Mobile messaging viable for military personnel treatment

Mobile messaging as part of medical recovery treatment proves mHealth efforts can boost rehabilitation efforts for injured military personnel and help soldiers re-integrate following service, as shown in a recent pilot.
The primary goal for the program, mCare, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Military Medicine Research, was determining if mHealth intervention for geographically dispersed military patients could boost communication and improve treatment. The results, titled "Using Secure Mobile Technology to Support Soldier Reintegration and Rehabilitation Center for Military Medicine Research," were published in Telemedicine and e-Health.
"The mCare pilot project demonstrated the feasibility and administrative effectiveness of a scalable mHealth application using secure mobile messaging and information exchanges, including personalized patient education," study authors write.

Read more: Mobile messaging viable for military personnel treatment - FierceMobileHealthcare http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/mobile-messaging-proves-be-viable-tool-military-personnel-treatment/2014-04-05#ixzz32vlxoQ1b

Text4baby promising for expecting moms in the military

Texting is proving to have a beneficial impact on expectant mothers in the military, as it helps them avoid missed appointments, reminds them of healthy nutrition habits and provides insight and guidance for dealing with childcare questions and concerns.
A recent study on Text4baby, a theory-based mHealth program, found the mobile tool also improves health attitudes and beliefs and researchers hope to continue investigating its effects on behavior. Read More

Elderly With Disabilities Face Barriers to Using Online Portals

A new study finds that individuals ages 65 and older with physical disabilities continue to have low rates of Internet use. The researchers warn that such residents likely will have trouble accessing their health information through an online portal, which is required under the meaningful use incentive program. Reuters. More

Alarm fatigue – a pressing patient safety issue

Alarm fatigue has now been added to the list of top patient safety concerns. Last year, The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert titled Medical device alarm safety in hospitals to address the issues presented due to providers becoming desensitized or immune to the beeping of medical devices. This year, a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) has been implemented requiring accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals to improve their systems. Read these documents and learn more about this pressing issue.

Alarm Fatigue: The Human-System Interface

CMS Proposes Rule To Extend, Change Meaningful Use Timeline

Citing stakeholder feedback and lack of vendor readiness, CMS yesterday released a proposed rule that would provide more flexibility in the Medicare meaningful use timeline. Industry stakeholders praised the proposed rule but raised concerns about the timing to finalize the changes to the program. Modern Healthcare et al. Read More

10 Trends why TeleHealth adoption will take off

Some claim the early television experiments in 1955 as the origin of TeleHealth, which means TeleHealth is more than half a century old. The adoption of TeleHealth has had multiple challenges including, but not limited to reimbursements, affordability and experience gaps.
However, of late, the stars are aligning for TeleHealth adoption to take off. According to BCC research, the global telemedicine market is expected to grow to 27.3 billion by 2016. According to the AHA (American Hospital Association) report, 42% of US acute care hospitals have TeleHealth capabilities. While healthcare reforms have given the adoption a significant boost, there are more trends that are fueling the adoption. We look at 10 such trends. On a broad level, these can be classified into three major categories:

• Policies and New Business Models
• Technology and Affordability
• Experience and Efficiencies

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New Smartphone app analyzes walking gait to determine health status

Gizmos 21stcentech.com

For patients with congestive heart failure, COPD, asthma and other heart-lung complications gait can tell a physician a great deal.  Our smartphones are quickly turning into medical devices through applications that monitor our wellness. The latest is GaitTrack, developed by University of Illinois. It measures how you walk to assess your cardiopulmonary, muscle and neurological health.  Currently GaitTrack is being tested in clinical trials. It should be available for download from the University of Illinois in a few months.

Study Examines Effectiveness of Automated Approaches for Receiving Patient Feedback

A new study supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggests that many patients who do not improve as expected after a medical appointment don’t take further action to address unresolved problems. The study found that systematic follow-up, including a live follow-up call and those made by an interactive voice response system, can potentially identify and connect patients to needed care. “Exploration of an automated approach for receiving patient feedback after outpatient acute care visits” appeared online March 8 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Researchers evaluated patients seen in outpatient settings for evaluation and treatment of a new health problem. The patients received a live follow-up call one week after their visit and via an interactive voice response system (IVRS) three weeks after their visit to determine their satisfaction with the diagnosis and treatment(s) provided. The study showed that automated telephone feedback systems can feasibly be used to follow-up on patient outcomes in outpatient settings. Further research on the effectiveness of this technology is needed to determine the role of automated telephone feedback systems in ambulatory care settings.

