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The basic topic of this case is a missed diagnosis. The patient's back pain was attributed just to the accident rather than the possibility of new mets. From the first visit, imaging should have been done to fully work-up the patient and rule out any fractures, malignancies, etc. The patient's cancer history was not taken into consideration, and a key learning point is to always assess the whole patient, including their history. A comprehensive assessment regarding the patient's past medical history should have been obtained at the initial presentation. It is even more alarming that when the patient returned with consistent pain no imaging was done a that time either. It is also concerning that the provider was so quick to prescribe pain medication without assessing for a cause of pain.

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The basic topic of this case is the lack of interoperability. The main issue is that there is no documentation of the lab work that was done in the primary care office. His sodium went from 140 to 121 in six months. The key learning points are that we need to be able to compare lab work and tests that have been done. I think chest xray should have been ordered when she first presented complaining of shortness of breath. I would ensure the lab work was recorded and commented on, and the appropriate follow-up care was provided. It is important to review a patient's history and ask them about when they have recently received care. This allows the provider to be able to know to request records if the provider does not use the same network.

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I thought this video was quite important and relevant - especially in today's growing world of technology and telehealth. Check it out!

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health it "health it" hit ehr medical hhs standards certification interoperability emr phr

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Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT

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Welcome to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)'s YouTube channel. ONC is dedicated to raising awareness and providing resources to promote widespread adoption of health information technology (health IT) as it's helping providers more effectively manage patient care.

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The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals' medical records and other individually identifiable health information (collectively defined as "protected health information") and applies to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically. The Rule requires appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures that may be made of such information without an individual's authorization. The Rule also gives individuals rights over their protected health information, including rights to examine and obtain a copy of their health records, to direct a covered entity to transmit to a third party an electronic copy of their protected health information in an electronic health record, and to request corrections.

The Privacy Rule is located at 45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and E of Part 164.

Click here to view the combined regulation text of all HIPAA Administrative Simplification Regulations found at 45 CFR 160, 162, and 164.

Privacy Rule History

March 10, 2021 - Extension of Comment Period for Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support, and Remove Barriers to, Coordinated Care and Individual Engagement - Proposed Rule

January 21, 2021 - Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Empower Patients, Improve Coordinated Care, and Reduce Regulatory Burdens - Proposed Rule

December 14, 2018 - Modifying the HIPAA Rules to Improve Coordinated Care - Request for Information

January 6, 2016 - HIPAA Privacy Rule and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) - Final Rule

February 6, 2014 - Patients' Access to Test Reports Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) Program - Final Rule

January 7, 2014 - HIPAA Privacy Rule and NICS - Proposed Rule

April 23, 2013 - HIPAA Privacy Rule and NICS - Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

January 25, 2013 - Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and Other Modifications - Final Rule (The "Omnibus HIPAA Final Rule")

September 14, 2011 - Patients' Access to Test Reports Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule and CLIA Program - Proposed Rule

May 31, 2011 - HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the HITECH Act - Proposed Rule

July 14, 2010 - Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules under the HITECH Act - Proposed Rule

May 3, 2010 - HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the HITECH Act - Request for Information

October 7, 2009 - HIPAA Privacy Rule; Modifications Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act - Proposed Rule

August 14, 2002 - Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule - Final Rule (PDF)

March 27, 2002 - Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule - Proposed Rule (PDF)

February 28, 2001 - Request for Comments on December 28, 2000, Final HIPAA Privacy Rule (PDF)

February 26, 2001 - Correction of Effective and Compliance Dates of the Final HIPAA Privacy Rule (PDF)

December 29, 2000 - Technical Corrections to the Final HIPAA Privacy Rule (PDF)

December 28, 2000 - HIPAA Privacy Rule - Final Rule (PDF)

November 3, 1999 - HIPAA Privacy Rule - Proposed Rule (PDF)

Other Privacy Rule Notices

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My hospital follows all of the HIPAA regulations. Only healthcare professionals that are providing care to the patients are allowed access to their healthcare information. We host interdisciplinary rounds every morning at 10 am at the back nurses station, and in order to prevent any HIPAA breaches, all patients rooms are closed during this time. This allows the team to discuss the case without allowing anyone to hear information that is not theirs. We also make sure that all workstations are logged off of and no patient information is displayed. Before providing any family members who call with any information, we have to check with the patient first if it is okay to share information.

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Data analytics can be used many ways in healthcare including:
-lower readmission rates
-prevent medication errors
-reduce duplicate testing
-better identify at-risk populations

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Check out this article I found regarding the use of data analytics in healthcare!

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Check out this article I found regarding the use of data analytics in healthcare!

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In order to help convince stakeholders to make a decision I favor, it is important to gain their trust and have them be confident regarding what is being shared. Story telling with the data is very powerful. Identifying the audience and their concerns is a good step. It is important to have real-time data that is accurate. It is important to demonstrate what the risk would be of them not making the decision, and emphasize the benefits they can receive. Connecting with the audience in an emotional way can also always be a good way to help convince the stakeholders.

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In healthcare, infographics are used in order to present information in a fun, quick way. They help readers learn information in an efficient, aesthetic way. They are useful for a variety of reasons, including warning signs for diseases, signs and symptoms presentations, and screening tools.

