Posts Tagged ‘eHealth’
Measuring the benefits of online health management
March 6, 2007
A new study done by Illumina for Cisco reports that 33% of Americans say that the Internet has changed the way they manage their healthcare. 62% report using online health tools and 56% reported an improvement in their health management due to personal technology. 45% want to be able to email their doctors, and a third want to access lab results and make appointments. However, few have the option to do so now.
Does this imply a greater demand for patient portals, PHRs and online tools than previous studies? Of this group studied, about a third either had a serious chronic condition themselves or have a family member who does. Half considered themselves informed healthcare consumers.
I don’t think this is a skewed sample of America. More people are online for themselves or family members than every. Providers and hospitals should work to meet this demand for online interaction.
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Report from HIMSS – eHealth Business Portal
February 27, 2007
At the eHealth Special Interest Group which I chair, one discussion point came up yesterday – the lack of one place to go to view all or even most eHealth products. This is certainly true in the PHR space although AHIMA has created a patient-centric listing of available tools at www.MyPHR.org. The eHealth Developers Summit has provided a venue for some of these entrepreneurs. With many small companies doing the innovation in this field, it would make sense to have a clearinghouse for new products or even products under development. If anyone knows of of such a resource, please comment.
Share this:Just Got Published
February 20, 2007
In a project during flu season, I worked with our Infection Control Practitioners on this: “Novel use of the intranet to document health care personnel participation in a mandatory influenza vaccination reporting program” published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control. With coauthors including our Chief Nursing Officer and one of our Infectious Disease physicians, this study shows how to measure if not encourage hospital employees to get a flu shot. In spite of some difficulties in analyzing the data, 89% of the health system employees participated in the Intranet questionnaire about their decision on the vaccine.
Share this:3rd International Conference on Communities and Technologies Conference
February 19, 2007
This conference on June 28-30, 2007 in Lansing, Michigan, has posted a call for abstracts. The workshops will focus on communication between providers and patients including recent research as well as looking forward to future uses of communication in healthcare. Abstracts are due March 30. Communication themes are broadly defined which will stimulate discussion on current and future technologies. While not explicitly citing Web 2.0, it certainly sounds like they are interested in online communities including such topics as community informatics and communityware.
Share this:Does the Silicon First-Mover Status apply to Healthcare IT?
February 11, 2007
The New York Times reports today on “When it comes to Innovation, Geography is Destiny“, citing examples like Apple’s iPod and Google Seach as examples of technology developed elsewhere but became successful in Silicon Valley. The primary reason – face-to-face meetings with developers, entrepreneurs and venture firms. But is this true for Healthcare IT. Some new Web 2.0 initiatives have emerged from that zip code, most notably, Revolution Health and Healthline.com. And Google is looking at the health care market. But to date, the majority of EMRs and other eHealth tools to date have been developed throughout the US and internationally. Perhaps the next stage of innovation in Health IT will emerge out of Web 2.0 startups in Mountain View or from existing firms there.
Share this:Why aren’t more Docs Web MDs?
February 9, 2007
In an article in USA Today, this is stated as a fact but primarily based on the 2005 Harris Interactive poll. The interviewees for the article tend to confirm a low adoption rate for email communication with patients but debunk the fears that privacy will be compromised and that physicians will be overwhelmed with emails.
- first, there needs to be updated survey data on physician adoption of email communication. More large group practices and small are providing this service as a way to distinguish their practice in a competitive market.
- Second, privacy can be protected if the email is secure. There a plenty of services that now provide secure portals.
- Third, managing patient emails depends on incentives – for Kaiser, an HMO, patient emails potentially reduce visits which make the physician’s schedule lighter and reduces cost for the HMO. For non-HMO physicians, the incentives is more visits rather than non-reimbursed emails. Once the right incentives are in place, the adoption rates will catch on since the technology is solid and available if implemented right.
Cleveland Clinic Launches Teleconsultations
February 7, 2007
Reported in Crain’s Cleveland Business, the Cleveland Clinic will offer Virtual Visits through Internet enabled exam rooms to provide expert consultations anywhere in the world. The technology was demonstrated at Arab Health, a conference in Dubai last week. The Clinic is also recruiting physicians and others for a new hospital in Abu Dhabi. This is one of many international ventures by major US medical centers. Ehealth technology will drive the best offerings from major centers to a global market.
Share this:eHealth Conference in Montreal in May 2007
January 30, 2007
This conference, sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Health Information is currently accepting abstracts for presentations. Topics include EHR, Privacy, Security, Ethical & Legal Considerations, E-nabled Access, Human Factors, Innovation and Sustainability.
I have not seen many conferences which address EHRs also discuss the issue of sustainability. Human factors, such as, usability, is also a plus.
Share this:Consumer Directed Health Care Conference – April 2007
January 29, 2007
CDHCC has posted information about their Spring 2007 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are 7 tracks: medical wellness, achieving a healthy company, convenient care, healthcare blogging, banking strategies, small to midsize employers, consumer health world venture forum. In the blogging track, chaired by Dmitriy Kruglyak, The Medical Blog Network/Trusted.MD, some familiar names will be presenting: Matthew Holt of The Healthcare Blog, Tom Eng of Healia search, and Ves Dimov from Clinical Cases blog. Consumer Health World also has a blog with a variety of contributors.
Looks like a fascinating list of cutting edge topics and speakers.
Share this:HIMSS 2007 Activities
January 27, 2007
HIMSS 2007 is coming up in a month. I have three main activities there:
- an eSession on Web 2.0: Beyond Open Source – As an emerging technology, Web 2.0, which includes blogs, podcasts and other tools, has the advantage of ease of implementation and ease of use. Sound implementation strategies will be discussed. (with Jack Mason of IBM HealthNex)
- a Roundtable – Online Patient Interaction: The Growing Use of Patient Portals – This roundtable discussion session will focus on the features and functions of the growing number of patient-centered portals offered by
healthcare provider and payor organizations. With Deborah Kohn of Dak Systems Consulting - the eHealth Special Interest Group which I chair
Looks like it will be an interesting time especially in the city rising from the ashes.
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