Select to access the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24610308.

4 New Lessons on Patient Experience from Disney

Hospitals can take this opportunity to learn from Disney’s leading-edge strategies about where experiences are going next. 
It’s been 10 years this month since Fred Lee published his book “If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently.” The book offers hospital administrators and service line directors key insights for transforming their “services” to “experiences,” including:

• Generating loyalty by doing memorable things that patients don’t expect
• Being alert on people’s needs and taking initiative, before they ask for it
• Shifting from “our services” to the guest’s story

Read More

Disseminating and Implementing Evidence from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research in Clinical Practice Using Mobile Health Technology (R21)

The following questions are derived from individual questions submitted to AHRQ about the Disseminating and Implementing Evidence from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research in Clinical Practice Using Mobile Health Technology (R21) and are shared here for all potential applicants. We encourage applicants to review all replies and to monitor this site for newly added questions and answers. Read More

IT Enabled Self-Management Support for Urban Diabetes Patients

Research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) identified innovative diabetes self-management programs for patients who speak multiple languages. “Diabetes Health Information Technology Innovation to Improve Quality of Life for Health Plan Members in an Urban Safety Net” appeared in the April—July issue of Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. Through an automated telephone system, the program provided 27 weeks of support in English, Spanish and Cantonese. Participants showed improvements in diabetes self-care behaviors, suggesting that automated telephone support may have an important role to play in improving patient-centered diabetes care.

Select to access the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24594561.

Alaska Legislature Passes Bill Expanding Telehealth Options

The Alaska Legislature has advanced a bill that would allow doctors to conduct appointments, make diagnoses and write prescriptions over the telephone. Several organizations in the state already have expanded their use of telehealth. EHR Intelligence, Modern Healthcare. Read More

Asynchronous Virtual Follow Up Is Successful for Chronically Ill

Research published this month in Telemedicine and e-Health finds that setting up asynchronous virtual follow-up visits with patients who had chronic diseases improved efficiency and saved time. For the study, patients completed a Web-based questionnaire that providers reviewed to give appropriate follow-up care. FierceHealthIT. Read More

mHealth Evidence

What is mHealth Evidence?

mHealth is the use of mobile information and communication technologies for improving health. It can be used for a wide range of purposes, including health promotion and illness prevention, health care delivery, training and supervision, electronic payments, and information systems. Many believe that it has the potential to shift the paradigm on when, where, how and by whom health services are provided and accessed.

mHealthEvidence.org was designed to bring together the world’s literature on mHealth effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and program efficiency, to make it easier for software developers, researchers, program managers, funders and other key decision-makers to quickly get up to speed on the current state-of-the-art. It includes peer-reviewed and grey literature from high-, middle- and low-resource settings.
Read More
For more information on K4Health's work in mHealth, visit mHealthKnowledge.

Telepsychiatry Program Improves Patient Outcomes in N.C.

A study finds that a telepsychiatry program implemented in emergency departments of several hospitals in North Carolina helped reduce patient wait times and hospital readmissions, among other things. NPR's "Shots," North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research release. Read More

CMS Issues Final Rule Recognizing Telehealth for Medicare Providers

CMS has issued a final rule that acknowledges the benefits of telehealth technologies by eliminating a requirement that physicians travel to rural or federally qualified health clinics at least once every two weeks. The new rule is projected to save providers an estimated $660 million annually. Modern Healthcare. Read More

Wireless Interoperability Helps Optimize Intravenous Infusion Safety, Documentation and Management

Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, partnering with CareFusion and Cerner, has become the first pediatric hospital to achieve interoperability between smart intravenous infusion pumps and an electronic health record system.