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Data visualization can be very powerful in order to improve patient engagement. It provides a way to present the large, overwhelming amount of data in a way that tells a story and can relate with the audience. It allows providers to visually see the data, and they can predict trends and outcomes. Having this information allows providers to inform their patients better and help them engage in the decision making process. This helps enhance the decision making process, and allows the patient to feel they can understand the whole picture better. This ultimately leads to better patient outcomes, and the patient feeling more empowered and involved in their care.

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Telehealth was originally used in order to provide access to care to patients in rural areas who did not have as many options regarding healthcare. As a result of the pandemic, telehealth uses have been expanded upon. Some pros of telehealth include more access to care, limited exposure to sickness, and more flexibility in care. One main con of telehealth is the limited ability to conduct a physical examination, and potentially missing out on critical diagnoses.

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Gamification is the use of game-like aspects being used in non-game contexts. It is being used in healthcare in order to improve patient engagement and motivation. It can also be utilized in order to improve patient education of disease processes and promoting healthy behaviors.

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It is important to note that fatigue can be in the form of telemetry monitors, bed alarms, call lights, but also in the form of alerts in the medical records.

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Personal health record (PHR) is different from an electronic health record (EHR) due to the fact that it is managed by the patient. EHRs are managed by the provider. Today, it is common to link them in order to maximize patient health information.

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What's the Difference?

Whereas an electronic health record (EHR) is a computer record that originates with and is controlled by doctors, a personal health record (PHR) can be generated by physicians, patients, hospitals, pharmacies, and other sources but is controlled by the patient.

Google and Microsoft are now promoting Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault, respectively, to hospitals and individuals. These services house PHRs on secure networks. Among Microsoft's early partners is Kaiser Permanente's integrated managed care organization. Google's links include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston; the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio; the pharmacy chains CVS Caremark and Walgreens; and Medco, a prescription-drug benefit manager.

"Personal health records can be either linked to electronic health records or stand alone, but linking the two is by far the most useful approach," says HSPH's David Bates. "It's a lot to ask a patient to keep track of all their medical data."

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Fall 2008 ] What's the Difference? Whereas an electronic health record (EHR) is a computer record that originates with and is controlled by doctors, a personal health record (PHR) can be ge...

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I think patients should have their own health record. In order to help link the EHR and personal health records, I will work with the company and help our patients become familiar with the new software. I think demonstration projects are a great way of educating patients, especially when they are interactive and the patients have the opportunity to ask questions. I will hold educational Q&A sessions with the patients and the representative from the software companies that show patients how to access their new record and how to upload information. I think it is important to ask patients on their visits to the clinic if they are having any difficulties utilizing the new platform. Delegating super users of the new linked records is always a good idea to help assist with rolling out the program.

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I have faced alert fatigue when using Epic and seeing alerts regarding a patient's home medication reconciliation. At my hospital, med recs are supposed to be done within 24 hours of admission. If they aren't done, they will pop up with a BPA (best practice advisory) telling you that the med rec has not been done. The two options are to snooze for 6 hours or revise immediately. When I'm just coming on and signing into my patient, I tend to click snooze, simply because I cannot do the med rec right at that moment. However, six hours of a snooze can sometimes lead to forgetting to review the med rec. I think one way this can be addressed is by having an hour or two snooze option so the RN will be reminded at a more appropriate time in their shift.

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Gamification applies elements of game playing to other areas of activity to improve engagement within a service or product. It involves collecting data from users that can be helpful to improve the gamification design. Data included can include behavior, preferences, and feedback. I think for the most this can be helpful, but with any online data collection there is always the risk regarding data security. It can provide insight as to why people are motivated to participate in certain programs, but it may not always be applicable to certain populations.

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I decided to play Mission 2 Nanobots. This game has the player act as a robot that is battling cancer cells in the human body. The mission is to destroy a growing tumor before it enters the blood stream. The player monitors the patient's health and reports back to the "Doctor West." As an oncology nurse, I think this is awesome! I work in adult oncology, but I think this game would be even more appropriate and useful for the pediatric oncology population. This can help patients understand the basis of the idea of their disease. The ability of having it on a cell phone also makes it accessible, and patients can even play from their bedside.

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I think telehealth is a good addition to practice, but it cannot replace traditional medicine. There are some benefits, such as patient interviewing and sick calls. However, solid, thorough physical examinations simply cannot be done over the phone or video call. As a patient, I think I may be biased since I have a medical background and know what I might be looking for and need to be assessed. I think there may be limitations for the general public who may not have as much knowledge regarding health care and signs/symptoms that may be worrisome. I do not think telehealth should replace traditional healthcare visits, but can be integrated into care as an additional tool.

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The Apples and Oranges of HIE in Massachusetts

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Pros and Cons of Electronic Health Records (Mental Health EHR)

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1. The right information (ex: evidence based practice)
2. To the right people (ex: care team, including the patient)
3. Through the right channels (ex: EHRs)
4. In the right intervention format (ex: order sets, alerts)
5. At the right points in the workflow (ex: for decision making or policy change)

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The CDC defines clinical decision support (CDS) as "a key process for enhancing health-related decisions and actions with pertinent, organized clinical knowledge and patient information to improve health and healthcare delivery."

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Clinical decision support (CDS) is a key process for enhancing health-related decisions and actions with pertinent, organized clinical knowledge and patient information to improve health and healthcare delivery. ¹ CDS tools provide clinicians, staff, patients, and others on the continuum of care with knowledge and patient-specific information in the right place and format, and at the right time to help enhance and improve health and healthcare outcomes.

