Showing posts with label government. Show all posts

Friday, December 19, 2014

Featured Report: Who owns health data? Supreme Court may try answering that question

Modern Healthcare

Who owns health data? Supreme Court may try answering that question
Dec,18,2014
by: Lisa Schencker
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering hearing a case that could have implications for self-funded insurers nationwide and as many as 16 states that have passed laws creating healthcare data collection programs. The case, Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., asks the question of whether self-funded insurers should have to hand over certain information to state databases upon request or whether those insurers don't have to under federal law.
The state of Vermont argues that it needs such data—on claims, member eligibility and other issues—to help it improve the cost and effectiveness of healthcare. The insurance company, however, counters that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, exempts it and its third-party administrator from having to submit the information to state databases. Read More

Med City News

A mobile health startup uses doctor moms for medical query business
Dec,18,2014
by: Stephanie Baum

A mobile health startup using doctors who are mostly stay-at-home moms to respond to medical queries by text message has raised $6 million in a Series A, according to a company statement. In a phone interview with MedCity News, First Opinion co-founder and CEO McKay Thomas said the platform was designed to eliminate the needless visits to a physician, which it reckoned accounts for seven out of 10 office visits The investment round was led by first time investor Polaris Partners, with additional contributions being made by existing investors, including True Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Scrum Ventures and Monashees Capital. Thomas said the funding would be used mainly for developing strategies and partnerships. Thomas emphasized that it wasn’t interested in collaborating with insurers. Read More

Fierce Health Payer

Payers take steps forward with mobile apps in 2014
Dec,18,2014
by: Dori Zweig

In a busy year for the healthcare industry, payers tried to move beyond the technical glitches and court rulings associated with the Affordable Care Act and focus instead on the ACA's aim to make healthcare more accessible and personal.

To play into this idea of the consumerization of healthcare, payers have been busy exploring mobile applications that keep their members healthy and temper rising healthcare costs.

Of course, this has been no walk in the park--consumers have been slow to adopt insurers' mobile apps, while healthcare still hasn't been able to effectively harness data in a way to make it useful. Read More

Fierce Health IT

Study: Nearly half of patients would withhold data from providers
Dec,18,2014
by: Susan D. Hall
Nearly half of patients participating in a trial looking at patient control of the medical records withheld clinically sensitive information from some or all of their care team.

The Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Eskenazi Health (formerly Wishard Health Services) conducted the six-month trial involving 105 patients at a primary care clinic. Patients were allowed to designate who could see their records, including information on sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse or mental health.

Patients were able to hide some or all of their data from some or all providers--and 49 percent of them did. However, healthcare providers were able to view the hidden data, if they felt the patient's healthcare required it, by hitting a "break the glass" button on their computer screens, according to an announcement. Read More

Wirehead Technology's Healthcare POP

Healthcare Providers,
As you know Healthcare IT is changing every day especially in the new m-health field. Where mobile devices like iPhones, Smartphones and tablets becoming how doctors react to their patients and staff. But with this changes comes new laws about how mobility should be used to work with patient data in a secure way. This is where our mobile app called "Healthcare POP" can help Healthcare POP brings all of your healthcare info into one web-based app that can that can work on every mobile, tablet and desktop. For more information on Healthcare POP visit our demo website at http://www.wireheadtec.com/MobileApp.html Then call us and we will help you make your practice POP!.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Featured Report: Almost 70 percent of clinicians at US hospitals use smartphones, tablets

EHR Intelligence

Patient Engagement Rises with Consumer EHR Satisfaction

Dec,10,2014

by: Jennifer Bresnick

Patient engagement helps consumers view EHRs more positively and encourages them to take charge of their health.

The overwhelming majority of patients believe that electronic health records (EHRs) are useful for physicians and valuable for their care, according to a newly released survey by the National Partnership for Women and Families. Patients were more likely to rate EHRs as a positive development when they had online access to personal health information through a portal or if they could perform routine administrative tasks like making appointments through the internet. The survey illustrates the importance of patient engagement while highlighting the spread of health IT and its potential impact on the nation’s health. Read More

MobiHealthNews

Survey: Almost 70 percent of clinicians at US hospitals use smartphones, tablets

Dec,09,2014

by: Aditi Pai

More than two-thirds of clinicians at US hospitals use smartphones or tablet computers at their facilities, according to a small HIMSS survey of 139 clinicians. The survey was conducted between October and November of 2014 and published in time with the group’s mHealth Summit event in Maryland this week.

