VA likely can’t debut EHR until fall

With help from Mohana Ravindranath (@ravindranize)

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Quick Fix

— VA likely can’t debut EHR until fall: We’re hearing that a coronavirus hotspot in Spokane will likely prevent the VA from going live on its EHR until autumn.

— Increasing scrutiny of bombshell HCQ study: The Lancet issued an “expression of concern” on the hydroxychloroquine study, the latest in a trend of skepticism directed at the firm that provided the data.

— Will the protests lead to second wave of Covid-19?: Public health experts are worried that the spreading protests against police brutality will lead to a resurgence in coronavirus infections, in particular due to difficulty with contact tracing.

And more. But first, the jump.

eHealth tweet of the day: Shira Stein @shiramstein “The greatest irony is being a health policy reporter and having a doctor’s office call me and leave protected health information on my voicemail for another patient.”

WEDNESDAY: Hope everyone’s staying safe. Any tips? Share with [email protected]. Discuss socially at @dariustahir, @ravindranize, @POLITICOPro and @Morning_eHealth.


Driving the Day

VA LIKELY CAN’T DEBUT EHR UNTIL FALL — VA’s Cerner project likely won’t be available for use until fall at the earliest, two congressional sources tell us. A third source close to the situation said VA officials haven’t made a firm decision on relaunching the project as the department continues to prioritize containing the coronavirus pandemic.

A VA spokesperson said the department had no scheduling announcements to make.

It would be latest shift in schedule for the $16 billion project that’s been beset by delays this year. In April, department secretary Robert Wilkie said in a letter to Congress that the pandemic would “pause” progress to a July target in the Pacific Northwest.

Now, the pandemic is likely to further push back the schedule — possibly even to 2021. Spokane, Wash., the test bed for the VA’s EHR modernization project, has suffered a new hotspot at a local veterans home. That pushed new patients into the medical center, which will likely pose delays to the project.

While some aspects of the EHR implementation must be done in-person, the developers have been making progress in other fronts: an online prescription refill feature, originally intended to be non-functional during the initial go-live wave, will now be available from the beginning.

— Cerner gets new CTO: In other news for the Kansas City developer: Cerner will be welcoming Jerome Labat as its new Chief Technology Officer. Labat has previously worked for firms like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle.

INCREASING SCRUTINY OF BOMBSHELL HCQ STUDY — A registry company behind a bombshell study questioning the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus is under increasing scrutiny, as two prestigious journals issued “expressions of concern” for the research, and the data the firm provided.

The Lancet, which published the study on May 22, on Tuesday issued an “expression of concern” — a step taken when multiple issues have arisen after publication that need to be addressed by a study’s authors. The journal’s editors also called for randomized controlled trials of hydroxychloroquine, which has been championed by President Donald Trump despite a lack of evidence that it helps Covid-19 patients.

Multiple scientists have raised numerous concerns about the study’s quality, ranging from the lack of ethics consent to inadequate adjustment for confounding factors that could change its findings. Surgisphere says it’s already corrected some of the problems in the study, and has commissioned an independent audit for the data.

PROTESTS LEAD TO A SECOND WAVE? — Public health officials are worried that the nationwide protests against police brutality will lead to a resurgence of coronavirus infections, our colleagues Alice Miranda Ollstein, Brianna Ehley, Dan Goldberg and David Lim report. Large gatherings of people — particularly if they’re arrested and confined to jail — increase risks of becoming infected. Also of note: The prominence of police activity will erode public trust and make demonstrators wary of contact tracing.

“If people have been protesting, they might not want to share with the health department where they were, especially if there were incidents in that area,” Jeffrey Klausner, a professor at UCLA’s public health school and a former health official for San Francisco, said. “There’s a brick wall [preventing information sharing] between health departments and any criminal justice efforts, but people don’t know that, so they may be reluctant to answer their phone and be completely forthcoming about their behaviors and movements.”

EXPOSURE NOTIFICATION APPS USHER IN NEW PRIVACY BILL — Speaking of privacy and contact tracing, Congress is on the beat for contact-tracing apps. On Tuesday, a bipartisan group led by Senate Commerce ranking Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a bill to require that public health agencies be involved before notifications can go out, our Tech colleague John Hendel reports.

The Exposure Notification Privacy Act would also require that consumers be able to give consent, opt out whenever they like, and delete their own data. “This bill defends privacy when someone voluntarily joins with others to stop the spread of Covid-19,” Cassidy said.

NATO TO CONDEMN CYBERATTACKS AGAINST HOSPITALS — NATO countries are set to jointly condemn cyberattacks on health care institutions on Wednesday, our Europe colleague Laurens Cerulus reports, citing two diplomats involved in the discussions about an upcoming statement. The coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by stepped-up attacks against hospitals and health care institutions.

CMS RELEASES NURSING HOME DATA — Nearly 26,000 nursing home residents have died due to the coronavirus, our colleague Rachel Roubein reports. That data released by federal health officials represents the first official tally of such fatalities nationwide

About 80 percent of the country’s nursing homes have sent data on Covid-19 cases and deaths to the CDC under a requirement the Trump administration imposed last month.

MORE SUPPORT FOR CMS’ TELEHEALTH POLICIES — Federal Trade Commission staff supports CMS’ temporary telehealth policies during the national emergency but suggests removing any remaining barriers to access, says a new comment letter filed with the agency. CMS should also consider whether some of these temporary telehealth policies should remain permanent.

Making telehealth easier to access “could potentially enhance competition, improve access and quality, and decrease health care costs in both the public and private sectors,” the letter reads.

WHAT THE PANDEMIC MEANS FOR HEALTH CARE PE — A new survey from Healthcare Growth Partners finds that investors expect the pandemic to have a pretty neutral impact on valuations, though they’re slightly more bullish about health IT.

Within health IT, there’s generally less interest in EHR and clinical documentation technology and revenue cycle management products. And there’s more interest in telemedicine, remote care, and direct-to-patient services. Investors likely “expect that sales of new technologies to hospitals will be challenged,” says the post.

What We're Reading

Health Affairs talks about how the shift to telehealth impacts community health centers.

A New England Journal of Medicine article on sharing research data and biospecimens.

And Kaiser Health News reports on how Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s championing of precision health has coincided with a surge in pharma donations.