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Apps Open Up a New World of Health Value

Parents, do you remember the days before smart devices? The days before you could hand your kid a tablet or phone in exchange for at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted quiet? I hope I’m not alone in the personal love/hate relationship I have with smart devices. One minute I find myself using them as a virtual babysitter just to get through a conference call at home. The next, I find myself wishing I could program them to shut off after 20 minutes so that my kids (and my husband) don’t wind up looking like the “humans” in Wall*e. (I’ve heard the Kindle Fire has this option. Anyone know if an iPad can be made to do the same?)

Parental musings aside, I believe smart devices certainly do have their part to play when it comes to educating or even conditioning healthcare consumers, especially in the area of gamification. This point was driven home when I overheard my oldest say to my youngest as they played on the iPad, “Your health value isn’t high enough. You need to add more broccoli.”

smoothiemaster

“Smoothie Master” from TabTale was their game of choice. As the name implies, they were tasked with becoming masters of smoothie creation. I’m still not sure if this game is winnable in the traditional sense, but my seven year-old did explain to me that you could win points for adding healthy ingredients.

TabTale doesn’t seem particularly invested in promoting a healthy lifestyle, as it also has similar apps for mastering the art of making pizzas and hamburgers. But, their inclusion of a health value scoring system does make me wonder if this younger generation will grow up with an inherent sense of what behaviors will keep them healthy in real life. (The irony being that all the broccoli in the world won’t do them any good if they stay glued to the devices that are helping provide this type of education.)

Now, if I can just figure out a way to “gamify” the health value of the broccoli I fix at home so that my kids will eat it and think they have “won.” Let me know in the comments below if you’ve figured out a way to take virtual culinary successes offline and into the real world of kid-friendly cuisine.

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May 16, 2013 I Written By

As Social Marketing Director at Billian, Jennifer Dennard is responsible for the continuing development and implementation of the company’s social media strategies for its three key properties – Billian’s HealthDATA, Porter Research and HITR.com. She is a regular contributor to a number of healthcare blogs, and currently manages the Technology Association of Georgia Health Society’s social media channels. You can find her on Twitter @SmyrnaGirl.

Filed Under: Healthcare  Healthcare IT  mHealth
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Hoarding and Sharing Data in Health Care — #HITsm Chat Highlights

Topic One: Looking in the rearview mirror, what has been the history and rationale for “hoarding” data in health care?

Topic Two: “Open” has varying meanings. What elements/aspects do you think are the most important for healthcare?


Topic Three: How can social media contribute to the transformation from hoarding to sharing? How should patients fit?

Topic Four: What providers/companies use open/collaborative technologies, pt care workflow, strategies, biz models, etc. Who are the stars?

Topic Five: What lessons can #healthcare learn about openness from other industries? What’s most likely to work in healthcare?

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April 27, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare  Healthcare IT
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Secure Text and Email, Smartphone Physicals, and EMR Documentation – Around Healthcare Scene

There are so many types of mHealth apps and devices out there, it was inevitable that someone would try to have them work together. At TEDMED 2013, Shiv Gaglani and a team of physicians-to-be will be presenting the “smartphone physical.” Are these types of visits closer to becoming a reality than we may have realized?

One of the amazing technologies that have been developed is a smartphone that measures vitals – maybe this will be used in smartphone physicals someday! The Fujitsu Smartphone analyzes subtle changes in blood flow and determines vital signs, all by the user taking their photo with the phone’s camera. It goes to show that you don’t necessarily need fancy equipment to have incredible mHealth technology.

While some are concerned about the safety of email and texting for healthcare communication, it’s becoming a way of the future. Companies such as Physia and docBEAT are working specifically to make email and texts more secure. So which one is better? Both have their pros and cons – texting is quick and to the point, while email can take more time. Which would you rather receive?

Most doctors will agree, the current documentation options that EMRs offer are frustrating. There’s just too much clicking. However, the tide is shifting and it is very possible full keyboards will be needed. And the need for point of care EMR documentation will be more necessary than ever before.

With the current budget proposal by President Obama, EMR vendors might be impacted significantly. The ONC is suggesting that health IT vendors pay up to $1 million in fees. With the upcoming expiration of the ONC’s $2 billion appropriation from ARRA, the agency is needing some new funds. It also would help maintain ONC’s Certified Health IT Product List. Of course, vendors will not be happy to hear this news.

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April 14, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  HIPAA
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EHR and mHealth Successes and Fails: Around Healthcare Scene

Patients are somewhat taught to fear sharing medical data. While privacy is important, especially when it comes to health, being more willing to share medical data can yield great results. The key is knowing who to share information with, and who to avoid. 