“As smartphones and tablet computers are relatively new tools to healthcare organizations, it is necessary to establish a baseline understanding of the presence and impact these technologies have in US hospitals,” HIMSS researchers wrote. “By doing so, the market will have a better way to adjudicate the potential these tools have for US healthcare providers and relevant vendors.” Read More

BBC News Health

Text messaging service 'helps people take their pills'

Dec, 09,2014

by: Staff

A text messaging service could help people remember to take the medicines they have been prescribed, say researchers. A test scheme, which involved heart patients, cut the numbers who forgot or just stopped taking their pills. One in six was helped to continue their treatment, reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke. It has been estimated that the NHS spends more than £500m on wasted medicines and avoidable illness Other research has shown around a third of patients do not take their medicine as directed. Study leader Prof David Wald said text reminders could be used by GPs, hospital doctors and pharmacists for a range of different conditions, including diabetes, TB and HIV. Read More

Modern Healthcare

Inaccurate provider directories blamed on weak tech, network churn

Dec,11,2014

by: Darius Tahir

Insurers are under fire for giving consumers bad information about which providers are in their plan network. The controversy raises a simple question: Is it really so hard to maintain an accurate provider directory? The inaccuracies have drawn criticism from California regulators and proposals for stricter oversight from the nation's insurance commissioners and the Obama administration. Reliable provider directories are more critical than ever now that millions of Americans are expected to choose their own health plans in the new marketplaces, consumer advocates say, especially given that many lower-cost coverage options have very narrow provider networks. Read More

Healthcare POP

Friday, November 14, 2014

Featured Report: EHRs to save $78B over 5 years

Healthcare IT News

EHRs to save $78B over 5 years

Nov,11,2014

by: Bernie Monegain,

EHRs are expected to save the global healthcare industry as much as $78 billion over five years, according to new analysis from Juniper Research.The Juniper report Digital Health, Remote Monitoring EHR Cost Savings 2014-2019, notes that EHRs are crucial as the supporting infrastructure for a wide range of digital healthcare and mHealth projects. Also, new accountable care organizationinitiatives, where healthcare providers are paid according to the measured wellness of a patient population, are resulting in a re-think in how healthcare needs should be addressed. The report finds that the medical profession will increasingly rely on EHRs to support disparate elements of digital health. Read More

Health Data Management

Older Americans May Miss Out on Web Health Highway

Nov,13,2014

by: Greg Goth

When it comes to the benefits of electronic health records, older Americans may be left behind, according to a new University of Michigan study. Less than a third of Americans age 65 and over use the web for health information and barely 10 percent of those with low health literacy--or ability to navigate the healthcare system--go online for health-related matters, according to the nationally representative study that appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine Read More

M2M Now Events

The paradox of digital health, part 1: Money
Nov,13,2014
by: Christopher Wasden

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of digital health over the traditional analog services, we have seen significant barriers to adoption that have resulted in what I refer to as the Ten Paradoxes of Digital Health. This article will address the Money Paradox. The Money Paradox in Digital Health is that healthcare stakeholders seem to be unwilling to transform their business models to deliver the digital triple aim of greater access, with better quality at lower cost unless they are paid more than at present to do it. How can we save money if we have to pay providers more to adopt money saving technologies? Read More

MobiHealthNews

Survey: Hospital execs bullish on telemedicine, but slow to adopt

Nov,13,2014

by: Jonah Comstock

A survey by the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP of 57 executives at provider organizations found a healthy interest in telemedicine, but that concrete adoption is still in the early stages, and possibly more than a decade away. Only 3 percent of respondents considered telemedicine unimportant to their organizations. Fifty-two percent found it very important and 32 percent said it was important to their organizations. Read More

Healthcare IT Managed Services

Healthcare Providers are you having trouble keeping up with the new government rules and regulations in Healthcare and don't know where to turn to get help? Then let us help you Wirehead Technology's Healthcare Managed IT Services will work with you to help you not only understand the rules but put together all the IT services that will help you comply with all the new Healthcare rules and stay with you to make sure your Healthcare practice is always up to date on all of the rules. To see how we can help your practice visit our Healthcare IT page at http://www.wireheadtec.com/Healthcare.html

Friday, October 31, 2014

Featured Report: Medical Practice Compliance Program in 4 Steps

iHealthBeat

Google’s Newest Search: Cancer Cells

Oct,29,2014

by: iHealthbeat Staff

On Tuesday, a Google executive said the company is working on a wearable device designed to help doctors detect cancer and other diseases earlier, theWall Street Journal reports.

