Technology

The results following the implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 suggest its potential to be a model for other countries to follow when introducing new, valuable technologies.

eClinicalWorks is due to pay $155 million to settle a claim alleging that the company violated the False Claims Act, as announced by the Department of Justice on May 31.

Danny Sands, MD, and Mandi Bishop discuss use of technology to communicate with patients, medical informatics, participatory medicine, and more.

Michael Petersen, MD, of Accenture Health, discusses the opioid epidemic and how data analytics can be used to break down the silos in healthcare to better care for people addicted to opioids and to prevent further spread of the epidemic.

Healthcare organizations really need to be careful that the protected health information flow is safe and there are no vulnerable spots where that information can be accessed and cause a HIPAA violation, explained Lee Barrett, executive director of the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission.

There are 2 main ways big data has helped to advance cancer care, but the lack of interoperability in the United States limits some of the data that can be analyzed for quality purposes, explained Bobby Green, MD, MSCE, senior vice president of clinical oncology at Flatiron Health.

A study in Journal of Medical Internet Research sought to discover how technologies could encourage daily walking in this population. The researchers developed 3 prototype apps using different persuasive technology design principles: dialogue support, primary task support, and social support.

As technology becomes a standard tool in more professions, the resources used become more accessible, more protected, and provide the ability to more efficiently track progress and changes over time.

Darin Brannan, CEO, president, and co-founder of ClearDATA, may have extensive experience in Silicon Valley, but he came from a family of physicians who wanted to bring new technology into the industry to drive efficiency and prevent accidental medical errors and deaths.

Behind the scenes there are a number of advances that Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, director of the National Library of Medicine, would like to see take place to make it easier to get literature into people's hands.

Rates of e-prescribing access is higher among pharmacists than physicians, which is partly due to older physicians at the end of their career who find implementing the system cost prohibitive, explained Doug Hillblom, PharmD, president at Arena Healthcare, LLC.

Raj Toleti, CEO and founder of HealthGrid, has created patient-driven technologies to help empower them when they are accessing care.

If you want a practical definition of win-win, look no further than telemedicine. However, like any new technology, there still are challenges that must be overcome. Specifically, issues around reliability.

Teledermatology is advertised a major breakthrough in telehealth. But, is the tort system ready for widespread adoption?

The collaboration between Purdue Pharma and the Virginia Department of Health comes about 2 months after Governor Terry McAuliffe declared the state’s opioid addiction crisis a public health emergency.

The Council for Affordable Quality Health Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange is making great strides in certifying health plans for implementing electronic information exchange between payers and providers. The good news for providers is that very little is required of them to reap the benefits of these certification efforts.

The use of health information technology in small primary care practices continues to rise, but a recent study found that the extent of its adoption varies based on practice size, ownership, and financial incentives.

What we're reading, December 29, 2016: President-elect Donald J. Trump considers privatizing veterans' medical care; a new task force to improve sharing of pregnancy status data; and medical marijuana legalization reduced traffic fatalities.

What we’re reading, December 23, 2016: HHS secretary nominee Rep. Tom Price traded $300,000 in healthcare stocks while sponsoring health-related legislature; an economist and a physician suggest creation of digital health biographies; CMS hopes to incentivize cardiac rehabilitation program participation.

Until there is more data to support the outcomes of using telemedicine, payers will be more cautious about getting into reimbursing for the technology, said Anne Schmidt, MD, associate medical director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.

While health technology tools get better and better, they provide benefits for patients, but should not be there to replace clinicians, explained Helen Figge, MBA, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, senior vice president of global strategies and development at LumiraDx.

Health information technologies can be implemented without impact on patient satisfaction. The lacking synergistic relationship should be concerning to stakeholders for optimizing costs and quality.

The authors illustrate a methodology for delineating variations in medical costs for patients with similar clinical conditions and needs using electronic health record data.