EHR vendors can be tricky when it comes to keeping clients around. Sometimes, they don’t really have a choice because the EHR holds client information “hostage” when the client says they are switching EHRs. However, this is a sneaky tactic, and there are many other ways to keep an EHR client longer — most importantly, providing a great product.

While many aspects of HIT have come to a halt, mHealth continues to flourish. There are many things that other parts of HIT can learn from mHealth’s success. First, mHealth doesn’t focus on every patient at once. Next, it is an unregulated industry. And finally, the projects are marketed directly to consumers and paid for by them as well. 

Are you a hospital leader and curious about what technologies you should be watching out for? Well, the ECRI Institute has compiled a list of technologies they feel executives should be looking at this next year. This list includes Electronic Health Records, mHealth, imaging and surgery, and more. 

When an EHR fails to work correctly, how do physicians deal with it? Researchers have observed clinical workflows to answer just that question. The observations concluded that while there was no correct answer, many use paper to record information. Hopefully, this study will show EHRs where their gaps are, and help them to correct them.

There are so many consumer medical devices out there. What makes one stand out from the best? And which one has the best form factor? Wrist bands or chest straps…hand held or pocket stored? Chime in over at Smart Phone Healthcare.

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March 31, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR Market  EHR Recruiting  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  HIE  Hospitals  Meaningful Use  PHR
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100% Interoperability, Quantified Self Data, and Data Liquidity – #HITsm Chat Highlights

Topic 1: Do you think the healthcare system WANTS 100% interoperability & data liquidity? Why/why not?

 

Topic 2: As consumer, what are YOUR fears about your health data being shared across providers/payers/government?

 

Topic 3: What do you think payers will do with #quantifiedself data if integrated into EHR? Actuarial/underwriting?

 

Topic 4: Could there be a correlation between your fear of data liquidity and your health?

 

Topic 5: What could assuage your fears? Education? Legislation? Regulation? Healthcare system withdrawal?

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March 30, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  EMR Technology  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  Hospitals  Meaningful Use  mHealth  Outcomes  Privacy
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Post-HIMSS13 Discussion — #HITsm Chat Highlights

#HITsm T1: What takeaways from #HIMSS13 can we apply to the challenge of improving #patientengagement?

 

 

#HITsm T2. Best chance at driving #interoperability: A vendor initiative like CommonWell or a community initiative like TheCUREProject?

 

 

#HITsm T3: The recent eHI report notes that most advanced HIEs get revenue from a single source. How can this model be changed?

 

 

#HITsm T4: Now that #HIMSSanity is over, what’s the next major #healthIT conference on your calendar? Why?

 

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March 16, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  HIPAA  Hospitals
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Being Moral and Right, ACOs, and Medical Bills: #HITsm Chat Highlights

Topic One: Will 2013 by the “Year Of The Great #EHR Switch” as predicted by Black Book Rankings. Why or Why not?

Topic Two: @Farzad_ONC told #healthIT vendors they must do what is “moral and right” or face consequences.” What acts cross the line?

Topic Three: A recent WSJ article said “#ACOs hold caregivers accountable without requiring patient accountability.” Do you agree?

Topic Four: What are your thoughts on the recent Time magazine article Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us?

Topic Five: #HIMSS13 Free-For-All. What are your key sessions, conference suggestions and restaurant recommendations?

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March 2, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare IT
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Health Data Hacking, Population Health Help, and Childhood Obesity — Around Healthcare Scene

EMR and HIPAA

Health Data Hacking Likely To Increase

One aspect of EMRs and medical technology many people — physicians and patients alike — are nervous about, are security breeches. Unfortunately, it seems as if this fear is justified, and will continue to be for the time being. Redspin, an IT security firm, gathered data about security and data incidents since 2009, and it has only increased since then. Some of the other findings are rather frightening as well.

Can The Benefits of Hospitals Acquiring Practices Be Achieved By Other Means?

There is a current trend of hospitals acquiring practices. Is there any way for groups of physicians to achieve these results other ways? This post goes into the details of this situation, and different loopholes involved.

Hospital EMR and EHR

Mostashari Asks EHR Vendors to Do What’s “Moral and Right”

Farzad Mostashari, ONC National Coordinator, recently made comments at the Health IT Policy Committee. He didn’t cut any corners when it came to talking about what he is seeing in the EMR world, and encouraged EHR vendors to do the moral and right thing. This post highlights some of his statements.

ACOs Need Population Health Help From EMRs

EMRs, in large part, don’t assist with ACOs and population health help. This is unfortunate, because they definitely need the help. In the future, EMR vendors need to be aware of this, and tweek their EMRs to offer tools to help.

Meaningful Health IT News

My HIMSS Will Be All About Quality And Patient Safety

Because of his experiences in 2012, Neil Versel has a new focus for 2013. He is now dedicated to “bringing news about efforts to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.” Read this post for more about his goals, and how you can get involved.

