Canada’s Health Agency Finally Says it Wants to Make it Easier to Get Opioid Antidote

Amid steadily growing public concern surrounding fatal overdoses involving fentanyl, Health Canada has proposed making naloxone, an antidote to opiates and opioids, more widely available.

Right now, naloxone is a prescription only drug, but health care practitioners, families of victims, and front-line workers have been asking for years for it to be easier to access.

Following a review of its prescription status, Health Canada is proposing that the non-perscription use of naloxone, specifically for “emergency use for opioid overdose outside hospital settings” be allowed. The change would come with revisions to the product label and require training for anyone who might be administering naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of opioids.

Some provinces and cities, like Ontario and Alberta, have already made naloxone more accessible by handing out kits to current and former opiate users and their families, and training them how to administer it during an overdose. In many parts of the country, however, the drug has only been available to first responders. For the full article click here 

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Under Armour Bets Big On Wearable Tech

Under Armour (UA) is turning to a new lineup of wearable technology products and digital apps in its long-term play to overtake Nike Inc. (NKE) atop the global sports apparel industry. Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s founder and chief executive, was on hand at the Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas last week as Under Armour unveiled the first major products in its “Connected Fitness” series.

In the short term, Nike’s status as the dominant force in worldwide sportswear isn’t in doubt. The brand reported revenue of more than $30 billion in 2015 and earned $7.69 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal quarter alone. But a strong entrance into the wearable technology space, coupled with increasingly robust apparel and footwear sales, could cement Under Armour as the greatest threat to Nike’s grip on the market. For the full article click here 

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Why Industrial Control Systems are the most Important – and Complex – to Secure

Our Nation’s energy, water, transportation and other physical critical infrastructures are woefully unprepared for cyber attacks due to archaic infrastructures, frankenstiened networks and complex ecosystems with multiple disparate – yet interdependent – stakeholders. During this ICIT Fellow Insight interview, ICIT Fellow Eric Cornelius (Managing Director, ICS Security, Cylance) speak with ICIT Sr. Fellow Parham Eftekhari on the biggest risks facing ICS owner / operators and what can be done to improve resiliency.

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Major health IT groups to partner on cyber defense

As cyber attacks increasingly buffet the healthcare industry, two prominent organizations are coming together to facilitate the sharing of threat data.

The National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center has aligned with the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission, which certifies healthcare vendors and business associates for meeting best business practices, will harmonize efforts to reduce the growing threat of HIPAA breaches, incidents and cybersecurity attacks.

The agreement was formalized through a memorandum of understanding, says Denise Anderson, president of NH-ISAC. The collaboration is significant, because there’s growing need for healthcare organizations to share threat level data; this information has been ineffectively shared in the past because of competitive pressures and the disjointed nature of the industry. As cyber attacks rise against healthcare organization, it will become increasingly important for threat information to be shared quickly and widely. For the full article click here 

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The Bernie Sanders Health Plan Is Too Good To Be True, Analyst Says

When Bernie Sanders released his universal health care plan last week, promising that most people would receive more generous insurance coverage while paying less for medical care, most policy experts said it sounded too good to be true.

Now, a veteran health economist has produced a more serious assessment of Sanders’ proposal and concluded that the critics were right.

According to analysis from Emory University professor Kenneth Thorpe, a former Clinton administration advisor who has also done paid work for health industry clients, Sanders has wildly underestimated the cost of providing such comprehensive benefits to all Americans. Either his plan would blow a giant hole in the deficit, Thorpe predicts, or the new payroll and income taxes to finance the proposal would be more than twice as high as the Sanders campaign has projected. For the full article click here 

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The Health Care Delusion Hillary And Trump Share

When it comes to healthcare, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump should be miles apart. Clinton is a Democrat, Trump a Republican. Clinton is a wonk who spent years putting together punctilious policy prescriptions, even heading a failed healthcare overhaul during her husband’s presidential administration. Trump is a dilettante who has yet to put forward a coherent healthcare plan.

Yet the two candidates are calling for remarkably similar remedies for high drug prices–and the similarities reveal a lot about both of them and the healthcare system. So does their shared delusion: that you can lower healthcare costs using market forces without denying people access to care.

Monday night Trump shocked the political world–and sent drug company executives reaching for anxiety medication–by backing a long-time Democratic proposal: Allowing Medicare, the U.S. government’s healthcare program for senior citizens, to negotiate with drug companies on price. For the full article click here 

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Stakeholders Tout Health IT Tools To Boost Chronic Care Management

On Tuesday, several health IT groups sent letters to a Senate committee working group in response to a request for comments on how interoperability and telehealth can be used to improve chronic disease care, Politico‘s “Morning eHealth” reports.

American College of Physicians Letter Details

In a letter to the Chronic Care Working Group of the Senate Committee on Finance, the American College of Physicians recommended improving reimbursement for CMS’ chronic care management , including electronic consults between primary care providers and hospitalists or specialists (Tahir et al., “Morning eHealth,” Politico, 1/27).

ACP also wrote that it “supports the expanded role of telemedicine as a method of health care delivery that may enhance patient-physician collaborations, improve health outcomes, increase access to care and members of a patient’s health care team,” while reducing medical costs. For the full article click here 

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Texas Medical Center launches TMCx, a digital health accelerator

Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute has accepted 13 companies into its four month health accelerator program, called TMCx.

The accelerator plans to run two programs this year, it’s second year in operation. The first, which will run from January to June, TMCx is focusing on digital health companies. The second, which will run from July to December, will focus on medical device companies. During the program startups will be able to attend orientation sessions and presentations as well as pitch their offerings to leadership at Texas Medical Center. For the full article click here 

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Washington Debrief: Senate Committee Releases Bipartisan Health IT Legislation

Key Takeaway: The 68-page draft bill released by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee featured references to key CHIME issues including: patient matching, standards harmonization and reducing the administrative burdens caused by electronic health records (EHRs).

Why It Matters: Last week the HELP Committee released the long-awaited work product of their six Committee hearings on health IT and EHRs. The Committee hopes the legislation will spur interoperability, enable innovation and improve usability of health IT products for providers and patients.

Only resembling key themes of the interoperability-focused provision of the House-passed 21^stCentury Cures Act, the Senate HELP Committee’s stand-alone health IT bill, which will accompany a number of biomedical innovation bills, focuses on seven key topics: For the full article click here 

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ONC Committees OK Health IT Comparison Tool Recommendations

During a joint meeting of the Health IT Policy and Standards committees last week, members voted to approve task force recommendations for a health IT comparison tool, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 1/22).

Background

The 10-member Certified Technology Comparison Task Force is tasked with developing recommendations on ways to create a comparison tool that providers can use to help them choose electronic health record systems.

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

The new tool will upgrade the Certified Health IT Product List maintained by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

As part of the review process, the task force can examine:

• Comparison tools currently offered by the government and private entities; and
• Providers’ health IT needs.

The task force met for the first time in November 2015.

Earlier this month, the task force heard feedback from doctors on how to create a health IT comparison tool (iHealthBeat, 1/11). For the full article click here 

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Take Your Health More Seriously By Banishing These Health Busters

There are numerous old adages that express just how important health is, and how it gives us a sense of wealth, freedom, and inner joy that very few other things in life compare to. Unfortunately, our health is often taken for granted, and only until challenges or series issues arise do people begin to consider how they’eve been nourishing themselves.

There are many factors that contribute to poor health in a person’s life, and those factors provide numerous opportunities to improve and maintain good health. These include diet, exercise, lifestyle, stress, exposure to toxins, and mental attitude. Though it’s good to know which things impact health, it’s far more motivating to understand why and how these influences work with or against our well being. Here are some of the main health busters, and how making changes will lead to big benefits:For the full article click here 

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Jan. 31 marks deadline for health insurance enrollment

The final deadline for consumers to sign up for health insurance through the national marketplace Jan. 31.

