News

Israel-based artificial intelligence startup MedyMatch Technology has launched with an artificial intelligence product that it hopes will improve performance in healthcare through its real-time decision support tools. MedyMatch also announced earlier this month that former Philips Imaging Systems CEO Gene Saragnese joined the company as chairman and CEO. Company officials said they would soon open the company’s first U.S. office in Boston in order to provide support for the startup’s rapidly expanding list of clinical trial partners, machine and deep learning collaborations and product development. MedyMatch uses advanced cognitive analytics and artificial intelligence to provide real-time decision support tools that, together with standard emergency room imaging platforms, helps the radiologist or emergency room physician recognize what is often the hardest to see or most obscure conditions. Despite advancements in medical imaging technologies, the medical imaging misdiagnosis rate in the emergency room has remained unchanged for 30 years, executives point out, with misdiagnosis occurring in approximately 30 percent of cases. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association estimate that by 2030, there will be approximately 3.4 million stroke victims annually in the United States, with a total cost of $240 billion. Moreover, 42 percent of that cost – about  $183 billion – is attributed to the annual direct medical and extended care expenses. MedyMatch officials say the startup can help reduce the cost because of its accuracy in the treatment window, which in turn can help lower the number of people with long-term chronic conditions. As Saragnese sees it, MedyMatch’s technology and artificial intelligence-based image classification will provide physicians with the deeper insights they need to make the right diagnosis and do so quickly. Before Philips Healthcare, Saragnese headed up the CT, molecular imaging and image processing divisions within GE Healthcare. Prior to that, he served as GE Healthcare’s chief technology officer and the general manager of GE's MRI business. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

Massachusetts General Hospital and Cogito have partnered on a National Institute of Mental Health-funded project aimed at addressing depression and bipolar disorder. MGH is the largest hospital in the Bay State, and serves as the teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. Cogito, a startup spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specializes in behavioral analytics. "We focus on automatically measuring behavior and understanding behavior," said Cogito CEO Joshua Feast. "We're interested in the way people move and react. On the healthcare front, Cogito technologies are aimed at helping organizations understand, manage and care for patients. [Also: Behavioral health data 'burdens EHRs'] In its work with MGH, Cogito will deploy Cogito's Companion app, designed to analyze voice patterns to detect emotions. When you look at depression or bipolar disorder, one of the key goals is to prevent people from relapsing, said Thilo Deckersbach, MD, who is leading the new study and is associate professor, Harvard Medical School. "One of the ways to do that," he said, "is to keep an eye on their mood. You have to make sure they pay attention to it to make sure it doesn't creep in because the sooner you can intervene, the better your chances are to prevent a recurrence of depression or to prevent a recurrence of mania. So, it's all about prevention." However, Deckersbach said that humans – with or without behavioral disorders –  are good at tracking at the beginning, but as time goes by, they forget. [Also: $1.3 million in EHR grants for behavioral health] "It's where Cogito and the Companion as a platform come into the game," he said. "If you can devise a method that a smartphone does the job for you, and you do not need to track your mood every day, then you have achieved something that is highly sensitive, highly reliable that you can detect your mood early and prevent depression or mania." MGH's MoodNetwork is a nationwide patient-powered system and a critical engine to help power the new research initiative, which is funded through a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Worldwide, about 350 million people suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization, and bipolar disorder affects more than 5.7 million American adults. [Also: 11 essential quotes from notable HIMSS keynotes] The project, which is open to 1,000 MoodNetwork participants, will provide real-time mood feedback to patients based on daily audio diaries recorded via Cogito Companion, an application on patients' mobile devices. The initiative will track key behavioral indicators, such as physical isolation, social connectedness and fatigue – the major symptom groups for mood disorder. The intent is to create health data set aimed at improving the experiences of people with depression and bipolar disorder. "While many expect that physical disorders would solely account for disability, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are among the top causes globally," Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD, director of the Bipolar Research Program at MGH, and principal investigator of MoodNetwork, said in a statement. "The goal of this initiative is to understand symptom relapse over the lifecycle of these conditions and offer long-term care and support options for patients. With the yearly combined annual cost of depression and bipolar disorder at greater than $200 billion, we hope to bend the care and cost curve with the help of behavioral analytics synched to this patient population." Twitter: @HealthITNews

The development of standards through the lab will help ONC further develop interoperability standards, official says.

Medsphere Systems, maker of the OpenVista electronic health record, and MBS/Net have merged, adding physician practice services and proprietary applications to Medsphere’s existing healthcare IT tools and services for acute and inpatient behavioral health settings.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but officials said MBS/Net will retain its name and operate as a division of Medsphere.  Medsphere’s OpenVista EHR is derived from the VistA system developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. [Also: Health Partners New England taps Medsphere for behavioral health] The addition of Cleveland-based MBS/Net expands Medsphere’s products and services to include an ambulatory physician suite of products that includes a physician practice management system, ambulatory EHR, document management system and a scheduling app. It also includes the company’s outsourced revenue cycle management and practice hardware management services, officials say. The Medsphere-MBS/Net merger follows the March 2015 merger of Medsphere and Phoenix Health Systems, which provides a range of healthcare IT services, including systems implementation, compliance project management and more. MBS/Net’s products and services coupled with Medsphere’s OpenVista platform will further interoperability between Medsphere’s hospital clients and their affiliated physician communities, Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald said in a statement. "We’ve seen the benefits the practice management and revenue cycle solutions have created for MBS/Net clients, in some instances boosting individual practice revenue by more than 100 percent," he said. "The focus of MBS/Net solutions on physician practices and the recent addition of Phoenix Health Systems’ consulting and services enables Medsphere to meet the needs of providers across the spectrum of healthcare." Twitter: @HealthITNews

(SPONSORED) In this age of digital transformation, what is meant by managed services?

