Technology

What we're reading, December 9, 2015: the federal government recovered $200 million from state's whose health insurance exchanges faltered; drug cocktails are responsible for majority of drug overdose deaths in Massachusetts; and healthcare organizations are not confident in their ability to share patient data while protecting patient privacy.

The challenge with data in oncology is making sense of it and connecting it in a way that clinicians can make insights that inform the care they provide patients in real time, said Robert J. Green, MD, vice president of clinical strategy and senior medical director at Flatiron Health.

This paper identified 4 factors associated with implementation success of e-consults in 8 VA medical centers, with implications for implementing similar health IT initiatives elsewhere.

Health IT—enabled information sharing promotes communication within care teams. This study examined health IT adoption rates among practices that employ nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Electronic health record adoption in US hospitals has progressed well, but small and rural hospitals remain behind and face financial penalties.

What we're reading, December 3, 2015: health spending in the US topped $3 trillion in 2014; experts debate the true impact of proposed health insurer mega-mergers; and a survey finds ICD-10 transition has been mostly without trouble.

Hospitals are facing hundreds of millions in penalties for readmissions, and they are trying coding gimmicks to avoid these. Instead, it's time send a nurse home with every discharge.

Compared with patients who had clinical encounters involving low computer use, those who experienced high computer use by their physicians were less likely to rate their care as excellent, a study reports.

Telehealth has great potential to improve access to healthcare, but the promise of the technology depends on a number of factors, such as modernization of policy frameworks and communications infrastructures.

The future of patient engagement in healthcare will be mobile, which should also help reduce healthcare disparities as more and more less-fortunate groups adopt smartphones, said Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, vice president of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare.

A weight-loss cell phone app alone did not help overweight young adults sustain weight loss any better than a written handout did.

There is an enormous medication adherence problem in the United States, and millions of people could benefit from cognitive therapy, and technology can help.

The estimated cost per quality-adjusted life year for the PCSK9 drugs is $300,000. How should health plans respond?

Using information in a patient's electronic medical record during outpatient visits for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can lead to better outcomes, according to a study in Respiratory Medicine.

Interoperability is becoming the most sought-after in healthcare, but needs further standardization.

What we're reading, November 5, 2015: defensive medicine actually does reduce malpractice risk; patients would like more options for using digital technology with their healthcare; and Americans are eating healthier.

A majority of pharmacies are committed to implementing an electronic prior authorization (ePA) solution that sends prior authorization requests electronically to the prescriber.

What we're reading, October 29, 2015: Fewer health plans will be available on HealthCare.gov in 2016; PBMs cut ties with pharmacy connected to Valeant; and emergency departments are dissatisfied with electronic health record interoperability.

Patients who had access to their PCP's progress notes had improved adherence to prescribed antihypertension medications.

What we're reading, October 28, 2015: Ben Carson plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and Medicare; a homeless shelter utilizes telemedicine to alleviate emergency department visits; and researchers uncover gender gap in post-heart attack treatment.

Getting health information technology (IT) to work in one provider system can be difficult enough, but in ACOs, they have multiple systems on different platforms, explained Joseph Gifford, MD, chief executive officer of the Providence-Swedish Health Alliance.

A new health insurance start-up aiming to aid companies with their employer-sponsored insurance raised $81 million in a new round of financing. The new funding will allow the company to expand its services beyond California in 2016.

A presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology underscored the importance of patient-centered care and the benefit of incorporating the patient voice in advanced oncology care.

A panel discussion during the 2nd PMC/BIO Solutions Summit identified barriers and discussed the path forward to improve clinical integration of precision medicine.

Managed care will become rapidly refined and driven toward more patient-reported outcomes in the future, said Christine K. Cassel, MD, president and chief executive officer of National Quality Forum.

A new study published in the journal BMJ Innovations that surveyed doctors and nurses in the United Kingdom has found routine breach of patient privacy through the use of digital devices.

The announcement covered a final rule on interoperability for creators of Health IT, and a proposal to simplify current rules for providers. Both look ahead to implementation of the new Medicare and CHIP reimbursement models.

During the early years of the "meaningful use" program, surveys found decreases in both optimism and concerns about electronic health records.

The use of telemedicine could be an alternative to visits at respiratory outpatient clinics for patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a study published in the International Journal of COPD.

Researchers in China and the United States have developed a predictive model capable of forecasting which patients will account for either small or large proportions of healthcare resource utilization in the next 6 months.