2022 Tech Forum: Real World Implementations and Innovation Through LEAP in Health IT

2022 Tech Forum: Real World Implementations and Innovation Through LEAP in Health IT

September 16, 2022The LEAP in Health IT Program seeks to address emerging challenges that inhibit the advancement of interoperable health IT. This session will feature speakers from three LEAP projects, sharing implementation strategies and the innovative approaches awardees are using to promote data exchange, patient engagement, and semantic data harmonization.   Alison Kemp, MPH, ONC (Moderator) Wei Chang, MPH, ONC (Moderator) Angie Brenner, Missouri Department of Mental Health Anjum Khurshid, MD, PhD, University of Texas at Austin Eliel Oliveira, University of Texas at Austin Wilson D. Pace, MD, FAAFP, DARTNet Institute Burak Serdar, Cloud Privacy Labs Duane Shumate, Missouri Department of Mental Health…

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What are Regulatory Compliances for #Healthcare #Products? || EMed #HealthTech

What are Regulatory Compliances for #Healthcare #Products? || EMed #HealthTech

As in every industry, the healthcare industry is also ruled by certain regulations that determine what is legal and illegal. Every country has certain regulations the healthcare industry needs to follow while implementing healthcare #software #solutions. Here are 6 major healthcare #regulations :1. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act #HIPAA -…

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Vendor Notebook: new tools and acquisitions from OptumRx, ScionHealth, others

Vendor Notebook: new tools and acquisitions from OptumRx, ScionHealth, others

It’s a new year, and healthcare technology vendors are rolling out their latest innovations, market approvals, acquisitions and staffing shake-ups.OptumRx launched Price Edge, a tool that compares pricing for traditional generic drugs to ensure members get the lowest prescription drug prices. A suite of new tools for both patients and providers target aspects of pharmacy logistics that have been known to delay or complicate care, such as getting real-time pharmacy benefits information and obtaining prior authorizations. In October, Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy services company, merged with data clearinghouse Change Healthcare. The U.S. Department of Justice tried to block the merger and is appealing the…

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SA Health kicks off patient-generated data project with The Clinician

SA Health kicks off patient-generated data project with The Clinician

SA Health, together with the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health, will start collecting and analysing patient-reported measures across South Australia through its new programme.The Patient Reported Measures (PRM) programme will support clinical services to deliver “high-quality, patient-centred, and value-driven care” by encouraging patients to report on health outcomes and experiences. 
SA Health and CIEH have chosen digital health company The Clinician via an open tender process to help implement the programme. They will leverage the latter’s ZEDOC platform, which will be integrated with SA Health’s IT systems to automate the distribution, collection, and analysis of patient-reported outcomes and experience measures.
WHY IT…

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Hyndman Area Health Center cuts IT bill in half with the cloud

Hyndman Area Health Center cuts IT bill in half with the cloud

Hyndman Area Health Center – a holistic Pennsylvania-based health center providing family medicine, dental health, behavioral health and more – transitioned from client-hosted servers to eClinicalWorks cloud-based servers to expand its network capacity and meet a rising data demand.Since then, it has experienced a more than 150% increase in patients and has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past few years since it no longer relies on physical servers.
Healthcare IT News sat down with Bill Kurtycz, CEO of Hyndman Area Health Center, to discuss cloud technology, cloud EHRs and telehealth, and how the technologies have benefitted the provider organization.
Q….

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UChicago to launch accelerator for AI and data science companies

UChicago to launch accelerator for AI and data science companies

The University of Chicago this week announced the creation of Transform, an accelerator for early-stage technology companies focused on data science and artificial intelligence.WHY IT MATTERSThe new program – which is part of the Deep Tech Ventures initiative at the UChicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation – aims to offer a wide array of support to startups: access to business and technical training, industry mentorship, venture capital connections, and funding opportunities
Transform is seeking two cohorts of as many as 10 companies each. Candidates should be focused on information technologies and data science: AI and machine learning, data engineering, analytics and…

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NextGen Healthcare hit by BlackCat ransomware

NextGen Healthcare hit by BlackCat ransomware

The group, also known as ALPHV and suspected to be a successor to BlackMatter, has demanded ransoms as high as $1.5M with affiliates keeping 80-90%, according to the Office of Information Security at U.S. Health and Human Services and the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center.WHY IT MATTERS
The Russian ransomware group allegedly attacked the EHR vendor NextGen on January 17, The Washington Post reported on Monday. 
“The company says it doesn’t look like the hackers obtained any client data or patient data,” according to the Post.
Healthcare IT News reached out to NextGen for comment and will update this story if it responds.
Claiming responsibility, BlackCat “put…

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What's ahead for health IT policy and legislation in 2023 

What’s ahead for health IT policy and legislation in 2023 

With Congress providing telehealth waivers as part of its omnibus spending bill at the close of 2022, delaying the “telehealth cliff” for two years, HIMSS says it’s now ready to make the case for permanent reimbursement of virtual care.Also on its policy agenda for the year ahead: advocating for data standardization, offering input for interoperability rulemaking and engaging with agencies and states to increase telehealth access. We spoke with the HIMSS government relations team for their thoughts on those priorities and more in 2023 and beyond.
Making telehealth’s case for cost control
Telehealth has proven to reduce burdens on healthcare providers and improve…

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Needle moving on drug monitoring program efficacy, ONC says

Needle moving on drug monitoring program efficacy, ONC says

A new brief from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology data says that one-third of prescribers now access prescription drug-monitoring programs through their electronic health records and 62% reported they used electronic prescribing of controlled substances technologies often – up from 37% in 2019.WHY IT MATTERS
“The use of (PDMPs) and electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) technology is critical to improving opioid prescribing practices, informing treatment decisions and supporting safe and effective patient care,” wrote Chelsea Richwine and Jordan Everson in a new HealthIT blog post.
They say the new data adds to previous analyses demonstrating the benefits of the systems by…

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