(SPONSORED) With the evolving threat landscape, cyberattacks happen every day to every type of enterprise -- with disastrous results.

(SPONSORED) What is the benefit of approaching healthcare with a Mobile First strategy?

(SPONSORED) In February 2016, Verizon security team issued an alert regarding an elevated threat level affecting the payment systems within the hospitality industry.

Healthcare innovation across the United States is being powered by a number of factors – including technology, legislation and the move toward value-based reimbursement – but the engine driving that transformation is data. Not only can data be collected and stored to an extent that wasn’t possible several years ago, it also can be analyzed to uncover population health trends, improve efficiency, reduce costs and deliver better care to patients. See all of our HIMSS16 previews “The starting point is having robust healthcare data from every ZIP code,” said Maureen Sullivan, chief strategy officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We are already using this data to help improve healthcare, and we can learn from those efforts.” Sullivan will share examples of how Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are using data to help employers, providers and individuals in a session titled “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” at HIMSS16. BCBSA is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. The Blue System is the nation's largest health insurer, covering more than 106 million people, and also is the nation’s largest single processor of Medicare claims. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] The BCBSA healthcare database is massive, combining cost information from 2.3 billion medical procedures, provider information, and patient reviews. The data provides BCBSA actionable insight on cost and quality trends, enabling it to advance care delivery, empower informed decision-making and improve the health of Americans. “At Blue Cross Blue Shield, we are committed to a data-driven healthcare system,” Sullivan said. “We have already made great strides to harness the power of healthcare data by building a comprehensive dataset and mining it for important insights and trends. Building on those assets and efforts will continue to drive the changes we need to ensure our healthcare system is sustainable.” Sullivan’s session will delve into a data analytics approach that brings value to both employers and employees, investigate solutions that enable consumers to make evidence-based decisions and show how aggregating cost data can help providers contain costs while better managing care. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “This is an exciting time in healthcare, and we have tremendous opportunities ahead,” Sullivan said. “Moving forward, we have more work to do to pull even greater insights and intelligence from healthcare data.” “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” will be held on Tuesday, March 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST at the Sands Expo Convention Center, Palazzo E. Twitter: @SullyHIT This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

HIMSS is launching the HIMSS Executive Institute, a community of senior leaders at provider organizations that have achieved either EMRAM Stage 7 or Davies Award recognition. “These people represent the most sophisticated providers, the best and the brightest,” HIMSS Executive Vice President Carla Smith said. “These already high-performing executives can participate in the HIMSS Executive Institute to take their IT even higher to ultimately improve health. These are people who want the best for patients and clinicians.” HIMSS Analytics honors health systems with its Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model which recognizes a truly paperless enterprise as Stage 7. JoAnn Klinedinst, HIMSS Vice President of Professional Development explained that a Stage 7 recognition represents a significant accomplishment in technology execution. And Smith added that earning a Davies Award is yet another big step technologically. [Also: 11 essential quotes from notable HIMSS keynotes] HIMSS launched the Executive Institute in November of 2015 and has since conducted monthly webinars on topics including: maximizing value from HIT investments, revalidating Stage 7 status, EMRAM 2.0, HIMSS16.  HEI has 87 members from 49 North American-based providers. HEI’s executive committee, meanwhile, is comprised of nine familiar faces in the health IT fray: Pam Arora, SVP/CIO, Children’s Health Ray Gensinger, MD, CIO, Hospital Sisters Health System Brian Jacobs, MD, CIO & CMIO, Children’s National Health System Kyle Johnson, CIO & System Vice President, Eastern Maine Medical Center John Kenagy, PhD, Senior Vice President & CIO, Legacy Health Don Reichert, CIO, MetroHealth System Patty Sengstack, RN, CNIO, Bon Secours Health System Ferdi Velasco, MD, CHIO, Texas Health Resources Greg Wolverton, CIO, ARcare At HIMSS16, HIMSS Executive Institute members will meet for a number of briefings and private meetings, including a roundtable on cybersecurity challenges particular to EHRs. Members will also have access to the Executive Institute Lounge, get reservations for the SuperNAP Data Center Tour and receive VIP seating at HIMSS16 keynotes. A range of IT executives are eligible to become members, including CIOs, chief information security officers, chief technology officers, chief medical officers, chief health information officers, chief nursing informatics officers, chief clinical innovation officers, to name just a few. Smith said that because EMRAM 7 and Davies winners are two IT-oriented designations, technology professionals are the tip of the spear for Health Executive Insight membership, and the long-term plan is to expand that to any executives at Davies or EMRAM Stage 7 winners. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “At some point we’re going to be interested in attracting CEOs, CFOs and COOs,” Smith said, “because technology executives often report to them and because those leaders increasingly understand the power of clinical and business intelligence in successfully running their business.” Smith added HEI is global in scope, though in different parts of the world it operates under various names and has other membership criteria. In other countries, for instance, membership is open to senior executives at Davies-winning hospitals as well as EMRAM Stage 6 and 7 achievers. “One of our aspirations is to have face-to-face meetings at member’s facilities wherein they host in-depth tours including education and networking,” Smith said. “It’s the opportunity to interact with your true peers, very high achieving individuals at very high achieving IT shops at providers doing remarkable things.”  Twitter: @SullyHIT This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.