It is outrageous how much fun stuff there is to learn at Adaptive. Lots of it is just brand new (thank you Adaptive scientists for putting up with me at Journal Club!). But my most exciting moments come when I find that ideas I’ve used for years take on awesome new depth and relevance in the context of immunology. Take edit distance. MORE

Whenever software friends visit Adaptive , I make a point of showing them a multichannel pipette. It’s actually a pretty cool piece of technology, but from a design perspective it just feels wrong. Like, if one pipette is good, then a ton of them must be even better, right? Maybe not. At some point, incrementing old solutions isn’t enough. MORE

21st Century Cures headed for Thursday vote MORE

New CMS rule boosts telehealth MORE

I recently decided to stop participating in the ONC “Architecture, Services and APIs” workgroup. I have an incredible amount of respect for the people running the group, but I also believe that the momentum at ONC right now is just wrong. My plan was to just go quietly into the night, but looking through the recently-released Meaningful Use 3 requirements convinced me that I really ought to put this out there. MORE

In this fast-paced era of modern life and stressful work culture, there has been a steady rise in the number of lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, etc. This has put a lot of pressure on the healthcare infrastructure and services as it is becoming increasingly difficult to cater to the needs of the ever-growing demand side. To bridge this gap, innovative mobile technology stands a good chance in coming to the rescue of this overburdened sector. MORE

UPDATE: NIST published their NIST IR 8053 , October 2015. This is an excellent, well written, text. I would recommend it as reading material for anyone wanting to understand the overall De-Identification space. It gets only slightly deep into technical concepts (like HIPAA Privacy Rule; k-anonymity; differential privacy; re-identification), just enough to encourage you to go to the references. I failed to get my comments in, but I am happy with the result. MORE

SXSW Pediatric Health Pitch & TMC Think Tank “There are so many ideas coming at you.” Focus on portals Telehealth — “It will give us the ability to spread our wings further.” The “gotcha” with having a blank slate Health IT today — “Despite the amount of work, it’s still a lot of fun.” If you ask Myra Davis, there’s a big component many leaders are missing when it comes to leveraging data: education. MORE

Data warehouse — “There are a lot of capabilities we haven’t fully utilized.” Self-service with advanced analytics Prioritization — “Everyone’s always balancing.” Huge opportunity” for telemedicine Epic Care Everywhere vs state HIE — “It’s materially different on what’s being exchanged.” Being “the lead person” at WVU Stepping in as the new CIO is never easy, particularly if you’re filling the shoes of a longtime leader who ushered the organization into the digital era. MORE

Body: Please fill out the below form to download our Whitepaper, Ten Critical Steps for a Successful Telemedicine Program. Start. Complete. First Name *. Last Name *. Email Address *. Phone Number. Company Name MORE

There is much talk on the blogs about the USA government trepidation around Health Information Exchange interoperability. Some samples: Geek Doctor -- Interoperability and the Trough of Disillusionment Motorcycle Guy -- Who should be in charge of developing HealthIT Standards for the US I live in Wisconsin, and it seems I live in one of the few areas where Health Information Exchange is alive and well. See below an interesting monthly report I get from the Wisconsin HIE. MORE

The telehealth market has enjoyed an upward rise over the last couple of years. After signing on a number of payers, employers, and retailers, telehealth vendors have even begun gaining traction with their direct to consumer (DTC) efforts. Now, this burgeoning industry is turning their sights squarely on the provider market. MORE

After months of political wrangling, North Carolina legislators succeeded in passing a bill that would promote diabetes screening for infants and toddlers, and parent education about the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. The legislation, known as Reegan’s Rule, stalled for months, and it took some last-minute heroics on the part of its sponsors for it to pass. It is the first diabetes screening law of of its kind in the nation. MORE

It’s not every day that health-related news from Google gets buried, but recent headlines about the Supreme Court upholding a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and the nation’s largest insurers playing matchmaker seem to have relegated Google’s planned health-tracking wristband to the proverbial back page of the Internet. Google’s device, which it hopes to test later this summer, will track pulse, heart rate, skin temperature, and even environmental factors such as exterior noise levels. MORE

