Guest post by Cassie Phillips, an online security blogger, who writes about the best Internet privacy apps.
Cassie Phillips
App technology is revolutionizing the world. The sudden rise to popularity of the smartphone and tablet has put more power in our hands and more information at our fingertips than ever before. This has opened up a world of opportunities in many different fields, and medicine is no exception to that rule.
For health professionals, the vast quantity of ever-changing knowledge required to do the job properly has always been one of the most trying elements of the work. Now, there are many apps available that allow quick and easy access to a wealth of information at the push of a button. Here are just seven of the many offered.
Medscape
Designed and brought to you by the creators of WebMD, this app has been hailed as one of the best for reference and diagnosis assistance. Available for free download for both Android and iOS, it is an incredible tool with many features including drug identification and information, in depth patient care tutorials, disease and condition referencing and up-to-date medical education courses. This app is a vital medical resource for medical students and professionals alike and has a huge part to play in the electronic modernization of healthcare.
3D4 Medical
This clever piece of software allows you to explore anatomy like never before. With intricate on-screen models of all parts and elements of human anatomy, this is a valuable tool that gives healthcare professionals a chance to take a look inside the body. It’s completely anatomically accurate and uses impressive 3D technology.
Alongside this, it has features to customize body parts and add labels, which makes it a perfect assistant for keeping track of cases. It also offers tutorials and introductory anatomy lessons, which are great for medical students or anyone wanting to refresh their knowledge.
ReferralMD
When working in healthcare, it’s not just the patients that you have to worry about. All treatments come at a cost and as much as many of us would like that not to be the case, it’s a fact that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Trying to balance treatment costs can be a nightmare but ReferralMD is a great app that cuts your budget dramatically through one simple idea—optimizing referral communication. By moving all referrals to this app, a vast amount of money is saved through paper and fax machine expenses. It also ensures immediate processing of the request, which avoids handling costs.
Guest post by Robert Williams, MBA/PMP, CEO, goPMO, Inc.
Robert Williams
I continue to view 2016 as a shakeup year in healthcare IT. We’ve spent the last five plus years coming to grips with the new normal of meaningful use, HIPAA and EMR adoption, integrated with the desire to transform the healthcare business model from volume to value. After the billions of dollars spent on electronic health records and hospital/provider acquisitions we see our customers looking around and asking how have we really benefited and what is still left to accomplish.
All politics is local
Our healthcare providers are realizing their clinical applications, specifically EMR vendors, are not going to resolve interoperability by themselves. When the interoperability group, CommonWell formed in 2013 much of the market believed the combination of such significant players (Cerner, Allscripts, McKesson, Athenahealth and others) would utilize their strength to accelerate interoperability across systems. Almost three years late CommonWell only has a dozen pilot sites in operation.
Evolving HL7 standards and a whole generation of software applications are allowing individul hospitals to take the task of interoperability away from traditional clinical applications and creating connectivity themselves.
Help wanted
Black Book’s survey published last month, stated that three out of every four hospitals with more than 300 beds are outsourcing IT solutions. Hospitals have been traditionally understaffed to meet the onslaught of federal requirements. Can they evolve into product deployment organizations as well? Across all the expertise they need within the organization? Most are saying no and searching out specialty services organizations to supplement their existing expertise and staff.
Are you going to eat that?
Patient engagement is on fire right now at the federal level (thank you meaningful use Stage 3), in investment dollars and within the provider
community. But to truly manage hospital re-admissions and select chronic diseases (diabetes, obesity and congestive heart failure for example)
providers need data and trend analysis on daily consumer behavior. The rise of wearable technology and the ability to capture data/analyze data from them will be a major focus going forward. These technologies will likely help to make us healthier but with a bit of big brother side affect.
Guest post by Mohan Balachandran, co-founder and president, Catalyze.
Mohan Balachandran
As we look back upon 2015, we can reflect, review and based on that and other factors, make some predictions about what next year will bring us. John Halamka had an interesting post that reflect on the bigger challenges, such as ICD-10, the Accountable Care Act and its implications on data analytics, the HIPAA omnibus rule and its impact on cybersecurity and audits and the emergence of the Cloud as a viable option in healthcare. We can expect to see some of these trends continue and grow in 2016. So based on these key learnings from 2015, here are a few predictions for 2016.
Cybersecurity will become even more important
In 2015, insurers and medical device manufacturers got a serious wake up call about the importance and cost of cybersecurity lapses. Healthcare data will increasingly be looked at as strategic data because we can always get a new credit card but since diagnoses cannot change, the possibilities of misuse are significant. Just as the financial industry has settled on PCI as the standard, expect the healthcare industry to get together to define and promote a standard and an associated certification. HITRUST appears to be the leader and recent announcements are likely to further cement it as the healthcare security standard. Given all that, one can safely expect spending on cybersecurity to increase.