Officials said Pennsylvanians should act now to make sure they have time to shop around, consider their options, and enroll in the plan that best fits their needs and budget. Those who don’t have health care coverage in 2016 may have to pay a fine of $695 or 2.5 percent of their income.

Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) has partnered with Enroll America to reduce the number of uninsured residents in the PGW will host trained health care navigators at each of its six customer service centers to help people sign up for coverage through the marketplace. Navigators will be available Monday and Friday, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. For the full article click here 

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Rise in serious incidents at English mental health trusts

More than 8,000 serious incidents were reported by mental health trusts in England last year – an increase of more than a third over a two-year period.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Liberal Democrats, include a rise in unexpected deaths and suicides.

The NHS logs events as “serious incidents” when the consequences for patients and staff are so significant they warrant investigations.

The NHS said transparency had improved.

Trusts are left to decide for themselves what constitutes a serious incident, working under guidelines from NHS England. For the full article click here 

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Reasons to use the workplace for cardiovascular health screening

Cardiovascular health screening can pick up the need for lifestyle changes that could reduce heart and circulatory diseases, the cause of death for one in four people in the UK. Dr Nick Summerton makes the case for screening taking place in the workplace.

The classic image of a health check is a middle-aged executive wired up to a treadmill. But cardiovascular fitness continues to be a critical area of concern for health and wellbeing, given the basic risks of modern, sedentary lifestyles.

Heart and circulatory diseases are the leading killers worldwide and the cause of death for one in four people in the UK. However there are important ways that prevention and screening have moved on since the days of the treadmill that OH professionals should be aware of.

There is often an assumption that heart and circulatory problems are only an issue for employees aged over 50. But high cholesterol can be genetic (known as familial hyper-cholesterolaemia), rather than the result of eating too many fatty foods, and it can affect an estimated one in 200 people who tend to be unaware of their condition and the risks associated with it. For the full article click here 

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Health care resources lack in the lower Laurentians: citizens’ group

A citizens’ group in the lower Laurentians says residents in the region are suffering with too few doctors and not enough services for a growing population.

“Don’t get sick here, because you are going to have to fight your way in to get help,” said Nel McChristie of Equity in Health for the Lower Laurentians, at a meeting Sunday about navigating the health care system in the region.

The group has met monthly in Two Mountains for the past year and a half, because they worry about people falling through the cracks, even if they’re lucky enough to have a family doctor.

“He gave me an appointment for a colonoscopy; he said it would take a year. It took 19 months before someone called me,” said Gordon Wetmore, also a member of the group.

They say the biggest issue isn’t quality of care, but rather access to it. For the full article click here 

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Court overturns University Health Network researchers’ punishment

The Ontario Divisional Court has overturned a University Health Network decision that found, in the court’s words, that Toronto cancer researchers Dr. Sylvia Asa and Dr. Shereen Ezzat “falsified and fabricated images in a number of research articles,” the Star has learned.

In a decision released Friday, a three-judges panel did, however, uphold a separate UHN finding that the researchers committed research misconduct in the form of “material non-compliance” and in doing so, failed to comply with publication standards in scientific journals.

The court ordered that the sanction against both doctors be sent back to UHN for review and that the hospital pay $20,000 to cover their legal costs. After the decision, the hospital maintained that it never concluded that the doctors falsified and fabricated images. For the full article click here 

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Treating mental health by beginning with resident advisors

When students, especially freshmen, struggle with mental health, it’s often their Residential Advisors who are the first line of help.

By training RAs on how to identify students who may be suffering from a psychological crisis, the Universityhopes to broaden access to mental and physical health care.

RAs undergo a day-long training program before the beginning of each semester, consisting of back-to-back presentations organized by Counseling and Psychological Services on issues related to eating disorders, depression and other common mental and physical conditions that afflict college-aged students. The purpose of this roughly eight-hour day of presentations is to inform RAs on the issues that their residents may be suffering from and to help them identify a student in need.

CAPS created the I CARE program in the spring of 2014 to provide students and faculty with the training necessary to identify a student who may be suffering from a mental illness. The program, which designates certain faculty members as mental wellness counselors, also seeks to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness and inform students of the resources at their disposal. The ultimate goal of I CARE training is to get rid of the cultural and informational barriers that may come between students and CAPS. For the full article click here 

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Medicare stars aim to help consumers find quality home health

When it comes to selecting a home health care agency, nurse Susan Sellechia, 34, says what matters most are compassion, education, and a drive to keep patients out of the hospital.

Her patient at Deer Meadows Home Health and Support Services, Joan Hutchins, 84, who was treated for ulcers on her legs, agrees.

“The nurses here have been very patient with me,” said Hutchins. “I couldn’t get any better care.”

In July, Medicare instituted a five-star rating system to help consumers compare and select agencies. For the full article click here 

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Instead of ObamaCare: Giving Health-Care Power to the People

While America’s health-care system has long needed reform, President Obamaunfortunately made many parts of it worse. His Affordable Care Act is based on more federal spending, regulation and coercion—and Americans are now experiencing the many unhappy consequences.

These include millions forced out of their previous insurance plans and into new ones with higher costs and more-restricted access to physicians; premiums increasing by double digits, even for the lowest-price silver plans offered in states using the Healthcare.gov website; and insurance companies losing billions of dollars because many healthy, middle-class families want no part of ObamaCare. And those not-for-profit “co-ops” established by the law? More than half have failed.

Congress passed a bill on Jan. 6 gutting the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Obama vetoed two days later. Change will have to wait until the next president and Congress. But repealing the Affordable Care Act is not enough. The country has been drifting toward full federal control of health care for decades. What’s needed is a credible plan to reorient federal policy across the board toward markets and the preferences of consumers and patients, and away from one-size-fits-all bureaucratic micromanagement. For the full article click here 

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Loss of life, liability top cybersecurity fears for health IT leaders

According to Critical Infrastructure Technology report, cyber attackers can be categorized according to their target, tactics, techniques, malware and procedures. 

Losing patients due to malicious actors gaining access to systems or hacking medical devices is the top fear for healthcare leaders when it comes to cybersecurity, according to the results of a new survey. Of more than 200 hospital and health system IT leader participants, 28 percent said their top threat concern is the ability of hackers to take advantage of vulnerabilities in Web- and cloud-based tools such as electronic health record systems and clinical applications. For the survey , conducted by HIMSS on behalf of application security company Veracode, executives also cite damage to their brand, enforcement by government agencies and post-breach costs as major concerns in an environment where breaches are growing in frequency and breadth. For the full article click here 

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A Complete Identity Platform Can Reduce Risk for the Healthcare Industry

As a Fellow of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT), I was able to contribute my expertise to the legislative brief entitled “Hacking Healthcare in 2016: Lessons the Healthcare Industry can Learn from the OPM Breach.” In the brief, the ICIT provides a comprehensive assessment of the threats and healthcare trends that have the greatest impact on health sector security, as well as solutions and strategies to improve resiliency. The report draws from the OPM breach, which is a prime example of the enormous consequences an organization can face by not maintaining and protecting integrated systems.

