Intermountain and Story Health partner on specialty care for heart failure

Intermountain and Story Health partner on specialty care for heart failure

Intermountain Health is looking to artificial intelligence and high-touch coaching to increase care personalization and medication adherence for patients with heart failure.WHY IT MATTERS 
Coaches from Story Health, which helps develop personalized care plans using clinical data, will be available to answer Intermountain patients’ questions via text or call. They’ll also remind them about essential medication changes and ensure that vascular patients have access to the medications they need between visits.
“Patients have long journeys with their health, and a significant part of that journey takes place after they leave the clinician’s office,” said Tom Stanis, CEO and cofounder of Story Health, in…

Continue Reading
E-prescribing now live at Northern Health's mental health services

E-prescribing now live at Northern Health’s mental health services

Melbourne-based Northern Health has started rolling out electronic prescribing at its Mental Health Division and outpatient clinics. The cloud-based e-prescribing platform by MediRecords has just been integrated with its PAS and clinical patient folder (CPF) software, according to a media release.
WHY IT MATTERS
This latest implementation of the MediRecords cloud platform allows e-prescriptions to be sent instantly to patients or their carers. It also comes with a QR code to be scanned at pharmacies for dispensing, providing mental health patients with quicker access to new and repeat medications.
The adoption of this FHIR-based technology also means doctors no longer have to search a second…

Continue Reading
Australian Health Dep't failed to manage risks in expanding telehealth: state auditor

Australian Health Dep’t failed to manage risks in expanding telehealth: state auditor

The Australian National Audit Office has conducted a review of the expansion of telehealth services across the country by the Department of Health and Aged Care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.FINDINGS
Based on the state audit, the department fell short in governance, risk management, and evaluation of the telehealth expansion. 
While it made “significant” changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), the expanded telehealth services were “only partly supported by sound implementation arrangements.” 
The audit found that it did not require key implementation decisions and plans to be documented. 
It was also noted that the department did not manage implementation risks associated with temporary…

Continue Reading
Johns Hopkins AI models predict ICU delirium risk

Johns Hopkins AI models predict ICU delirium risk

Two dynamic analytics models developed at Johns Hopkins University predicted delirium-prone patients when tested on two datasets drawn from 100,000 stays at a Boston hospital’s intensive care unit, according to new research.WHY IT MATTERS
Delirium – sudden bouts of confusion, inattention, paranoia, agitation and hallucinations – can put patients at higher risk of prolonged hospitalization, future dementia and death. By forecasting delirium, alerted clinicians could apply countermeasures that can mitigate adverse outcomes, according to the premise of artificial intelligence research published in Anesthesiology. 
“For a lot of these physiological transitions, we think that there are early warning signs that may not be obvious…

Continue Reading
Remote therapeutic monitoring is reimbursable – here's what you need to know

Remote therapeutic monitoring is reimbursable – here’s what you need to know

Ever since CMS released the new CPT codes for remote therapeutic monitoring last year, health systems have been eager to use them, but unsure of the criteria. Providers are acknowledged for the time they spend connecting with patients outside of the office.With the new CPT codes, providers can get reimbursed for:

Educating patients on how to use a remote care-management platform.

Monitoring a platform’s alerts and patients’ use of remote education.

Direct patient/provider messaging within the platform.

Data collection via the platform, i.e., collecting patient feedback on pain levels, activity and motion.

To qualify for reimbursable RTM, providers need to use software deemed a medical device…

Continue Reading
Third-party data breach round-up: mscripts, Diligent, Mailchimp

Third-party data breach round-up: mscripts, Diligent, Mailchimp

This month, more than 114,000 individuals may have experienced personally identifiable information and protected health information exposures from these incidents, while an email marketing hack is a new source for phishing attacks.Medication adherence platform mscripts breached
On January 17, mscripts, a cloud-based mobile pharmacy platform that focuses on patient engagement and medication adherence solutions, reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unauthorized access/disclosure that involved protected health information of 66,372 individuals, according to the Office for Civil Rights cases under investigation list.
The San Francisco-based platform, owned by Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health, uses interactive SMS messaging and branded mobile apps to…

Continue Reading
FBI disrupts Hive ransomware: Hospitals among those spared

FBI disrupts Hive ransomware: Hospitals among those spared

Beginning this past July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation – with the assistance of overseas law enforcement agencies from Canada to Lithuania and victimized asset operators across various sectors – seized the servers and websites of the Hive ransomware network, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced on Thursday. The disruption makes hospitals safer against high-impact ransomware attacks, says the American Hospital Association.
Hive networks seized
The U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said yesterday that on the evening of January 25, a months-long investigation led to the seizure of Hive’s websites and servers. 
The FBI first gained access to Hive’s computer networks, then captured its decryption keys and offered…

Continue Reading
Gaming tech is being used for dementia treatment

Gaming tech is being used for dementia treatment

Research shows that apathy is a significant challenge for people living with dementia. They lose the ability to take initiative, which has an enormous effect on their emotional and physical wellbeing. This makes the disorder much harder to treat.THE PROBLEM
Andrus on Hudson, based in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, serves and cares for individuals (“residents,” to reflect the environment in which they receive care) who have various types of dementia. One of the primary challenges caregivers and residents face are negative behaviors that occur when there are downtimes during the day and/or the sundown window.
These negative behaviors include agitation and wandering. While AOH uses…

Continue Reading
Omaha program uses HIE tech to improve postpartum care for minority parents and children

Omaha program uses HIE tech to improve postpartum care for minority parents and children

CyncHealth, Collective Medical and Innsena are being recognized by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Racial Equity in Postpartum Care Challenge, including federal funding of $40,000, for their postpartum care program in Omaha.Pregnancy-related deaths are three to four times more common among minorities than among Caucasian women, even among those with a college degree. This program improves postpartum care for Black and Indigenous parents and children with high-risk conditions who participate in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and significantly reduces maternal and neonatal mortality.
Out of the 25 winners recognized by HHS, this program is the only one using health…

Continue Reading
Orlando Health to launch AI-driven hospital-at-home services

Orlando Health to launch AI-driven hospital-at-home services

Data from the new hospital-at-home platform will be accessible through Orlando Health’s Epic electronic health records through a multiyear agreement with the connected health and digital therapeutics company.WHY IT MATTERS
Orlando Health – a nonprofit health system with 18 hospitals and emergency rooms, with five in development, serving the southeastern United States – is expected to launch the new advanced remote patient monitoring capabilities in early 2023.
Adding a virtual provider network can improve patient outcomes, prevent hospital readmissions, accelerate drug development and close critical gaps in care, according to the Biofourmis announcement. 
The data-driven platform takes physiological signal data from patient sensors – like…

Continue Reading