Tag: HIMSS

Cyberattack round-up: Financial warnings and new threats to hospitals

Cyberattack round-up: Financial warnings and new threats to hospitals

Healthcare IT news

Hospital financial ratings remain vulnerable to cyberattack fallout, according to a new assessment from Fitch Ratings. Meanwhile, hacktivists and ransomware gangs are recycling ransomware strains, and hacker affiliates are offering bigger payouts. Those are just a few of the healthcare cybersecurity trends we’re watching this week.Coordinated KillNet DDoS attacks highlight potential for ratings dips
Fitch Ratings says the recent coordinated distributed denial-of-service attacks on hospital websites such as ChristianaCare’s aren’t likely to drive any downgrades at this time, but cyberattacks that compromise service and affect a hospital’s financial profile could.
Last week the pro-Russian hacktivist group KillNet, known for its DDoS attacks on critical infrastructure in nations supporting…

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Virtual care system designed for COVID-19 grows into a multiuse digital health tool

Virtual care system designed for COVID-19 grows into a multiuse digital health tool

Healthcare IT news

In 2019, Cleveland-based University Hospitals saw an opportunity to use automation and digital care technologies to improve patient engagement, clinical care and outcomes.THE PROBLEM
Ultimately, the health system was looking for ways to improve patient engagement first and foremost and then wanted to see how it could use automated tools to improve outcomes.
It also recognized the foundational changes occurring in the health system – especially when it came to consumer behavior and increased competition from nontraditional healthcare disruptors. The organization wanted to offer its patients tools and options that support their personal healthcare journeys in these ways.
PROPOSAL
“We implemented Amwell Automated Care Programs…

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Virtual care enables BrightView Health to increase outpatient access

Virtual care enables BrightView Health to increase outpatient access

Healthcare IT news

BrightView Health, a behavioral health facility that specializes in addiction treatment and substance abuse, already was using telehealth when the COVID-19 pandemic and associated response happened. The organization mostly was using telehealth between its various locations.THE PROBLEM
However, BrightView did not have a secure communications platform to engage with patients either synchronously or asynchronously.
“So, the pandemic and the lockdowns created some potential gaps in access to care that we needed to predict and fill,” said Navdeep S. Kang, chief clinical officer at BrightView Health and a fellow with the Obama Foundation. “We looked at several platforms to implement secure communications.
“We were specifically interested…

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Bipartisan House bill proposes permanent telehealth benefits

Bipartisan House bill proposes permanent telehealth benefits

Healthcare IT news

The Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act would amend the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers to treat benefits for telehealth services like excepted benefits.WHY IT MATTERS
The bill aims to keep stand-alone telehealth benefits separate, not as a replacement of medical plans, offering them under a group health plan or group health insurance coverage as excepted benefits.
An excepted benefit allows employers to finance additional medical care, like vision or dental coverage, according to theCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services FAQsfor insurance agents and brokers, requiring Congress…

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Providence forges a new path with a virtual nursing unit

Providence forges a new path with a virtual nursing unit

Healthcare IT news

Virtual nursing is gaining significant momentum as an effective way to redesign and redistribute nursing workload. Virtual models decrease the burden on nurses delivering direct bedside patient care and leverages nurses who want to continue practicing, but may not be able to practice at the bedside, by extending their nursing careers.THE PROBLEM
“The flexibility and various practice areas and models of care may appeal to nurses considering leaving the profession and who may not be able to work in a traditional setting,” said Sylvain Trepanier, RN, chief nursing officer at health system Providence. “Virtual nurses will become a new area of professional…

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FDA approves AI ultrasound application for musculoskeletal imaging

FDA approves AI ultrasound application for musculoskeletal imaging

Healthcare IT news

Clarius Mobile Health, which first introduced wireless handheld imaging for medical specialties in 2016, says its third-generation device, HD3, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week, will also help improve MSK ultrasound training.WHY IT MATTERS
With clearance from the FDA, the new MSK AI model will be available with the Clarius L7 HD3 and Clarius L15 HD3 ultrasound scanners introduced last year, according to the announcement.
“AI automation is the new frontier and we’re excited to be the world’s first to receive FDA clearance to use AI for musculoskeletal ultrasound,” said Ohad Arazi, president and CEO, in the statement.
Upon…

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NYU develops health metrics dashboard for all 435 U.S. Congressional Districts

NYU develops health metrics dashboard for all 435 U.S. Congressional Districts

Healthcare IT news

Researchers at New York University Grossman School of Medicine say their new Congressional District Health Dashboard reveals stark geographic, racial and ethnic differences in health across the United States. They hope lawmakers and healthcare organizations can use the tool to better understand and address health inequities.WHY IT MATTERS
Incorporating health measures, such as deaths from cardiovascular disease and breast cancer, along with conditions that affect health like housing affordability and access to nutritious foods, has not been available at the congressional district level.
Offering a single publicly-accessible location, the Congressional District Health Dashboard was built to offer a comprehensive data view of persistent inequities across the…

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HCA uses AI to decrease time from cancer diagnosis to first treatment by almost a week

HCA uses AI to decrease time from cancer diagnosis to first treatment by almost a week

Healthcare IT news

HCA Healthcare has 14 hospitals covering a radius of more than 300 miles. The staff members knew they had a large catchment area. However, caseloads were based on registry data that was delayed, and not a true reflection of the provider organization’s oncology program as a whole.THE PROBLEM
“With multiple points of entry, we relied on manual searches through pathology, physician schedules and referrals to identify newly diagnosed cancer cases and patients,” said Kristina Rua, RN, an oncology nurse, oncology nurse navigator and president of the Florida Academy of Oncology Nurse and Patient Navigators, who previously was director of oncology navigation services in…

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House bill would put a stop to VA EHR modernization

House bill would put a stop to VA EHR modernization

Healthcare IT news

Citing billions more to be spent over the next several years by the Department of Veterans Affairs on a new electronic health record system that has been fraught with implementation struggles, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., say he wants to stop the rollout of the Oracle Cerner EHR system as soon as possible.WHY IT MATTERS
As he enters his second term serving the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rosendale will now chair the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization legislative, which oversees and has investigative jurisdiction over the VA’s enterprise technology modernization programs and projects.
According to an announcement, the VA EHR termination bill introduced last week…

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Cosmos, Epic's massive EHR analytics platform, helps reduce new mother readmissions

Cosmos, Epic’s massive EHR analytics platform, helps reduce new mother readmissions

Healthcare IT news

Nearly 20% of postpartum patients in America develop high blood pressure; Epic Research just found in a new study that postpartum hypertension nearly triples the chances of rehospitalization.After looking at more than 1.2 million birth encounters and then grouping and comparing the highest blood pressure readings taken in the 24 hours after discharge, the study found:

Patients with blood pressure levels at or above 160/110 shortly before discharge are nearly three times more likely to be readmitted than patients with normal blood pressure readings.

More than 5% of postpartum patients with the highest blood pressure readings, equal to or greater than 160/110 mmHg,…

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