Specifically, this brief details:

• The Healthcare System’s Adversaries (script kiddies, hacktivists, cybercriminals, cyberterrorists and Nation State Actors)
• A Multi-Pronged Approach to Meaningful Cybersecurity (people, policies & procedures and technical controls)
• Healthcare in a Digital Age (IoT, sensors, telehealth, remote monitoring, behavior modification devices, embedded devices, mobile applications and data sharing in the Cloud)
• Legislation and Collaboration (21st Century Cures Act, telehealth solutions for veterans, telehealth access expansion, prescription drug monitoring, EHR interoperability, mHealth IRB)

My contribution focused on the ever-increasing risk surface and the causes of data loss through theft and error. It has been 20 years since congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law was created so that people could leave a job, maintain healthcare, and ensure their patient records were safe. The legislation saw the risk factors for patient data loss and misuse. So HIPAA guidelines seek to protect how patient data is stored, used and shared. For the full article click here 

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Health info is a giant target for hackers

By Zach Noble

What: “Hacking Healthcare IT in 2016,” a report from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology

Why: ICIT’s study seeks to apply lessons from the Office of Personnel Management breach to the health care sector. Like OPM, Anthem and Premera Blue Cross were hacked in 2015 via a third-party vendor connected to internal systems, the report states. Researchers also point a finger at a possible source for both intrusions: Deep Panda.

The report advises the health care sector to carefully vet third-party service providers and limit their access to critical systems. As the industry continues to expand into telemedicine and medical devices connected to the Internet of Things, providers must use layered cybersecurity approaches to protect their vulnerable — and valuable — digital assets, the report states.

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Hacktivist vs. cyberterrorist: Understanding the 5 enemies of healthcare IT security

According to Critical Infrastructure Technology report, cyber attackers can be categorized according to their target, tactics, techniques, malware and procedures.

By Jessica Davis

From “script kiddies” to sophisticated nation states, healthcare organizations have to be on the lookout for a variety of dangerous bad actors looking to crack its cybersecurity defenses, according to a recent Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology report.

The possible impacts from a healthcare security breach are vast. Data from administrative or electronic health record systems can be used to steal the identity of patients and employees, which creates a financial burden and can even lead to legal ramifications.

Furthermore, false information provided by the hacker can also increase the risk of medical complications, according to the report.”Healthcare providers, the largest target, are focused on their mission: saving lives,” according to the ICIT report. “Meanwhile, healthcare payers focus on processing the transactions necessary to keep patients healthy and healthcare providers operational.

“Both providers and payers devote the majority of their resources to fulfilling their mission,” the authors continued. “Sadly, attackers have seen this selfless dedication to human life as sign of weakness.”  Information stolen via healthcare breaches can be used for insurance fraud, identity theft, financial gain or targeted attacks, which can be sold online or used by the attackers for personal gain.

According to the report, cyber attackers can be categorized according to their target, tactics, techniques, malware and procedures:

1. Cybercriminals are stereotypical attackers, targeting organizations to make money through extortion or the disclosure of compromised data. Ransomware, malware that holds data hostage until the owner pays the monetary award, will be the primary threat to organizations in 2016, especially to mHealth devices and mission critical assets.

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Cruz reveals he doesn’t have health insurance

Ted Cruz revealed on Thursday that he is not currently covered by any health insurance, chalking up the lack of coverage to Obamacare.

“I’ll tell you, you know who one of those millions of Americans is who’s lost their health care because of Obamacare? That would be me,” Cruz told a Manchester, New Hampshire, audience. “I don’t have health care right now.”

Cruz explained that he had purchased an individual policy and that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas had canceled all of its individual policies in Texas, effective Dec. 31. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, who is on temporary leave from her job with Goldman Sachs, purchased an individual plan last year after previously receiving coverage through the Wall Street firm. A spokeswoman for Cruz’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment to clarify his remarks. For the full article click here 

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State Prisons Turn to Telemedicine to Improve Health and Save Money

Texas prison psychiatrist Pradan Nathan recalls an unsettling face-to-face session with a dissatisfied patient about a dozen years ago at a maximum security prison in East Texas. The large man, a member of a notorious prison gang, insisted Nathan prescribe him a particular medication. Nathan said he didn’t need it.

“I’m going to stab you to death the next time you come in here,” the prisoner growled.

Nathan feels a lot safer these days. He sees up to 16 patients a day from a suburban Houston office here, using an audio console, a camera and a monitor to treat inmates at two state prisons — including one with a death row — at least 30 miles from where he sits. He’s still threatened occasionally, but now it’s from a comforting distance. Needless to say, he’s a big fan of telemedicine. For the full article click here 

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For Under Armour, health tracking is more than a wristband

Under Armour’s pitch got me excited. Rather than dropping another fitness tracker on the world, the company had a vision. An ecosystem more robust than the competition and geared toward athletes, not just people looking for a pedometer. Sure, there’s a wearable, the UA Band, but that’s just one small part of the equation. There’s also a WiFi scale, a heart-rate monitor, headphones and even connected shoes. Plus a raft of apps like Endomondo, MyFitnessPal and the hub for it all, Under Armour Record. It’s a world of apps, gadgets and services that are supposed to work together to make a slimmer, faster and more motivated me.

A little more than a month into immersing myself in that world, I’ve found that the truth doesn’t quite match those lofty ambitions. For the full article click here 

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Athenahealth, Epic and Other EHR Vendors Adopt Carequality Interoperability Framework

Five major health IT vendors, including service provider Surescripts, are the first organizations to implement the data sharing principles and will benefit from “accelerated, less costly health data sharing agreements”

Five major health IT vendors – athenahealth, Epic, eClinicalWorks, NextGen Healthcare and Surescripts – have signed on to be the first to implement Carequality’s framework for interoperability and data sharing principles, the organization announced Thursday.

Carequality, a Washington, D.C.-based public-private collaborative and an initiative of The Sequoia Project, released its interoperability framework in December, which consisted of multiple elements, including legal terms, policy requirements, technical specifications, and governance processes. The Framework operationalizes data sharing under the previously-approved principles of trust—the policy foundation for connecting health data sharing networks throughout the U.S.

Dave Cassel, director of Carequality, said the adoption of the framework by the five health IT vendors represents “a major leap forward for nationwide interoperability.” For the full article click here 

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Sussex Co. Health Coalition receives grant to target student mental health issues

GEORGETOWN, Del. –Mental health is slowly but surely becoming a less taboo issue in the U.S. The Sussex County Health Coalition is recognizing this by helping local students.

They’re now entering their second phase of providing mental health prevention and early intervention opportunities to students in the Indian River, Cape Henlopen, and Woodbridge school districts in Sussex County.

Through a $95,000 grant from Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield Delaware, the coalition will be developing universal referral forms that schools can use to identify students in need of mental health services. They will use the forms to link them to the right resources. For the full article click here 

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Bill Clinton Attacks Bernie Sanders on Planned Parenthood and Health Care

On his third campaign trip to New Hampshire, former President Bill Clinton did not hold back on his criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is currently holding a 27 point lead over Hillary Clinton and polling at a 91 percent favorability among voters in the state, according to the most recent WMUR/CNN poll.

Bill Clinton didn’t mention the senator from Vermont by name but regularly referred to him as “her opponent.” He struck hard on Sanders, attacking him on calling Planned Parenthood part of the “establishment.” The Clinton campaign, who has the endorsement of Planned Parenthood, pounced on this.

“If you elect Hillary president, it will be a great day when you stop her from defunding Planned Parenthood,” Bill Clinton said today. “Hillary Clinton does not consider Planned Parenthood a member of the establishment.” For the full article click here 

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Fast-growing startup CrossChx hires former HHS health IT honchos

Photopolymer Resin Cuts Costs of Human Organ Printed Models

A new method for creating detailed three dimensional (3D) models of human organs could cut costs to one third of current techniques.

