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AMIA CEO Doug Fridsma says healthcare should simplify its approach to data exchange: keeping a laser focus on worthwhile use cases, sharing first and standardizing later, while also taking some cues from the basic APIs that power the World Wide Web.
The scheme preyed upon hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled patients, DOJ says.
New Zealand’s Northland District Health Board (DHB) is trialling an oral telehealth service for children and adolescents with plans to expand it to adult services over time.
The DHB is piloting the use of Zoom video conferencing technology and a specialised intraoral camera to allow dentists at Whangarei Hospital to do examinations and consultations on children at remote locations.
The first trial involved an oral health therapist operating the camera at Kaitaia District Hospital. The therapist sees the images live so is able to adjust the camera as needed and on instructions from the dentist.
Previously, the dentist would have travelled to Kaitaia and seen the patients in person.
Oral health therapist Kirstie Culpan said by having teledentists, children can have their consults on time. If needed, they can also be placed on the general anaesthetic waitlist as soon as possible.
Northland DHB telehealth and mobility programme Manager Roy Davidson said, “The live clinical quality imaging provided by the specialised intraoral camera is the key technical component that makes these clinics possible.”
He said the telehealth setup has at times proved to be a positive distraction in the clinic as children are generally interested in the technology.
The service is targeting children and adolescents initially but will expand to adult services in time.
A second pilot clinic was held on April 5 linking to Kerikeri, and an assessment will now be undertaken and a decision made on scale and timing of rolling out the service.
“At this stage, there appears to be strong potential to link up the oral health locations throughout Northland, including the mobile dental clinics,” Davidson said.
“Linking the more rural mobile dental clinics would provide a significant improvement to access of care for those families unable to travel to centres.”
He said the telehealth service also provides support and peer contact engagement from dentists to dental and oral health therapists who are working in the community service.
“Telehealth enables assessment in real time and discussion with whānau members who are with the patient and is a collaborative tool, enabling knowledge up skilling for the clinical teams involved,” Davidson said.
“Telehealth reduces travel for clinicians, reduces travel for families and provides faster access to specialist dental care.”
This article first appeared on eHealthNews.nz.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has opened an online consultation for all Australians to have a say on the development of a more modern, digitally connected health system.
The online consultation, part of a nationwide series of discussions used to co-design the National Health Interoperability Roadmap, allows clinicians, healthcare organisations, consumers and the technology sector to converse about standards and priorities required for an interoperable health system.
The roadmap is a key priority of the National Digital Health Strategy, which was approved by all states and territories through the Council of Australian Government (COAG) Health Council in 2017.
The strategy identifies the importance of connected health services and calls for the definition of standards to support interoperability.
“Industry clinical software supports millions of digital transactions daily through public and private health systems. A collaborative consensus on standards will increase the confidence of all users and make a more interconnected health system possible for patients and their healthcare providers,” Medical Software Industry Association CEO Emma Hossack said.
According to the ADHA, interoperability holds the potential to bring patients’ records together from a range of systems and to provide access to information from disparate sources, give consumers and providers greater visibility and enable research and innovation.
“Best use of data and technology is key to sustainable, high quality and person-centred healthcare,” ADHA CEO Tim Kelsey said.
“We’ve made progress since the National Digital Health Strategy was launched in 2018 – including creating a My Health Record for nine out of 10 Australians, and developing standards for secure digital messages to replace letters and fax machines in healthcare.
“We are now developing the plan to move Australia to the next stage of connected care. Improving the interoperability of health and care services so that the right information is available at the right time for the right person is fundamental to improving the outcomes and experience of healthcare.”
[Read more: ADHA rolls out secure messaging initiative to axe the fax | Paving the way for interoperability in Australian healthcare]
In addition to the online consultation, ADHA will be facilitating 50 digital health community conversations nationally in the coming months with members of the healthcare sector, health technology industry and consumer representatives to collaborate on how digital technology can best support the delivery of a person-centred healthcare system.
ADHA is also welcoming written submissions by email or mail.
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Among other improvements, the EHR and other systems in the suite enabled Yucaipa Urgent Care to cut patient throughput time from two hours to 30-45 minutes.
The EHR vendor is also undergoing operational improvement initiatives, officials say.
More than 50 percent of patients are willing to share personal data with insurers, a survey has found.
Cybersecurity experts at BakerHostetler document some bright spots and areas for improvement for healthcare organizations.