News

German pharma giant Bayer, in partnership with NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), recently launched the Healthy Hearts, Healthy Aging Asia Pacific Report at Innovfest Unbound 2019. The report examines the cardiovascular (CV) health imperatives aligned with population aging in the Asia Pacific, and highlights the important shift in the region’s health systems from a traditional acute care model to one with an increased focus on preventive, value-based care. Across the Asia Pacific region, socio-economic, geographic, demographic, and ethnographic differences create unique challenges for each country when dealing with the growing impact of CVD and aging. Experts in CVD and health policy from across eight countries (i.e. Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines) were consulted for the report to: a) establish the current and predicted future burden of CVD on the region’s health systems, b) examine the role of health innovation in addressing the unmet needs in CVD prevention and care, and c) gather recommendations on how different stakeholders can collaborate to enhance the adoption of health innovation in the long-term preventive care of CVD patients. FOUR BROAD AREAS OF NEED The four areas identified for policy makers to focus on to address the challenges of aging and CVD are: • The need for health systems to shift from a traditional acute care model to one with increased focus on preventive, value-based care. This includes earlier detection and better management of patients at risk of developing CVDs and its related complications at the community level. • The need to improve education of the public, primary care physicians, patients and policy makers to achieve optimal control of CVD risks. • The need for speedier adoption and greater access to innovative therapies and technologies to improve patient outcomes, particularly for the prevention of serious CV incidents such as strokes and heart attacks. • The need for data in understanding current disease burden and planning for the future. One area in particular where a shortage was noted was for local, regional and ethnic specific data from drug trials, which would make it easier to demonstrate the relevance of novel therapies to particular populations. As health systems focus on value-based care, there is a need for more socio-economic data to support the cost effectiveness of new innovations. THE LARGER TREND Although medical advances have significantly reduced death rates due to major CV events such as strokes and heart attacks, the broader challenges of coping with their related disabilities, frequent hospitalisations and intensive long-term care remain for many survivors of these events, according to a 2014 article published in the International Journal of Stroke. Beyond direct healthcare costs, it was projected in the The Global Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases report that CVD will be responsible for $15.6 trillion worth of lost economic output globally between 2011 and 2030, as it can cause both those affected and their caregivers to miss work or drop out of the workforce altogether.  In Europe, there are also similar pain points – new models of care that incorporate existing technologies have not been created because there is no shared strategy among national legislators, industry, hospitals, physicians and patient organisations, according to a position paper published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. ON THE RECORD “To address the mounting challenges with population aging, it is imperative for health systems to shift from a traditional acute care model to one which focuses on maintaining health and keeping people out of hospital. Care for elderly CVD patients must be integrated into communities and the home to support better adherence to preventive lifestyle measures and medical therapies which are geared towards prevention of disability-causing major cardiovascular events such as strokes and heart attacks.  Health systems must also embrace innovations across the ecosystem of medicines, technology, and elder care to support this transformation,” said Associate Professor Angelique Chan, Executive Director of the Centre for Ageing Research and Education at Duke-NUS Medical School in statement. Associate Professor Chan is a key contributor to the report.

They plan to share resources and jointly advocate for improved training, research and better rural health outcomes across country Victoria.

The EDie software will enable members of the Kentucky Hospital Association to coordinate care with each other, and with skilled nursing facilities and other clinics statewide. It could also offer a valuable tool to help fight the opioid crisis.

Three medical device technology experts from GE Healthcare, BioSig Technologies and Advantech offer comprehensive advice on best practices for healthcare organizations launching new medical devices.

