I-PASS the BATON

More evidence for implementing standardized handover protocols

Standardized handoffs reduce patient harm modernhealthcare.com

Significant reductions in medical errors and preventable adverse events are possible when healthcare providers standardize the way patients are handed off from one physician to the next during shift changes, according to a new study. Read More

Team-based approach cuts alarm fatigue by 80 percent

The concern over alarm fatigue is so great that last December, the Joint Commission named alarm fatigue reduction a National Patient Safety Goal and requires accredited providers to improve their alarm systems to reduce it.

To reduce alarm fatigue and better manage alarms, hospitals must develop a systemic approach that considers staffing patterns, care models, architectural layouts, patient populations and staff responsibilities.

To learn more:
- read the study abstract
- here's the hospital announcement

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More telehealth makes the cut for Medicare coverage next year

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rule that will lead to changes in coverage under Medicare Part B. The rule, proposed in July, will expand the range of telehealth services that can be reimbursed under Medicare starting in 2015.
CMS added telemedicine codes for an “annual wellness visit” including a personalized prevention plan of service — one code for the initial visit and another for subsequent visits.

In the area of mental healthcare, CMS has added codes for psychoanalysis and family psychotherapy (which has two codes, one for family therapy with the patient present and one for family therapy with the patient absent). The next two codes are ones that therapists use to report sessions that go overtime or require additional time over the scheduled hour-long visit — these will now be eligible for reimbursement via telehealth. Read More
 

Age, education critical to device use for docs and patients

Acceptance and use of mHealth devices for medical care by doctors and patients varies given age and education levels, according to a research report from Hannover Medical School in Germany, which examined how medical staff and patients perceive mHealth devices.
Read More

Longer hospital stay equals lower mortality, fewer readmissions

One extra day in the hospital cuts costs and significantly reduces the chance of the need to readmit Medicare patients within 30 days, a new study from Columbia Business School found.
Another study released two years ago also found that the longer a patient is in the hospital, the less likely he or she is to be readmitted. That study found a "modest but significant drop" in the 30-day readmission rate, which researchers attributed to the additional care patients received during the extra days in the hospital.  Read More

7 Things We Learned from the 2014 Connected Health Symposium

Last week at the Connected Health Symposium hosted by Partners Healthcare in Boston.  Jeff Urdan, gave a presentation on swyMed for the fourth annual Innovators Challenge, a symposium event to draw attention to, as they say on their website, “products that are genuinely new and potentially game-changing for connected health.”  He also had a chance to report back on his key takeaways from the event. Read More

Why do Most Nurses Dislike their EHR? Take One Guess

Recently, New York-based Black Book Research polled nearly 14,000 licensed registered nurses from forty states, all utilizing implemented hospital EHRs over the last six months. Ninety-percent percent of them express dissatisfaction with their inpatient EHR system. Eighty-four percent of those polled said that EHRs causing disruptions in productivity and workflow have negatively influenced their job satisfaction.
An amazing 69 percent of nurses in for-profit inpatient settings say their IT department is incompetent. That number shocks me but I guess it shouldn’t. IT departments are under more scrutiny than ever. One false step and you’ll end up like the leaders at Athens (Ga.) Regional Health Systems.  Read More

Discussing Portals During PCP Visit Can Increase Patient Engagement

Between December 2010 and June 2013, researchers evaluated the feasibility of whether small to medium-sized primary care practices could engage patients to use the interactive preventive health record (IPHR), a patient-centered personal health record for prevention. The study was conducted at eight practices in the Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network (ACORN).  Read More

Emails Between Patients, Physicians Tripled Over 10 Years

A new study finds that email communications between physicians and patients at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston nearly tripled over 10 years. Researchers say that workflow and reimbursement models may need to be adjusted to accommodate this method of communication. Health Data Management. Read More   

The results were published online in Health Affairs.

Nurses Dissatisfied with EHRs

 

Nurses Dissatisfied with EHRs, Report Finds Authors of the report, from the New York-based Black Book Research, polled nearly 14,000 licensed registered nurses from forty states, all utilizing implemented hospital EHRs over the last six months. A whopping 92 percent of them are dissatisfied with their inpatient EHR system. Eighty-four percent of those polled said that EHR’s causing disruptions in productivity and workflow have negatively influenced their job satisfaction.  Read More

Wireless Devices to Improve Patient Care

Medscape:

Many doctors and nurses doubt the ability of wireless technology to fundamentally alter the way that medicine is practiced. Here are 15 ingenious patient monitoring devices that may change your mind. Click Here to view Presentation

 

Which States Have Adopted Telehealth Parity Laws?

