International health IT week in review: November 8
Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of international health IT news for the week ending November 8: NHS Covid app bungle, US telehealth figures, digital surveillance in South Africa, telehealth app expands to Kenya, Scotland and Northern Ireland Covid app interoperable, predicting Covid with wearables, US federal health IT strategy, delivering care from home, cyberattacks hit hospitals, Teladoc finalises $18.5b Livongo merger
Fault in NHS Covid app meant thousands at risk did not quarantine
The Guardian ~ Alex Hern ~ 03/11/2020
A code error in the NHS Covid-19 app meant users had to be next to a highly infectious patient for five times as long as the NHS had decided was risky before being instructed to self-isolate.
CDC: Telehealth visits more than doubled in March 2020
Healthcare IT News ~ Kat Jercich ~ 02/11/2020
Using de-identified patient data from Amwell, Teladoc Health, MDLive and Doctor On Demand, the CDC found that about 1.6 million telehealth encounters occurred from January through March 2020.
South Africa is testing digital technology to detect outbreaks of respiratory diseases
The Conversation ~ Cheryl Cohen and Sibongile Walaza ~ 05/11/2020
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa is planning a pilot phase of a digital participatory surveillance platform.
Digital healthcare startup Vezeeta launches app in Kenya
Healthcare Global ~ Leila Hawkins ~ 02/11/2020
Vezeeta was originally founded in Egypt, with the aim of supporting the country's ambulance service with an online service. It's since expanded to include online bookings in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Scotland’s contact-tracing app now interoperable with Northern Ireland’s
Digital Health News ~ Andrea Downey ~ 30/10/2020
Through developing its own ‘federated server’ the Scottish government is ultimately hoping to allow all contact-tracing apps in the UK, other Crown dependencies and Gibraltar to work with each other for the first time.
Scripps study suggests wearables could predict Covid-19 infection
MedCity News ~ Elise Reuter ~ 31/10/2020
The virtual study, which included wearable data form more than 30,500 participants, found that changes in sleep, activity and heart rate levels, along with self-reported symptom data, could be used to identify potential cases of Covid-19.
HHS unveils new 2020-2025 federal health IT strategic plan
Healthcare IT News ~ Mike Miliard ~ 30/10/2020
The document describes the government's hopes for how technology goals should be prioritized over the next five years – with an emphasis on patients' access to their health data.
Epic, Zoom and mobile app help at-risk clinic volunteers deliver care from home
Healthcare IT News ~ Bill Siwicki ~ 30/10/2020
Almost all of the physician and nurse volunteers at Clinic of the Cascades were over 65. Here’s how the three merged technologies allowed it to stay open during COVID-19.
Significant' cyberattack targets UVM health network in Vermont, northern New York
Healthcare IT News ~ Kat Jercich ~ 30/10/2020
The health system is working with the FBI to investigate the incident, which took down access to the MyChart Patient Portal.
Analysis: tactics of group waging attacks on hospitals
Information Security Media Group ~ Doug Olenick ~ 30/10/2020
Mandiant Threat Intelligence follows the trail from initial emails to installing Ryuk
Teladoc finalizes blockbuster deal with Livongo in less than 3 months
FierceHealthcare ~ Heather Landi ~ 30/10/2020
The combination of two of the largest publicly-traded virtual care companies will create a health technology giant just as the demand for virtual care soars.
Posted in Australian eHealth
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