Types of CDS

CDS can appear in a variety of formats, including:

Medication alerts

Best practice notifications

Health maintenance reminders

Order sets

Documentation templates

Reference information

The Five "Rights" of CDS¹

The five rights concept is a best practice framework. To be most beneficial, CDS must provide ²:

1. The right information (e.g., evidence-based guidance)

2. To the right people (i.e., clinical care team-including the patient)

3. Through the right channels (e.g., electronic health records, patient portal, other means)

4. In the right intervention format (e.g., prompts, order sets, alerts)

5. At the right points in the workflow (i.e., for decision-making or action)

Passive Prompts vs. Clinical Alerts

Passive prompts can provide situational awareness to the clinician without interrupting the workflow. Passive prompts visually provide CDS to a clinician with a subtle visual cue such as a small flag, bolded exclamation point, or highlighted text.

Clinical alerts can be interruptive and should be used sparingly. Clinical alerts visually pop up on the screen immediately to alert the clinician that information must be reviewed before completing a patient appointment.
1. Osheroff J, Teich J, Levick D, Saldana L, Velasco F, Sittig D, Rogers K, Jenders R. Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer's Guide, Second Edition. Boca Raton, FL.: HIMSS Publishing; 2012 2. Osheroff J, Teich J, Levick D, Saldana L, Velasco F, Sittig D, Rogers K, Jenders R. Improving Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: An Implementer's Guide, Second Edition. Boca Raton, FL.: HIMSS Publishing; 2012 3. Clinical Decision Support: More Than Just 'Alerts' Tipsheet. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/EHRincentiveprograms/downloads/clinicaldecisionsupport_tipsheet-.pdf

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Clinical decision support (CDS) is a key process for enhancing health-related decisions and actions with pertinent, organized clinical knowledge and patient information to improve health and healthcare delivery. 1 CDS tools provide clinicians, staff, patients, and others on the continuum of care with knowledge and patient-specific information in the right place and format, and at the right time to help enhance and improve health and healthcare outcomes.

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I think having access to medical records is a huge aspect of health care. I believe that patients should have access to their own health information. At my hospital, patients have access to everything in their record, even including their nursing shift notes. The ability to view nursing notes is relatively new, and something people had to get adjusted to. We do have to be a little more careful with our wording in notes due to patients having access to them, but I still think its overall a good thing. I do, however, think it can be a little overwhelming when patients view their records and ask questions about test results before the provider even reviews them with the patient. As a patient and a family member, I like having access to mine and my family's medical records because it allows me to view what is truly going on.

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Meaningful Use of an EHR: What Meaningful Use Is & How It Can Save You Money

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Meaningful use outlines the United States government standards for electronic health records that outline how patient data should be exchanged. It includes healthcare providers, insurers, and patients. The goals are to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities. However, there can be some drawbacks for meaningful use, such as providers spending more and more time on EHRs, and getting fined if they do not meet the regulations.

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I think that the implementation of EHRs into practice can be helpful, but I don't think the concept of meaningful use is entirely helpful. The previous video made a good point - dementia patients or bed bound patients simply cannot utilize the portals the way they are meant to be used. I don't think providers should be penalized as there cannot be a "one size fits all" application to this. There should be further guidelines and education regarding alternative options. I don't like the idea that it has gone from a rewarding idea to a penalizing one. Especially in today's age where healthcare providers are already so stressed and burnt out they should not be facing fines and penalizations regarding meaningful use.

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The only aspect I have any experience with regarding meaningful use is the use of EHRs, as both a patient and a nurse. My primary care provider uses the portal and I have been encouraged to make appointments on there rather than calling the office. I think this can be beneficial for those who have good understanding of technology, but may be less beneficial for the older patients who may not be as familiar with how to use it. In practice or as a patient I have not heard about any of the financial aspects of meaningful use.

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I think datasets can be a good way to generate new knowledge regarding various topics. I looked at a data set regarding mental health care in the last four weeks from Data.gov. Once I located the website, it was pretty easy to find the data. I first searched reliable data set databases in healthcare, found data.gov, and then found a topic that interested me. The purpose of the dataset was to monitor recent changes in mental health care as a result of the pandemic. The National Center for Health Statistics and the Census Bureau partnered to collect the data via a 20-minute online survey called the Household Pulse Survey.  The aim of the researchers was to "rapidly respond and provide relevant information about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States."

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Mental Health Care - Household Pulse Survey - COVID-19

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To rapidly monitor recent changes in mental health care, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) partnered with the Census Bureau on an experimental data system called the Household Pulse Survey. This 20-minute online survey was designed to complement the ability of the federal statistical…

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Massachusetts does have a health information exchange, known as the Mass HIway. It is used for all healthcare systems in MA, regardless of location, affiliation, or technological differences. It is aimed to be cost-effective, and improve care coordination, quality of care, patient satisfaction, and public health reporting. It includes a direct messaging system to help safely and securely share information. It utilizes the Statewide Event Notification Service (ENS) to create an interoperative network among all providers in the state. Acute care hospitals, community health centers, and medium/large ambulatory care centers are required to follow the HIway connection requirement. I personally have not had an experience with this program, but was impressed to learn about it. I think it can be a great way to  help improve efficiency and continuity of care, while also preventing medication errors and duplicate testing.

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The Mass HIway offers a range of services designed to assist Massachusetts care providers with adopting and using Health Information Exchange (HIE) to improve care coordination and care quality. The services support the utilization of HIE, Query HIE, Event Notification Services (ENS), and Public Health Reporting. Click on the options below to review the available services. To initiate personalized support provided by our HIway Account Managers, click here.