Despite a flurry of innovations and technologies for healthcare cropping up on the market, their use and deployment remains fragmented across the world, with barriers around poor access, a lack of interoperability and challenges in embedding these tools into workflows continuing to hinder progress. When looking at citizens’ attitudes, however, new research commissioned by Philips indicates that people would be more likely to use digital health technologies if they were recommended by a healthcare professional and if they had an “assurance” that their data would be kept secure. Furthermore, according to the study, being able to share the information tracked with healthcare professionals also plays an important role in the decision to use digital health tools, as well as their affordability. WHY IT MATTERS The Philips 2019 Future Health Index, published earlier this month, aims to provide an insight on the impact of digital technology based on a survey of 15,000 citizens and over 3,100 healthcare professionals in 15 countries (Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Poland, the UK and the US). Findings indicate that over 75% of the hospitals and practices where the professionals surveyed worked were using digital health records. However, challenges in deploying EHR systems were still reported, and the “common assumption” that digitisation could add more tasks from an administration standpoint to people’s jobs was also quoted in the research.  In addition, survey results show that 80% of professionals were able to share patient information electronically with colleagues in their organisations, but only 32% had the ability to exchange data with professionals from other facilities. This was due to a lack of access to data sharing systems, interoperability, concerns around privacy and security, as well as a preference for using paper or phones instead.  Meanwhile, 36% of citizens said they “regularly” shared health data tracked by using digital tools with the professionals caring for them, and that these provided "convenient" access to services and helped them feel “more in control” of their health.  “Two-way sharing of information is not only essential to deliver the right care at the right time, it also helps to improve the patient and clinician experience,” said Jan Kimpen, Philips chief medical officer. “Informed and empowered patients also take better care of their health, which contributes to the last element of the Quadruple Aim – lower cost of care.” ON THE RECORD Looking at a country breakdown, the researchers said China, Saudi Arabia, India and Russia were leading the pack when looking at the use of emerging technologies to ensure people remained healthy and improve the care delivered to patients.  “We know from the previous three editions of the FHI [Future Health Index] study that it is hard for countries with a developed healthcare system to change, simply because of the legacy,” Kimpen added. “So we should learn from countries with an emerging healthcare system that have leapfrogged in the adoption of digital technologies. Technology is no longer a limiting factor, the important thing for all of us is to be prepared for change.”  WHAT'S THE TREND In the 2018 study from Philips, researchers noted that adoption could be accelerated through education, after findings indicated that only 47% of the healthcare professionals and 24% of individuals surveyed said they felt “knowledgeable about connected care technologies”. They also called for both professionals and patients to be involved at earlier stages when developing solutions in order to help “secure buy-in”.

The company has signed a new six-year deal to provide clinical data exchange capabilities, such as patient ID, record locator services and document retrieval.

With remote patient monitoring a hot topic among healthcare providers, a new survey indicates patients would be open to outfitting themselves with wearable devices if it resulted in fewer trips to visit the doctor. WHY IT MATTERS The study of 100 participants ages 40 and over, conducted by connected healthcare solutions provider VivaLNK, found nearly two-thirds (64 percent) would put on a wearable health monitoring device if it meant it reducing the number of trips made to visit a doctor or hospital. Overall interest in wearables like a Fitbit or the Apple Watch for remote patient monitoring purposes was high, with more than half (55 percent) of respondents noting they would use such a device at home. THE LARGER TREND Healthcare organizations see the potential of RMS in combination with telehealth for convenience and cost savings, and many are currently exploring how to adopt it. In one case, use of an inhaler-connected sensor helped push the average number of COPD-related hospital trips down to an average of 2.2, compared to the year prior to study enrollment (when the average was 3.4), a recent study from the Cleveland Clinic medical center and Propeller Health found. For another example, ClearSky Medical Diagnostics currently employs Shimmer Research wearables for clinical trials, a partnership that uses Shimmer’s Verisense platform to improve analysis of sensor data for central nervous system diseases. And among the new products unveiled at HIMSS19 this past February was VitalConnect’s Vista Solution 2.0, which added a weight scale, blood pressure and pulse oximetry and core temperature reader to the existing eight vital sign measurements monitored by the company’s VitalPatch biosensor. However, there is evidence to suggest the potential benefits of RMS – not to mention the accuracy of certain devices or the security with which sensitive information is stored or transmitted – has not been fully studied.  "Remote patient monitoring … will be increasingly important," Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO Dr. John Halamka wrote on his blog earlier this year. But while "many thought leaders are convinced that remote patient monitoring improves patient care," he said, "surveys suggest that health-care professionals are still not convinced." ON THE RECORD "Remote patient monitoring and the wearable devices that make it possible are not new concepts, but there's more progress that can be made by understanding patient motivations," Jiang Li, CEO of VivaLNK, said in a statement. "While the appointment can't always be avoided, RPM is the key to reducing the time, energy and money it takes to physically visit a doctor's office." As Li noted and the survey also indicated, costs of the appointment, distance, and disliking healthcare facilities were all top reasons survey respondents gave for wanting to reduce physical visits to the doctor. "Patients have always disliked visiting the doctor's office, and now there's a way to mitigate that,” Li continued. “This survey highlights what really fuels and drives consumer behavior from a healthcare perspective." Nathan Eddy is a healthcare and technology freelancer based in Berlin. Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com Twitter: @dropdeaded209

The new voice-driven capability enables Amazon's Echo device to provide additional services, such as the ability to search for dentists or pediatricians.

It also eliminated 10 hours of reminder phone calls and increased payment of old accounts by 15 percent, Salt Lake Retina reports.

The HIMSS EHR Association tells the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that the Promoting Interoperability Program needs consistency and specificity in its clinical requirements.