Scott Stuewe, DirectTrust president and CEO. “The electronic sharing of health information is rapidly evolving, highly regulated, and holds great promise for all involved. Our intention with this Summit is to look to the future; to build awareness and understanding of the many elements involved in and influencing the electronic sharing of health information, and to foster collaboration between DirectTrust members and DirectTrust members with non-members. Our goal is to help advance the industry’s progress toward achieving secure exchange among provider organizations, and between providers and patients nationwide.”
The Summit is open to both DirectTrust members and non-members. The two-day event will feature a soon-to-be-announced keynote speaker focusing on policy and trust frameworks under the 21st Century Cures Act. Additionally, attendees will hear from two panels and have the choice of attending one of two breakout sessions. The panels include:
To FHIR and Beyond:The Future of Trust in Healthcare — A diverse group of experts on healthcare policy, standards, security, interoperability, and identity will discuss the role these elements play in establishing and maintaining trust in the healthcare ecosystem. Specifically, this group will debate how DirectTrust standards and policies can or should be extended for use with APIs and the app economy, FHIR, healthcare device integration, instant messaging, release of information, and the development of a comprehensive healthcare directory, among other topics.
The Role of Identity in Healthcare Exchange and Communications –– Identity, technology and security experts from within and outside of the DirectTrust community will discuss the challenges and solutions for successfully identifying organizations, individuals and machines in a scalable fashion. The group will discuss the extent to which technology and a trust framework can conform with new NIST guidelines for identity proofing to enable the successful and reliable identification of millions of consumers in particular. The group will also help tease apart the separate but related topic of patient matching from identity.
The full slate of speakers will be announced in the next few weeks. Additional information about the Summit may be found here or at bit.ly/DTSummit2019.
As technology continues to develop, artificial intelligence has taken leaps from a science-fiction fantasy to being included in everyday tasks. The telehealth industry is one of the newest 
The financial well-being of healthcare organizations depends on steady, predictable revenue from their patients. However, healthcare payments are often impacted by a number of financial factors including insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and co-insurance.