Tag: HIMSS

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

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

Healthcare IT news

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…

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Missouri drug monitoring program taps Bamboo Health for operations

Missouri drug monitoring program taps Bamboo Health for operations

Healthcare IT news

Every state but Missouri has operated a statewide prescription drug monitoring program for years. Now, the Show-Me state has come around to see the value of more advanced tracking controlled substances among registered providers.WHY IT MATTERS
Bamboo Health, which develops technologies for behavioral health and substance use disorders, says it will transition the existing Saint Louis County PDMP, which covers about 85% of the state, to a new statewide PDMP – without a complicated data migration process.
The state of Missouri will pay $1.4 million to operate Missouri’s new statewide PDMP, which will absorb the county’s data, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 
St….

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CSRI, eHealth Exchange partner up for TEFCA

CSRI, eHealth Exchange partner up for TEFCA

Healthcare IT news

eHealth Exchange this week announced that it will be partnering with the Consortium for State and Regional Interoperability – comprising the largest nonprofit health data networks in the U.S. – in its anticipated role as a Qualified Health Information Network.WHY IT MATTERSAs one of the nation’s oldest and largest health information networks, eHealth Exchange brings 13 years of experience to its planned QHIN status under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA.
That includes linking 61 regional and state health information exchanges and five federal agencies, enabling exchange across more than two…

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Geisinger solves behavioral health access problem with telemedicine

Geisinger solves behavioral health access problem with telemedicine

Healthcare IT news

Benjamin C. Gonzales, operations manager II, virtual care, at Geisinger, said the prominent health system has faced a problem that is the biggest problem in behavioral healthcare: access. And while Geisinger’s population certainly has experienced its own challenges with behavioral health access like other communities, the problem has been significantly compounded by three things.THE PROBLEM
“First and most obvious, the pandemic,” Gonzales stated. “Unsurprisingly, we experienced a surge in demand much like other specialties in our system. Before the pandemic, it was common for our department to have a couple hundred outstanding referrals.
“We quickly saw that increase to a maximum of 19,000…

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Vendor Notebook: new tools and acquisitions from OptumRx, ScionHealth, others

Vendor Notebook: new tools and acquisitions from OptumRx, ScionHealth, others

Healthcare IT news

It’s a new year, and healthcare technology vendors are rolling out their latest innovations, market approvals, acquisitions and staffing shake-ups.OptumRx launched Price Edge, a tool that compares pricing for traditional generic drugs to ensure members get the lowest prescription drug prices. A suite of new tools for both patients and providers target aspects of pharmacy logistics that have been known to delay or complicate care, such as getting real-time pharmacy benefits information and obtaining prior authorizations. In October, Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy services company, merged with data clearinghouse Change Healthcare. The U.S. Department of Justice tried to block the merger and is appealing the…

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Hyndman Area Health Center cuts IT bill in half with the cloud

Hyndman Area Health Center cuts IT bill in half with the cloud

Healthcare IT news

Hyndman Area Health Center – a holistic Pennsylvania-based health center providing family medicine, dental health, behavioral health and more – transitioned from client-hosted servers to eClinicalWorks cloud-based servers to expand its network capacity and meet a rising data demand.Since then, it has experienced a more than 150% increase in patients and has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past few years since it no longer relies on physical servers.
Healthcare IT News sat down with Bill Kurtycz, CEO of Hyndman Area Health Center, to discuss cloud technology, cloud EHRs and telehealth, and how the technologies have benefitted the provider organization.
Q….

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UChicago to launch accelerator for AI and data science companies

UChicago to launch accelerator for AI and data science companies

Healthcare IT news

The University of Chicago this week announced the creation of Transform, an accelerator for early-stage technology companies focused on data science and artificial intelligence.WHY IT MATTERSThe new program – which is part of the Deep Tech Ventures initiative at the UChicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation – aims to offer a wide array of support to startups: access to business and technical training, industry mentorship, venture capital connections, and funding opportunities
Transform is seeking two cohorts of as many as 10 companies each. Candidates should be focused on information technologies and data science: AI and machine learning, data engineering, analytics and…

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NextGen Healthcare hit by BlackCat ransomware

NextGen Healthcare hit by BlackCat ransomware

Healthcare IT news

The group, also known as ALPHV and suspected to be a successor to BlackMatter, has demanded ransoms as high as $1.5M with affiliates keeping 80-90%, according to the Office of Information Security at U.S. Health and Human Services and the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center.WHY IT MATTERS
The Russian ransomware group allegedly attacked the EHR vendor NextGen on January 17, The Washington Post reported on Monday. 
“The company says it doesn’t look like the hackers obtained any client data or patient data,” according to the Post.
Healthcare IT News reached out to NextGen for comment and will update this story if it responds.
Claiming responsibility, BlackCat “put…

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What's ahead for health IT policy and legislation in 2023 

What’s ahead for health IT policy and legislation in 2023 

Healthcare IT news

With Congress providing telehealth waivers as part of its omnibus spending bill at the close of 2022, delaying the “telehealth cliff” for two years, HIMSS says it’s now ready to make the case for permanent reimbursement of virtual care.Also on its policy agenda for the year ahead: advocating for data standardization, offering input for interoperability rulemaking and engaging with agencies and states to increase telehealth access. We spoke with the HIMSS government relations team for their thoughts on those priorities and more in 2023 and beyond.
Making telehealth’s case for cost control
Telehealth has proven to reduce burdens on healthcare providers and improve…

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Needle moving on drug monitoring program efficacy, ONC says

Needle moving on drug monitoring program efficacy, ONC says

Healthcare IT news

A new brief from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology data says that one-third of prescribers now access prescription drug-monitoring programs through their electronic health records and 62% reported they used electronic prescribing of controlled substances technologies often – up from 37% in 2019.WHY IT MATTERS
“The use of (PDMPs) and electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) technology is critical to improving opioid prescribing practices, informing treatment decisions and supporting safe and effective patient care,” wrote Chelsea Richwine and Jordan Everson in a new HealthIT blog post.
They say the new data adds to previous analyses demonstrating the benefits of the systems by…

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