On Monday, HHS announced $46 million in grants to 45 states and the District of Columbia to improve oversight of health insurance premium increases, Modern Healthcare reports (Vesely, Modern Healthcare, 8/16).
Many states plan to use the funding to upgrade existing technology or develop new tools to hold insurance companies accountable for premium changes (Holmes, NextGov, 8/16).
Grant Program Details
The funding was made available through the federal health reform law, which allocated $250 million to states over five years for insurance monitoring purposes. States applied for the funding earlier this summer. Each eligible applicant received a $1 million grant (Modern Healthcare, 8/16).
Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wyoming did not apply for the funding (Levey, Los Angeles Times, 8/17).
Tapping Technology To Review Rates
According to an HHS release, technology will be a major factor in how states apportion the grant funding because all states are looking to upgrade existing technology, streamline data sharing and publicize information on health insurance rate changes. For example:
Source: iHealthBeat
Many U.S. physicians who are close to retiring are weighing the benefits and potential consequences of adopting electronic health records before leaving their practices, American Medical News reports.
Benefits
Beginning in 2011, physicians who demonstrate “meaningful use” of EHRs can qualify for up to $44,000 in Medicare incentives across five years or $64,000 in Medicaid incentives.
In addition, physicians will avoid reimbursement penalties that begin in 2015 if they adopt EHRs.
Furthermore, experts consider EHRs to be a great selling point for physicians looking to sell their practices when they retire.
Concerns
However, EHR adoption requires a significant financial investment and is not guaranteed to produce an instant financial return, according to Joseph Mack, a California-based health care consultant. Mack said EHRs alone will not add value to a practice.
The value of EHR systems will result from what physicians accomplish with the technology over time, which might vary depending on when they plan to retire.
The Choice
Todd Sherman, lead partner of the Sherman Sobin Group, said physicians who plan to retire within 10 years should concentrate on building up savings accounts before leaving the business.
Sherman noted that taking on a major expense like an EHR system could jeopardize that plan and threaten the doctor’s financial ability to retire, but it would also provide access to the federal incentives.
Ultimately, Mack said, doctors must examine the cost benefit of the EHR system. He said that physicians must determine if the system will increase profitability and thereby the value of a medical practice (Dolan, American Medical News, 8/16).
Source: iHealthBeat
Oil rig companies are increasingly using telemedicine via Internet or satellite connections to link their workers to emergency medical physicians at major medical facilities, according to an article in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health, United Press International reports.
Access to medical care on oil rigs often is limited.
Jobs on oil rigs can put workers at risk for several ailments, including:
Oil rigs can be equipped with several types of telemedicine capabilities, including:
Physicians can visually examine patients on the oil rigs using a photograph transmitted by a smartphone, webcam and other two-way communication tools (United Press International, 8/9).
Source: iHealthBeat
A small pilot study at Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that adolescent patients with diabetes who received text messages related to their medication plan were less likely to miss treatment doses, Healthcare IT News reports.
The rate of non-adherence to medication regimens among adolescent patients is four times higher than the rate for adult patients.
In the study, Nationwide Children’s Hospital endocrinologist Jennifer Dyer sent her adolescent diabetes patients personalized questions and reminders tied to diabetes adherence. She also sent messages offering support to the patients.
Dyer’s questions touched upon patients’ glucose testing, meals and the frequency of high and low glucose levels.
After three months, Dyer said patients who received the texts were three times less likely to miss a dose.
iPhone App
Dyer has applied for an internal grant to test an iPhone application she developed that would allow endocrinologists to send automated, personalized texts to several patients at a certain time (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 8/10).
Source: iHealthBeat
Most medical school students believe that video game technology could help them learn how to be better physicians, according to a study published on Tuesday in BMC Medical Education, HealthDay reports.
The study — conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan — surveyed 200 medical students from the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin.
Survey Results
The survey found that:
Researchers also found that male students were about four or five times more likely to use video games as learning tools than their female peers (Perna, International Business Times, 8/11).
Study co-author Frederick Kron said that the acceptance of technology in health care training can be attributed to the current generation’s amount of technological literacy.
The study authors also noted that computerized simulation techniques already exist in the medical school environment to train students for a variety of operating room situations (HealthDay, 8/11).