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The Mass HIway offers a range of services designed to assist Massachusetts care providers with adopting and using Health Information Exchange (HIE) to improve care coordination and care quality. The services support the utilization of HIE, Query HIE, Event Notification Services (ENS), and Public Health Reporting.

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Health information exchange (HIE) allows both healthcare providers and patients to securely access and share a patient's healthcare information electronically.

Benefits of HIE include:
-avoiding readmissions
-avoiding medication errors
-improving diagnosing
-avoiding duplicate testing

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This article outlines some of the major benefits of Big Data in healthcare. The concept of "big data" in healthcare is aimed towards improving patient care and outcomes, while also decreasing cost. Overall, I think big data is a great addition to the healthcare world. EHRs and patient portals are awesome and crucial aspects of increasing health literacy. Telemedicine has also increased astronomically as a result of the pandemic, which can be beneficial in minor things but limiting in some cases as well. Big data hopes to be able to not only gather health information, but analyze it in a predictive manner, hopefully even preventing deaths, illnesses, and epidemics. The idea of big data sounds great in theory, but can also be a little overwhelming.I'm interested to learn more about the security of big data and how we can feel safe with the concept. In order to fully be able to treat patients appropriately, big data will need full, complete access to people's health records - therefore resulting in a lack of privacy. One article I found stated that although there are laws regarding privacy of medical records, some of those laws don't cover big data. I'm also interested regarding how big data will affect the role of healthcare professionals - will it decrease the need? Will AI take the place of some of the roles of providers? Overall, I think big data has the potential to be great, but like most things, there are drawbacks.

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Read this article to know more about the main use cases of big data healthcare use cases. Do you get all the benefits from that data? Its correct use can improve dozens of processes in your institution.

Fiscal concerns are one of the key factors driving the US healthcare system reform. In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to enhance the health care system as a whole by making it more efficient, simpler, and less costly. President Obama then signed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) into law in 2009 to stimulate the adoption of electronic health records (EHR). Under these laws, healthcare providers are also shifting from fee-for-service payments to value-based, data-driven incentives. This move is aimed at improving patient care and treatment outcomes, while decreasing care costs.

Why does this apply? The answer is simple. These reforms require hospitals and providers to manage healthcare data more effectively and to use state-of-the-art technology for healthcare analytics. A dazzling array of healthcare data is collected by the industry and the volume of data is growing at an exponential rate. Healthcare providers have already moved towards digitized care using EHR and EDI transactions. The number of data sources in healthcare is also growing. The Internet of Things and other technology developments fostered the growth of new data sources, such as various wearable devices and sensors, and even smartphone applications.

The volume of data being generated is also affected as imaging reports and lab tests (including genetic studies) get more and more detailed. But until recently, there was a big part of the puzzle missing - the piece that links all the data together. Big data can be a magic pill for the healthcare industry as it can gather information from disparate sources and analyze it.

Big data applications go far beyond the retroactive reporting the industry is used to and brings data management options and predictive capabilities that can benefit both care providers and patients to the table. By McKinsey's estimate, the systematic application of big data analytics to the US healthcare system could reduce industry spending by $300-$450 billion annually.

THE USE OF BIG DATA IN HEALTHCARE
The potential of big data in healthcare is clearly visible - it can predict epidemics, prevent diseases, provide medical insight, improve quality of life, and avoid preventable deaths. There are some distinct trends in the application of big data in healthcare. It is used to:

Create value-based, patient-centric care

Reduce fraud and abuse

Perform predictive analysis

Monitor patients in real-time

Today the health care system in the US is shifting toward evidence-based medicine, and this means all the clinical data must be available for analytics. To get insight into a better quality of care and care coordination, and to put patients into the treatment process, it is necessary to capture all the information about a patient and aggregate individual data sets into big-data algorithms. Big data healthcare analytic platforms can uncover trends that can help health care facilities save lives and predict problems. Connecting the dots and gaining an integrated view of the patient also reduces redundancy and expensive testing, choosing better treatment strategies, and reduces errors when prescribing drugs, eliminating unnecessary readmissions and avoiding preventable deaths.

Let us consider some big data healthcare use cases in more detail.

5 BIG DATA USE CASES IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
There are many use cases for big data in the healthcare industry. It can help us to make improvements for financial management, different types of researches, or search for new ways of treatment.

BIG DATA AND EHRS
The most important use case for big data in health care is, of course, electronic health records (EHRs). The use of EHRs is supported by the HITECH act and governed by HIPAA rules and standards. Efficient use and analysis of EHRs can improve care coordination and reduce healthcare costs as sharing data between doctors and care providers can eliminate duplicate tests and drugs prescription. Another important aspect that can result in better-targeted therapies is predictive modeling based on data from other patients with the same condition, genetic factors, and lifestyle.

Using big data analytics based on data on real clinical encounters, treatments, and outcomes, medical professionals can spot the links between diseases and update guidelines and clinical advisory recommended treatment protocols. For example, Kaiser Permanente Health Connect system which has been implemented in the hospitals of this health care provider, allowed them to decrease mortality rates from heart attacks (by 24 percent), strokes, cancer, and sepsis through the use of EHR analytics data.

