blog Archives - Page 3 of 3 - HEALTHePRACTICES

Telemedicine and Life and Death

February 14, 2017/0 Comments/in blog /by Howard

Telemedicine and Life and Death

There is (virtually) no aspect of life which cannot be positively impacted by the addition of telemedicine.

Telemedicine for Pediatric Care

In May 2001 Dr. Ken McConnochie began delivering Telemedicine care to five inner-city Rochester child care sites and today virtual care is available in all Rochester City Schools. (see brief video here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UjjV0SfdSlA )

Telemedicine for Elder Care

There has been a recent focus on using telemedicine to support elder care. There will be a special area at the upcoming American Telemedicine Association annual meeting in Orlando in May devoted to Elder Care. (Register here http://www.ata2017.org/ or contact hreis@healthepractices.com for a free exhibit hall pass.) Keep tuned for a major announcement coming soon about a major telehealth initiative with one of the largest Nursing Homes in NYC coordinated by www.thecastletongroup.com.

There have also been interesting developments in telemedicine at the “End of Life”. ResolutionCare works with healthcare providers and payers to provide Palliative care to people where they live and on their own terms. Dr. Michael Fratkin, founder of ResolutionCare, has developed a program including teams comprised of physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, and support staff focusing on bringing greater quality of living and greater quality of dying using telehealth technologies. See http://www.resolutioncare.com/

Two Telemedicine Pioneers

Dr. Ron Pion is a physician (Ob/Gyn), visionary, and business professional. Among many other major accomplishments, Dr. Pion founded the Hospital Satellite Network, the nation’s first daily satellite-delivered television service providing programming for hospital-based health professionals and patients. I am privileged to call Dr. Pion a friend and a partner and recently had the opportunity to discuss how telemedicine will impact “end of life”. According to Dr. Pion, “I want to celebrate life rather than worry about death.” He also wants to reinvigorate the conversation about death and feels that it is important to talk about death with children at an early age, not just when there is a teachable moment like the death of a family member or close acquaintance. “We know that everyone is going to die.” Dr. Pion suggests a focus on prevention rather than just treating acute illness which has been the focus of other telemedicine initiatives.

Dr. Pion also pointed me to a wonderful article about Ideo’s attempt to redesign death in America. Anyone with an interest in this topic will appreciate reading the full article here:

https://www.californiasunday.com/issues/2015-04-05/

Dr. Lisa Thompson created http://www.e-palliativecare.com/ in order to provide patients, families and caregivers with resources to empower them to have the best possible quality of life while living with serious illness. Her dream is to make high quality palliative care accessible to everyone. For the past four years, Dr. Thompson has been providing online medical consultations to patients via telemedicine.

Can telemedicine save a life?

There are plenty of examples of live-saving telemedicine ranging from rapid support of stroke patients in rural areas, to transmission of vital signs from an ambulance to a hospital, to the use of home-monitoring devices to transmit daily weight, blood pressure, and other biometrics to their doctors for patients suffering from COPD, diabetes and other chronic conditions (see www.myhealthconnection.tv). With just a click of a button, a doctor may conference in with a patient and provide rapid triage and medical decision-making that can save hours in a world where minutes make all the difference.

Can telemedicine save the healthcare system? With the promise of lower costs, better patient care and improved patient satisfaction it goes a long way to helping achieve the triple aim of healthcare.

Delivering Radiology Reports into the Electronic Health Record

January 9, 2017/0 Comments/in blog /by Howard

One of the biggest changes in teleradiology operations over the past two years has been the demand and the ability to deliver radiology reports directly into the EHR (Electronic Health Record) of the Urgent Care Center.

Teleradiology Specialists has always provided electronic access to teleradiology reports through a secure web portal. Previously firms faxed their reports to the centers which scanned the reports and attached them to the EHR. As centers began to see at least five x-ray patients a day, that method became time consuming and prone to error.

There were two primary drivers for centers wanting to receive their reports automatically downloaded into the EHR.

Electronic delivery increases efficiency, cuts down on errors and reduces administrative time.
In order for a provider to qualify for the CMS EHR Incentive Program (Meaningful Use), they were required to use computerized provider order entry (CPOE) for radiology orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders.

