News

More than half of those polled by American Well say they're willing to use virtual visits – citing quicker healthcare service, time and money savings as big benefits.

KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the largest hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore, has partnered with French multinational electric utility company ENGIE and end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions company UnaBiz on a smart facilities management project with digitisation of temperature and humidity monitoring using low-power sensors. WHAT’S THE IMPACT The project enables remote monitoring of temperature and humidity levels while providing a better patient experience and enabling timely intervention of anomalies. Over 100 temperature and humidity sensors by ENLESS WIRELESS have been deployed around KKH in areas such as the intensive care units, outpatient clinics, patient wards and pharmacies. Initial feedback from the Facilities Management (FM) Department was positive as their staff can quickly respond to the temperature alarm if the set point is exceeded. By deploying sensors to collect data of room temperature and humidity, KKH staff no longer have to maintain manual 24-hour daily temperature logs and can now avail more time to look after patients.  In addition, digital records are much faster, accurate and better for audit purposes. ON THE RECORD “As KKH’s facilities management partner, we strive to create and enhance the best possible environment for the well healing of patients. With the successful implementation of this innovative initiative to monitor the environmental conditions in near real-time and hassle-free, it is a progressive step for KKH in achieving their mission of being a healthcare leader for Women and Children,” said Yeo Kong Nee, Managing Director, ENGIE Services Singapore in a statement. Jonathan Tan, Managing Director, UnaBiz said, “We are especially pleased to support KKH with this pilot. The project is a great example of how IoT can be used to value add the way people perform their jobs.”

The Australian Digital Health Agency and the University of Sydney have partnered on a pilot program to assess how the My Health Record platform can improve the cardiology service. During the study, clinicians at Westmead Hospital will have access to participating patient's My Health Record, drawing on the information within the record to make a quicker diagnosis or decisions for treatment. Other goals of the pilot program aim to reduce duplicate testing and bolster support for communication among healthcare providers through the My Health Record shared healthy summary feature. A My Health record provides GPs, pharmacies and health systems with the ability to view a patient's health information securely online. It also allows healthcare providers involved in the user's care to view the person's health records, and health professionals can upload, view and share documents, diagnose and provide treatment. "Our study aims to provide greater accessibility to the information needed to better treat all Australians suffering chest pain, and to safely divert people with non-acute chest pain from being admitted to hospital," saif Clara Chow, academic director of the Westmead Applied Research Centre, in a statement published in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy. Heart disease was the single leading cause of death in 2018, with 170 Australians aged 25 years and over having a heart attack every day, Australia's Health 2018 report revealed last June. "Last month we discovered more than two-thirds of Australian adults have risk factors for heart disease," Heart Foundation general manager for heart health and research Bill Stavreski said in a statement. "Statistics like these remind us of the importance of looking after our heart health and My Health Record provides Australians with a place to store all-important records regarding your heart history and preferred treatment methods," he said. "We need all Australians to be aware of the prevalence of heart disease and the work left to do in improving our heart health," Agency CEO Tim Kelsey said in a statement. "This program is a great example of how we can use digital technologies to meet this goal and deliver better health outcomes to all Australians." Australian pharmacies and general practices are rapidly adopting My Health Record, the Government's digital health record system, according to the latest figures by the Australian Digital Health Agency. In the period between April 2018 and April 2019, there was a 13 percent increase in the number of shared health summaries uploaded by GP organisations and a 60 percent increase in the views of clinical documents by GP organisations. Digital solutions and technology has improved connectivity between patients and providers and brought Australia to the brink of a transformative phase in healthcare, according to professional services firm MinterEllison. A recent Melbourne Institute Health report also strongly indicated digital technology has the potential to bring doctors and patients together online through teleconsultations and shared electronic health records.

"We think every problem can be solved with machine learning," says one AI and analytics expert. "That’s not the case."

Developed by Pensiamo, the CognitiveRx tool monitors market demand and uses machine learning to help maintain inventory levels during drug shortages.

The new tech also helped the health system enable its caregivers to reclaim 30 percent of their time for face-to-face patient interactions.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has announced the agency will vote to advance a $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, enabling telehealth expansion for low-income Americans nationwide. WHY IT MATTERS Speaking in rural Laurel Fork, Virginia, Carr announced that the new funding is meant to increase access to care to patients and veterans in remote areas such as Appalachia. “With advances in telemedicine, healthcare is no longer limited to the confines of traditional brick and mortar healthcare facilities,” said Carr in a statement. "I think the FCC should support this new trend towards connected care, which is the healthcare equivalent of moving from Blockbuster to Netflix. That’s why the FCC will vote to advance my $100 million pilot program at our July 10 meeting." He added that the program will "focus on ensuring that low-income Americans and veterans can access this technology, particularly in rural communities like Laurel Fork, where the nearest hospital is in a different state, access to telehealth can make a life-saving difference." FCC is set to vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking next month that will seek comment on several potential provisions, including $100 million in Universal Service Fund support that will help rural providers to defray the cost of offering remote care to low-income patients, including people in medically underserved areas and veterans. The NPRM would also seek support for new pilot projects to seek innovation diabetes management, the opioid crisis, high-risk pregnancies, pediatric heart disease and cancer, according to the FCC. It would also offer an 85 percent discount on qualifying services for three years, along with efforts to assess the benefits, costs and savings enabled by telehealth and remote monitoring tools. THE LARGER TREND Connected care technologies have already enabled cost efficiencies with the management of chronic conditions, the FCC points out. It estimates that more widespread use of remote patient monitoring and virtual visits could save the American healthcare system $305 billion each year. Moreover, it would enable better health outcomes. The agency noted a study of 20 RPM trials that found a 20 percent reduction in all-cause mortality and a 15 percent reduction in heart failure-related hospitalizations. Another initiative showed a 46 percent reduction in ER visits, a 53 percent decrease in inpatient admissions and a 25 percent shorter length of stay. As evidence of telehealth's benefits, the FCC pointed to a pilot project in the Mississippi Delta that resulted in nearly $700,000 in annual savings thanks to reduced readmissions. It also noted big ROI in a recent virtual care study in the Northeast, where every dollar spent on remote monitoring resulted in a $3.30 savings. ON THE RECORD But better health is the true value of telemedicine, and "in Laurel Fork, telehealth is already delivering results," said Carr from the Virginia press conference. "Diabetes patients here that participated in a remote telehealth program saw their A1C levels decline by 2.2 points on average, which significantly reduced their risk of renal disease, heart disease and death caused by those conditions. "Through the Connected Care Pilot Program, the FCC can build on the success of projects like these, which are helping create a model for the adoption of connected care technologies and bridging the doctor divide in rural America," he said. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.

Even as they often rely on outmoded data management processes, 70% of execs and IT leaders say they're 'very' or 'extremely' confident of their infosec strategies.

German airline wants to improve the medical care provided in case of emergencies with new tech.

An interview with Dr Reinhold Sojer, head of the digitalisation/eHealth department at the Swiss Medical Association.