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German care-tech provider Media4Care wants to simplify access to the digital world for older people, their carers and relatives.

During the ‘Promoting the implementation of electronic health records’ Seminar that took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last week, the Ministry of Health announced that Electronic Health Records (EHRs) will be deployed nationwide from July this year. WHAT’S THE IMPACT “The collection of health information will help the Vietnamese manage their health better. This will also raise their self-awareness of disease prevention and the potential risk of diseases affecting health and life,” emphasised Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy Minister of Health, Vietnam. From the doctors’ and caregivers perspectives, the deployment of EHRs will be an important tool in the prevention and treatment of diseases for the community. The availability of EHRs will also prove invaluable in helping the decision-making processes of doctors, especially during emergency cases in which time is of the essence. Currently, there are 24 provinces implementing EHRs in Vietnam, of which 6 are officially considered as the 'piloting EHR provinces'. The 6 piloting provinces met in Hanoi on June 13-14 for a workshop to share their learning experiences and for further planning. “The EHRs will be the basis of a national health data system as each citizen from birth to death will be granted a social insurance code. The construction of medical identifiers based on social insurance codes almost never misses anyone, except for citizens who are born but for some reason, have no birth certificates,” said Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Quy Tuong, Director of the Information Technology Department, Ministry of Health, Vietnam. LONG TERM PLANS “In order to achieve the goal of 90% of the population being managed for health by 2025, the Ministry of Health is urgently working towards the implementation of EHRs,” said Deputy Health Minister Nguyen. The Health Ministry has already approved the application of IT at commune and ward health stations in the period of 2018-2020. The Ministry of Health has numerous policies based on the EHR and data and health information standards – more specific guidelines, especially those around interoperability, will be issued in the coming months. 

Severance Hospital, one of the oldest and biggest university hospitals in South Korea, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean startup MediBloc to build a blockchain-based medical information platform.  Based on the MoU, MediBloc will build the medical information platform, an insurance claims billing platform and a medical data forgery detection system to facilitate the sharing of medical information via individuals. Severance Hospital plans to establish a certificate document issuance system and e-card issuance system for patients. Both parties will also cooperate actively by jointly utilising their facilities, human resources, and cooperation networks. THE LARGER TREND Last November, Korea’s Myongji Hospital signed an agreement with BICube to co-develop a blockchain-based medical information exchange. Both parties plan to commercialise the blockchain-based service by 2019. In December 2018, Massachusetts General Hospital in the US announced that it will be working with MediBloc on a three-year blockchain pilot to co-develop new methods for security and interoperability, with a focus on patient engagement. ON THE RECORD “We are delighted to build a patient-centred platform with MediBloc, which is leading the blockchain-based medical information platform,” said Lee Byung-seok, General Director, Severance Hospital in a statement. “By working with MediBloc, we will be able to provide personalised medicine and digital healthcare to patients at Severance Hospital through the establishment of an integrated medical information system.” “We will continue our comprehensive consultation for building a platform with Severance Hospital, which is recognised for its excellent medical team and service,” said Allen Kho, Co-CEO, MediBloc. 

Established firms have good track records, but there are high-performing developing companies, too; as providers tackled bigger strategic initiatives beyond mere EHR rollouts, they need to weigh how much they value experience and performance, a new report shows.

And benefits extend into areas it has not yet been able to quantify. For instance, the physicians group anticipates increased savings created by the filling of appointment slots that more quickly opened due to the technology.

46 participants spoke common drug names to Google Assistant, Siri and Alexa, and results varied. More R&D is needed, experts say.

A University of Sydney study found that goggles could offer very high accuracy of diagnosis of conditions such as Ménière disease or vestibular migraine, similar to in-clinic hearing tests.

The pioneering Pennsylvania health system has picked Ryu, who most recently served as its chief medical officer, to replace Dr. David Feinberg, who joined Google in 2018.

Among other things, the technology has helped the hospital achieve a $3 million reconciliation payment annually for one CMS bundle alone.

Health system AdventHealth is an early user of the analytics platform, seeking transformational change that can help it with its focus on whole-person care.