REAL-TIME ALERTS
Real-time alerts are an important use case of big data analytics in healthcare. These alerts can effectively prevent hospital infections which normally affect 1 in every 20 patients in the US. For example, the tandem of IBM and OhioHealth using big data analytics involved using a network of IBM wireless sensors and real-time big data analytics measuring hand washing practices in the hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The sensors were installed at handwashing stations in the hospital and transmitted data about the use of each station through a wireless mesh network. Then the data was matched to hospital personnel entering and leaving patient rooms. The cloud technology was used to store and analyze data in real-time to generate reports and compliance studies. The initiative is to provide OhioHealth hospital administrators with real-time hand hygiene data that can be used to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

According to IBM the pilot project "has achieved more than 90 percent compliance with hand-washing standards - a 20 percent jump over its previous practices and well above the 50 percent national compliance level."

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
Predictive analytics is another prominent use of Big Data analytics. For example, four hospitals of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) in Paris are trialing big data and machine learning systems to forecast admission rates. The system uses the data from various internal and external sources, including hospital admissions records for 10 years, to predict the day and hour-level number of patients expected to arrive using time series analysis techniques. The expected benefits of the system are the more efficient deployment of resources and better patient outcomes.

TELEMEDICINE
Telemedicine is also a use case of Big Data in health care. The Internet of Things (IoT) provided lots of opportunities to track vitals and control treatment processes. Smartphones, wireless devices, and wearables allow delivering remote clinical services, while also fostering patient education and compliance for medication usage and specialist collaboration.

Big Data analytics provides opportunities for better initial diagnosis based on the data of other patients with similar symptoms, lab test results, genetics, and lifestyle. Predictive analytics is also used to predict acute medical events and prevent patient condition deterioration and thus prevent unnecessary ER visits. According to healthcare analytics expert Martin Kohn, M.D., mining big data in telemedicine can identify the most acutely and chronically ill patients in population health programs and provide better care while reducing costs.

Evidence-based medicine relies on Big Data now more than ever before. Traditionally, treatment decisions were based on the physician's judgment. But according to McKinsey, the shift towards evidence-based medicine involves "systematically reviewing clinical data and making treatment decisions based on the best available information." That means that big data algorithms aggregating individual data sets provide the most evidence for larger patient data sets, thus providing data for more accurate diagnosis and more efficient care. President Obama's precision medicine initiative states that genomic data can be used for the development of personalized patient treatment for a variety of diseases using the power of big data. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has already launched a patient data repository and patient portal developed in partnership with Geisinger Health System to promote genomic research use in the prevention of diseases and development of treatments and therapies.

RESEARCH FOR COST-EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS
Pharma is another sector that receives value from big data. Here big data analytics is used to research the most cost-effective drug treatments. For example, AstraZeneca and HealthCore, Inc., WellPoint's data and analytics subsidiary announced a collaborative agreement to conduct real-world studies to determine the most effective and economical treatments for some chronic illnesses and common diseases.

CONCLUSION
All this means that big data provides plenty of opportunities and benefits for the healthcare industry - from early diagnosis of illnesses to choosing the best treatment strategies developed based on clinical and genomic data. Big data initiatives can transform the health care system and it can happen soon. In Cprime, we collaborate with many organizations in the healthcare industry and help them manage their data assets with medical big data analytics. Need help with a digital healthcare solution? Contact us at learn@cprime.com.

You may also be interested in:

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Big Data in Healthcare: Current Trends and Use Cases - Cprime

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Read this article to know more about the main use cases of big data healthcare use cases. Do you get all the benefits from that data? Its correct use can improve dozens of processes in your institution. Fiscal concerns are one of the key factors driving the US healthcare system reform.

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Why is interoperability important in healthcare?

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Why is interoperability important in healthcare?

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Interoperability is so important in the hospital setting. It allows us to access patient's records from their outpatient providers in order to avoid duplicate testing, compare test results, and be more efficient in caring for our patients. There have been times when we have to wait to access records from a facility that does not use the same EHR as us and it can greatly impact and delay patient care. Especially in the craziness of how busy hospitals are right now, interoperability has never been so important!

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It's the reason why patients can send healthcare data from their Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff to their provider's electronic health record (EHR). It's how an emergency room (ER) physician can access test results from a patient's cardiologist with the click of a button. Or why a primary care physician can directly send electronic care summaries to a gastroenterologist when referring patients. It's also the driving force behind a payer's or health system's governance, risk management, and compliance ( GRC) strategy.

We're talking about healthcare interoperability-the ability of different information systems, devices, and applications to access, exchange, integrate, and cooperatively use healthcare data in a coordinated way. The goal? To provide timely and seamless access to information that can optimize health outcomes and improve patient care. There are countless examples of interoperability in healthcare, all of which are completely behind the scenes, helping providers and payers render high-quality patient care every minute of every day.

The Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) goal is to achieve nationwide healthcare interoperability by 2024. That means in just three short years, the U.S. is aiming to have a patient-centric system that can continuously improve care, public health, and science through real-time data access.

The most recent step toward healthcare interoperability is the passage of CMS' Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule that promotes seamless healthcare data exchange, enables better patient access to their medical records, and improves interoperability. This rule is an important step toward achieving true healthcare interoperability nationwide.

What is healthcare interoperability?

Think of interoperability as a universal language that disparate systems (e.g., mobile apps, third-party systems, electronic health records, and more) use to communicate. They do this by using healthcare data exchange architectures, application program interfaces, and standards. Without healthcare interoperability, healthcare providers and others wouldn't have critical information at their fingertips and data would remain siloed. Just as two people who speak different languages couldn't communicate without the help of a translator, multiple systems could not engage in data sharing without a common language.

