The Amazonification of Healthcare

The digital age is no longer about just the product – it’s equally about the customer experience.

In turn, businesses are competing on their ability to deliver quantifiable results to empowered consumers, who are:

• Informed
• Proactive
• Demanding
• Discerning
• Cost-conscious

Naturally, empowered consumers have high expectations of the services and brands they choose to integrate into their lives – and Amazon’s buying experience, which is ultra-fast, convenient, innovative, and driven by user reviews, is the perfect example of this trend in action.

This “Amazonification effect” is transforming every industry from retail to finance – and the healthcare industry is now set to change forever for both consumers and businesses.

The full article and infographic can be viewed at this link   

Strategies to promote public engagement around deprescribing

Many seniors remain unaware that certain medications may be harmful, despite high rates of polypharmacy and inappropriate medication use among community-dwelling older adults. Patient education is an effective method for reducing the use of inappropriate medications. Increasing public awareness and engagement is essential for promoting shared decision-making to deprescribe. The Canadian Deprescribing Network was created to address the lack of a systematic pan-Canadian initiative to implement deprescribing among older Canadians. The Canadian Deprescribing Network deliberately included patient advocates in its organization from the outset, in order to ensure a key strategic focus on public awareness and education. In this paper, we present the processes and activities rolled out by the Canadian Deprescribing Network as a blueprint model for engaging the public on deprescribing. Embedded within the structure of the network, the subcommittee on public awareness and engagement implements an action plan that includes needs assessments, population surveys, focus groups, deprescribing fairs, national stakeholders’ meetings, public lectures and monthly exchanges with community champions and seniors’ organizations. Educational materials and online media have been developed based on the answers to the questions: what information do seniors need about deprescribing? who should this information be delivered to? who needs to deliver the message? and how should seniors be engaged in deprescribing? In conjunction with seniors’ organizations, members of the Network have iteratively refined key deprescribing messages, disseminated information about deprescribing, engaged the press and created a grass roots-driven public awareness and education campaign across Canada. Over 3000 seniors and seniors’ organizations are involved, with over 25,000 educational tools being distributed across the country.

The full article can be viewed below.  

Ethical aspects of sudden cardiac arrest research using observational data: a narrative review

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) accounts for half of all cardiac deaths in Europe. In recent years, large-scale SCA registries have been set up to enable observational studies into risk factors and the effect of treatment approaches. The increasing scale and variety of data sources, coupled with the implementation of a new European data protection legal framework, causes researchers to struggle with how to handle these ‘big data’. Data protection in the SCA setting is especially complex since patients become at least temporarily incapacitated, and are thus unable to provide prospective informed consent, and because the majority of patients do not survive. A narrative review employing a systematic literature search was conducted to thematically analyse ethical aspects of noninterventional emergency medicine and critical care research. Although the identified issues may apply to a wider patient population, we describe them within the context of SCA research. Potential harms were found to include: privacy breaches, genetic discrimination and issues associated with the disclosure of individual findings, study design and application of research results. Measures proposed to mitigate harms were: alternative informed consent models including deferred or waived consent and data governance approaches promoting data security, responsible sharing and public engagement. The themes identified in this study may serve as a basis for a much-needed ethical framework regarding research with data from patients with acute and critical illness such as SCA.

The full review can be downloaded below.  

Community Partnership in Precision Medicine: Themes from a Community Engagement Conference

Through a community-academic planning process, the group hosted a conference on community engagement in precision medicine research. The conference focused on academic and community presentations and dialogues on trust, research ethics, and engagement strategies. Quantitative data reflected a high level of overall interest and willingness to participate in precision medicine research, and specifically the “All of Us” Research Program. Conference discussions suggested that there is a need to convey fully to community stakeholders what precision medicine is, the process of research development, and how specific community concerns will be handled. Concerns most noted were related to trust, safety, uses of data, benefits to participants and communities, and inclusion of diverse populations. Addressing such concerns, while building on community resilience and faith in the promise of science to improve health, may help achieve true engagement.

The full journal article can be downloaded below.  

AACR Cancer Progress Report 2018

The American Association for Cancer Research released a comprehensive report documenting the current state of the fight against cancer with a look to the future.  This includes research regarding cancer development, cancer prevention, early detection, and harnessing research discoveries for patient benefit, in addition to guidance for the future and public policy.  