The connection between a radiology PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) and the EHR is most frequently accomplished by an HL-7 interface. Health Level-7 or HL7 refers to a set of international standards for transfer of clinical and administrative data between software applications used by various healthcare providers. There are two types of interfaces

Unidirectional interface – results only are transmitted via HL7 to the EMR

Bidirectional Interface – Orders come in and results go out streamlining the process

In most cases, a unique interface must be established for every individual client.

“One of the greatest benefits of adding an HL7 interface into your workflow is improved patient care” according to Hayley Dezendorf, Interface Project Coordinator at Teleradiology Specialists “workflow is more efficient, results are in the EHR quicker without extra steps, and oftentimes the potential for human error is decreased when submitting orders” according to Hayley.

Many of Teleradiology Specialists clients have their reports electronically transmitted into their EHR. All clients using the Practice Velocity EHR, can take advantage of a single interface which sends results into their EHR. Other EHR vendors where clients have interfaces include DocuTAP, eClinicalWorks and eMDs. More are scheduled for 2017.

NOT ANOTHER BLOG

December 19, 2016/2 Comments/in blog /by Howard

Not another blog. Professionals today are flooded with emails, texts, web sites and snail mail. (OK, very little snail mail.) Personally I receive approximately 300 email messages a day (over four separate email addresses) and there are perhaps 20 I really care about. I also receive notification to read at least half a dozen blogs a week, many from professionals I admire and respect (and all of whom are included in this initial distribution.) The blogs I follow are listed below. I scan them all, and dig deeper when there is an article or comment of particular interest. I rarely respond, but I have on occasion. So why another blog?

To make new friends. I have been privileged in the 30+ years I have been “in the business” to make many personal friends and acquaintances. Every week I meet someone know who shares a professional interest and we’re likely able to help each other. I love working with very smart people. Especially with those smarter than me. The Internet is a great tool to find new connections and opportunities. I hope this blog has a reach to some I have not yet met but will become future collaborators.

To keep the old. The initial distribution list for this blog contains the names of over 3000 professionals, most of whom have a connection to the healthcare industry. Some I have known for over 30 years, others I met just last week. What better way to start the day than to get a note from a colleague that I haven’t heard from for a while that starts, “Howard, I have an opportunity I’d like to discuss with you….” I hope this blogs stimulates some former colleagues to include me on new projects they are working on, or just to check in to see if I can help.

To connect the dots……. I talk to many people and see many things. While there are many new and exciting developments, I have never seen a project that can’t benefit from the wisdom or experience of a seasoned professional. There does not have to be an immediate financial payoff. I believe in the concept of “Pay it forward”. A good deed done today will come back to help. Sooner or later. When I call on you, I hope you will help. When you call on me, you can be sure that I will try.

To help someone out. I meet many start-up companies. Most are looking for funding. Perhaps I can connect entrepreneurs with a great idea to investors who are looking for them. (This works a lot better when the start-up has gotten past the pre-revenue stage). I’m also happy to help individuals looking for a new position, or those with open positions looking to hire. I think of this audience as a community and a warm introduction is always appreciated.

Topics of interest

Full disclosure. One of my clients has asked me to write a quarterly blog posting and those articles will be cross-posted here (starting in January). Topics I expect to explore include:

Telemedicine (and all of its synonyms, Telehealth, mHealth, Connected Care, Virtual Health). Teleradiology. Urgent Care. Deep Learning and Machine Learning, especially how it relates to radiology. Electronic Medical Records. Disaster Recovery (Contingency Planning, Disaster Prevention), The future of the Affordable Care Act. Population Health Management. Elder care. What are health-e practices?

I don’t expect having a hard time finding one thing to write about each month. Perhaps I can accommodate guest bloggers. Interviews with industry leaders. Survey results. The possibilities are endless.

Some blogs I read (or at least scan):

http://healthcarepittstop.com/

http://www.thefickenscherfiles.com/

http://blog.clickcare.com/blog

http://terrymcgarty.blogspot.com/

https://chealthblog.connectedhealth.org/

Come on the journey with me! It will be great to hear from you.

And here’s wishing you and your families a very happy, prosperous and especially HEALTH-E New Year.

Howard