By Bill Ho

Every few years, a company tries to make a big push to solve the problem of easy and secure access to our healthcare information. The prospect of getting better access to my medical information — and the ability to share that more easily — has always excited me. On the consumer-facing side, a number of companies have attempted to solve the patient access problem, notably Microsoft (HealthVault in 2007), and Google (Google Health in 2008). Most recently, Apple announced the latest update to its health app, which could make it even easier to see our own health information. Not all have succeeded, however. Google Health, for example, discontinued its service in 2012. The journey to health information nirvana continues to be a difficult one.

While consumer access to health information is important and exciting for all of us as patients, the back offices of healthcare organizations are the workhorses when it comes to sharing patient information. The volume of patient data being shared behind the scenes — from consents and referrals to lab reports, H&Ps, and prescriptions — is several orders of magnitude greater than information shared with patients directly. All of this data are shared between internal departments, among specialists, private medical groups, and across a myriad of institutions and business associates, including insurance companies, laboratories, pharmacies, clearinghouses, law firms, and more.

While the HITECH Act pushed the adoption of electronic health record systems to new heights over the last decade, those systems can be notoriously difficult for sharing information between different EHR systems. And while EHR vendors are ostensibly interested in solving this problem, it seems vendors are more incentivized to have customers migrate to their own system than build a bridge between them. While multiple efforts around a digital highway for better interoperability and communication are currently in play, the one technology that continues to work diligently without any compatibility issues for sharing information is the humble but enduring fax.



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By Mitch Beaumont, Prashanth Prasad, Ulrica Sehlstedt and Mandeep Dhillon, Arthur D. Little

The healthcare sector has changed dramatically in recent years, due to new digital products and services emerging. However, established “analog-native” medical technology companies may need to make significant business and operational model changes in order to create significant value from these developments. We have identified a framework with two sets of primary “levers” that executives can use to impact the changes to their companies’ business and operational models to support a digital business. The specific levers used, and the degree to which they are “pulled”, will be unique to each company’s environment and its ultimate goals for digital. Most medical technology companies will focus more on two or three levers, with minor changes in the others.

Business model levers

• Digital products and services can enhance or shift a medical technology company’s value proposition in the market. Or it can offer tools such as applications and reminders to increase patient engagement and improve adherence. Typically, a digital business will want to build upon the company’s existing core value proposition, rather than creating a new one.

• Most medical technology companies have focused on selling devices, or generating revenue per unit. However, monetization of value can take on alternative forms with digital, such as service-oriented and data-centric models.

• Digital can enable a company to shift or expand the markets it serves to open up new business opportunities. Alternatively, companies may be able to create new business relationships with other value-chain players, such as home health companies, by providing information that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of in-home care delivery. [Read more…]

By Nick Hernandez

Medical practices often find themselves trying to keep pace with advancements in technology, but keeping up is easier said than done.  Investment in technology places heavy demands on capital resources.  As a result, administrators are exploring alternative sources of capital beyond customary bank loans. 

When you buy equipment and finance it with a loan, you own the equipment.  The loan just allows you to spread out the purchase price of the equipment over several years.  You pay back the principal plus interest over the term of the loan.  In contrast, a lease is a long-term arrangement to rent equipment.  Technically, you don’t own the equipment when you lease it.  However, there are different scenarios. In many cases, leases are virtually indistinguishable from loans, and you receive all the benefits and drawbacks of ownership even though you are technically not the owner.  Other types of leases are very different from loans and don’t offer the advantages or responsibilities of ownership.

Do you need new equipment but can’t afford to buy it outright?  Equipment leasing might be for you.  Many administrators are taking a fresh look at lease financing and that’s raising some significant questions.  Administrators should know what leasing options are available, when leasing is an appropriate solution, and what business issues must be addressed in a leasing program. [Read more…]

By Sean Hughes

Healthcare has seen one of the most significant utilizations and adoptions of technology in its history over the past several years in our drive to achieve meaningful use, engage patients, and connect and share data internally and externally with traditional and new partners. According to a 2016 HeatlhITDashboard report, 95% of all eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals have demonstrated meaningful use of certified health IT. This includes 60% of all U.S. office-based physicians, 20% of all Nurse Practitioners, and 2% of all Physician Assistants.

This has resulted in more data than ever before being created, stored, and transmitted in and through the healthcare ecosystem. This has not gone unnoticed by individuals that would mean harm or look to profit from that data. Breaches are on the rise and healthcare is at the forefront of the attention of those looking to access this data. According to the Ponemon Institute 2017 Cost of a Breach Report, the value of the data we have is higher than any other industry with a per capita cost of $380 compared to an overall average of $225. Those looking to gain unauthorized access to our data see the higher value and are putting more effort into their endeavors.

While we have been implementing and using all the technology healthcare has to offer, we have also been spending significant money and time on securing our environment to address the increased attention that has resulted in more breaches and more attacks with increasing sophistication. Even with this spend and expense of effort, healthcare continues to struggle with inadequate budget and resources to combat the growing security threats. The effort has been on hardening our data centers and endpoint computing devices, developing programmatic approaches, and deploying technology to ensure that outside actors cannot gain access. The question is have we covered it all? [Read more…]

By Bill Ho

Technology advances have provided us with amazing benefits, especially in healthcare. From better illness diagnoses to fighting diseases to extending our life expectancies and quality of life, technology has made our lives better. Even more specifically, back office advancements can help reduce wait times for patients, provide better and more secure platforms for doctor and patient communications, and increase patient satisfaction with their healthcare experience. However, these advancements can be slow to adopt. So how can hospitals that are looking to improve patient care through technology achieve the desired outcome more quickly?

