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Wednesday, January 27, 2016



Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Healthcare Unprepared for New Precision Medicine Initiative

One year ago, President Barack Obama announced his Precision Medicine Initiative, a $215 million personalized medicine proposal. When it was proposed, many expected that the healthcare industry would join up and work to bring it to fruition. The advantage to precision medicine is that it utilizes advances in genomics and big data to personalize care for the individual. In a recent survey of healthcare executives across the country, research firm Health Catalyst found that few organizations are moving to adopt these practices. Those that are adopting seem to be academic institutions. This is not surprising, as academic medical centers tend to be on the leading edge of healthcare technological adoption. A full 59 percent of respondents believe that precision medicine will not play a significant role in their organizations in the next five years. In addition, the online survey found that few healthcare organizations are incorporating genomic capabilities into their in-house EHR capabilities. Almost two-thirds of organizations surveyed said that they have no plans to incorporate these capabilities into their systems. "The disconnect between the recognition that genomics holds great promise and yet the lack of preparation for precision medicine may reflect the fact that technology adoption is often driven by research efforts at major academic medical centers, with others following in their footsteps," according to David Crockett, PhD, Senior Director of Research and Predictive Analytics for Health Catalyst. "This survey shows that leaders in academic medicine are already moving to adopt precision medicine, but the rest of healthcare has a lot of catching up to do," Crockett adds.



This survey was conducted online between November and December of 2015.

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REGISTER NOW for eHI's 2016 Annual Conference, February 3-4 at the House of Sweden in Washington, DC



Faces of eHI:

Q&A with Brian Kelly, President, Payer & Provider Solutions, Quintiles



Member Spotlight:



Indiana Health Information Exchange, The Health Collaborative Establish Interstate Partnership to Exchange Health Data


 

New Study Examines Impact of Cell Phones on Sedentary Behavior

 

In a new study featured in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, researchers found that simple mobile phone interventions are associated with less sedentary time allowing for more physical activity. 215 adults, predominantly female and minority, were surveyed between December 2012 and November 2013 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Researchers sought to examine the short-term impact of mobile phone interventions that targeted sedentary time among American adults. These participants carried their phones and accelerometers for seven days. Those involved also received mobile phone prompts during self-reported periods of inactivity. The prompts explained the adverse effects of prolonged inactivity.



Analysis of results revealed that participants receiving mobile phone intervention had significant fewer daily minutes of sedentary time. Researchers underscored the potential impact of mobile phone interventions that positively influence sedentary behavior and physical activity.

Senate HELP Committee Releases Long-awaited Healthcare Legislation



Last week, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) released for feedback a discussion draft of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee’s bipartisan legislation to improve HIT that includes electronic health records (EHRs). The legislation is a months-long bipartisan product from the health information technology working group led by Alexander and Murray in April 2015 along with a series of bipartisan hearings held by the committee over the past year. In a statement, Alexander said, “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.” Murray adds: “I’m pleased that we were able to make bipartisan progress toward strengthening our nation’s health IT infrastructure so that patients, families, and providers have better tools to drive medical decision-making and treatment. This draft legislation is an important step forward, and I look forward to hearing feedback from doctors, patients, health IT developers, and experts from Washington State and across the country.” 



In a summary of the draft legislation, the committee sets forth eight objectives for following efforts:
  • Assisting Doctors and Hospitals in Improving Quality of Care for Patients
  • Transparent Ratings on Usability and Security to Transform Information Technology (TRUST IT)
  • Information Blocking
  • Interoperability
  • Leveraging Health Information Technology to Improve Patient Care
  • Empowering Patients and Improving Patient Access to Their Electronic Health Information
  • Encouraging Trust Relationships for Certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
  • GAO Study on Patient Matching

MedStar-Uber Partnership

 

The largest not-for-profit health system in Washington D.C., MedStar Health, has partnered with the modern day transport revolutionizer, Uber to create a new option for patients to get to and from their healthcare appointments with the click of a button. Both companies have facilitated this through the extension of Uber’s API to create a “Ride with Uber” button located on the MedStar website. Michael Ruiz, MedStar Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, remarked that "MedStar is focused on becoming a premier digital healthcare organization.” Ruiz adds, "Our partnership with Uber is but one small step toward a future where technology-enabled patient engagement rivals other industries that have been disrupted by digital technology."



This partnership brings light to a recent McKinsey report that presented findings that the most digitized sectors are maintaining considerable lead over the rest of the U.S economy. MedStar has made notable strides to be a digital leader in the healthcare industry and this recent partnership with Uber is predicted to reduce the company’s losses due to missed appointments. The Center for Health Affairs report estimates that missed appointments cost the industry $150 billion a year in the U.S., which presents a significant problem for health plans.

South Carolina’s Statewide Physician-inspired Surgical Checklists in Full Swing



In 2013, South Carolina Hospital Association working with Dr. Atul Gawande and the Harvard University School of Public Health, launched a structured initiative to get every hospital in the state utilizing a standardized pre-surgical safety checklist process. Today the approach is receiving significant statewide recognition. The approach, originally adopted from commercial aviation and other high-risk industries, is estimated to save 500 patient lives a year by averting medical mistakes. Initial findings submitted for peer review expect publication in the spring.



Requiring clinicians to pause for the checklist facilitates communication in the surgical room to help the team avoid medical errors like administering a wrong drug or operating on the wrong person or body part. When used effectively, advocates posit that checklists improve efficiency in the OR. However, the wide and systematic adoption of checklists has been slow as there is not much data on their effectiveness, which in turn complicates the sales pitch to persuade organizations to invest the time and resources required to make them work. However, in full support of them, Gawande said, “It takes leadership support at the top and enthusiasts on the frontline.” “You need both, because enthusiasm dies on the vine without a system behind you.”

Study Shows that Mobile Health has Negligible Impact on Healthcare Costs and Utilization



A six month research trial conducted by Scripps Translational Science Institute aimed at evaluating mobile health and digital medicine technology can lead to improved health management and health outcomes reveals "little evidence" that digital medicine intervention reduces healthcare costs or drives greater consumer interest, although some improvement in health self-management was reported.



The trial included 160 participants managing hypertension, diabetes and/or cardiac arrhythmia with iPhone-enabled biosensors, blood pressure monitors, blood glucose meters or a mobile ECG device. Participants were provided data aggregation and visualization tools to track and view data via an online dashboard accessible to caregivers. Researchers hypothesize that health resource utilization with respect to health insurance claims are susceptible to influence by monitoring interventions.



However, the results and conclusions showed little evidence of differences in health care costs or utilization because of the intervention, as the control and intervention groups had equivalent health care utilization outcomes. This result suggests that there are not enough short-term benefits associated with monitoring chronic health conditions using mobile health or digital medicine technologies. Although, Chilmark Research analyst Naveen Rao cited three major flaws in the design: the limitation of claims data, the patient workflow process and poor data visualization--the latter cited as the top flaw. 

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