Developed by researchers at the University of Tsukuba (Japan), in partnership with Dai Nippon Printing (DNP; Tokyo, Japan), the new technique is based on 3D printing only the necessary parts of the organs that need to be operated on, and not the entire organ’s tissue, arteries, and veins. Since a significantly reduced amount of material is necessary, there is no need to use complex, highly transparent resins, or to fabricate the model in an expensive multi-material 3D printer. For the full article click here 

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Senate Health Committee Release Draft Bill to Improve Health IT for Docs, Patients

To inform the committee’s final legislation, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today released for feedback a staff discussion draft of the committee’s bipartisan legislation to improve health IT, including EHRs.

The draft legislation released on Wednesday is the product of a bipartisan, full committee health information technology working group by Alexander and Murray in April—as well as a series of bipartisan hearings in the committee.

“Health information moving seamlessly among doctors and hospitals is vital for the future of medicine and essential to improving patient care. The committee has been working for months on legislation to help improve electronic health records, and it involves especially technical work to get this right, which is why our committee looks forward to feedback on today’s draft from doctors, hospitals, health IT developers, and other experts in this area of health care,”said Sen. Murray in a statement.   For the full article click here 

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At the Health IT Summit in San Diego, Pondering What It Will Take to Get to “Patient-Centric”

Patient-centered care initiatives are going to require strong data and analytics to support their success

It was an honor and a pleasure to moderate a discussion panel on Monday at the Health IT summit in San Diego (sponsored by the Institute for Health Technology Transformation, or iHT2—a sister organization of Healthcare Informatics under our corporate umbrella parent, the Vendome Group). The title of that discussion? “HIT & Analytics: Enabling Patient-Centered Care.”

I couldn’t have had a more distinguished and on-target panel. With me were Harris Stutman, M.D., executive director, clinical informatics, and CMIO, at MemorialCare (Long Beach, Calif.); Lori Posk, M.D., medical director for MyChart, Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Oh.); and Stan Huff, M.D., CMIO, Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City).  All three medical informaticists have been deeply and broadly involved in helping to lead their colleagues forward in a variety of important initiatives. For the full article click here 

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Most HIT Workers Earned Raises Last Year

The average Health IT worker’s salary was more than $111,000 and 77 percent reported raises since June 2015.

In 2015, the average health IT worker earned more than $111,000 according to the latest report from HIMSS. The report further found the mean salary was $90,000.

“There is no better time to be employed in healthcare than today,” said JoAnn Klinedinst, vice president of professional development at HIMSS North America, according to Health Data Management. “This is a snapshot of the exciting opportunities for IT professionals in the healthcare setting. Outside of hospitals and physician practices, healthcare also occurs in many different non-traditional settings such as retail, underscoring the dynamic shift that we’re seeing.” For the full article click here 

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Connected Health Market Poised To Explode

A recent report from ACT | The App Association predicts growth in the connected health market will cause it to grow to more than $117 billion by 2020.

According to experts at ACT | The App Association, the market for connected health is ready for big growth in the coming years, topping out at $117 billion by 2020. They note much of this growth is due to a greater emphasis likely to be placed on chronic condition management, personal fitness and wellness, and remote patient monitoring.

“Over the next few years, there will be a transition to much more focused products in this space,” ACT Executive Director Morgan Reed told FierceMobileHealthcare in an interview. The study also found 86 percent of clinicians believe mobile apps will be central to patient health in that time frame. For the full article click here 

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New ONC CHPL Site Will Enhance Health IT Product Comparison

My Top Security Data Science Predictions for 2016

Posted by Derek Lin

Security remains a top news item this year.  We see increased activities to address security in enterprises and the product marketplace in 2015.  I offer my predictions on the top trends in security analytics for 2016.  They are:

#1 Data science as a de-facto tool for cyber security

Cyber security traditionally has been relying on signature-based and rule-based approaches to detect bad activities.  The use of data science has emerged only in recent years.  This technology trend parallels that of fraud detection in credit or banking industry.  Starting from rule- and signature-based systems, the financial industry moved to risk-based systems using analytics to catch evermore sophisticated fraud activities.  The cyber security domain is no different.  In 2015 we’ve seen increased activities in data scientist hiring and a broader interest in the use of machine learning and data analytics among enterprises security offices.

#2 Increased Marketing Noise in Security Analytics

In 2015, new and old security product vendors are marketing data analytics.  But this also creates confusion in the market as there is neither a standard for data analytics tools, nor benchmark data sets to compare analytics procedures.  If you are in the marketplace, do your due diligence in understanding the security products under the hood.

#3 Spark!

In its very short history, the open-source Apache Spark has become mainstream, especially with Databricks, IBM, and Cloudera supporting it in 2015.  Its ability to stream and analyze data in close to real time will drive adoption in many verticals and applications.  Security analytics will be no exception.  However, Spark is not a panacea to all security data analytics, as not all problems can be addressed by data parallelization.  Security systems that are designed to leverage stateless data parallelization and to accommodate stateful event tracking will enjoy an advantage.

To read the full article click here : http://ift.tt/1TZW78T

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Centrify Becomes a Member of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT)

Centrify expands the ICIT’s growing expertise in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Centrify, the leader in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats, today announced that it has become a member of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) Fellows Program. Centrify Senior Director of Federal Greg Cranley has been named an ICIT fellow, adding to the Institute’s growing expertise in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats. By joining ICIT as a fellow, Centrify has a leadership role in advising the nation’s lawmakers, federal agency decision makers and critical infrastructure sector stakeholders.

Centrify has already contributed to several ICIT publications and briefings, including speaking at the ICIT Senate Briefing: Hacking Hospitals, to address the growing threats facing healthcare organizations. Attendees included agencies from the Department of Veterans Affairs, State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the Intelligence Community. Attendees gained clarity on today’s expanding attack surface as well as technologies that can help improve security.

“Health care is complex because there are large numbers of payers, patients and providers that require access to digital data. The system is plagued with too many people having too many passwords and too much privilege to health care and patient records. All of this creates a large risk surface,” said Cranley. “This large risk surface makes data ripe for theft for fraudulent use, including making false benefit claims and selling records of patients so that they could be targeted by unscrupulous drug and or medical device providers.”

As a fellow, Centrify will contribute to the Institute’s upcoming thought leadership initiatives, including speaking at an upcoming ICIT Fellow Meeting in February entitled, “Operational Innovation: A New Approach to the Threat Landscape,” and ICIT’s Critical Infrastructure Forum focused on the resiliency and enablement of the nation’s critical infrastructures in April.

“Organizations are facing an epidemic of poorly managed credentials at a time when users demand anytime, anywhere access to the dozens of systems and applications they use on a daily basis,” said Parham Eftekhari, co-founder and senior fellow of the ICIT. “Leadership is needed on this important aspect of cybersecurity, which is why the ICIT is thrilled to partner with Centrify.”

See the full Press Release here: http://ift.tt/1lqJN5q

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This is Bernie Sanders’s universal healthcare plan for every American

Despite spending twice as much on healthcare than most wealthy countries, Americans have a lower life expectancy than their counterparts in the West. Bernie Sanders is keen to change that.

The US Democratic presidential candidate unveiled his universal healthcare plan a couple of hours before the last Democratic debate last night (Jan. 17). Sanders praised Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act but he noted there are still 29 million Americans without health insurance. He calls for a system “that works not just for millionaires and billionaires, but for all of us.” So what is his alternative? For the full article click here 

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10 truths about Britain’s health service

The NHS is the world’s fifth largest employer, an operation so vast that it occupies one in 20 British workers. But that is just one of an almost endless list of superlatives that apply to the National Health Service. They are often forgotten in the daily shriek of claim and counterclaim about its performance.