What data is exchanged via interoperable systems?

Health information technology systems that adhere to the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI v1) standards are able to exchange a variety of information, including demographic information, vital signs, smoking status, medications, lab results, clinical notes, allergies and intolerances, and much more. The list is growing as standards for data sharing emerge.

What are the standards for hospital interoperability?

There are five types of standards associated with healthcare interoperability:

1. Vocabulary/terminology standards

2. Content standards

3. Transport standards

4. Privacy and security standards

5. Identifier standards

Standards provide a common language and a common set of expectations that support data exchange between systems and/or devices.

Why is interoperability important in healthcare?

Interoperability is important in healthcare because patients receive care from multiple providers working in multiple healthcare systems and may be on multiple payer panels. The need for seamless patient data flow is paramount. Consider a physician in the ER treating a patient for a heart attack. Without healthcare interoperability with the local pharmacy, the ER physician wouldn't be able to immediately access the patient's medication list. Instead, they would need to ask the patient to recall every medication and dosage. This may not even be possible if the patient isn't conscious. Even if the patient is conscious, he or she may not be able to provide accurate information. All of this impacts care delivery and the physician's ability to provide the most effective and efficient care.

Here's another example of why healthcare interoperability matters: Home-based care for patients with chronic diseases was crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to interoperable medical devices, many patients were able to capture certain physiological parameters (e.g., temperature, blood pressure, weight, and respiratory rate) and wirelessly transmit that healthcare data to their medical record where providers could access and monitor it. These are patients who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks during a time when stay-at-home orders were common. Many of these patients have continued to engage in remote patient monitoring throughout the pandemic because of its convenience. In addition, provider and payer organizations benefit when patients stay healthy.

What are the interoperability levels?

When it comes to healthcare interoperability, not all levels are created equally. Consider the following:

Foundational

This level establishes the basic standards necessary for one system or application to securely communicate with another. With foundational healthcare interoperability, data information technology solutions can't interpret the healthcare data they receive. To process the data and extract meaningful information, additional levels of interoperability are needed.

Structural

This level defines the format, syntax, and organization of data sharing. Health Level 7, for example, provides guidance on how messages should be structured. HL7's Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, which defines about 140 common healthcare concepts, is an emerging standard for communicating healthcare data. With structural healthcare interoperability, data information technology solutions can interpret the healthcare data they receive. However, the content of a structured message may not be standardized, which means higher levels of understanding between systems may not be possible.

Semantic

This level of healthcare interoperability includes medical terminologies, nomenclatures, and ontologies. It ensures that medical concepts can be shared across systems. With semantic interoperability, data information technology solutions can exchange, interpret, and use the healthcare data. For example, with more than 340,000 medical concepts, the terminology SNOMED is a general-purpose language for advancing semantic interoperability in medicine and healthcare. Domain-specific terminologies include Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) for laboratory observations, the Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) for medicines, the nomenclature of the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) for genes, or the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) for phenotypic abnormalities.

Organizational

This level includes governance, policy, social, legal, and organizational considerations for healthcare interoperability-all with the overarching goal of facilitating secure, seamless, and timely healthcare data exchange between organizations, entities, and individuals. This is the level of interoperability toward which all healthcare entities are ultimately moving. It requires common business processes and workflows that enable the seamless provision of healthcare across institutions.

What is health information exchange and data sharing?

As a verb, health information exchange (HIE) refers to the electronic transfer of clinical information between disparate healthcare information systems while maintaining the meaning of that information. The goal? Facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safe, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable patient-centered care. Without healthcare interoperability, HIE and data sharing wouldn't be possible.

However, HIE is also a noun, referring to organizations within the U.S. that provide HIE technology and services at a state, regional, or national level. HIEs often work directly with communities to promote secure sharing of health data. For example, during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Greater Houston Healthconnect, a regional HIE, assisted doctors treating evacuees in area shelters. Its staff used the HIE's portal to look up medication, diagnosis, allergy, and other critical healthcare data to treat current and emerging health issues. More recently, HIEs have supported public health agencies in their response to public health emergencies like COVID-19, serving as hubs for rich healthcare data from a multitude of sources.

What are benefits of healthcare interoperability?

Healthcare interoperability has many benefits . For example, information exchanged between providers helps inform the visit and prevents the duplication of tests. Think of an ER physician who can access a recent blood test result from a specialist so he or she can make a timely decision regarding the course of care without having to repeat the test. In this example, interoperability can actually reduce healthcare costs.

It also reduces the redundant collection of information from the patient. Think of a scenario where a hospital can pull insurance information from the patient's medical record at a physician's office. This prevents the patient from having to retrieve this information and provide it again. It also reduces the time it takes patients to brief their healthcare providers on their medical history, allowing more time for clinical discussions about health concerns. The outcome? Better patient care.

Healthcare interoperability is all about efficiency. For example, healthcare interoperability software enables automatic appointment reminders or follow-up instructions to be sent directly to patients. It allows physicians to send prescriptions directly to pharmacies. By saving time across the entire continuum of healthcare delivery, interoperability indirectly reduces costs and improves health outcomes throughout the healthcare industry.

What about preventing medication errors or other types of costly mistakes? Once again, healthcare interoperability can help. Think of a specialist prescribing a medication that interacts with the patient's blood pressure medication. Interoperability alerts the specialist of this interaction so they can prescribe a different, safer medication. It also enables a whole host of additional clinical decision support tools for more effective patient care and treatment.