IoT will get a dose of reality
The so-called Internet of Things has been undergoing a boom of late. However, the value from it, especially as applied to quantifiable improvement in patient outcomes or improved care has been lacking. Detractors point out that the quantified-self movement while valuable, self selects the healthiest population and doesn’t do much to address the needs of older populations suffering from multiple chronic diseases. Expect to see more targeted IoT solutions such as that offered by those like Propeller Health that focus on specific conditions, have clear value propositions, savings, and offer more than just a device. Expect some moves from Fitbit and others who have raised lots of recent cash in terms of new product announcements and possible acquisitions.
Electronic health records (EHRs) were supposed to transform the healthcare industry in the same way that digital technology has transformed the rest of our lives – organize and simplify. EHRs held the promise of easier access to patient health history, greater patient engagement, and improved clinical decision making and outcomes. And yet, despite the potential, electronic health records thus far have proven to be just another industry headache. Doctors contend with complicated and incompatible systems that stifle collaboration and enhanced patient care. Patients lack adequate access to their own records and methods to conveniently communicate with their care team.
While patients and doctors struggle, EHR system vendors benefit from the stagnant and uncompetitive market, charging exorbitant installation and maintenance fees, with no real incentive to innovate. It is a broken system, but it can be fixed, with the tech industry’s penchant for disruptive innovation. There is great opportunity for tech companies to develop fixes that will benefit customers and reignite development in digital healthcare.
Electronic medical records are currently locked away in walled gardens that inhibit vital information exchange between care team members and patients. These walls need to be broken down to allow for the collaboration that patients expect between their care team members. EHRs based on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms would allow vendors and medical providers to cut installation and maintenance costs, while offering genuine compatibility and simplicity. SaaS platforms are also cost efficient, with transaction-based business models that only require subscription and access fees. A SaaS health record system would be cost-effective, compatible, and ultimately serve the doctors and their patients.
Currently, one patient can have several associated identifiers from different physicians, hospitals and EHR vendors. Data is often duplicated and workflow becomes complicated for providers. An industry-wide standard could work, but there is no guarantee that a solution can be selected and implemented nationwide in a timely manner. An outside approach would offer much-needed perspective and an injection of fresh ideas into the conversation. Silicon Valley could assist by developing simpler, tech-based solutions, with industry stakeholders providing input. For instance, a master patient index, successfully driven by heuristic real-time matching algorithms, would offer similar functionality to the universal account log-ins offered by Facebook and Google and further simplify access to electronic health records.
EHRs should behave more like part of a “clinical network” that combines simplified workflows with stronger communications. Lab tests, referrals, pre-authorizations and results can be delivered instantly, retooling today’s overcomplicated systems with a more effective transactional eco-system. The network simplifies physicians’ day-to-day activities, and aggregates the collected data into an electronic health record. Tapping into the success of social and business platforms, such as Facebook Messenger and Slack, secure communication between patients and their complete care team, built around these universal health records, adds a layer of proactive care management that was previously unattainable.
As any holiday TV-loving baby boomer can attest, the island of misfit toys is not a happy place. In the 1964 stop-motion animated television show, “unwanted” were destined to live out their toy lives without the joy of playtime with the child they were built to please. Unfortunately, some EHR products share certain misfit qualities which can make their use more difficult for a busy provider.
So how do you know if you are using a misfit EHR? Here are a few signs:
There is little to no communication with others or outside entities, and you are stuck with the same, less than perfect software environment that is dysfunctional and aging fast.
No one calls to see how your EHR is doing and no one responds to your outcries for help.
Sound familiar? This is essentially your situation when you have committed to an outdated and under-supported EHR system for your practice. You are land-locked by an older system that is not cloud-based or does not leverage the many cloud resources for communication and interoperability.
So, your technology is old, the code base has been put on the shelf by the EHR vendor and no updates are coming. This is despite the rapid changes surrounding your practice and the healthcare industry in general.
You feel isolated, and when you call for support you get little to no relief, as the vendor has moved on to bigger and better customers. In the TV show, Santa promised to come back to save the misfits, just as your EHR vendor promised customized support, ongoing upgrades and improved efficiency. But the costs are prohibitive and your confidence in the vendor is low.
Maybe it is time to get off the island, and hitch a ride with a new vendor. If a new EHR is on your holiday list, here some criteria you should consider:
Cloud-Based Platform
Leverage the power of the cloud to connect to labs, e-prescribing networks, HIEs and other data hubs such as the Commonwell Health Alliance. With a cloud-based EHR system these connections are built into the application, and any new features or connections to other entities become available to all users, no upgrades, no updates required to your infrastructure.