Maligned for long waiting times and disrupted by endless reorganisation, the NHS may not sound like an international benchmark. But the respected USCommonwealth Fund health thinktank ranked the UK first in its most recent study of healthcare in 11 rich countries (June 2014).

The UK came out best in eight of the 11 areas studied, including safety and effectiveness of care and for overall efficient use of resources. However, it was placed only 10th out of the 11 nations for health outcomes and overall death rates. For the full article click here 

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The High Price of Not-Even-Close-To-Universal Health Coverage

All three Democrats vying for their party’s nomination have devoted a great deal of energy lamenting the purportedly unjust stagnation of worker wages in recent years.  With equal vehemence they decry the unanimous posture of their Republican counterparts that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced as quickly as feasible. Indeed, in last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton brashly asserted that the Affordable Care Act “is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country.”

Yet a new study has found that Obamacare’s mandate to require employer plans to cover young adult dependents up to age 26 has reduced worker wages by an average of $1,200 a year .   For the full article click here 

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Healthcare IT firms gets $4.6 bn funding in 2015: Mercom

Venture capital firms invested $ 4.6 billion through 574 deals in healthcare IT companies globally in 2015, registering a marginal decline over last year, a report by Mercom Capital Group said today.

In 2014, VC funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital, stood at $4.7 billion by way of 670 deals.

“After an incredible run from 2010—2014, VC funding into Health IT companies levelled off last year,” Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co—founder Raj Prabhu said.

“We are beginning to see a slowdown in early stage deals, a sign the sector is beginning to mature. We are also seeing funding trends shift from practice—focused to consumer—focused technologies and products,” he said further. For the full article click here 

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Electronic Health Records Foster Increased Efficiency

Although many challenges still exist, measuring the impact of the EHR on treatment and clinical areas is happening among health care innovators.

In a sign that electronic health records (EHRs) are having a positive impact, an HIMSS survey found 87 percent of respondents who implemented EHRs yielded increased efficiencies in clinical staff quality performance.Limited exclusively to hospitals with highly sophisticated EHR environments, meaning a hospital that had achieved Stage 6 or 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EMRAMSM model and HIMSS Davies winners, the survey identified and profiled patterns in Health IT value experiences leveraging the HIMSS STEPSTM model.The findings indicate that although many challenges still exist, measuring the impact of the EHR on treatment and clinical areas is happening amongst healthcare innovators.The results also demonstrate that health IT is creating a positive shift within health care organizations, one that’s deriving quality care and improved outcomes. For the full article click here 

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Clinton’s Attack on Sanders’ Health Plan

The Clinton campaign has made a series of misleading attacks on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ health care plan, saying he wants to “dismantle Medicare” and private insurance and that he would turn over “your and my health insurance to governors.” Not exactly.

Sanders calls for replacing the current health insurance system with a new “single-payer” system in which everyone has insurance paid through taxes. And a federal board would approve individual states’ universal insurance plans, with the power to take over if a state refused to participate or didn’t meet certain standards. For the full article click here 

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Last Two Deadlines Looming For Health Insurance Coverage In 2016

It’s not as exciting as the Powerball deadline, but will affect far more people.

Friday is the last day to enroll in an Obamacare plan, if you want the coverage to begin by February 1.

The final deadline is January 31. If you’re not signed up by then, enrollment is closed for the rest of the year. For the full article click here 

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Serena Williams, Rejecting Health Doubts, Insists She’s Ready

MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams has not played a meaningful match since losing in the semifinals of the United States Open in September.

Williams has professed that she is healthy despite pulling out of two matches and failing to complete a third at the Hopman Cup exhibition event last month, citing knee problems.

At one point Saturday during a morning training session in preparation of defending her Australian Open title, a grimacing Williams sat in a chair, facing a fence, as her physiotherapist, Anne-Marie Montgomery, attended to her.

Williams, addressing the news media hours later, rejected the suggestion of a nagging injury.

“No, I’m a little tired today,” she said, referring to the moments when she was seated in practice. “I’ve been working so hard and doing so much work, so. Maybe I had a bad attitude out there.” For the full article click here 

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Canadians should plan for health complications before leaving for vacation: Travel nurse

The family of Barb Johnston — the Manitoba woman who got sick in Cuba and died a day after she returned to Canada on Dec. 29 — is warning travellers to have an emergency plan in place to deal with unexpected health concerns while on vacation.

Whether it’s knowing which clinics are adequate or making a plan to leave the country if need be, there’s information Canadians need before they leave for a trip.

Tara Lombardo is the head nurse of Dawson Travel and Immunization Clinic in Guelph, Ont.  For the full article click here 

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Somerset County supports Cervical Health Awareness Month

The Somerset County Board of Freeholders and the Morris-Somerset Regional Chronic Disease Coalition and its partners are urging women of all income levels to take advantage of life-saving screenings and tests and to become informed about prevention and early detection options, which decrease risk for infections and cervical cancer.

The Somerset County Freeholders presented a proclamation at a recent freeholders’ meeting. The proclamation will be shared with local municipalities to adopt.

Cervical cancer can be detected with a simple pelvic exam and pap test. A vaccine is available to prevent cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, which is the main cause of cervical cancer. For the full article click here 

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HIMSS Analytics Unveils On-Demand Health IT Market Intelligence Tool

HIMSS Analytics® has launched a new market intelligence tool, Logic for healthcare providers, healthcare IT companies, governmental and education organizations and investors. Collaboratively built with hospitals and health systems, Logic will provide insight into predictive modeling, benchmarks and value optimization of health IT, including ranking and adoption of the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM^SM).

Logic Market Intelligence Tool Overview

Logic builds off the current HIMSS Analytics Database, which stores key data insights from provider institutions across the country. New features include more visualizations and customizable dashboards that generate actionable market intelligence on-demand. Users can quickly understand the healthcare landscape from various avenues – from healthcare IT trends such as usage, first-time purchases, upgrades or replacements, to who the key healthcare decisions makers are at an organization and their new areas of focus. For the full article click here 

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HEALTH STARTUPS CRY FOUL OVER TENDER

Firms complain they are unable to tap the big govt market because of the rigid bidding procedure

While the country is prepping hard for the launch of the ‘Startup India’ movement by prime minister Modi on Saturday, most healthcare startups are suffering teething problems; that of selling their products to the government sector. Medical technology startups are struggling to scale up, especially with regard to tapping into the government hospitals market, because of the rigid tendering processes in place. Major challenges at the entry point for these startups include guidelines such as a minimum of three years’ industry experience, no single-bidder policy and tenders not being time-bound.

For instance, last week, the state government invited open tenders for the proposal of screening of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in four zones of Karnataka under the national health mission (NHM).  For the full article click here 

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Canada’s Health Agency Finally Says it Wants to Make it Easier to Get Opioid Antidote

Amid steadily growing public concern surrounding fatal overdoses involving fentanyl, Health Canada has proposed making naloxone, an antidote to opiates and opioids, more widely available.

Right now, naloxone is a prescription only drug, but health care practitioners, families of victims, and front-line workers have been asking for years for it to be easier to access.

Following a review of its prescription status, Health Canada is proposing that the non-perscription use of naloxone, specifically for “emergency use for opioid overdose outside hospital settings” be allowed. The change would come with revisions to the product label and require training for anyone who might be administering naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of opioids.

Some provinces and cities, like Ontario and Alberta, have already made naloxone more accessible by handing out kits to current and former opiate users and their families, and training them how to administer it during an overdose. In many parts of the country, however, the drug has only been available to first responders. For the full article click here 

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Clinton: Sanders Would ‘End All The Kinds Of Health Care We Know’

In an interview with Rachel Maddow airing Thursday evening, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doubled-down on an attack that 2016 rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) single payer health care plan would “end all the kinds of health care we know.”

