Healthcare & Technology

Healthcare Analytics: Wired Magazine on Healthcare Costs

Wow, never thought I would see the day that an IT Periodical would speak to the costs of healthcare... 

According to Mike Miliard, Managing Editor of Wired Magazine, he spoke about a presentation by Andy Grove, former Chairman and CEO of Intel corporation, speaking via Skype at the first annual "WIRED Health Conference: Living By Numbers," issued a call to arms to free healthcare data, making his case for radical price transparency in medicine.

This call to "Free the Data" was also a major theme at the HealthDataPalooza in DC earlier this year. Why the call to free health data? "The industry, "plays a gigantic game of Blind Man’s Bluff, keeping patients in the dark while asking them to make life-and-death decisions. The odds that they will make the best choice are negligible and largely depend on chance. Patients need to have data, including costs and their own medical histories, liberated and made freely available for thorough analysis."

Making the data public is not a new concept. On CMS's website, you will find a variety of "Compare Initiatives" that are intended to inform the public with quality data about caregivers, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare agencies. A part of the National Quality Strategy is to inform the consumer with quality data to enable informed choices about their health care.

 

Healthcare Analytics: Healthcare EHR "e-bilities"

Link: Usability and Successful EHR Meaningful Use

Recently the ONC posted on the Health IT Buzz Blog about the "challenges providers face in achieving Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHRs)."

The concept of "useability" has long been known in other industries where new technology or applications enter the workplace. Some time ago I wrote about usability of health IT, however I expanded the definition to include a few more "E-bilities" as shown in the following graphic contained in the post: Part 4 of The Value of the Internet for Improving Healthcare.

This is the last post in the series and it focuses on capabilities, or "e-bilities" of technology to improve healthcare. Regardless of the mode of use (e.g. email or internet), technology must be easy to use, secure, reliable, and accessible.

For the past year, the SHARPC-Project 1 has focused on making use of technology easier for clinicians. One ONC staff member, Jacob Reider, MD had some interesting comments that focused on "The User Experience." His comments spanned the continuum of User Experience with a framework for how tools and/or applications can/should evolve.

 

Functional (it does what it is claimed to do)
Reliable (it works consistently)
Usable (it works in a way that is consistent with the user’s expectations)
Meaningful (it does something important or valuable)
Pleasurable (it is enjoyable to use)

So, I will end with one thought. Even if the system meets "Useability" standards for clinicians, achieving quality health data analytics still requires that accurate, timely and quality data is entered into the EHR avoiding the Garbage In-Garbage Out phenomenon. 

Healthcare Analytics: Patient Safety Ratings for Hospitals

Link: Kaiser Health News 

"Medicare Releases Patient Safety Ratings For Hospitals" October 17, 2011 by Jordan Rau, KHN Staff Writer, 

Medicare released a new edition of their Hospital Compare website. New data evaluates hospitals on how often their patients suffer complications. This is a new effort to compare facilities on hospital safety ratings, including incidence of medical error and patient harm.

To find a hospital on the site, type in the city and state, click on the hospital name and then select the "Patient Safety Measures" tab at the left. Hospital Compare also gives patients the option of choosing several hospitals at once. The new data covers the period between October 2008 and June 2010.

Hospital Compare was originally designed to help consumers evaluate hospitals when they are planning an inpatient stay, however, it has not been widely used by patients. The American Hospital association's Vice President, Nancy Foster said, "We believe the data is fairly seriously flawed in the way it's calculated. When inaccurate data is out there, it both misleads the public and generates a lot of activity that is unproductive in the hospital."

It is hoped that this new version will provide more accurate insight for clinicians and consumers of health care services.

Healthcare Analytics: Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records

Link:AHRQ Patient Safety Network

AHRQ recently announced availability of an Online Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records.

S.S. Jones, R. Koppel, M.S. Ridgely, T.E. Palen, S. Wu, and M.I. Harrison. Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records Prepared by RAND Corporation under Contract No. HHSA290200600017I, Task Order #5. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Rockville, MD. August, 2011.

This guide is a resource designed to help clinicians anticipate, avoid, and address problems that can occur when implementing and using an electronic health record (EHR). Taken from the page above, the contents are grouped by Modules as shown below:

Module I: Introduction to Unintended Consequences

EHRs offer many advantages, but even the most experienced implementers can face unexpected difficulties. This module provides an overview of the kinds of issues that might arise during implementation.

Module II: How to Avoid Unintended Consequences

Unintended consequences are unpredictable, but much can be learned from the experiences of other EHR implementers and users. Adhering to best practices for selecting, implementing, and using your EHR will help you avoid unintended consequences. This Module is divided into two sections: the first section will be more useful to organizations that have not yet implemented an EHR, and the second section will be more useful to current EHR users.

Module III: Understand and Identify Unintended Consequences

In the previous Module we presented information and tools for choosing, implementing and using an EHR. The tools and information in Module II can help you avoid unintended consequences; however, even if you use these practices, there will still probably be unintended consequences associated with EHR implementation and use. In this Module we will present a framework that will help you understand why unintended consequences occur, in order to help you prepare to identify and address them.

Module IV: Remediate Unintended Consequences

Module III provided tools and information to help you understand and identify unintended consequences. In this Module we provide you with tools and information that will help you pinpoint the specific causes of your EHR-related problems and that will help you remediate them.

The course also contains an Appendix with Case Examples, a Glossary, External Resources and Acknowledgements.

 

Best Patient Apps | Blog | Healthcare Informatics

Link: Best Patient Apps

Two days ago, Jennifer Prestigiacomo posted information on the blog at Healthcare Informatics about upcoming Top Tech Trends and a few interesting ideas about mobile patient applications.... I believe this trend is growing and will soon surpass expectations on use of technology at the point of care...

