Quality and Safety

A new report from ECRI Institute says suboptimal EHR management and CDS implementation pose safety risks to patients. It also raises concerns about patient identification and clinical process improvement activities.

Hospitals in New York are finding big quality and efficiency gains thanks to the ability to access patient EHR data via a regional health information exchange.

At a pivotal moment for healthcare, it's time to reform regulatory approaches, improve access to data for care coordination and establish a national patient ID, says John Halamka, MD, who offers some perspective to CMS and ONC on the future of MACRA, interoperability and more.  

Currently, 60 percent of healthcare organizations worldwide have introduced IoT into their facilities, with nearly two-thirds of those using it for monitoring and maintenance.

When I was a child we looked forward to our birthdays with joy and trepidation.  Yes, we would get a few presents, a birthday cake and for a few very fortunate children there would be a birthday party to attend. But we would dread school on our birthdays.    Back then there were birthday spankings. Ah, the acute embarrassment of going to the front of the classroom and bending over a desk to receive a spanking for each year of our lives.  These spanks weren’t too painful, but then there was the “one to grow on.” That final spank packed quite a wallop and many a child would return to their seats rubbing their behind.     When Alex Fair asked me to paint him a new jacket for him to wear in the Walking Gallery, I painted him with a birthday cake and candles. I named it "The candles that never go out."  I painted his happy face in darkness lit by flames and wrote Medstartr Ventures upon that cake for his work to help raise funds to improve healthcare. I have known Alex for almost seven years.  I know he still fights to improve healthcare when so many have dropped away from our cause.  I know he celebrates each year that his work struggles on as our changing economy and riotous political structure provides a type of encouragement that closely resembles that final birthday smack. Alex’s first jacket is falling apart. He wore it often in the last six years. He joined in the beginning, when I did not know you should not paint on corduroy.   I am glad he will wear this new one.  As I said on twitter the other day, “An army of change needs uniforms.”  I want you to think about that. Why do armies need uniforms?  Most importantly it shows which side you on in wartime. Joining The Walking Gallery shows that you are very much on the side of patients and overall improvement within healthcare.  Uniforms also make it really hard to set down your mantle of beliefs.  When we publicly wear our stories upon our backs it can be as heavy as a rucksack, yet not as easily set aside.  This blog was first published on Regina Holliday's Medical Advocacy Blog.

By integrating Nuance's AI with Epic's EHR, they aim to make it a cinch for nation's veterans to make medical appointments using voice-driven interactions.

At HIMSS17, clinicians get a primer on details of two of the more IT-focused components.

The countdown to HIMSS17 is on. It’s less than three weeks and if you’re anything like me, you’ve not figured out your HIMSS schedule yet. You’re getting those emails from HIMSS and vendors about what to do, starting to see the “HIMSS preview” type articles in your favorite publications. As the conference website says – 5 days | 300 sessions | 1,200 exhibitors | 45,000 colleagues. It’s as overwhelming as it sounds. The best way to think about it is in three ways – education, vendors, and networking. This post is the first of a three-part series – focusing on education. After all, you’re paying a hefty registration fee and travel expenses so you should get some education time in, right? It’s not just about the massive exhibit hall and seeing all your friends in the industry! Bottom line, you need a strategy and a focus. No more getting a big thick conference book to page through in advance – it’s all online for you to peruse and develop your plan. The conference website has education organized by topics, professional roles, specialty education, and types of session. Here are some tips as you plan your education at HIMSS17: Sunday pre-conference symposia – if you haven’t registered for one of these yet, consider doing so. They are an additional cost but an excellent full day focus with experts on topics such as cybersecurity, interoperability and health information exchange, nursing informatics, medical device security, and precision medicine. Keynotes – you should certainly look at the program and decide which ones you’ll try to attend. Remember, the main room can be full with an overflow room. Don’t think you can walk in at the last minute and get a seat. Session levels – look at the level of the sessions you want to attend — introductory, intermediate, or advanced. This is HIMSS way of helping you figure out if the content is at the right level for you. There is always a “Views From the Top” track which is aimed at senior IT leaders. Don’t be put off; anyone can certainly attend. I’ll be checking them out. Key topics – Pick a couple focus areas you want to learn about and make sure you get to the best of those sessions. HIMSS helps by organizing sessions under broad topics such as: clinical and business intelligence connected health consumer and patient engagement health IT public policy leadership, governance, strategic planning privacy, security and cybersecurity process improvement, workflow, change management With all the changes in DC these days, I will be paying close attention to the public policy ones.  And I’m going to see if there is anything in the connected health and consumer and patient engagement areas I want to attend. Divide and conquer – If you are attending with work colleagues, don’t all go to the same sessions. Plan to go to different ones and share your notes. The most effective IT teams will be working together in the next two weeks to map out their game plan to get the most from their investment. At this stage, these are the sessions I’m most interested in: Integrating Technology into Medical Practice for Better Patient Care The Best Exotic Marigold Hospital: Hilton digital experience Using Data to Understand the Full Value of Patients Improving Patient Outcomes and Health Economics through Connected Health Innovation Welcome to the Age of the Patient: Transform Patient Relationships and Results with CRM Nationwide Trusted Exchange: Are We There Yet? This post was first published on Sue Schade's Health IT Connect blog.

Those on the forefront of health IT have an unparalleled opportunity to do well by doing good: to introduce the latest innovations that fix the ever-persistent, budget-draining, patient-endangering inefficiencies in healthcare, while capturing new markets and making more money.

Failure to comply would result in one to five years imprisonment and or a $50,000 fine. The bill is headed to the Georgia senate for a vote and if it passes, will move to the house.