“It’s a bit concerning to me because it would basically end all the kinds of health care we know, Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP program, children’s health insurance, TRICARE for the National Guard, military, Affordable Care Act exchange policies, employer-based policies,” Clinton said. “It would take all that and hand it over to the states.”

Clinton’s daughter Chelsea used a similar line of attack earlier this week, prompting scrutiny, with Sanders defenders and health policy experts pointing out that those health care programs would no longer be necessary in a single payer “Medicare for all” system where everyone would be covered under a government plan. For the full article click here 

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Health Officials Investigate If Legionnaires Outbreak in Flint, Michigan, Linked to Water Crisis

Health officials are investigating whether two Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks in and around Flint, Michigan, were caused or impacted by the ongoing water-contamination crisis, authorities said today.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into two outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, in 2014 and 2015, which sickened 87 — killing 10 of them — in Genesee County. Those sickened ranged in age from 26 to 94, and became sick between either June 6, 2014, to March 9, 2015, or May 4, 2015, to Oct. 29, 2015, the agency said.

Elevated lead levels have been found in Flint’s water supply after the source was temporarily changed from Detroit’s municipal supply to the Flint River. It is unclear if the Legionnaires’ cases are linked to the water crisis but Michigan health officials said they were looking into the possibility. For the full article click here 

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RAYTHEON|WEBSENSE IS NOW FORCEPOINT

Forcepoint brings fresh approach to safeguarding users, data and networks from insider and outsider threats 

Austin, Texas – January 14, 2016 – Global cybersecurity leader Raytheon|Websense today unveiled its new company name, Forcepoint™, and multiple new products. Built on the successful integration of Websense®, Raytheon Cyber Products and the recently-acquired Stonesoft next-generation firewall (NGFW) business, Forcepoint brings a fresh approach to address the constantly evolving cybersecurity challenges and regulatory requirements facing businesses and government agencies.

Forcepoint was created to empower organizations to drive their business forward by safely embracing transformative technologies – cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), and others – through a unified, cloud-centric platform that safeguards users, networks and data while eliminating the inefficiencies involved in managing a collection of point security products. The Forcepoint platform will protect against threats from insiders and outsiders, rapidly detect breaches, minimize “dwell time” – the period between compromise and remediation – and stop theft.

“With Forcepoint, organizations can protect users, networks and data in the cloud, on the road, and in the office. We simplify compliance, enable better decision-making and streamline security so that our customers can concentrate on what’s important to them,” said Forcepoint CEO, John McCormack. “We will provide a unified cloud-centric platform to defend against attacks, detect suspicious activity sooner, and give the context needed to decide what actions to take to defeat the attack and stop data theft. Defend, detect, decide, defeat – this is our vision for Forcepoint 4D Security. We have the expertise, financial commitment and ongoing access to unique, defense-grade security technology necessary to deliver on this vision.”

“A platform solution that both simplifies and strengthens security as part of a holistic strategy that includes people, process and technology is a far more compelling value proposition than a simple point solution,” said Dan Wilson, Executive Vice President of Partner Solutions for Optiv, a market-leading provider of end-to-end cyber security solutions.

“Forcepoint’s platform focuses on insider threat protection, cloud data protection and network security. We’re seeing clients ask for these capabilities and are excited to see how Forcepoint delivers.”

See the full Press Releases Here : http://ift.tt/1USunmo

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Tuscarawas County Health Department encourages residents to test for radon exposure

The Tuscarawas County Health Department is supporting National Radon Action Month by encouraging Tuscarawas County residents to test their homes for possible radon exposure.

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that may threaten residents’ health. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. and the leading cause in nonsmokers. Testing is simple and inexpensive, and the TCHD division of Environmental Health offers free coupons for a test kit with a limit of one per household. Households must be within Tuscarawas County. For the full article click here 

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Dr. Andrew Weil Works To Focus Healthcare System On Health

Dr. Andrew Weil is the Harvard-trained physician who led the holistic health revolution of the last fifty years. Whatever you think of alternative medicine, he has been successful at building a following and a community.

Recently, Dr. Weil created The Weil Foundation to fund educational programs at medical schools around the country, teaching integrative medicine.

Dr. Weil explains the healthcare problems we face today, “We are all suffering from a broken health care system and medicine that is too dependent on expensive technology and pharmaceutical drugs that often cause as much harm as benefit.” For the full article click here 

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Making Sense of the Democratic Fight Over Health Care

In the latest volley of her multi-front January offensive against Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton is zeroing in on his single-payer health care plan.

The Clinton campaign launched an all-out assault on Wednesday, flooding cable television with surrogates to attack Sanders for not releasing details of his plan. The Clinton campaign also held a conference call with reporters to ramp up the pressure on how the proposal would raise taxes. For the full article click here 

 

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ISACA 2016 Cybersecurity Snapshot

ISACA’s January 2016 Cybersecurity Snapshot looks at cybersecurity issues facing organizations this month and beyond—from reactions to new cybersecurity legislation, to insights on information sharing and top cyber threats.

Among the key findings from nearly 3,000 IT and cybersecurity professionals worldwide:

• The top three cyberthreat concerns for 2016 are social engineering, insider threats and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
• 84 percent of respondents believe there is a medium to high likelihood of a cybersecurity attack disrupting critical infrastructure (e.g., electrical grid, water supply systems) this year.
• 72 percent of respondents say they are in favor of the US Cybersecurity Act, but only 46% say their organizations would voluntarily participate in cyber threat information sharing, as outlined in the Act.

See the full results and related insights from cybersecurity experts here:   http://ift.tt/1mR4QPx

Follow the conversation on Twitter: #CyberSnapshot

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ICIT Brief: Hacking Healthcare in 2016: Lessons the Healthcare Industry can Learn from the OPM Breach

Among all of America’s critical infrastructures, the healthcare sector is the most targeted and plagued by perpetual persistent attacks from numerous unknown malicious hackers. The goal of these threat actors is to exploit vulnerabilities in insecure and antiquated networks in order to exfiltrate patient data for financial or geopolitical gain. In order to protect patient privacy, healthcare organizations and their supply chains must better understand the growing attack surface and the technologies and solutions which can improve their ability to respond to unauthorized network access.

In this brief, entitled “Hacking Healthcare in 2016: Lessons the Healthcare Industry can Learn from the OPM Breach”, the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology provides a comprehensive assessment of the threats and healthcare trends which have the greatest impact on health sector security, as well as solutions and strategies to improve resiliency. The report draws from the OPM breach, which is a prime example of the enormous consequences an organization can face by not maintaining and protecting integrated systems.  Specifically, this brief details:

•  The Healthcare System’s Adversaries (script kiddies, hacktivists, cyber criminals, cyberterrorists and Nation State Actors)
• A Multi-Pronged Approach to Meaningful Cybersecurity (people, policies & procedures and technical controls)
• Healthcare in a Digital Age (IoT, sensors, telehealth, remote monitoring, behavior modification devices, embedded devices, mobile applications and data sharing in the Cloud)
• Legislation & Collaboration (21st Century Cures Act, telehealth solutions for veterans, telehealth access expansion, prescription drug monitoring, EHR interoperability, mHealth IRB)

The following ICIT Fellows & thought leaders contributed to this brief:

