What You Should Know: - Eko, a digital health company applying machine learning in the fight against heart and lung disease, today announced that it was awarded a $2.7M Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct Phase II grant by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). - The grant will fund the development of a machine learning algorithm that detects and stratifies pulmonary hypertension (PH) using phonocardiogram (PCG) and
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HHS
7 Health IT Industry Outlook Report Trends to Watch in 2022
What You Should Know: - As COVID-19 accelerated demand for more advanced digital health and patient engagement technologies, hospital and health system IT departments shouldered these expectations – rolling out new capabilities in record time, while still balancing daily operational support responsibilities. Now, IT staff burnout has escalated into major career jumps, with many hospital IT departments struggling to fill talent gaps from high turnover. - Utilizing flexible staffing
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Enacting Care Coordination Policy to Curb the Drug Epidemic
The U.S. has reached a grim milestone with an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2021. With a post-pandemic spotlight on mental health and substance use disorder challenges, Congress and the Biden administration are working on multiple plans to address these issues. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration sent its first national drug control strategy to Congress, which focused on two pillars, one of which centered on addressing untreated addiction.
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Bicycle Health & Evernorth Partner to Expand Access to Virtual Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
What You Should Know: - Bicycle Health, today announced that its high-quality, evidence-based virtual opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment is now part of Evernorth’s behavioral health network - Furthermore, it will be made available to all Evernorth clients, as well as Cigna health plan customers who receive health coverage through their employer or marketplace exchange plans in 24 states. Evernorth is the health services business of Cigna Corporation. Increasing Access to Care Using
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EMPI/MPI: An End-to-End Approach to Patient Data Integrity
Maintaining patient data integrity is more complicated than ever; cybersecurity threats loom, patients are taking more ownership of their care (self-registration, for example) and health system merger activity is on the rise. It can make the quest for the ever-elusive 1% maximum duplicate rate seem, at times, unattainable. But a secure, accurate, and duplicate-free MPI/EMPI can be achieved. It just requires a multi-pronged approach to protect data throughout its journey into a health system
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HIMSS Delivers 9 Recommendations for Strengthening Primary Healthcare
What You Should Know: This week, The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) responded to a Request for Information (RFI) from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health on the HHS Initiative to Strengthen Primary Healthcare. The letter submitted on 8/1 calls for improved healthcare access, equity and outcomes to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). - The OASH requested input from
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Analysis: 2022 Semi-Annual Health IT Market Review
Executive Summary Act III of COVID: Navigating the Crosscurrents of Post-Inflation 2022 ushered in Act III of the market’s latest transitionary period: The Post-Inflation Era. Since 2008, the US economy functioned with remarkably low inflation and interest rates. As the cost of capital went lower and lower during the decade, valuations steadily rose. Between 2010 and 2020, the NASDAQ experienced a 17.1% annual growth rate, with no small share of the growth a result of expanding valuation
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The Twin Toll of Peripheral Artery Disease and Diabetes on Minority Communities
Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, with more than 34 million individuals living with the condition. It’s hard enough to manage this condition on a daily basis — and it gets even harder with the realization that diabetes doesn’t just exist in isolation. A diabetes diagnosis immediately triggers a domino effect of higher risks for other conditions and complications, including kidney damage, eye damage, neuropathy, and cardiovascular
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Why Medicaid Programs Need to Update Their Information Systems
You don’t have to be a news junkie or political aficionado to know that state unemployment information systems massively failed during the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when they were most desperately needed. Overwhelmed by a rush of newly laid-off workers, websites crashed and timed out while phone lines were tied up for hours, leading to frustration and delays in benefits payments – harming local economies and imperiling American families. In Ohio, unemployment overpayments reached
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HHS Establishes $80M Public Health IT Workforce Program
What You Should Know: - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today announced the establishment of an $80M Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program (PHIT Workforce Program) to strengthen U.S. public health informatics and data science. - The PHIT Workforce Program aims to train more than 4,000 individuals over a four-year period through an interdisciplinary approach
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