Healthcare interoperability can also stimulate consumer education and patient involvement in their own healthcare. Think of the primary care physician who can push educational materials through the patient portal to a patient recently diagnosed with diabetes. Without interoperability between the educational system and the electronic health record, this task would be manual and time- and resource-consuming.

When it comes to research, healthcare interoperability is key. Think of large-scale observational studies in the healthcare industry. Using interoperable formats for real-world data (e.g., data collected in medical care or even via mobile apps) opens up countless opportunities for researchers.

Finally, it improves digital medicine by facilitating big data analysis. Without healthcare interoperability, artificial intelligence algorithms wouldn't have enough healthcare data to process. Processing information from different systems and across institutional boundaries is critical. In addition, these algorithms need accurate, standardized healthcare data. Running algorithms on unstructured, non-standardized healthcare data can introduce errors and compromise analysis results. The overarching goal is to create trust in digital technologies. Without interoperability, trust can be easily eroded.

How can healthcare interoperability enhance your GRC strategy?

Healthcare interoperability can greatly enhance a healthcare organization's GRC strategy because it enables a high-level, big-picture view of compliance. When healthcare data from disparate systems feeds into a single analytics platform, for example, healthcare organizations can spot billing errors and suspected fraud in real time. When using GRC software with integrated healthcare provider directories, organizations can enhance enterprise healthcare provider data management. Interoperability makes this type of integration possible. Healthcare interoperability also makes it possible for GRC software to enable quality monitoring and safety and incident reporting as well as vendor background checks, credentialing, training, and policy reviews. Interoperability is the foundation of all of these efforts.

As the healthcare industry forges ahead with interoperability and data sharing, the opportunities for healthcare organizations are endless. Healthcare interoperability enables lower costs, improved outcomes, and a more robust GRC strategy.

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Why Is Interoperability Important In Healthcare? | symplr

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It's the reason why patients can send healthcare data from their Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff to their provider's electronic health record (EHR). It's how an emergency room (ER) physician can access test results from a patient's cardiologist with the click of a button.

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I found this article to be interesting regarding where the vision for the TIGER initiative originated, where it has gone, and what is to come.

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1. Standards and Interoperability

2. Healthcare Information Technology National Agenda/Policy

3. Informatics Competencies

4. Education and Faculty Development

5. Staff Development/Continuing Education

6. Usability/Clinical Application Design

7. Virtual Demonstration Center

8. Leadership Development

9. Consumer Empowerment/Personal Health Record

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I found this article to be particularly interesting regarding how health informatics will affect us in our careers. Give it a read!

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By pursuing a career as a family nurse practitioner, you're choosing to dedicate your life to ensuring the wellness of others through preventive medicine. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, in 2018, NPs are becoming the No. 1 choice for millions of people in the country when they need to visit a health care professional. As this role continues to grow in popularity and demand, nurse practitioners should learn more about how technology is impacting them.

Digital advances have transformed the industry. Doctors and nurses alike are using electronic health records and other digital resources to better treat patients and offer more advanced prevention methods. As new technology continues to surface and older innovations become more advanced, future nurse practitioners must understand health informatics and how it can impact their career.

Let's take a closer look at what defines health informatics, how it's transforming the health care industry and why it matters for family nurse practitioners.

What defines health informatics?

According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, health informatics is defined as the design, development, adoption and application of medical services, management and planning through technology. Health informatics affects everyone from the doctors and nurses providing care to the patients receiving the assistance.

How is health informatics helping FNPs?

The rise of health informatics has an impact on all parties involved. Ultimately, it will ensure better outcomes for patients, but it will affect both doctors and nurse practitioners, changing the way they gather and use information in their practice. Here are some of the ways health informatics is changing the way nurse practitioners deliver care:

Improved expertise
When health informatics is involved, NP's have better access to evidence-based information and educational tools, according to Jenna Quinn, RN, writing for EBSCO Health. With new technological features at their disposal, patient portals and artificial intelligence software, nurse practitioners are exposed to surrounding care providers and information that can help them hone their craft and improve areas of expertise.

Enhanced communications
Think about all of the information nurse practitioners are expected to relay on daily basis. With health informatics, NP's and other medical professionals have easier access to enhanced communication. It's easier and faster to discuss patient outcomes, prevention methods and other care details by using digital resources like the patient portal.

Personalized care
Health informatics also allows nurse practitioners to use technology as a stepping stone for patient education. Digital advancements like the patient portal allow patients immediate access to their electronic medical records. This, in turn, allows nurse practitioners to teach patients how to personalize their care and be more forward-thinking about their overall health. With health care informatics, nurse practitioners can show patients how to contact healthcare assistance in the practice instantaneously when something is urgent instead of waiting on hold after calling the office. The patient portal is also a hub for educational information that patients can access when they want to learn more about a condition or diagnosis.

Self and patient protection
As new tools emerge, nurse practitioners are constantly given new ways to care for patients and keep them safe. NPs can rely on the digital tools presented by health informatics, such as telemedicine, internal messaging systems, EPrescribing and more to better monitor patients and provide evidence-based care that turns into accurate, efficient outcomes.

Furthermore, health informatics can assist nurse practitioners with patient documentation. Health care technology allows NPs to keep track of records more efficiently and effectively, making it easier to track vitals and other health information.