• James Scott (ICIT Senior Fellow – Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology)
• Drew Spaniel (ICIT Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Mellon University)
• Dan Waddell (ICIT Fellow – Director, Government Affairs, (ISC)2)
• Jon Miller (ICIT Fellow – V.P Strategy, Cylance)
• Rob Bathurst (ICIT Fellow – CISSP, Professional Services Director, Cylance)
• Malcolm Harkins (ICIT Fellow – Global Chief Information Security Officer, Cylance)
• Greg Cranley (ICIT Fellow Sr. Director of Federal, Centrify)
• Seth Nylund (ICIT Fellow – V.P. Federal, Exabeam)
• Michael Seguinot (ICIT Fellow – Regional Sales Director, Exabeam)
• Steve Curren (Acting Director, Division of Resilience, HHS)
• Rob Roy (ICIT Fellow – Public Sector CTO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise)
• Stan Wisseman (ICIT Fellow – Security Strategist, Hewlett Packard Enterprise)
• Montana Williams (ICIT Fellow – Cybersecurity Evangelist, ISACA)
• Jerry Davis (ICIT Fellow & CIO, NASA Ames Research Center)
• Kevin Stine (Manager, Information Technology Laboratory (Security Outreach and Integration, NIST)
•  Elisabeth George (ICIT Fellow – V.P. Global Regulations & Standards, Philips)
• John Menkhart (ICIT Fellow – V.P Federal, Securonix)
• Stacey Winn (ICIT Fellow – Sr. Product Manager, Raytheon / Websense)
• Ashok Sankar (ICIT Fellow – Security Evangelist, Raytheon / Websense)

Download the brief HERE

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What CMS chief Andy Slavitt said at J.P. Morgan

Acting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Andy Slavitt on Tuesday shocked many in healthcare when he laid out an aggressive timeline to replace the meaningful use program, a electronic health records mandate and incentive program that healthcare providers put millions into.

Slavitt made the remarks at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

Below is the full transcript of his speech, in which, in addition to putting meaningful use on death watch, he touted several new CMS initiatives like the new Next Generation accountable care model:

Thanks for the introduction. Glad to be here and speak about the major policy areas that will affect the health care sector in 2016. I am particularly glad to be here with Jim from AMA, because between us we are working on an incredible amount of change across the health care sector. For the full article click here 

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CrossChx, Former HHS Innovators Partner to Build The ‘Internet of Healthcare’

CrossChx, a provider of identity resolution for smarter healthcare is teaming up with Bryan Sivak (former CTO of Health and Human Services) and Dr. Jacob Reider, (former Chief Medical Officer and later Deputy National Coordinator of the National Coordinate for Health IT within HHS), to develop what they’re calling the “Internet of Healthcare.”  In their new roles, Sivak and Reider will be helping CrossChx develop a connected IoH framework for the industry that can enable many of the healthcare innovations that have been discussed over the past few years.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company has spent the last two years building a fully connected and secure digital experience for healthcare. Their secure global patient ID system, SafeChx has been deployed at over 1000 hospitals and clinics nationwide. They have also made significant advancements in their product suite, most recently offering a simple, modern patient sign-in system called Queue that reduces patient wait times by up to 80 percent. For the full article click here 

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HIPAA Regulation Updates Bring Mixed Reactions, Concerns

“The American Legion strongly believes that treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression by itself…should not be the sole factor in denying a veteran the right to purchase a firearm.”

The executive order from earlier this month that brought forth changes to HIPAA regulations has been met with both positive and negative reactions thus far. Some groups state the modifications will help reduce violence and firearm injuries, while others feel that the changes are encroaching on individuals’ right to privacy.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) said that it supports the measure, as it will close loopholes in background checks, increase mental health treatment, and promote research that will make guns safer. For the full article click here 

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Devin Jopp Resigns as President and CEO of WEDI

Care Coordination Paramount as New ACO Models Roll Out

Care coordination and health IT interoperability are fundamentally entwined, with the bind becoming ever-tighter as hospitals, health systems and medical practices venture further into value-based care programs. On Jan. 11, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) emphasized its commitment in this direction with a wide-ranging announcement of accountable care organization (ACO) initiatives aimed at improving patient care while lowering costs.

HHS cited 2014 quality and financial performance results for Medicare Shared Savings Program (SSP) ACOs, which show that participating entities are delivering better care. SSP ACOs that reported results in both 2013 and 2014 improved on 27 of 33 quality measures, said HHS, including patients’ ratings of clinicians’ communications, beneficiaries’ ratings of their doctors, screenings for tobacco use/cessation and high blood pressure, and use of electronic health records. HHS noted that SSP ACOs outperformed group practices on 18 of 22 quality measures. For the full article click here 

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(ISC)2 CyberSecureGov 2016 “Inspiring Change Agents in an Environment of Game-Changing Threats”

(ISC)² CyberSecureGov 2016

“Inspiring Change Agents in an Environment of Game-Changing Threats”

Date: May 19 & 20, 2016

Location: Walter E Washington Convention Center

801 Mount Vernon Place NW, Washington, DC

Join us for the 4th Annual (ISC)² CyberSecureGov, Inspiring Change Agents in an Environment of Game-Changing Threats.

With a unique perspective on what is at stake, cybersecurity professionals are being called on as agents of change to influence and empower the government’s progress at all levels and in new ways. This year’s CyberSecureGov two-day training event is designed to shake up the status quo and incite progress in new ways.

• Thursday keynote: Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab
• Friday keynote: Dr. David A. Bray, 2015 Eisenhower Fellow, Harvard Executive In-Residence, and FCC CIO
• Panels with industry leaders
• Three dedicated tracks (prevention, detection and resilience)
• Networking with experts and cyber security professionals
• Discount for (ISC)² members, government and academia
• Earn 16 CPEs

Potential topics:

• Cloud Security
• Threats and the Advanced Adversary
• Critical Infrastructure Protection
• Automation, Detection and CDM
• Incident Response and Recovery
• Professional Development
• Business, Financial and Risk Implications
• Identity Access Management
• The Privacy Challenge
• Game Changing Solutions

For more , click here 

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Will Health IT End Up Being a “White Hat” or “Black Hat” Element in Physician Engagement?

I read with genuine fascination a report published in Saturday’s New York Times, entitled “Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine,” with a deck that stated that “An Oregon medical center’s plan to increase efficiency by outsourcing doctors drove a group of its hospitalists to fight back by banding together.” I would urge readers to read the entire article, which can be found here.

The article, by Noam Scheiber, tells the rather complicated story of developments in the past couple of years at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon. The story is rather involved, and has numerous elements. But what particularly interested me was how the Times report framed the situation as a set of conflicts over hospitalist productivity and patient throughput, versus the quality of patient care outcomes and patient and physician satisfaction. The binary conceptual framing of the issues is far from new in healthcare: indeed, many in the industry still seem to believe that one can have either lower costs based on high clinician productivity and “assembly line” types of approaches to delivering patient care, or one can have high outcomes quality and patient and especially physician satisfaction, but never (or at least rarely) both. And that perception really is a problem. For the full article click here 

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Kids Demand Presidential Candidates Address Climate Change

Few issues have as much impact on the future as climate change. Sadly, the issue of climate change has taken a backseat to economic policy, divisive cultural issues and the threat of terrorism. The main reason for this is the media coverage of these issues.

Shortly after the Paris climate agreement was reached, both the Republicans and Democrats held presidential debates in the U.S. and not once in either debate was the Paris accord or the overall issue of climate change addressed by the moderators of those debates. The media doesn’t believe that climate change is a marketable idea, so they focus on issues that are more divisive and sensationalized in order to attract more viewers.

Another factor driving this selective coverage is the mentality of our aging politicians.

