Population and Public Health

More than 100 member organizations have committed to participating in the effort to empower patients and improve care delivery.

Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Michelle E. Dunwoody is taking on a temporary senior advisor role to Flint Mayor Karen Weaver as the Michigan city continues to grapple with a water crisis, HHS announced on Friday.  Dunwoody will work with Weaver to establish both short- and long-term goals for the City of Flint Public Health and Medical Recovery and work with city officials to outline the job description for a future full-time Flint-employed Public Health official, while providing insight to building and managing public health and medical infrastructure.  “My priority has always been, and will always be, that Flint’s families have the resources they deserve, as well a voice which allows them a say in how their community’s future is built,” Weaver said in a statement. The partnership is "an opportunity to continue building relationships, while ensuring some of our country’s best experts are working with us to find solutions.”  To that end, Dunwoody will also oversee a Corps-based community engagement team. "Admiral Dunwoody brings a wealth of expertise to expand the technical capability of the Mayor’s office and ensure Flint develops the local expertise needed to help the community recover in the days, months and years to come," HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie said in a statement.  Nearly 500,000 residents of Flint have been exposed to water contaminated by lead, and currently much of the city is living off of bottled water rations. The appointment comes after a Commissioned Corps strike force cleared a backlog of blood lead level screening results in partnership with the Genesee County Health Department. HHS leaders have made several visits to Flint to assess the crisis, including Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Acting Assistant Secretary for Health Karen DeSalvo and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] "Ensuring the men, women and children of Flint have the same opportunity as all Americans to live healthy lives is a team effort, and I have seen first-hand just how dedicated city leaders, city and county health officials, and our Commissioned Corps officers have been to that cause,” said DeSalvo in a statement. The Commissioned Corps are made of up doctors, nurses, scientists and engineers. Over 30 officers have responded to the Flint water crisis; assisting with behavioral health training, supporting volunteers in community engagement efforts, helping to staff the Genesee County Health Department's information line and providing materials to answer callers' questions. “The people of Flint need clean water. They need medical care. And, above all, they need trusted voices to communicate the best available public health information in the midst of a crisis,” Murthy, Commissioned Corps commander, said in a statement. Twitter: @JessiefDavis

The federal government is pursuing a fistful of bold visions to transform healthcare including the Precision Medicine Initiative and the National Cancer Moonshot, and for those to succeed patients are going to need the ability to access and share health data in new ways, according to three federal officials. “When patients are engaged in research and voluntarily sharing their health data with the research community, the opportunities for new discoveries at the intersection of human biology, behavior, genetics, and data science are unlimited,” wrote U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil, Senior Advisor Claudia Williams and Precision Medicine Initiative project manager Stephanie Devaney. [Also: Obama taps Biden to lead cancer cure 'moonshot'] The authors cited President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative, an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in people’s genes, environments, and lifestyles in treatment and research, and the National Cancer Moonshot, which leverages Big Data to find solutions to genetic abnormalities, as examples of data sharing to accelerate research and translate findings into new treatments. HHS has been taking steps to enable the data sharing that PMI, the Cancer Moonshot, and key research projects will demand. The agency recently issued guidance to clarify patient rights to access a variety of health information, including personal health records, the information in their health records, clinical laboratory test results, and genetic data. And earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration held a workshop with patients and providers to understand the best ways to return information that is usable, meaningful, and actionable. “We’ve worked hand-in-hand with the private sector (to provide patient access to health records) and together, last week, the companies that provide 90 percent of electronic health records to hospitals nationwide pledged to improve the flow of data across healthcare settings, provide people with easy and secure access to their information, and adhere to federally recognized standards that assure that patients can access their own data,” the authors explained. HHS is also encouraging the development of apps that use open, standardized application programming interfaces to help consumers aggregate their health information in one place that is under their control. And at the recent Precision Medicine Initiative Summit hosted by President Obama at the White House, six of the major electronic health record vendors announced that they will pilot the use of standard APIs for individuals to access and contribute their data to research. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] The authors also pointed to the early traction Blue Button has gotten. Through the public-private effort some 150 million Americans can now access information from providers, medical laboratories, retail pharmacy chains, and state immunization registries. What’s more, three million veterans, service members, and Medicare beneficiaries have now accessed their personal health data more than 43 million times. “These are exciting steps toward ensuring individuals have access to their data,” Patil, Williams and Devaney wrote. “But we’re far from done.” Twitter: @HealthITNews

Before joining Cerner, Glaser was the longtime vice president and chief information officer at Partners HealthCare. 