The full report can be downloaded below.  

Presentation slides and recording from 8/22/18 Webinar.

For many stakeholders, the healthcare experience can feel siloed and fragmented. In reality today, care management is limited to the windows of time patients and providers have during in-person appointments to discuss quality of life, lifestyle habits, monthly device readings, and adjust treatment. This is because providers only have access to a fraction of the valuable information about patients’ health outside the four walls of the hospital.

However, the use of digital health devices and apps – like in-home medical devices and wearables – can extend care beyond these walls and provide better insights into patients’ health. These devices and apps generate valuable patient data that, when incorporated into the clinical workflow and a continuous program of care, lead to more efficient and effective treatment that can lower costs and improve outcomes.

In this webinar, three stakeholders – including a patient with type 2 diabetes, a provider who designed and managed remote care programs, and a health technologist specializing in data workflows and analytics – will share their perspectives on the value that patient-generated health data (PGHD) and digital health devices offer remote care programs.

Participants will also gain practical guidance on:

-Best practices for implementing and scaling a remote care program with digital tools
-How best to engage and empower patients with data-driven remote care programs
Join the webinar to hear from a patient discussing their firsthand experience participating in a remote care program, and the perspectives of a technologist and provider on the implementation and operation of such programs.

Speakers:
-Drew Schiller, CEO, Validic
-Steve Van, Patient Advocate
-Martin Entwistle, President and CEO, Ares Health Systems

Data is one of the most valuable assets in any organization and is necessary to sustain current and future business models. As healthcare transitions into a more analytically driven industry, managing data is especially relevant. Organizations are grappling with ways to manage continual changes in health information technology (IT), IT infrastructure, and the huge volume of data collected across the healthcare industry. The push toward value-based care has amplified the need for efficient exchange of quality patient data, which fills gaps in information and offers providers and payers a more complete picture of the patient. Data-centric strategies focused on managing the entire lifecycle of healthcare data are particularly important in today’s environment.

The policies and procedures to manage, protect, and govern information across a healthcare enterprise falls under data governance. Data governance includes data modeling, data mapping, data audit, data quality controls, data quality management, data architecture, and data dictionaries. A strong data governance structure is a critical component of any healthcare organization, as it provides a structure for analytics and other complex data initiatives.

In Spring 2018, eHealth Initiative Foundation and the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions healthcare business hosted the first in a series of roundtable meetings on data governance in healthcare. The meeting convened senior executives from stakeholder groups, including payer, provider, professional organizations, health information exchanges (HIEs), research, public health, laboratory, and pharmaceuticals. The goal of the meeting was to gather expert opinions on how to make data accessible, close quality gaps, turn insight into action, and protect sensitive patient information. This brief addresses the value of data governance in healthcare; existing challenges related to data governance; and key takeaways from the meeting.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Mobile Access to Personal Health Records Among Patients With Diabetes

Some patients lack regular computer access and experience a digital divide that causes them to miss internet-based health innovations. The diffusion of smartphones has increased internet access across the socioeconomic spectrum, and increasing the channels through which patients can access their personal health records (PHRs) could help bridge the divide in PHR use. We examined PHR use through a computer-based Web browser or mobile device. Mobile-ready PHRs may increase access among patients facing a digital divide in computer use, disproportionately reaching racial/ethnic minorities and lower SES patients. Nonetheless, even with a mobileoptimized and app-accessible PHR, differences in PHR use by race/ethnicity and SES remain. Continued efforts are needed to increase equitable access to PHRs among patients with chronic conditions.

The full article can be viewed below.  

Author: Ralph Johnson III

Federal and state mandates have compelled healthcare systems to adopt “meaningful use” electronic health record (EHR) systems. Off-the-shelf, onthe-spot, one-source EHR systems such as EPIC® have become popular choices. Indeed, EPIC® recently captured a substantial proportion of the Houston Texas Medical Center (TMC), CVS Pharmacy mini-clinics, and extended into academic institutions. Current reported estimates are contentious but vary between 2047% of the EHR market share. Therefore, it is only sensible to conduct a review of EPIC.