Health isn’t ready for blockchain

With help from Arthur Allen (@arthurallen202) and Darius Tahir (@dariustahir)

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning eHealth will not publish on Monday, Feb. 19. The next Morning eHealth will publish on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

HEALTH ISN’T READY FOR BLOCKCHAIN: Startups are beginning to test blockchain technology in a few health care settings, but for the most part it’s still a buzzword, with few who understand it and even fewer clear ideas on how to use it. It’ll take greater study and testing before its value to health becomes visible, HHS officials say.

Though it has hosted code-a-thons soliciting health-related blockchain concepts, ONC has yet to detect any compelling use of the technology beyond pilots or proof of concept projects, said Debbie Bucci, an IT architect in the office. Potentially it could help pharmaceutical companies follow their products through the supply chain, or let patients monitor their electronic health records and consent forms. Since the ledger itself is decentralized and accessible by multiple parties, security advocates have warned against storing the actual medical records on a blockchain but instead using it to record transactions.

Still, some health tech companies are piloting early-stage projects. Simply Vital, is building a blockchain network that aims to track the exchange of medical records for all patients in Massachusetts. Founder Kat Kuzmeskas told POLITICO that her company is working with the state’s new Digital Health Council to create a system that would give patients more insight into where their records were going.

More for Pros here.

INTEROPERABILITY AT A HIGH LEVEL: CMS Administrator Seema Verma told a White House gathering Thursday that while her instinct is to deregulate, interoperability is an area that may require an expanded or shifting role for regulation, said Navhealth CEO and former White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.

Verma hosted two listening sessions with ONC chief Donald Rucker and Chris Liddell of the White House Office of American Innovation. The invitees were health plan executives in the morning and providers in the afternoon, including Chopra and leaders from Intermountain and Cleveland Clinic as well as CHIME’s Russ Branzell and hospital organizations. Consensus wasn’t the goal of the session, but “the group in general endorsed the ability to go from proprietary to open systems for more free exchange,” said Geisinger’s chief informatics officer, Alistair Erskine.

“The meeting was constructive and indicative of a pragmatic approach to moving the industry forward,” said the effervescent Chopra. “It was a refreshing moment in Washington DC that was focused on problem solving and not the cable news story of day.”

SHULKIN GETS A PASS ON TRAVEL SCANDAL: Most of the House Veterans Affairs Committee seems ready to let slide a scathing inspector general’s report on the VA secretary’s visit to Europe last summer, after Shulkin promised to repay the VA for his wife’s airfare and other trip expenses.

At a Thursday hearing on the administration’s $198 billion VA budget proposal, lawmakers tut-tutted over the $122,000 cost of the trip but treated it as a distraction that could draw Shulkin away from problems such as EHR modernization.

“I believe your intentions to serve and care for our nation’s veterans are clear,” Chairman Phil Roe said in an opening statement. “I encourage you to take every step to address the findings of this report, and to make any changes necessary.”

Shulkin said he has already repaid the Treasury for his wife’s $4,300 airfare and for the price of two Wimbledon tickets that a friend provided before an annual summit in London. More for Pros here.

RESEARCHERS WANT MORE ATTENTION TO EHR USABILITY: A small group of researchers who study the potential safety risks of poor EHR design are begging government for more attention and funding to better understand the problem.

The visual design of EHRs can lead physicians to misinterpret patient records, but no one has data on how widespread the problem is. Researchers say that proposed budget cuts at ONC will make it harder to investigate design flaws, which may be partially responsible for an uptick in EHR-related injury and death lawsuits.

No one organization is responsible for setting usability standards, although ONC’s EHR certification rules require some testing by clinicians before the software is fielded. NIST’s researchers have published guidelines on EHR usability, and industry groups including HL7 and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation are creating more specific standards for visual display, NIST researcher Lana Lowry told POLITICO.

But no one is enforcing any of these emerging standards, says Hardeep Singh, a patient safety researcher at the VA and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. More for Pros here.

eHealth Tweet of the day, a question to which we’d also like to know the answer: julie rovner @jrovner hey research and MD types — are this winter’s enormous weather swings contributing to the flu? wondering if they are stressing immune systems? Capital Weather Gang @capitalweather 71 degrees downtown right now! Of course... there’s also the potential for snow in just 48 hours... That’s not weird or anything.

It’s FRIDAY at Morning eHealth, where your author may have set a record for the number of times she’s watched the Black Panther trailer. Bring her back to reality by sharing news tips at [email protected], or Tweet them to @arthurallen202, @dariustahir, @ravindranize, @POLITICOPro, @Morning_eHealth.

GOTTLIEB CALLS FOR MORE IT INFRASTRUCTURE IN OPIOID CRISIS BATTLE: FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday he supported creating a national e-prescribing system to help combat the opioid crisis, but that Congress would have to do it. Any action “would require new legislative authority,” Gottlieb said at an event at the National Press Club. More for Pros here.

... He’s not the only one thinking about data sharing and opioids. Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam, chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, told POLITICO that more data analytics would help clinicians, public health and law enforcement get a better handle on opioid abuse. At the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference earlier this week, Roskam that while there is no magic cure to the crisis, “an increase in the use of data analytics allows for the possibility of preemptively identifying the next crisis region,” which would let officials better target their response.

ASH CARTER NAMED MITRE VISITING FELLOW: Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter was among a group of experts named distinguished visiting fellows by the MITRE Corporation, our colleague Connor O’Brien reports. MITRE, a federally funded research and development corporation, draws advisors on defense, cyber and health. More for Pros here.

IN ACQUISITION NEWS: Roche announced Thursday that it is acquiring New York-based Flatiron Health for $1.9 billion and will use the startup’s cancer-focused software and analytics tools to improve its cancer treatment discovery--an “important step in our personalized healthcare strategy,” said CEO Daniel O’Day. Flatiron Health has worked with industry and government in developing new regulatory approaches for using real-world evidence in drug approvals, according to the Roche news release. The two companies have been working together since Roche bought 12.6 percent of Flatiron’s shares two years ago. Basel-based Roche has 94,000 employees.

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