Details of Device

According to the Journal, Google is developing small magnetic particles, called nanoparticles, that would find and attach themselves to cells, proteins or other molecules inside an individual's body.The particles could be delivered into the system via an oral pill. The wearable device then would monitor the nanoparticles by using a magnet to attract and count them. Read More

Health Data Management

Physician-Patient Email Communication on Rise

Oct,23,2014

Greg Goth

A new study from Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) offers some early insights into the effects of increasing numbers of emailed communications on doctors, suggesting that reimbursement models and physician workflow may need to adjust to accommodate message management.The were published online in Health Affairs.
“BIDMC was one of the first hospitals in the country to create a patient web portal providing a secure platform for patients to view parts of their medical record and send emails to their clinicians,” said lead author Bradley Crotty, M.D. “The portal became available in 2000, so we were able to take a 10-year look at the data and examine the email traffic resulting from this new use of technology.” Read More

Physicians Practice

Medical Practice Compliance Program in 4 Steps

Oct,29,2014
by: Alicia Shickle, CPC, CPCO, CPPM

Identifying and correcting potential vulnerabilities in your practice through a compliance program optimizes claims payment, minimizes billing mistakes, reduces the chance of an audit, averts protected health information (PHI) breaches, and avoids conflicts with Stark and other anti-kickback statutes. If you haven’t already initiated a compliance program in your practice, here’s how to get started Read More

Health Data Management

Surviving a HIPAA Privacy/Security Audit

Oct,30,2014

by: Staff

The HHS Office for Civil Rights expects in 2015 to begin a random audit program to assess compliance with the HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules. At the MGMA Conference, David Holtzman, a former senior advisor at OCR and now vice president of compliance services at security firm CynergisTek, walked through what providers selected for an audit can expect Read More

Healthcare IT Managed Services

Friday, September 26, 2014

Featured Report Your medical record is worth more to hackers than your credit card

Reuters

Your medical record is worth more to hackers than your credit card

Sept,24,2014

by: CAROLINE HUMER AND JIM FINKLE

(Reuters) - Your medical information is worth 10 times more than your credit card number on the black market. Last month, the FBI warned healthcare providers to guard against cyber attacks after one of the largest U.S. hospital operators, Community Health Systems Inc, said Chinese hackers had broken into its computer network and stolen the personal information of 4.5 million patients. Security experts say cyber criminals are increasingly targeting the $3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, which has many companies still reliant on aging computer systems that do not use the latest security features. Read More

Fierce Mobile Healthcare

Lawmakers lobby feds to update regulatory guidance for mHealth apps

Sept,19,2014

by: Judy Mottl

Two congressmen are asking the Department of Health and Human Services to develop "clear, easily accessible and up to date regulatory guidance" regarding mobile applications and requesting the federal agency update online technical compliance guidance to help app makers adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

"Many companies creating mobile health apps have told us that they want to fully comply with HIPAA regulations, but have difficulty confirming that they have done so because current regulatory guidance does not cover technologies that they are using," Reps. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Sylvia Mathews Burwell, secretary of HHS. Read More

iHealthBeat

Online Doctor Ratings Affect Parents' Physician Choices, Study Finds

Sept,23,2014

by: Staff

Physician rating websites significantly affect parents' choice of a physician for their children, and parents are increasingly using such sites, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, Medscape reports (Frellick, Medscape, 9/22).

Details of Study: For the study, researchers from the University of Michigan in September 2012 surveyed 1,619 U.S. parents with at least one child age 17 or younger as part of the university's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. The respondents answered 23 questions related to physician rating sites. Read More

MobiHealthNews

Investors agree: Attractive M&A environment in digital health right now

Sept,25,2014

by: Jonah Comstock

There’s no question that funding for digital health companies is high — a recent report from Accenture predicted funding for digital health startups will reach $6.5 billion by the end of 2017, up from $3.5 billion in 2014. But that doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing for digital health investors or the companies seeking funding. At a Tuesday session at Health 2.0 in Santa Clara, California, a panel of digital health investors and startup veterans, moderated by “Venture Valkyrie” Lisa Suennen, discussed some of the unique circumstances of healthcare investing. Read More

Healthcare IT Managed Services

Friday, September 12, 2014

Featured Report: Weak mobile device security bodes big risk for hospitals

Fierce Health Payer

4 complaints providers have with Medicare Advantage

Sept,12,2014

by: Dina Overland

Medicare Advantage plans are widely popular among Medicare-eligible consumers, but not everyone is fond of them. Many providers actually dislike the Medicare Advantage program and, therefore, are reluctant to contract with Medicare Advantage insurers, reported NerdWallet.

There are five common issues that providers have with the Medicare Advantage insurers, which continue to boost their enrollment numbers with broader coverage than traditional Medicare, FierceHealthPayer previously reported. Three of them are summarized below.