Better outcomes
When nurse practitioners are better equipped to answer questions quickly and effectively, document a more comprehensive manner and look up patient information, they can communicate properly and provide care that translates to better patient outcomes.

Now more than ever, nurse practitioners are encouraged to embrace health informatics and the future of technology. Not only can it help them improve their skills, but it can make tasks that were once difficult more seamless and streamlined. This will ultimately help them jump to the forefront of the industry, giving them a lead as technology continues to transform their role.

Why does it matter for family nurse practitioners?

While health care informatics indirectly impacts nurse practitioners, nurse informatics is a subset that's specific to the field. According to HIMSS, nursing informatics is defined as the specialty that mixes nursing science with analytical science to help nurses, consumers, patients and other health care teams make the best decisions through information structures and processes.

Both health informatics and nursing informatics are relevant to family nurse practitioners as the health system changes. As new technology and initiatives emerge, all parties involved in the health care setting must remain on the same page to ensure fewer problems and streamlined care. Practicing such coordination as technology evolves will provide the safest and most effective care for the patient.

Pursuing the Master of Science in Nursing program at Bradley University

As the health care climate continues to transform, professionals in the medical field must be open to taking on new roles and learning more about the growing industry. For those looking to further their education in a flexible setting, consider the online Master of Science in Nursing concentrating in Family Nurse Practitioner from Bradley University. Because this non-traditional program is 100 percent online, you can attend classes and complete assignments on your own time. This gives you total control of your education, career and future.

Once you graduate from the online FNP program, you can acquire a big-picture view of the modern health care industry, expand your knowledge of advanced nursing and patient-centered care and gain technological expertise as new technologies emerge.

To learn more, check out the Bradley University Online MSN-FNP program page.
Recommended Reading Online or on-campus: which program is right for you? Tips for maintaining a work-life balance while studying for an MSN-FNP Bradley University Online Nursing Programs Sources Health Informatics defined M H 6 W Five Ways Healthcare Informatics Help Nurses hat is Nursing Informatics Ways Health Informatics is Transforming Health Care ealthcare Informatics aster the Art of Science and Patient-Centered Care

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Health Informatics and Nurse Practitioners | Bradley University Online

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By pursuing a career as a family nurse practitioner, you're choosing to dedicate your life to ensuring the wellness of others through preventive medicine. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, in 2018, NPs are becoming the No. 1 choice for millions of people in the country when they need to visit a health care professional.

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This video gave me good additional information regarding what healthcare informatics is and why it is important.

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In order to implement the EHR into my community clinic efficiently, I need to identify the barriers among staff. I understand that the transition to the EHR may be overwhelming for them due to a lack of knowledge and experience. I need to incorporate the best choice for EHR into my clinic and evaluate which platform has the best options for usability, interoperability, and cost. One key element of the implementation plan is to host scheduled education and practice sessions before rolling out the technology into real time. This allows staff to play around with the platform and use its features before having the stress of using it in actual practice. It is important that after the EHR is incorporated in practice we continue having follow-up meetings with my staff regarding how they feel about it. This allows open conversation where staff can ask questions and further education.

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Data is the building block and is not meaningful on its own. It can be any measurement, number, or fact (example: 56). Information gives more details and shows relationships with the data. It answers the who, what, when, where, type of questions (example: male, sweaty, took insulin without eating). Knowledge takes what we already know and pieces together the information to see how we can achieve our goal (example: the nurse knows she needs to tell the provider, give the patient glucose, get the patient's sugar up). Wisdom takes knowledge and applies it to what we want to achieve (example: the nurse gives the patient a juice, rechecks his sugar 15 minutes later and it's 123.) DIKW is involved in health informatics in regards to big data and applying it to evidence-based practice. It can help teach us how to utilize data and turn it into wisdom in our practice.

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Interoperability would have enhanced patient care in the hospital setting in various ways. One example that we see often is patients reporting having tests done at a different facility or in the outpatient setting and the providers want to see the results of that. Providers may want these records for various reasons, such as comparing staging of cancers and size of tumors. Another example I've seen is doctors wanting to compare previous echocardiograms. We have to request records from a different facility which can result in a delay of care, which we always want to avoid. With interoperability we'd be able to access patient's data more efficiently and begin prompt care.

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I really value the vision TIGER has regarding leadership and management. The voice and power of nursing is so important and needs to be heard. At my hospital, we have what is called "shared governance." This is a committee made of RNs from each unit and the senior leadership staff at the hospital. The committee meets once a month and discusses various points of interest throughout the hospital in order to collaborate and make positive change. At these meetings, nurses from each units have the opportunity to express concern and make suggestions for improvements. One thing shared governance is currently working on is a retention plan for staff. Through this, leadership gets to hear from floor nurses to identify actual barriers to retention and what can be done to address them. I am proud to be a part of shared governance and value that my hospital offers it.

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Hi! I'm Lexi from Middleboro, MA. I work at South Shore Hospital in inpatient oncology. I work on a busy, 30 bed unit and see patients who are coming in either with new diagnoses, complications from their cancer or chemo treatments, end-of-life care, etc. I truly love it and have learned so much! Prior to this, I worked at BI in Boston in cardiac surgery. I am not too familiar with informatics, but I am definitely eager to learn! I expect to get a better understanding of what informatics is, why it is important, and how it will enhance my practice. We have a clinical informatics team at my hospital and I always look forward to reading their newsletters to learn new tips and tricks.