The healthcare industry is rapidly growing: With innovations in medical tools and new successful procedures performed annually, there is no shortage of change. Just as vital to the industry are solutions that help manage the information of the millions of patients who visit each year. To keep up with the demand and to facilitate the process, adjusting healthcare information management practices is a necessity. Here are three trends that are being implemented. Electronic Health Records. MORE

The Lay of the Land. Telemedicine is a hot topic in healthcare, with consumers more willing than ever to see a doctor remotely. In a national study of over 2,000 consumers , 64% said they would be willing to have a telehealth visit with their doctor via video. The Alliance for Connected Care concludes that a telehealth visit for acute care represents $126 in savings over an in-person visit. Furthermore, research on telemedicine also shows a pattern of positive outcomes for patients. MORE

A few months before I graduated college, I was diagnosed with ADHD, Generalized Anxiety, and OCD. Now that I’m taking medicine for ADHD, which also helps with my anxiety, I realize the impact my mental health has on my diabetes. When I notice triggers that affect both, I try to work on them. Here are 7 things I’d love for other people to keep in mind regarding diabetes and mental health, based on my experience: 1. Please let me explain why I don’t love my CGM. It’s complicated. MORE

The nice folks at Ingenious Med reached out to get my opinion on the recent ICD-10 transition. They summarized my thoughts in a recent post on their blog. Their questions reminded me of similar ones I’ve been recently asked so I thought I’d elaborate them here. Q: How will the additional specificity required by ICD-10 pose a challenge for clinicians and the way that they currently track patient information? MORE

As I travel the country speaking at conferences, I’ve had dozens of conversations with smart people who believe there’s a growing consensus that “patient-driven” (or consumer-driven or member-driven) healthcare spending has arrived. Consumer-driven insurance exchanges, high deductible insurance plans and copays are creating more patient payment responsibilities than ever before. MORE

Some medical professionals have preconceived notions about practicing medicine online, but before making a decision it’s important to listen to those who have actually participated in telehealth. All physicians who practice on American Well’s platform receive extensive training prior to actually seeing patients, including training about technology, clinical protocols and emergency situations. MORE

If you read our post “ Healthcare Top 5 Trends ,” you know know that healthcare trends from specialty pharmacy to accreditation have been gaining traction this year. We have been keeping an eye on three additional healthcare trends that we expect to hugely impact the healthcare industry through the end of the year and continuing on to 2016. From ICD-10 to telehealth, let’s explore these important trends and what they mean for healthcare! MORE

By Matt Patterson, MD - It is no secret that health systems are under intense pressure to deliver better outcomes at lower costs, and standardizing acute care workflow will only carry providers so far. Truly moving the needle on cost and outcomes will require a fundamental redesign in care delivery; otherwise, health systems may well find themselves left out. The post Today’s Pressure Breeds Tomorrow’s Solutions appeared first on HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News. MORE

By Nancy Pratt - We are currently at a crossroads in the healthcare industry. Executives are working overtime to try to figure out how to connect and integrate data to best support clinical practice and patient care management. With health systems concerned about balancing both needs, they now need to figure out how to leverage data to get the best value out of their investment. The post Navigating the Sea of Innovation appeared first on HITECH Answers: Meaningful Use, EHR, HIPAA News. MORE

ONC Committee structure shuffle MORE

Did you know 57% of physicians are willing to see patients online? American Well recently released our Telehealth Index: 2015 Physician Survey eBook , which shares insight into the key factors about telehealth identified by the survey as impor. tant to physicians. In conjunction with the release of our eBook, we held a webinar that included a Q&A session with Dr. Lauralee Yalden, an Online Care Group (OCG) doctor. Online Care Group is the national telehealth network of. MORE

Michael J. Fox once said this about living with Parkinson’s disease: “I often say now I don’t have any choice whether or not I have Parkinson’s, but surrounding that non-choice is a million other choices that I can make.”. As someone who lives with Type 1, I argue that you can say the same about living with Type 1. You don’t have a choice whether or not you have Type 1 diabetes, but you can make “a million other choices” of how you will live with it. MORE