As infamous political advisor Karl Rove recently pointed out, why should they care about climate change when we’ll all be dead in the next sixty years or so? While that may be true for our elected officials, that isn’t true of everyone alive today and that’s why ScienceDebate.orghas enlisted the help of young children to help force a desperately needed conversation about climate change. For the full article click here 

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Under Armour Bets Big On Wearable Tech

Under Armour (UA) is turning to a new lineup of wearable technology products and digital apps in its long-term play to overtake Nike Inc. (NKE) atop the global sports apparel industry. Kevin Plank, Under Armour’s founder and chief executive, was on hand at the Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas last week as Under Armour unveiled the first major products in its “Connected Fitness” series.

In the short term, Nike’s status as the dominant force in worldwide sportswear isn’t in doubt. The brand reported revenue of more than $30 billion in 2015 and earned $7.69 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal quarter alone. But a strong entrance into the wearable technology space, coupled with increasingly robust apparel and footwear sales, could cement Under Armour as the greatest threat to Nike’s grip on the market. For the full article click here 

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It’s Time for a Presidential Debate on Science Policy

On Wednesday we’ll watch another Republican presidential debate, but how much do you expect to hear about topics like mental health and climate change? Funding for biomedical research and energy? Research innovation and global leadership? Given these are the issues that will impact the way all Americans live for decades to come, why are they so often the exception in debates, rather than the expectation?

ScienceDebate’s argument is simple: It’s time for a presidential debate dedicated to the major science, health, tech and environmental policy. Join our effort in 2016 and help to share this message that science and technology policy matters because it will shape our future for generations to come. For the full article click here 

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Blue light from tech gadgets and digital eye strain: More than 73 percent of young adults suffer from symptoms

LAS VEGAS — Do you have unexplained dry, irritated eyes? Blurred vision? Neck and back pain and headaches? If so, your digital gadgets may be (at least partly) to blame.

The results of a new survey released at the Consumer Electronics Show by the Vision Council, a trade group representing the nation’s eyecare products, shows that most Americans are overexposing their eyes to technology. Nearly 90 percent said they spend two or more hours on a digital device each day, and many spend significantly more time on them. One in 10 reported spending at least 75 percent of their waking hours looking at a screen. For the full article click here 

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Peering into the health IT crystal ball for 2016

Where there are ‘Pain Points’, there are opportunities. This is a look ahead to the challenges confronting Health IT in 2016 and to the opportunities to meet those challenges. Both established companies and startups will be working to address these “Pain Points”.

The Big Categories Where It Hurts

SECURITY: Look to hear about “adaptive security architecture” more on privacy, and identity.

COGNITIVE COMPUTING: From structuring messy data to more meaningful analysis, to personalized care, expect news on this front. Digital.NYC’s partner, IBM is making inroads in this area with Watson. (and our partner Opentopic)

PHYSICIANS TURNING TO MHEALTH (MOBILE HEALTH)” Mobile health and fitness apps, wearable sensors and personal records will continue to dominate with doctors cautiously adopting trustworthy tech. For the full article click here 

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Several Health IT Tools, Issues Make ECRI’s 2016 Hospital C-Suite List

Telemedicine-enabled mobile stroke units, medical device cybersecurity and wireless wearable sensors are among the top 10 health care technologies and issues hospital executives should watch in 2016, according to ECRI Institute’s Hospital C-Suite Watch List, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 1/6).

ECRI’s 2016 List

According to ECRI, the list highlights technologies and critical technology use issues that are poised to affect health care delivery in 2016 (ECRI Institute release, 1/4).

Among other health technologies and use issues, ECRI suggests that hospital executives watch:

• Mobile stroke units equipped with telemedicine tools which allow on-scene and remote clinical personnel to communicate;
• Medical device cybersecurity, which gained attention following the hacking of the Hospira Symbiq Infusion System;
• Wireless wearable sensors, as consumers increasingly are using wellness data collection devices; and
• The changing landscape of robotic surgery. For the full article click here 

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Bonding With Others: Crucial for Long-Term Health?

FRIDAY, Jan. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Social ties are as important to your long-term health as exercise and healthy eating, a new study suggests.

“Our analysis makes it clear that doctors, clinicians, and other health workers should redouble their efforts to help the public understand how important strong social bonds are throughout the course of all of our lives,” study co-author Yang Claire Yang, a professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, said in a university news release. For the full article click here 

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Several Health IT Tools, Issues Make ECRI’s 2016 Hospital C-Suite List

Telemedicine-enabled mobile stroke units, medical device cybersecurity and wireless wearable sensors are among the top 10 health care technologies and issues hospital executives should watch in 2016, according to ECRI Institute’s Hospital C-Suite Watch List, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 1/6).

ECRI’s 2016 List

According to ECRI, the list highlights technologies and critical technology use issues that are poised to affect health care delivery in 2016 (ECRI Institute release, 1/4).

Among other health technologies and use issues, ECRI suggests that hospital executives watch:

• Mobile stroke units equipped with telemedicine tools which allow on-scene and remote clinical personnel to communicate;
• Medical device cybersecurity, which gained attention following the hacking of the Hospira Symbiq Infusion System;
• Wireless wearable sensors, as consumers increasingly are using wellness data collection devices; and
• The changing landscape of robotic surgery. For the full article click here 

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Health IT Business News Roundup for the Week of January 8, 2016

Navigant, a consulting firm for health care and other industries, has acquired McKinnis Consulting Services — a consulting firm forEpic EHR system clients — for about $49 million in cash, $3 million in stock and potentially an additional $10 million dependent on McKinnis meeting performance standards…Doctors Administrative Solutions, a provider of health IT and physician practice consulting services, has acquired ConXit Healthcare Technology Group, a provider of EHR and practice management services, for an undisclosed amount.

Quality Systems, an EHR and practice management systems vendor, has acquired HealthFusion, a mobile EHR vendor, for $165 million and an additional $25 million contingent on certain conditions…NantHealth, a health IT vendor, has acquired NaviNet, a health care technology vendor, for an undisclosed sum. For the full article click here 

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Massachusetts aims to get a leg up on health IT

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and local healthcare stakeholders today announced a new public-private partnership designed to accelerate digital healthcare in the state. Officials pointed to a variety of technologies including electronic health records, consumer wearable devices, care systems, payment management, big data analytics and telemedicine among others.

The effort will center around the establishment of an innovation hub for digital health startups, with the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech (MeHI) functioning as the state’s implementing agency.  Established in 2008 by the legislature, MeHI works to promote and accelerate the use of digital healthcare, such as electronic health records and health information exchange.

Recently, MeHI awarded $1.3 million in grants to 25 behavioral health providers to advance their use of health information technology. The grantees, selected in two funding rounds, manage a total of 179 facilities in 64 cities and towns across Massachusetts. For the full article click here

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UPMC creates ‘diversified revenue’ through health IT solutions

In an effort to stay ahead of the curve, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) health system is continuing to develop and market healthcare IT solutions, Talbot C. “Tal” Heppenstall, president of UPMC Enterprises,tells Healthcare Informatics.

The organization wants to “create diversified revenue,” he says, and that is coming from technology these days. Efforts it’s focusing on include business services and infrastructure, population health, consumer tools and more, Heppenstall adds. For the full article click here

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Health leaders question demise of HealthSpot

Many industry professionals are questioning the recent failure of telemedicine provider HealthSpot; the company last month closed its kiosks at 25 Rite Aid stores in Ohio, and also removed the systems from Cleveland Clinic facilities.

The company’s leadership has yet to come forward about why the company went under, according to a MedCity News report.
Some have expressed surprise at the news, including Gary Capistrant, senior director of public policy at the American Telemedicine Association. For the full article click here

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