Mike Miliard

In its comments on the agencies' interoperability rules, HIMSS said FHIR v.4 should be required for certification – but cautioned against too broad a definition of EHI and said to slow requirements for payer trusted exchange network participation.

The unauthorized access also included Social Security numbers, credit card data and banking information – but not laboratory results, the company said.

The retailer joins other big players such as AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Pfizer in the effort to use distributed ledger technology for medication safety and integrity.

THE ROAD TO HELSINKI: How can health organisations provide patients and staff with actionable insights - at the right place, the right time and under a secure environment? At the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Conference, Microsoft for Healthcare will present its ecosystem of partner and cloud solutions that empower health organisations to reimagine the way they address health challenges.

The Medical Group Management Association also has concerns about security risks that might be associated with the proposed rules, and says they go "too far, too fast."

Given the increasing complexity of clinical care and massive amounts of data being collected through different medical devices, healthcare professionals can end up spending excessive amounts on time on documentation and often, have a lot of critical information but in a fragmented or siloed manner.  Fragmented data creates information gaps, which can potentially impact decision-making, coordination, and workflow. One way to address this challenge is to bring together the disparate sources of data onto an integrated platform, and this is where Ascom’s Healthcare Platform comes in. The modular approach of the platform means that healthcare organisations can begin their process of data consolidation regardless of their stage of development. Due to its built-in interoperable features, existing hospital information systems and devices can also be integrated into the Healthcare Platform. One practical use case of the Platform is that of patient alerts – with Ascom’s ability to analyse, filter and channel alerts to specific clinicians, they do not need to ‘chase’ the data and can respond more appropriately based on the nature of the alarm. This results in fewer needless interruptions for the clinicians.  Sengkang General Hospital is one of the first hospitals in South-East Asia to have implemented the end-to-end suite of Ascom Healthcare Platform solutions. “We are pleased to be working with the Ascom Telligence Nurse Call System as part of our integrated solutions under the new hospital infrastructure. Having the ability to bridge the information flow seamlessly with various business applications has helped to drive towards greater workflow coordination and productivity for our staff particularly in current times of manpower constraints” as shared by Lee Puay Chuan, Deputy Director Strategic Projects, Sengkang General Hospital, Singapore.  Purpose-built devices for care delivery While an integrated platform can bring about better healthcare data visibility and actionable insights which are beneficial for both clinicians and patients, the hardware or devices must also be up-to-task in terms of providing access to vital information, as well as facilitating the communication between clinicians and care teams. The Ascom Myco™ 2 is an example of such a purpose-built device which connects its users with colleagues, patients, labs, pharmacies, porters, cleaners, medical devices, patient monitors, and nurse call systems. Crucially, it merges data from these multiple sources and displays it as meaningful information to help frontline staff make the best decisions while on the move. Designed for the delivery of personalised care, the recently released Ascom Myco 3 is a versatile purpose-built Android™- device which features multiple care delivery and monitoring functions. It works with apps to integrate with nurse/call alert systems, wander management and monitoring solutions and data collection systems. To facilitate more efficient care at the bedside, the Myco 3 allows the user to perform single-entry registration of vitals to EMRs/EHRs, barcode scanning of patient IDs and point-of-care access to and management of clinical information.  Users can choose from using either the Myco 2 or Myco 3 on their own or even combine the use of both purpose-built devices within the same facility. Regardless of the device use combination, they can be easily integrated into the Ascom Healthcare Platform, enabling seamless access, sharing and tracking of information across care teams and locations. Android is a trademark of Google LLC.

The members of the HIMSS EHR Association support the rules' goals – but say that as drafted they go beyond Congress' intent for 21st Century Cures, are too loosely defined, have too tight a timeline and require too much IP sharing.

THE ROAD TO HELSINKI: At the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Conference, Tieto will present the first openEHR-based information systems for Finnish healthcare.

The application will enable one-click virtual consults within the EHR workflow, and comes at a pivotal time for telehealth, which is gaining stream among physicians.

The informatics group calls on ONC to "flip the paradigm" of consumer access as it finalizes the "most consequential health informatics policies" since meaningful use.