Pulse+IT’s weekly weekend round-up of international health IT and eHealth news:
Four step app ‘endorsement’ process
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 19/06/2015
Healthcare apps will go through a four-stage recommendation process as part of NHS England’s plans to create an endorsement model for these tools.
Ireland plans five year e-health journey
Digital Health News ~ Lyn Whitfield ~ 18/06/2015
Ireland’s new chief information officer for health, Richard Corbridge, has issued a ‘Knowledge and Information Strategy’ that sets out the building blocks for a transformation of the country’s health services using e-health.
Patient engagement to suffer if proposed MU rule finalized
Health Data Management ~ Greg Slabodkin ~ 18/06/2015
A coalition of 50 advocacy groups has voiced dismay to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding a proposed reversal of key patient-engagement criteria for Stage 2 meaningful use during the 2015-2017 timeframe.
IT could save NHS £13.7bn a year: Kelsey
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 17/06/2015
The use of digital technology can create savings in the NHS in England of up to £13.7 billion a year by 2020, according to Tim Kelsey, national director for patents and information at NHS England.
Ontario to beef up laws to protect patient privacy
Canadian Healthcare Technology ~ CanHealth ~ 17/06/2015
Ontario’s government has announced a plan to improve privacy and accountability in the healthcare system with new measures to protect the personal health information of patients.
Full records access promised for 2018
Digital Health News ~ Rebecca McBeth ~ 17/06/2015
Patients will have real-time access to their full digital health record by 2018, under new plans unveiled by NHS England.
ED discharge app wins contest, goes live
Health Data Management ~ Greg Goth ~ 17/06/2015
There is no shortage of healthcare app hackathons and contests these days, but the William Osler Health System in Brampton, Ontario, wastes no time in getting its contest’s winning apps into the hands of patients and caregivers right away.
Dissatisfaction’ leading to EHR replacement trend
HealthcareITNews ~ Mike Miliard ~ 17/06/2015
More and more buyers of electronic health records are finding themselves having second thoughts and opting to replace their existing systems, according to a new report.
Games for Health joins with PCHA, HIMSS
HealthcareITNews ~ Mike Miliard ~ 16/06/2015
The Personal Connected Health Alliance and HIMSS are partnering with the Games for Health Project to help increase the role of personal health technology in care delivery, convening clinical leaders and innovators with gamers and game developers.
VA revamps VistA EHR with new user interface, functions
Health Data Management ~ Joseph Goedert ~ 16/06/2015
The Department of Veterans Affairs, eyeing improved population health management, is developing substantial new capabilities for its VistA electronic health records system with initial rollouts starting later this year and in 2016.
HIMSS response to MU rule mostly positive
Health Data Management ~ Greg Slabodkin ~ 16/06/2015
In a June 15 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society voiced its strong support for a CMS proposed rule that would ease compliance with Stages 1 and 2 of the electronic health records meaningful use program.
E-Referrals service stabilised
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek & Rebecca McBeth ~ 16/06/2015
The new NHS e-Referrals service has been stabilised and was running well on Tuesday afternoon, NHS England’s director of strategic systems and technology has said.
What makes an EHR “open” or interoperable?
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association ~ Dean Sittig & Adam Wright ~ 15/06/2015
We have identified 5 use cases that comprise a useful definition of an “open or interoperable electronic health record (EHR).
EHRs need five ‘use cases’ to be interoperable
FierceEMR ~ Marla Durben Hirsch ~ 15/06/2015
Electronic health records should have five “use cases” in order to be considered “open” or interoperable, according to a new article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
Mostashari startup draws $30M in second round
HealthcareITNews ~ Bernie Monegain ~ 15/06/2015
Aledade, the ACO company that former ONC chief Farzad Mostashari, MD, started a year ago after stepping down from the government post, just landed $30 million in a second round of funding.
Epic CEO to donate 99 percent of fortune
HealthcareITNews ~ Mike Miliard ~ 15/06/2015
Epic founder Judy Faulkner is one of the latest billionaires to sign on to The Giving Pledge, the initiative launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage entrepreneurs to donate more than half of their wealth to charity.
Users unable to access E-Referrals
Digital Health News ~ Rebecca McBeth ~ 15/06/2015
GPs and NHS trusts are unable to access the new NHS e-Referral service just hours after it was launched, due to “technical difficulties”.
Survey: 21% of California physician practices not ready for ICD-10
Health Data Management ~ Greg Slabodkin ~ 15/06/2015
With just over 100 days left before the October 1 ICD-10 deadline takes effect, more than half of physician practices (51 percent) in a recent readiness survey by the California Medical Association indicated they were only minimally prepared for the code switchover, while more than a fifth (21 percent) said they were not at all prepared
VA eyes new platform to improve interoperability of veteran health data
FierceEMR ~ Katie Dvorak ~ 15/06/2015
With an eye on solving issues for sharing veteran health data between government agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to launch a new interface–the Enterprise Health Management Platform (EHMP).
Royal Devon approves Epic business case
Digital Health News ~ Rebecca McBeth ~ 15/06/2015
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust board has approved a business case to buy the Epic electronic patient record after putting the programme on hold to assess costs.
Budget, non-compliant employees top hospital IT leaders’ security concerns
FierceHealthIT ~ Susan D. Hall ~ 15/06/2015
While protecting healthcare data remains a huge priority for hospitals, respondents to a new survey say lack of budget and non-compliant employees are two of their biggest challenges to security.
Call to improve mHealth data protection
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 15/06/2015
Greater efforts must be made to protect patient data collected by mobile devices, according to Europe’s data guardian.
EHR/PHR vendor MIE gets hacked
Health Data Management ~ Joseph Goedert ~ 14/06/2015
Electronic health records vendor Medical Informatics Engineering and its personal health records vendor subsidiary NoMoreClipboard have been hit by a sophisticated cyber attack.
Ehealth progress still poor $2 billion and 14 years later
Canadian Medical Association Journal ~ Paul Christopher Webster ~ 10/06/2015
Duplication of efforts and a lack of interoperability have plagued attempts to have a pan-Canadian electronic health record system.