Step-by-step tools help providers unlock data to help prevent cardiovascular events.

The HIMSS16 show floor was a busy place last week as thousands packed booths from technology and services vendors to get caught up on the newest systems for managing healthcare providers. But the big show also played host to big announcements from exhibitioners choosing to use the attention that comes with HIMSS16 to debut new products. The list below includes dozens of product announcements that we covered at the show: IBM Watson adds Tiatros patient-centered social network to system The University of California San Francisco was the first to leverage the physician-driven network is using Tiatros to address the behavioral health needs of young veterans. Epic and Tableau deal links analytics to electronic health records The EHR vendor and analytics company sign an agreement to facilitate greater clinical insights for caregivers within the records system. HealthPort, IOD, Care Communications, ECS merge into new company CIOX Health The four vendors, who announced the news at HIMSS16, seek to create a single access point for patient information. Oracle debuts the next generation healthcare analytics suite at HIMSS16 Oracle Healthcare Foundation provides organizations with a consistent and complete view of their clinical, financial and genomics data across an enterprise. Inova Health creates new health plan, population health strategy Partnership with Aetna and purchase of Medicaid group gets new plan closer to million-member goal. Accenture study: Patients more engaged, willing to share data with doctors Report also shows 85 percent of doctors said that using wearables can help patients become more involved. Xerox launches population health platform The new software combines analytics, patient outreach, telehealth and administrative tools to help providers adjust to new reimbursement reality with a 'lifecycle' approach to value-based care. Transcend Insights unveils population health, patient engagement, mHealth apps Humana subsidiary says the three apps use the HealthLogix technology platform to tackle population health, patient engagement and mobile health. IBM Watson launches SleepHealth app to explore connection between health and sleep It will be the first ResearchKit study to run on Watson Health Cloud Surescripts activates National Record Locator Service, includes data on 140 million patients Platform is designed to give providers a way to see a more complete view of a patient’s health history. West Healthcare launches communication system to aid patient engagement, pop health West TEC Pathways delivers the so-called "last mile" of patient communication, aligning that communication with clinical guidelines and care plans. Medisafe launches provider link to mobile health app for consumers Medisafe Providers enables physicians, care teams and pharmacists to track their patients’ medication adherence between visits. MDLIVE to integrate with Office 365 and Skype for Business The telemedicine tech vendor is betting the ubiquitous Microsoft systems will enable a more robust, secure and scalable collaboration platform. MITRE shares an open source FHIR testing tool At the Federal Health IT Solutions Pavilion, a solution to FHIR "ambiguities." WellDoc collaborates with Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan on mobile tech for diabetes In addition to the collaboration, Johnson & Johnson Innovation has participated in WellDoc’s Series B financing round that has raised $29.5 million. Modernizing Medicine highlights new surgery center suite, imminent practice management tools  The company is also showing enhancements it made to its ASC suite since acquiring gMed in late 2015, CEO Dan Cane said. Intermountain to deploy clinical variation management software from Ayasdi The prominent Utah health system believes the software can quickly boost the insights it can gain from its mountain of health data, helping with value-based care. TigerText partners with Salesforce, Box, adds program for startups The secure healthcare communications tech vendor says the partnerships will enable streamlined communication across the continuum of care. Signet Accel debuts Avec database-agnostic data integration platform The healthcare software company is targeting interoperability, unveiling the commercial federated data integration platform at HIMSS16. Translational Software launches genetic-oriented medication alerting system The vendor of clinical decision support and precision medicine technology is working with First Databank on the new gene-based drug-drug interaction capability. Citra Health acquires care management services vendor SironaHealth The purchase is the next step in Citra’s ongoing plan to extend its population health systems in the value-based healthcare market, the company said. ExtraHop announces new healthcare analytics product The technology delivers stream analytics designed to unlock insights into the relationship between IT performance and clinical workflows, the vendor said. ClearDATA releases cloud-based HIPAA compliance dashboard The ClearDATA Active Compliance and Security Monitoring Dashboard is designed to safeguard electronic health data and provider reputations. Talix partners with NextGen, Allscripts and Capstone on coding The three vendors will offer Talix’s Coding InSight as part of their suites to help providers better manage patient risk and optimize risk-based reimbursements. Doc Halo debuts Pronto, mobile enterprise-wide scheduling and messaging system Caregivers using Pronto can access up-to-the-minute schedules, find and message on-call providers, activate critical-care teams, and enable care coordination. American HealthTech and Medtelligent partner for senior care technology The Assisted Living Solution is designed to help providers navigate the tech challenges of caring for seniors who move across the spectrum of care. par8o expands relationship with WellHealth Quality Care accountable care network The referral management tech vendor will use its platform to enable a patient-centered medical home model for 17,000 members of the Nevada Teachers Health Trust. Experian merges healthcare brands under Experian Health name Experian Health is the new brand for what were 11 businesses that serve the healthcare field. DataMotion and etherFAX partner for new fax-to-direct system The combined technology enables healthcare professionals to send and receive fax documents and other protected health information securely using the Direct Messaging standard. TCI, ONYX Healthcare and CliniLinc launch 8-inch medical tablet TCI’s Rounds software is pre-loaded onto the new, lightweight medical tablet from ONYX Healthcare, enabling hospitals to upload patient discharge data in real time. DataMotion debuts enhanced patient collaboration platform New to the platform are major enhancements in patient consent, identity validation and authentication, workflow integration, and mobile case management. Seal Shield debuts UVC LED-based mobile device sanitizer at HIMSS16 ElectroClave is an enterprise mobile device management system that uses low-power UVC LED to disinfect tablets and smartphones while charging, syncing and managing them. ELLKAY bulks up its interoperability offerings, rolls out new tech Direct Project enhancement and new analytics technology highlight four product announcements. Aventura partners with HealthCast for single sign-on technology The partnership will help providers using Aventura’s Sympatica clinical desktop platform to more quickly access electronic health records systems. Commvault unveils new clinical data sharing technology Through integration with vendor Laitek, the Commvault Clinical Archive can address data management on both the clinical and business sides of healthcare in a single platform. CPSI debuts new EHR financing program for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities Through financial management services, the nTrust program eliminates upfront EHR costs. UnitedHealthcare, Qualcomm collaborate on wellness mobile app powered by wearables The goal is to help UnitedHealthcare plan participants enrolled in high-deductible health plans improve their health and save money by encouraging daily walking. ZeOmega launches value-based care performance management system The new offering can help healthcare organizations measure clinical and financial performance across multiple value-based care contracts. Microsoft eyes patient engagement, emerging care scenarios for HIMSS16 Software giant is working to tie together Skype, Windows, Office, Surface Hub and Band to better connect doctors with patients.  American Well unveils software development kit, Uber-like switchboard  Telehealth specialist showed off its SDK for portals and apps as well as multi-way videoconferencing.  SAP gets in the patient engagement game The vendor unwrapped Patient Engage to enable technology vendors and independent software vendors to build apps for specific use cases.  Twitter: @HenryPowderly This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