Read More

Fierce Mobile Healthcare

Weak mobile device security bodes big risk for hospitals

Sept,08,2014

by: Judy Mottl

Only slightly more than half of healthcare employees (59 percent) are using full-disk encryption or file-level encryption on mHealth computing devices used at work, according to a new Forrester research report, which concluded that medical enterprises must adopt a data-centric approach to endpoint security on all employee devices. Such a security strategy will lead to less risk of data theft and data breaches, as well as shore up regulatory compliance, according to the report's authors. Read More

Modern Healthcare

Advocate, NorthShore merger would create giant health system in Illinois

Sept,12,2014
by: Andrew L. Wang
Advocate Health Care, Illinois' largest system, and NorthShore University HealthSystem, the dominant health network in Chicago's northern suburbs, announced today they will merge to form a 16-hospital system to be called Advocate NorthShore Health Partners.

Together, the two non-profit systems generated $7.3 billion in revenues and $361 million in operating income in 2013,according to the Modern Healthcare Financial Database. Presence Health, the 12-hospital network formed in the 2011 merger between Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health, was the second-largest system by revenue in the state with $2.8 billion in total revenue, according to the database. Read More

Fierce Health IT

Telemedicine beneficial in management of chronic diseases, lowering costs

Sept,11,2014

by: Katie Dvorak

There are many uses for telemedicine to manage chronic diseases, and no matter the process, the technology offers beneficial results and costs reductions, according to a recent study.

The study, published online in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health, looks at the impact telemedicine has on cost, quality and access to care, focusing three chronic diseases: congestive heart failure, stroke and obstructive pulmonary disease. Read More

Wirehead Technology: Healthcare Managed IT Services

Friday, August 22, 2014

Featured Report: FBI warns healthcare firms they are targeted by hackers

Venture Beat

Guess what? Doctors don’t care about your Fitbit data

Aug,15,2014

by: Mark Sullivan

In theory, health wearables could make a real difference by providing a way to monitor at-risk people, like diabetics. They might be a great way to monitor poorer people who often never touch the health care system until it becomes an emergency. Also, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is introducing millions more people into an already taxed healthcare system, and wearables could be a powerful tool to monitor those new members, catching illnesses before they turn into clinic visits. Read More

Modern Healthcare

Reform Update: Hospitals see more paying patients, but there's a hitch

Aug,20,2014

by: Beth Kutscher

Insurance expansion under healthcare reform is starting to yield patient volume for hospitals, but the costs of staffing up for more patients are eclipsing the additional revenue.Earnings reports for not-for-profit systems in the first half of the year show that many providers are seeing rising salary and benefit expenses cut into revenue gains, leading to smaller operating surpluses. “As the pieces of the Affordable Care Act are coming together, it's changing the demand for care,” said Jeff Jones, managing director at Huron Consulting Group. “It's shifting the way that providers are thinking about their labor pools.” Read More

Reuters

FBI warns healthcare firms they are targeted by hackers

Aug,20,2014

by: JIM FINKLE

The FBI has warned that healthcare industry companies are being targeted by hackers, publicizing the issue following an attack on U.S. hospital group Community Health Systems Inc that resulted in the theft of millions of patient records.

"The FBI has observed malicious actors targeting healthcare related systems, perhaps for the purpose of obtaining Protected Healthcare Information (PHI) and/or Personally Identifiable Information (PII)," the agency said in a "Flash" alert obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. Read More

MobiHealthNews

California court’s BYOD ruling could affect hospitals’ policies

Aug,19,2014

by: Jonah Comstock

A new California Court of Appeals ruling has dealt a major blow to bring your own device (BYOD) policies. Although the case focused on employees working in retail, the court’s decision may have implications for any employer with a BYOD policy in place. It could potentially have repercussions for healthcare down the road.

In a class action lawsuit, a customer service representative named Colin Cochran sued his employer, Schwan’s home food delivery service on behalf of 1,500 customer service reps who had been denied reimbursement for work calls made on their personal mobile phones. Overturning the verdict of the California Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals ruled that employers must reimburse employees for some “reasonable portion” of their phone bill, even if the employee’s phone plan was unlimited (so the work calls cost them no additional money) or was paid for by a third party. Read More

Healthcare POP Mobile Application

Healthcare Providers,

As you know Healthcare IT is changing every day especially in the new m-health field. Where mobile devices like iPhones, Smartphones and tablets becoming how doctors react to their patients and staff. But with this changes comes new laws about how mobility should be used to work with patient data in a secure way. This is where our mobile app called "Healthcare POP" can help Healthcare POP brings all of your healthcare info into one web-based app that can that can work on every mobile, tablet and desktop. For more information on Healthcare POP visit our demo website at http://www.wireheadtec.com/MobileApp.html Then PM us a call if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Howard Lee

CIO

Wirehead Technology

Tel: 773-944-0370

Email: wireheadtec@gmail.com

web: www.wireheadtec.com