Smart Phone HC

Health IT Positively Affects Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is on the rise, and the big question is — how can we prevent it? While many experts may be quick to weigh in on the situation, a recent study published in Pediatrics has suggested that Health IT may prove to have a positive affect on the problem. There are many companies and websites working to create ways for children to get involved and proactive about their health, and this post highlights a few of them.

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February 17, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Health IT Jobs  Healthcare
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Advanced Analytics, Big Data, and IBM Watson: #HITsm Chat Highlights

Topic One: @janicemccallum defines #BigData broadly as: “Advanced analytics for complex problem solving.” Do you agree?

 

Topic Two: Is the current base of evidence strong enough to support #BigData models? What additional data sources do we need?

Topic Three: IBM Watson was recently deployed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering for CDS. Will IBM dominate healthcare #BigData?

Topic Four: What will help advance & what will delay the use of #BigData models in healthcare?

Topic Five: Is the current hype surrounding #BigData good or bad for the future of evidence-based medicine?

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February 16, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: EHR  Health IT Jobs  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market  mHealth  Outcomes
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New Telemedicine Stats Bode Well for EMRs

With the recent projection that telemedicine will reach 1.8 million patients worldwide by 2017, I think it’s fitting to continue the discussion I started last week pertaining to the current ROI of EMRs. While current utilization based on scrambling to meet Meaningful Use for federal incentives may not be all it’s cracked up to be, I do believe EMRs will ultimately provide a fiscally sensible return on investment, especially if telemedicine technology becomes part of any given vendor’s standard EMR package/offering.

I decided to bounce the idea off Sande Olson, a Twitter friend (@sandeolson) and Senior Healthcare Consultant at Olson & Associates. Being a healthcare professional that has worked in telemedicine long enough to witness its evolution, Olson seemed a fitting expert to speak with on the subject of EMRs, telemedicine and the bottom line.

How have you seen the telemedicine landscape change over the last few years?
Olson: Until recently, telemedicine has been a niche industry. Early users recognized the potential value of telemedicine, but successful business models (showing a viable ROI) didn’t exist, and technology was costly. The challenge was reimbursement; who was going to pay for it?  Without reimbursement or a viable business model, telemedicine could not go viral.

The telemedicine landscape began to change with advancements in information and communication technology on the heels of The Affordable Care Act. The push for healthcare reform provided financial incentives to “nudge” healthcare providers towards EMRs. Reform mandates and the availability of government funding created new opportunities around technology. Telemedicine, a valuable if fledgling technology, became a buzzword around technology and healthcare reform.

Industries saw business opportunity as solution providers for an “industry poised to undergo radical change.” Entrepreneurs, inventors, investors and healthcare visionaries followed new and sometimes disruptive ideas. Care delivery tools moved from PCs to tablets, along with mobile apps.

The confluence of all these influencers is creating a potential tipping point for telemedicine; it only needs wider reimbursement and licensure portability. Our aging population and forecasted physician shortage will help continue to thrust telemedicine into the forefront of change. Telemedicine is already being used successfully; reimbursement is still a challenge. But, healthcare innovation is just getting started. We have challenging times ahead, but this is also the most exciting time to be in healthcare ever!

Do you think there’s been a trickle down effect from the Affordable Care Act in terms of increasing interest in and adoption of telemedicine?
There has been a trickle-down effect on telemedicine. The Affordable Care Act has increased interest in exploring the possibilities of telemedicine outside of previous niche markets. As I noted, it is the confluence of influencers around healthcare reform that continues to push the tipping point for telemedicine.

Do you think EMRs will prove their worth in the coming years by better facilitating more novel methods of healthcare delivery, like telemedicine, or integrating with consumer-friendly mobile health apps?
Will EMRs prove their worth? Well, data silos do not support healthcare’s philosophy of providing a continuum of care from cradle to grave. And, you cannot provide care without a medical record; you can’t measure outcomes. So, interoperability– across all silos– is critical to successful healthcare reform. EMRs today may fall a bit short, but they will create efficiencies and improve patient outcomes. They will get simpler to use. EMRs will assist in improving reimbursement and revenue cycles. And, future EMRs will push and pull data from HIEs, PHRs and mobile health apps; we are just not there yet.

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January 24, 2013 I Written By

As Social Marketing Director at Billian, Jennifer Dennard is responsible for the continuing development and implementation of the company’s social media strategies for its three key properties – Billian’s HealthDATA, Porter Research and HITR.com. She is a regular contributor to a number of healthcare blogs, and currently manages the Technology Association of Georgia Health Society’s social media channels. You can find her on Twitter @SmyrnaGirl.

Filed Under: Electronic Medical Record  EMR  EMR Technology  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Meaningful Use  Telemedicine
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