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LAS VEGAS – Population health management technology vendor ZeOmega has launched Jiva for Performance Management, a software-as-a-service system that enables healthcare organizations to quickly manage the clinical and financial performance of their pay-for-performance and readmission reduction programs across multiple payers, including Medicare, Medicaid and commercial contracts, the vendor said. ZeOmega made the announcement at the 2016 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition. “While the industry has steadily moved toward value-based care, many healthcare organizations still struggle with the problem of provider performance measurement, which, in turn, impedes their ability to participate in meaningful risk-sharing models,” said Nandini Rangaswamy, chief strategy officer at ZeOmega. “Our conversations with hospital executives, industry analysts and consultants have indicated that the biggest challenges continue to be a lack of multi-payer support, the cost of interoperability and deployment time.” [Also: See photos from Day 3 of HIMSS16] Jiva for Performance Management was developed to address these challenges, Rangaswamy added. The new system integrates with nearly three dozen disparate health data systems, and healthcare organizations can use this single platform to measure and manage performance across multiple populations, multiple payers and different types of value-based care contracts, Rangaswamy said. ZeOmega said Jiva for Performance Management can be deployed in a matter of weeks and that the system is able to quickly integrate claims and electronic health records data. Dashboards monitor an organization’s progress toward achieving Star, Medicare Shared Savings Program, Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, and other pay-for-performance goals, the vendor added. The system also delivers patient registries, predictive analytics driven by psycho-social risk factors, and patient engagement capabilities that can enable organizations to better manage admission and readmission risk and develop patient outreach programs, ZeOmega said. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

