News

Now that Apple is no longer issuing security updates for the software, known vulnerabilities are wide open to exploitation, the security experts say.   

The hospital that gained notoriety earlier this year for paying criminals $17,000 in ransomware attack is now set to build a new emergency department and campus beautification work. 

The diagnoses of 27.3 percent of patients with depression and 27.7 percent of patients with bipolar disorder were missing from their primary care electronic health records, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association has found.

The move toward population health and alternative payment models has seen providers embracing innovative approaches to care delivery, including significant investments in health information technology, according to the spring 2016 Economic Outlook survey from Premier. The study – which polled health system chief executive officers, chief financial officers and chief operating officers – found the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and the demands of population health management leading to big changes in care processes. Most notably, Premier found that the expansion and integration of post-acute care networks is a major priority, cited by 95 percent of C-suite respondents as a key area of focus over the next three years. At the same time, almost as many execs said that project is the biggest challenge their health systems will face in the coming years. "As healthcare continues to transition from an acute-care hospital focus toward an integrated system of providers, the creation of high-value post-acute care networks is essential for success within alternative payment models, such as bundled payment programs and accountable care organizations," Premier COO Michael Alkire said in a statement. Health IT, of course, is an essential enabler to this task, and 84 percent of respondents indicated that technology continues to represent a place for significant capital outlay. Still, challenges remain. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents said their health systems are successfully accessing data from the ambulatory EHRs of their employed physicians. But barely one-third (38 percent) said that they're successfully accessing data from affiliated or non-employed physician networks. "Many affiliated practices lack the proper incentives to invest in high-cost data sharing agreements and interoperable interfaces. We urgently need public policies that require health IT interoperability standards so that providers can access data from any system," said Alkire. Interestingly, one area that's often overlooked with regard to pop health is one that's also ripe for innovation, according to Premier: the supply chain. Many providers are running disparate software systems to track procurement, accounting and contract management, according to the report – leading to "system-wide blind spots" that can hamper efficiency efforts. The expansion of affiliated practices have only complicated matters, according to more than half of poll respondents. "By marrying all the functions associated with purchasing across the continuum on a single IT platform, materials managers can close gaps and generate the significant savings needed to succeed in the new world of payment reform and cost cuts," said Alkire.

Sanders is calling for a single payer system, while Clinton said she would support expanding the Affordable Care Act to insure every American.

The deal ties Dell’s population health solutions into Ensocare’s cloud service for care coordination, the vendors said.

Kaiser Permanente this week launched a new database that enables researchers to examine participants' DNA in conjunction with environmental and behavioral health.

The potential next EHR would more closely resemble modern interfaces such as Google and Facebook and leverage FHIR, if the VA indeed opts to move away from VistA. Undersecretary David Shulkin said the department is evaluating the best way forward. 

Allscripts is the top-ranked EHR vendor among medical centers of more than 250 beds, according to a new Black Book report released today. Cerner topped the list for medium-sized community hospitals with 101-250 beds, and Evident/CPSI was the best among small and rural hospitals with fewer than 100 beds.

Cloud-based athenahealth is expanding its portfolio to include machine learning and artificial intelligence with its acquisition of analytics startup Arsenal Health. Arsenal's Smart Scheduling tool has already been effective with athenahealth's providers, officials said. The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, will move Arsenal from a third-party vendor to a native capability available for all athenahealth's customers through its athenaCoordinator network. athenahealth also sees value as a potential "on-ramp to the machine learning, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence space in healthcare," said Doran Robinson, vice president of athenaCoordinator, in a press statement. In the future, athenahealth's officials say they hope the acquisition will accelerate the company's analytics and AI capabilities, broadening insights and enhancing offerings for its 74 million patient records. "The prospect of building on Arsenal Health’s technology and combining it with our own valuable data to positively impact care and expand the power of our network is extremely compelling," said Robinson. Arsenal Health was athenahealth's first investment through its More Disruption Please initiative, which drives decisions based on three pillars: the MDP Accelerator, athenahealth Marketplace and MDP Network. "The company is a testimonial to what we’re trying to do with our "More Disruption Please" program – provide young health tech companies the opportunity to develop and scale with athenahealth’s support and resources," he added. "By joining athenahealth, we believe we can accelerate our growth while effectively testing and advancing our predictive analytics technology," said Arsenal Health CEO Chris Moses in a statement. "To date, our success lies in our ability to track client performance, learn the intricacies of how providers work and ultimately predict their needs."