Download this free white paper to learn the results from a six-week PICU pilot study showing how Children’s Minnesota reduced their error rate under the integrated system, eliminating much of the inaccuracy associated with manually entered high-risk HIV infusions. Click Here for download

Nine Network Considerations in the New HIPAA Landscape

The HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule, released in January 2013, introduced some significant changes and updates and might change how you conduct business. Cisco’s Compliance team, which focuses on helping customers meet mandated HIPAA, SOX, and PCI compliance requirements, has prepared nine considerations about the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule and 2012 HIPAA audit results that can impact your IT network and IT processes. Learn more

GSA maps NS2020 strategy with focus on interoperability, converged IP

With a focus on flexibility, interoperability and converged IP services, the General Services Administration plans to help agencies shift to next-generation telecommunications and IT infrastructure services, according to newly-published strategy documents from the agency.
Through the Network Services 2020 strategy, GSA is looking to help agencies make a smooth transition away from the 10-year Networx telecommunications contracts that are due to expire in 2017. Networx was designed to help agencies acquire better and more advanced telecom services at lower costs. According to GSA, Networx saved taxpayers $678 million in 2013.
In a blog post, Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for GSA's Office of Integrated Technology Services, outlined how the NS2020 strategy is unfolding, including updates and resources such as links to the two new white papers that were published in April.  Read More
For more:
- read Davie's blog post
- download, "GSA White Paper: The Network Services 2020 Strategy" (.pdf)
- download, "GSA White Paper: NS2020 Transition Strategy" (.pdf)

University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital offers parents video visits with NICU

University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital has launched a digital system that allows parents to keep an eye on their newborns who are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), according to a news segment aired on CBS Minneapolis.

In early 2013, the nurses at Cedars-Sinai discussed a similar system. They used unmodified iPads running Apple’s FaceTime to offer mothers the option to see their premature or sick babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) even if they were immobile while recovering from delivery or the infants were in isolation. The hospital named this service BabyTime    Read More 

Epic, Cerner Top Vendors for Hospital Meaningful Use Incentives

An analysis of federal data shows that Epic Systems leads vendors of complete electronic health record systems in the number of hospital clients receiving Medicare meaningful use incentive payments. Meanwhile, Cerner is the top modular EHR system vendor for hospitals receiving Medicare incentive payments. Modern Healthcare. Read More

House Lawmakers Urged To Expand Access to Telehealth

During a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, stakeholders urged lawmakers to change outdated policies and expand Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services. The committee is collecting feedback on efforts to increase telehealth access until June 16. Health Data Management, CQ HealthBeat.  Read More

New policy advisory for state medical boards a mixed bag for telemedicine

One of the biggest difficulties for mobile and digital health companies (or health systems) focused on telemedicine is that they’re usually attempting to provide a national service, but the regulations they must follow are determined on the state level — for the most part by state medical boards. Recently, the Federation of State Medical Boards, an advisory group that issues guidance documents for state boards, released a policy framework for telemedicine offered up as a resource to states. Read More

Telemedicine Closes Service Gap for Behavioral Health Patients

Teri Dunn, a licensed clinical social worker, has been working with behavioral health patients for 34 years. For the last 12, she’s been with North Country HealthCare, a community health center based in Flagstaff.
North Country also serves patients at 14 other sites across northern Arizona, where there used to be little or no access to behavioral health care.
Telemedicine has changed that. Read more »

Use of Evidence-Based Practice Center Comparative Effectiveness Reviews by Clinical Point-of-Care Tools

AHRQ: Clinical POC tools (also called evidence-based textbooks, decision support aids,

computerized decision-support systems, clinical reference tools, etc.) are electronic tools

that clinicians can use anywhere and everywhere to find up to date summaries of research findings

that can be applied in daily clinical practice. 

• Use of Evidence-Based Practice Center Comparative Effectiveness Reviews by Clinical Point-of-Care Tools. To access this report, visit: http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayproduct&productid=1903.

State Medical Board Group OKs New Model Telehealth Policy

The Federation of State Medical Boards has approved a model policy that sets standards for the use of telehealth, despite criticism of certain provisions by the American Telemedicine Association and other groups. State boards have the option of adopting the new policy, altering the policy before adoption or keeping their current telehealth policies. Modern Healthcare et al.  Read More

TEDMED Great Challenges: Making the Grade: Examining the Case for Patient Activation Measures

Here's a summary of that discussion:
https://storify.com/TEDMED/tedmed-great-challenges-making-the-grade-examining...