LAS VEGAS – Citra Health Solutions, a Great Point Partners LLC company that markets population health products, has acquired SironaHealth, a clinical care management services vendor. Citra purchased SironaHealth as the next step in an ongoing plan to extend its integrated population health systems in the value-based healthcare market, the company said. SironaHealth is accredited by the URAC and NCQA and has a history in clinical care coordination and case management. SironaHealth will do business as a Citra Health Solutions company and will continue to maintain an operational center in Portland, Maine. [Also: See photos from Day 3 of HIMSS16] “By managing the health of populations, including disease management, care management and wellness, Sirona will fit into Citra’s holistic approach to drive increased member engagement, reduce health care costs and improve the quality of care,” said Howard Buff, CEO and founder of Citra Health Solutions. “The integrated healthcare model will provide a service- and technology-enabled platform that supports a multitude of payment models and risk arrangements for providers.” Citra systems handle areas including 24/7 care coordination, point-of-need engagement, readmission reduction, ER diversion, star-rating improvement, bundled payment administration and chronic care management. Citra’s acquisition of SironaHealth further increases its clinical capabilities to meet the needs of the market and strengthens the portfolio of systems to meet the needs of patients, providers and payers, Citra said. “Our mission has been to guarantee satisfaction through compassionate and competent care with a relentless focus on quality improvement, and that will not change,” said Jeff Forbes, CEO of SironaHealth. “What will change is the fact that with these augmented resources, we will have the ability to offer our customers more than ever before.” Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

LAS VEGAS — Technological innovation is used often in healthcare to improve patient outcomes, but when it comes to children, aggregating data at the individual and population level is critical, said Stephen Quirk, CEO of Youth Emergency Services and Shelter in Des Moines, Iowa, and Larry Seltzer, general manager and senior director of Netsmart, in a presentation at HIMSS16 on Wednesday. Quirk, no stranger to working with children with health and behavioral issues, said that Medicaid privatization prompted him to seek a partner to help modernize the provider’s electronic health records. In particular, he realized it wasn’t enough to diagnose and treat the immediate problem. Often, it was helpful to examine the circumstances of a child’s life — family dynamics, history of substance abuse, and other “social determinants” that can dictate how compliant a child is with his or her care plan. [Also: See photos from Day 3 of HIMSS16] In short, YESS needed better continuity of care. “You need to reach out to your provider partners to reign all of the data into one place,” said Seltzer, whose company has been working closely with YESS. “You need to be aware of gaps in care — understanding all of that knowledge and placing it in the hands of a care coordinator or social worker to get more engaged.” The goal, he said, is to exchange data in consistent and meaningful ways; lab data, immunization data and other information should all be sent to or shared with inpatient mental health centers, substance use centers, hospitals, primary care practices and any other entities that may be involved in a patient’s care. Information technology, he said, can be an advocate for the best health decisions for a child. Data aggregation is key, and Seltzer maintained there’s a significant return on that investment. According to a YESS study, 93 percent of respondents reported they felt better about themselves and their care plan, and 88 percent of the children studied reported better overall functioning. On top of that, Seltzer said there are cost savings achieved by moving youths out of detention centers and hospitals and into the care of private nonprofits like YESS. Since implementation of the data aggregation model, he said there’s been an increase in high school graduations and test scores, and a reduction in substance abuse and thoughts of suicide. “Anyone who has access to those records is privileged to be able to see all that information,” said Quirk. Twitter: @JELagasse This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.