Source: iHealthBeat
A report released in July by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at HHS found that physicians and clinicians have difficulty finding health IT products that monitor the health of patient populations within specific physician groups or primary care practices, InformationWeek reports.
The report evaluated the use of technology that accumulates practice-based population health data, an approach that utilizes information from patients in one or several practices to improve care and clinical outcomes for all of a practice’s patients.
A PBPH approach can help physicians and practices:
The report, based on interviews with physicians and other practice staff members, found that practices with EHRs performed more PBPH functions than those with paper medical records.
To overcome barriers to PBPH adoption, the report states that there is a need for:
The study also determined that many practices had difficulty finding products with PBPH functions or products that meet their PBPH functionality needs (Lewis, InformationWeek, 8/11).
Source: iHealthBeat
On Thursday, HHS announced that it will provide $51 million in grants for states to set up health insurance exchanges that will allow consumers to compare and select health insurance policies online, CQ HealthBeat reports.
HHS also requested public comment on standards for successful exchanges (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 7/29).
The federal health reform law calls for the creation of such exchanges (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 7/29).
Grants for Exchanges
According to HHS, each state and the District of Columbia are eligible for up to $1 million to create an exchange.
The agency said states can create their own exchanges or partner with others to manage regional exchanges. Grant applications are due by Sept. 1 (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 7/29).
Although the exchanges do not take effect until 2014, analysts have said that states must immediately begin work on the exchanges.
According to Rick Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, states that elect to run their own exchanges must design and establish policy for the exchanges and determine how the new market will work alongside other state agencies and the current insurance market. Curtis added that the HHS funding is imperative because in the current economic climate, most states would not have the necessary resources to make these initial plans.
Seeking Comments
Meanwhile, HHS also is soliciting comments from states, consumer advocates, employers, insurers and others on rules and standards that exchanges should be required to meet (CQ HealthBeat, 7/29).
The agency is seeking information on:
Companies are rolling out new technology that allows adult children to remotely monitor aspects of their parents’ lives to keep tabs on their health, the New York Times reports.
The products aim to provide enough supervision for elderly individuals so that they can remain in their homes instead of moving to assisted-living facilities or nursing homes.
Examples
One system, called GrandCare, allows family members to place movement sensors throughout a parent’s home. The sensors track the opening of doors, the time at which the parent gets out of bed and movement in certain rooms.
Information is transmitted to the adult children via e-mail, text message and voicemail.
Another program, called MedMinder, functions as a remote monitoring device for medications. The system alerts a patient with flashes and beeps when a pill needs to be taken and alerts relatives via phone or e-mail if medication is not taken at the correct time.
Growth in Market Despite Concerns
Large companies like General Electric and smaller firms like iReminder are developing systems to notify relatives about the daily habits of their older parents.
However, while the central goal of such technology to help parents independently live longer is widely embraced, the systems do raise new issues of control, role-reversal between parent and child, deception and over-intrusion (Stout, New York Times, 7/28).
Source: iHealthBeat
A new adhesive strip equipped with wireless medical sensors is helping individuals better manage their chronic conditions while allowing physicians to more closely monitor patients, NPR’s “All Things Considered” reports.
Eric Topol, chief innovation officer for the West Wireless Health Institute, said the so-called smart “Band-Aids” measure several health indicators — including heart rhythm, respiratory rate and temperature — and can display information on an individual’s cell phone or on the Internet.
The device is part of a broader remote monitoring trend, which allows patients to use diagnostic equipment at home and transmit medical data to their health care provider through an online network.
Addressing Concerns
Although some experts say such technologies could improve patient care and reduce costs, others have expressed concerns about safety issues and the lack of federal regulation of mobile medical devices.
For example, a wirelessly controlled pump could administer insulin to patients with diabetes based on the smart Band-Aid’s readings; however, there could be serious consequences if the signal is interrupted.
Julius Knapp — deputy chief of engineering technology at the Federal Communications Commission — said FCC and FDA have teamed up to draft new rules for the wireless medical industry to address some of these concerns (Whitney, “All Things Considered,” NPR, 7/30).
Source: iHealthBeat
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