Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.
News
Three Democratic Senators have introduced legislation to expand protections for Americans’ personal health data privacy. Sponsored by Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), the Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act would would ban advertisers from using personal health data and prevent data brokerages from amassing patient location data.
The latest data brief from ONC shows that 87% of office-based physicians used telemedicine in 2021, compared to just 15% in 2018 – though the majority (53%) used if for less than 25% of their total visit volume. Small practices were less likely to use the technology than larger offices or health systems, though the ONC data saw rural and urban physicians adapting telehealth at similar rates. Physicians using telemedicine platforms reported a higher quality of care and overall satisfaction than those using audio-only telemedicine or video conferencing platforms.
Reports
By the middle of 2022, behavioral health visit volume was 18% higher that pre-pandemic levels, according to an analysis from Trilliant Health. Since 2019, visit volume increased the most for diagnoses of eating disorders (at 53%), anxiety (48%), substance use disorders (27%), and depression (24%). Though telehealth adoption helped lead to a slight decrease in behavioral health visits as a share of all emergency department visits, half of patients who visited the ED for depression or anxiety did not receive follow-up care within 60 days.
Though cloud computing has brought many gains to healthcare, a recent report from Blancco Technology Group noted that 65% of organizations are now collecting more redundant, obsolete, or trivial data since the cloud makes data management easier. The same percentage of organizations were more confident in managing data at the end of its life on premises as opposed to in the cloud, and only 55% of organizations had adopted what Blancco described as a “mature data classification model.”
ED labor costs have climbed 50% in the last three years, according to the latest trends report from Syntellis Performance Solutions. Median labor expenses peaked at $230 per visit in February 2002 during the Omicron surge. The good news about year-over-year margins (up 3.7% in January 2023 compared to January 2022) was offset by bad news about month-over-month margins (down 2.2% from December to January).
Partnerships
- Health information network Health Gorilla has partnered with CLEAR to launch an identity verification platform that lets patients access their PHI. The program is launching with Puerto Rico’s HIE.
- Pharmaceutical and lab distributor Cardinal Health is collaborating with Signify Health to offer in-home clinical and medication management services.
- Oncology data and analytics company COTA is partnering with the Genomic Testing Cooperative to support precision cancer research.
- Real-world evidence provider Atropos Health has teamed with OMNY Health to improve data sharing among patients, providers, and life sciences companies.
Products
- Inovalon launched Converged Outreach for coordinated patient outreach and engagement.
- Pegasystems enhanced Pega Foundation for Healthcare with workflow automation, real-time updates, and care gap identification.
- Health Payment Systems announced that PayMedix increases cash yield for healthcare organizations as much as 9.5%.
- RxBenefits launched two patient assistance products aimed at increasing access to and reducing costs of specialty drugs.
- Users of Lark Health’s Heart Health program demonstrated a 17% increase in confidence in knowing when to call their doctor and a 20% increase in confidence in getting regular aerobic exercise.
- Five in six (84%) of patients receiving care via asynchronous telehealth would do it again, according to research from Bright.MD.
- Veda launched Vectyr: Data Curation, a provider database that includes more than 50 data variables.
- Opkit launched its automated insurance verification platform for telehealth companies and virtual medical clinics.
- Maryland HIE CRISP is expanding availability of its Medicaid Redetermination Notification project to all interested providers in the state.
- Honeywell released a self-testing smoke detector for use in hospitals and other large buildings.
Sales
- Missouri-based federally qualified health center ACCESS Family Care transitioned to eClinicalWorks.
- New Jersey-based Valley Health System is implementing MEDITECH Expanse.
- Children’s Wisconsin chose Xealth to integrate patient education and custom content into care team workflows.
- Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Sentara Healthcare are implementing Wolters Kluwer’s Ovid Synthesis Clinical Evidence Manager.
- CMS renewed the contract of Accenture Federal Services to support Healthcare.gov. The five-year contract is worth $628 million.
- Verizon Business provided smartphones to patients at two Crossroads Treatment Centers clinics in Philadelphia; the pilot reduced no-show rates by 35%.
Awards
- South Korea’s Samsung Medical Center is the first in the world to reach Stage 7 on the HIMSS Digital Imaging Adoption Model.
- Clinical research accelerator Curebase was named one of Y Combinator’s 2023 Top Private Companies.
- Higher education virtual health platform Timely MD ranked No. 26 on the Forbes annual America’s Best Startup Employers list and was the top healthcare startup.
- Gainwell Technologies and Kansas Medicaid received federal matching funds from CMS for their modular service delivery system.
People
- The American Telemedicine Association named Sree Chaguturu, MD, Chair-elect of the Board of Directors; he is is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health.
- Home care management technology provider HHAeXchange appointed Scott Schwartz as Chief Revenue Officer.
- Healthcare identity management firm Verato named Avi Mukherjee as Chief Product Officer.
- Pediatric vision screening tool GoCheck Kids named Naveen Kathuria as Chief Executive Officer.
- Temporary healthcare employment marketplace Nomad Health appointed Anne Walker as Chief Financial Officer.
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