Like two sides of a coin, introducing anything new often has two areas of resistance. Even if flawed, people will have comfort and trust in the current process or system, and fear that something new will either not work well, or worse– put patients at risk. The Hippocratic Oath’s “do no harm” comes to mind and is one of the driving forces behind the caution that is ingrained in the culture.

But whether quickly or slowly, change happens. The important thing is to ensure changes are positive and impacts are minimized along the way. The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” particularly resonates in healthcare. These reasons usually include: the current solution is reliable, it’s a known quantity, it’s well understood, it’s become a part of a routine, and it works. The trick is to assess whatever “ain’t broke” and understand if there are opportunities to optimize or re-engineer it. [Read more…]

When it comes to health care technology investments next year, health systems are more likely to invest in proven solutions that will have an immediate impact. For instance, nine out of 10 health systems say they will boost spending on cybersecurity technology that will help identify threats in 2018, but they are proceeding more cautiously on widely hyped artificial intelligence technologies and consumer-focused devices such as wearables.

Those are among the findings of a new survey covering more than 20 major U.S. health systems and conducted by the Pittsburgh-based Center for Connected Medicine (CCM), in partnership with the Health Management Academy (The Academy).

Titled “Top of Mind for Top U.S. Health Systems 2018,” the report provides insights into how health care leaders are prioritizing emerging health IT trends in the coming year. Based on quantitative and qualitative surveys of executives at leading hospitals and health systems across the country, the report focuses on the five areas in the health IT industry, namely cybersecurity, consumer-facing technology, predictive analytics, virtual care and artificial intelligence. [Read more…]

Cloud computing is a buzzword, these days. It is one of the most imperative tech evolutions of our time. Cloud computing is a terminology used to describe the techniques via which the web power can be utilized for storing and processing information instead of local computers. On the other hand, don’t allow those basic descriptions confuse you – it’s far from an obscure modification in the technique health organizations do business.

In fact, the modifications hold immeasurable value for delivering efficient and high-quality care. Not only are key movers in the industry rapidly transferring to cloud-based systems but regulation is gearing up to necessitate the adoption.

So what are the benefits of cloud computing for non-profits and healthcare companies? Let’s have a quick overview of few of the main benefits.

1. Easier To Store and Utilize Patient Records And Medical Images

One of the most innate advantages of cloud computing for healthcare is that the cloud makes it far simple to store and utilize medical images and patient records. In fact, electronic curative archives are such improvements that care providers who don’t begin utilizing them for their patient records will begin to be reprimanded in the coming time period.

The modern approach to data will enhance access, upsurge storage capability, and increase security. [Read more…]

By Ray Parker

The upcoming decade may well see an upheaval in the diagnosis and treatment of a disease. This is because Internet of Things (IoT) has entered in the field of medicine. Here is the list 5 example of IoT in healthcare.

1. OpenAPS – closed-loop Insulin Delivery

This stands for open artificial pancreas system. It is one of the most enchanting fields in IoT medicine.

Scott Leibrand and his wife Dana Lewis have hacked an insulin pump and Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM).

Utilizing the information from the Raspberry Pi computer and CGM, their own software finishes the loop and uninterruptedly modifies the quantity of insulin Dana’s pump delivers.

During OSCon in Austin, in 2016, 59 people were utilizing the open source software in order to hack their own equipment. This example demonstrates the way patients have been waiting for enhanced technology which the healthcare industry has not provided.

Security alarms, extensive development, and testing phases mean that these linked devices have taken a lot of time to come to the market.

In the view of OpenAPS, Dana Lewis told e-patients.net that, the comparative remaining risk of this feature is far overshadowed by the remaining advantage of delivering users the aptitude to govern their own devices. [Read more…]

For many patients needing traditional medical implants like stents, tubing, and catheters, there is an increased risk for infection and blood clotting. This issue has perpetuated for decades, and engineers are beginning to develop other medical technologies that may provide a working solution. Specifically, engineers have offered the potential solution of using technologies with titanium surfaces that are repellent to blood for the benefit of the body’s response to receiving surgical and other medical implants.

Titanium is a well-known element used in medical technologies; titanium tubing and alloys present a reliable performance in many surgical procedures due to its strength, low weight, and resistance to corrosion. Since the use of titanium in surgical procedures is oftentimes successful, it makes sense that engineers are now beginning to test the substance to improve other medical technologies. In the future, using titanium may reduce the risk of blood clotting and infection after implanting certain medical devices.

Recent Study with a Potential Solution

Engineers at Colorado State University are currently at work on a solution to the problematic implications of certain medical implants, like catheters and stents, for patients. By growing a “superhemophobic” titanium surface, the engineers may have found a material that can be used to build future surgical implants that the body is less likely to reject. [Read more…]