Don’t buy expensive hardware, servers and IT support staff to manage them. All you need to run a cloud-based EHR is a desktop web browser or mobile device.
By 2050, the world population will grow to more than nine billion people, according to the U.S. Census. As our world grows more diverse, so do the languages associated with different populations. Today, there are at least 6,909 distinct, known languages, and as globalization continues to grow, the number of non-native English speaking people living in the United States will grow in parallel. For the healthcare industry, this means hospitals and health systems must think about how this plays into patient engagement and care. Communication is crucial to managing patient relationships, caring for patients and working with their families to follow treatment plans correctly.
U.S. law requires hospitals to provide medically trained interpreters for patients with limited-English proficiency. This requirement aims to bridge the patients’ needs with how physicians plan to care for these needs.
How do healthcare organizations acquire interpreters?
When it comes to providing interpretive services, healthcare organizations have several options. Some hospitals that have significant limited English proficiency (LEP) populations keep interpreters on staff. Others rely on relationships with interpretation agencies to bring in interpreters as needed. Many facilities use remote, on-demand interpreters either over-the-phone or on video. More often than not a hospital will rely on a combination of these resources.
Perhaps the most important component of any language access network in healthcare is agility. Take the incoming Syrian refugee population – suddenly Arabic interpreters are in demand in areas they never worked in before. Healthcare facilities have to remain nimble to meet their patients’ needs. Interpretation needs can change over night, and hospitals need to be ready to respond.
Guest post by Mohd Haque, vice president and global business head, healthcare, Wipro Technologies.
Mohd Haque
Population health management (PHM) isn’t just the latest buzzword. Or a new initiative mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Implementing a successful PHM program requires a complete shift in mindset from volume healthcare to value-based and outcome-based. PHM can’t be something that your healthcare facility “does,” but it must become the cornerstone of everything related to how your facility practices medicine.
Although the shift in perspective is the first step, it is essential to arm yourself with Population Health Management IT tools as well. According to 26th Annual HIMSS Study, half of the respondents (51 percent) have improved PHM through IT tools with only 38 percent saying that their organization was using specific Population Health Management tools.
By using big data analytics, EHR integration, IT infrastructure and security as part of a PHM program, providers can ensure patients that need high levels of care aren’t overlooked and the lower risk patients don’t get unnecessary care. This will in turn increase quality of care while saving money on interventions needed for low risk patients.
What are the Components of Effective PHM Program?
Since PHM is such a large shift, it is important to know exactly how to go about creating an environment that focuses on outcomes instead of volume. Population Health Alliance recommends the following four components to a PHM program:
Assessment – Evaluate each patient’s health and assign patients to a risk group (high to low)
Stratification – Provide the same interventions for everyone in the same risk group
Person-Centered Intervention – Provide interventions based on each specific patient’s needs, including community health research
Impact Evaluation – Determine the impact of interventions for each risk group as well as each individual patient
However, you can’t simply change the process without changing how each person on the team views healthcare and their patients. It must be a fundamental shift in your facility from the receptionist to the department chief.
Jessica Kane, professional blogger who writes about technology and other gadgets and gizmos aplenty, currently writing for Total Voice Tech.
Jessica Kane
Voice recognition has come a long way since its early days when you had to train a computer to recognize your voice and speak in a very flat and monotone voice. As voice recognition increases in popularity and use, it’s going to increasingly find its way into the medical field. Voice recognition software is used in an increasingly large number of hospitals since it provides an easy to access transcript of past medical history.
The Role of Voice Recognition in Healthcare
Voice dictation software is slowly replacing the role that a medical transcriber used to play. By moving away from a transcriber, the doctor is placed in a position where they have greater control over their patient records. When documentation is more in control of the physician in charge, there is less processing involved and the documents are ready for distribution at a much faster rate. This can be a significant advantage for patients who need to have medical records quickly shared between various doctors. Voice recognition’s main role in medicine is to provide better and more efficient documentation.
The Merits of Voice Recognition in Healthcare
In terms of employment for medical transcribers, the practice of using voice recognition software to quickly transcribe records could be problematic. However, trusting medical transcriptions to a voice recognition program might not be the most responsible solution either. A human being should still review the records before submission to make the records are accurate and suitable for distribution. By incorporating a human component in the document creation process, it helps to reduce the chance for errors in the documentation process while still saving time.
The Reduction of Handwriting Mistakes
The issue of illegible handwriting is a serious issue in medical documentation. When documentation can’t be deciphered, valuable information may get lost or distorted. Speech-to-text methods of creating documentation may create fewer issues, especially if a medical transcriber listens to a recorded version of the transcript to check the medical documentation.