Data from the American Telemedicine Association show that 21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statewide parity laws for private insurance converage of telehealth services.Read More

Penn State Launches Massive Epidemic Game, Online Course

Researchers at Penn State University have launched Moocdemic 2.0, a massive multiplayer epidemic game simulation.
The game uses augmented reality to allow players to travel around the world and detect, spread, or even treat a virtual disease using their mobile phones. It supports Apple and Android devices and is completely free to play.
The game is being run in parallel with a free massive open online course (MOOC) on epidemiology offered through Coursera. The course was first run last year. It involves eight professors and has been rated the best scientific MOOC by a learner vote.
The game allows players to experience a global disease outbreak in real time without being exposed to any real risk, other than game addiction" said developer and assistant professor Marcel Salathé. Moodemic is the first ever massive multiplayer epidemic game and is now being run again, with some updates, following last year's initial success. Click here for link to simulation

Health IT Survey Compendium

The AHRQ Health IT Survey Compendium has been updated, providing a centralized source of health IT surveys that may be used in the evaluation of health IT projects.  Featuring questionnaires, interview guides, and focus group guides, the Survey Compendium contains surveys previously developed and used by health IT researchers that may inform current or future research. The surveys now include information on intellectual property and acceptable use, helping researchers identify instruments which may be used in current projects. Additionally, the survey search has been updated, allowing researchers to filter by survey type, care setting and survey focus.
Select to access the Survey Compendium: http://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/health-it-survey-compendium.

Study: Telehealth Cuts Readmissions, Costs for Heart Failure Patients...

Study: Telehealth Cuts Readmissions, Costs for Heart Failure Patients - iHealthBeat ihealthbeat.org

A study of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with congestive heart failure finds that remote monitoring technology helped reduce hospital readmissions after 30 days by 44% and readmissions after 90 days by 38%. In addition, the study finds the program...Read More

Telemonitoring reduces readmissions 44 percent in 4-year, 500-patient study

 

Telemedicine has been proven to help reduce hospital readmissions in a 4-year, 500-patient study....

Telemonitoring reduces readmissions 44 percent in 4-year, 500-patient... A new study from Pennsylvania hospital system Geisinger Health Plan shows that remote monitoring of congestive heart failure patients can reduce readmissions by 38 to 44 percent and produce a return on investment of $3.30 on the dollar. The...Click Here for more http://mobihealthnews.com/37076/telemonitoring-reduces-readmissions-44-percent-in-4-year-500-patient-study/

Innovative Diabetes Education for your Patients

 

Mr. Bad Blood Sugar and his gang of carbohydrates have initiated a crime wave of epidemic...

MRA Alerts and Updates Mr. Bad Blood Sugar and his gang of carbohydrates have initiated a crime wave of epidemic proportions! Detective Wells is hot on their trail, but he needs you to help find the clues that will solve the mystery. Click Here to view information about the game! Link to game- Click here

ONC Gives Public First Look at Draft Interoperability Roadmap

The draft roadmap, which will be available for public comment in January 2015, lays out an incremental process for achieving interoperability with a three-year agenda (providers and individuals send, receive, find and use a basic set of essential health information), six-year agenda (use more granular information to further improve health care quality and lower cost), and ten-year agenda (learning health system for population health with broad access to longitudinal information).
ONC’s draft interoperability roadmap is available here. Version 1.0 of the roadmap will be completed in the spring of 2015.

Texting is valuable for engaging low-income urban patients

Pilot study reveals that texting is one of the best ways to engage with low-income urban patients. What are your thoughts on this study? http://bit.ly/1qmRC74 Texting Valuable for Engaging Low-Income Urban Patients bit.ly A new pilot study among low-income African-Americans in Detroit suggests they prefer being contacted by healthcare providers and researchers via text message on their mobile phones.

Patients 'love' having PHR, eBooking, eMessaging & speedy sharing of test results in Nova Scotia trial

Patients 'love' having PHR, eBooking, eMessaging & speedy sharing of test results in Nova Scotia trial. http://ow.ly/BQZiX#telehealth

European Code of Practice for Telehealth Services

Published on Jul 18, 2014

Malcolm Fisk, Coventry University spoke at the Ubifrance Conference on the 11 & 12th June 2014, which was held at St Thomas's Hospital in London. Malcolm spoke about European code of practice for telehealth services. Click Here for You Tube Slide Show

Mobile docs get most from their EHRs

One of the takeaways of a recent survey conducted by Software Advice indicates that mHealth users are better at using electronic health records – and getting more out of them – than doctors who use PCs.It may say as much about the type of person who uses mobile devices as it does about the state of EHR adoption in the U.S. Read More

How a Mobile Nurse Calling System Has Made Responding to “Code Blue” Easier

To facilitate timely and efficient communication,a patient care organization recently implemented a mobility-based nurse calling system when it built the latest hospital in its healthcare network.  Leveraging wireless networks and mobile devices, each nurse is assigned a handheld device that is registered to their section of the hospital, providing patients with a direct line of communication with their assigned nurse...Read More

In States That Don't Expand Medicaid, Who Gets New Coverage Assistance Under the ACA and Who Doesn't?

RWJF: Millions of women, minorities, young adults and those with low incomes are ineligible for any health insurance assistance because their state opted not to expand Medicaid. Read More