Below is a conceptual map that describes how I see point of care applications advancing...

We have grown from email to social media as the means to connect virtually with friends and family. Now that trend is moving into the "business" community. In fact, many hospitals across the nation are creating social media sites to share and promote healthy behaviors with the community at large. 

And... not only are individuals connecting with each other, and with healthcare services, we are taking them "on the run" with iPhone applications that can take mobile ECG readings, or vital signs measurements that are sent to physicians..

Wow... This is the new world of 21st Century Medicine... HITECH 'aint high tech enough! LOL

 

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TeleMedicine is Shared Knowledge - Why?

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To stay current on the HITECH Act and its quickly changing regulatory scheme visit the HITECH Survival Guide website and/or sign up for our free monthly compliance newsletter. Also, check out our FREE EHR Checklist.

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e-Patients on Blog Talk Radio

From e-Patients.net

In 1999, Tom Ferguson, MD, came up with the term “e-patients” to describe individuals who are equipped, enabled, empowered and engaged in their health and health care decisions. He began work on a white paper, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to describe this new development.

In 2000, Lee Rainie and I wrote the Pew Internet Project’s first health report, The Online Health Care Revolution, using the phrase “health seeker” to describe someone who used the internet for health information.

Just to remind you of the sea change we’ve been through, in the year 2000:

• 46% of American adults had access to the internet (now: 74%)
• 5% of U.S. households had broadband connections (now: 66%)
• 25% of American adults looked online for health information (now: 61%)

Listen to Susannah Fox, e-Patient Dave, and others discuss opportunities on Blog Talk Radio which aired 9/1/2010 entitled, "E-patients, Cyberchondriacs, and Why We Should Stop Calling Names"

Listen to internet radio with innovationcell on Blog Talk Radio

Smartphone boom changes physicians' relationship with technology?

Link: Smartphone boom changes physicians' relationship with technology

The "Cell Revolution" and ubiquitous internet advances in technology are expanding  communications paths among all citizens (of the world). Physicians and their move toward Smartphones, with access to patient records, is a step forward in the advancement of technology for healthcare. Having the right access, for the right clinicians, about the right patients, and at the right time (real-time) all contributes to improvements in the way healthcare can be delivered. I suggest that it can also improve patient health outcomes with the ability to make clinical decisions in real-time and access to medicine's best practices.

Why do I say that improvements in telecommunications can improve healthcare delivery? Just watch this 15 minute video from TED: Ideas worth spreading, where Clay Shirky describes the history and future of tele-communications. He speaks about history's one-to-one communication pathway through various media that has now evolved into a many-to-many communication path. He speaks about the effectiveness of the evolved communications paths using real world examples.

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Looking for a best of breed HIPAA Compliance Software?

To stay current on the HITECH Act and its quickly changing regulatory scheme visit the HITECH Survival Guide website and/or sign up for our free monthly compliance newsletter. Also, check out our FREE EHR Checklist.

If you need tools that will help with your compliance initiatives then check out the HSG Store.

Healthcare Video Advice for Patients & Caregivers

 

Link: Navigating the Health Care System: Video Advice Columns from Dr. Carolyn Clancy.

I just finished watching the first of several videos on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website (AHRQ) and I was quite impressed. Thought I would share the link.

Navigating the Health Care System

Video Advice Columns from Dr. Carolyn Clancy Patients who are involved in their health care get better quality care and better results. These videos on Navigating the Health Care System feature Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Director Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., encouraging patients to ask questions of their doctor, nurse or pharmacist and to speak up if they have concerns about medications, tests, or procedures.

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Looking for a best of breed HIPAA Compliance Software?

To stay current on the HITECH Act and its quickly changing regulatory scheme visit the HITECH Survival Guide website and/or sign up for our free monthly compliance newsletter. Also, check out our FREE EHR Checklist.

If you need tools that will help with your compliance initiatives then check out the HSG Store.

Medpedia announces Clinical Trials Search for Patients and Clinicians

Link: Clinical Trials Medpedia

What is Medpedia? I came across Medpedia some time ago and was interested in learning how the medical community created a new model (wikipedia-like) for sharing knowledge about health and medicine among medical professionals and the general public.

Today I learned that they are expanding its use to make online clinical trial searches available to the public.  Of course, any information obtained should not substitute for professional medical advice, but this capability adds a new dimension to availability of free and accessible online health information. Of course, with any public venue for health information, HITECH / HIPAA Privacy and Security rules remain in effect.

Medpedia Clinical Trials is a platform for searching clinical trials by specific condition or topic. The data is updated regularly from ClinicalTrials.gov, which is a registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. The search results provide details on a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and sometimes contact information. All members of Medpedia can leave comments on clinical trial pages. The information in Medpedia Clinical Trials should not be a substitute for professional advice or expert medical services from a qualified healthcare provider. 

More about The Medpedia Project

Medpedia provides a free online technology platform to any individual or organization that can benefit from its use, available at www.medpedia.com. Users of the platform include medical and scientific journals, medical schools, research institutes, medical associations, physicians, hospitals, for-profit and non-profit organizations, companies, expert patients, policy makers, students, non-professionals taking care of loved ones, individual medical professionals, scientists, etc.

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Looking for a best of breed HIPAA Compliance Software?

To stay current on the HITECH Act and its quickly changing regulatory scheme visit the HITECH Survival Guide website and/or sign up for our free monthly compliance newsletter. Also, check out our FREE EHR Checklist.

If you need tools that will help with your compliance initiatives then check out the HSG Store.