Half of Americans avoiding hospitals due to staffing shortages, 62% of patients don’t trust health plan info when searching for providers, and much more

Bonus Features – December 18, 2022 – Half of Americans avoiding hospitals due to staffing shortages, 62% of patients don’t trust health plan info when searching for providers, and much more Brian Eastwood

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

News

The Federal Trade Commission released an updated Mobile Health Apps Tool created with input from ONC, OCR, and the FDA. An ONC blog post described how the tool works: Developers answer questions about the type of health data the app will collect, the intended use of the app, and the type of entity developing the app to determine whether the app is subject to HIPAA, the information blocking rule, or other federal laws.

CB Insights released its Digital Health 150 list, with companies focused on remote monitoring and diagnostics taking 29 of the spots. Additionally, roughly half of the companies on the list are early-stage or Series A startups, and 90% didn’t appear on the 2021 list, due in large part to the large number of exits and mergers in the last year. Notable holdovers from last year’s list include Xealth, Redox, and Maven Clinic.

Studies

• A patient survey from Global Healthcare Exchange found that half of Americans are avoiding hospital care due to staffing shortages, while one-third fear that they won’t get to see the right doctors or spend enough time being cared for.
• Provider data management firm Ribbon Health reported that 62% of Americans don’t trust their health plan when searching for care, while 38% had a negative patient experience due to incorrect provider information on their health plan’s website.
• Workflow automation provider Hospital IQ found that 70% of health systems face staffing challenges and 61% struggle to forecast department-level staffing capacity.
• Digital therapeutic Hello Heart revealed that just five additional minutes of walking per day is enough to reduce systolic blood pressure by 8.7 points – more than enough to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke, according to data from The Lancet.
• A report from Best Buy care at home platform Current Health indicated that 59% of hospitals face staffing shortages in their efforts to expand care at home programs, while roughly half face challenges with patient engagement and tech support.
• A patient survey from data abstraction company Carta Healthcare found that 83% of patients have had to provide duplicate information at the doctor’s office, with 42% of patients spending more than six minutes recounting their medical history.
• A poll from payment solution DailyPay and workforce management tool IntelyCare found that 68% of healthcare workers find it stressful to manage their finances, compared to 56% of Americans overall; 65% of workers live paycheck to paycheck.

Partnerships

• PatientsLikeMe is collaborating with LetsGetChecked to offer members increased access to at-home screening products.
• Surgical data platform Caresyntax is partnering with Google Cloud to develop the InfluenceOR app for creating and sharing educational videos.
• Gastroenterology and liver care provider Gastro Health is working with Lynx.MD to create digital health products and assemble a real-world data set for GI care.
• At-home diagnostics provider Getlabs is partnering with Poplin to provide testing products for couples attempting to get pregnant.
• Diagnostic software provider Dedalus expanded its relationship with AWS.
• Medical device cybersecurity company Cylera is integrating with Cisco Identity Services Engine, a network access control product.
• Complex care platform Memora Health is working with PeriGen, which makes analytics software for childbirth, to provide monitoring technology that supports labor and delivery and postpartum recovery at home.

Products

• In-home physical therapy provider Luna reported that its Auto-Charting tool saves physical therapists five to seven minutes filling out charts at the end of each appointment.
• Research from senior care tech provider Connect America demonstrated that its Personal Emergency Response Services can be linked to reductions in hospital readmissions, hospitalizations via ambulance, and hospitalization costs.
• The Sequoia Project published an implementation guide for HIE technology for vendors, networks, and testers. Meanwhile, The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia recognized The Sequoia Project for promoting more inclusive systems of economic growth.
• LeanTaaS announced new features for three products: iQueue for Operating Rooms, iQueue for Infusion Centers, and iQueue for Inpatient Beds. In addition, LeanTaaS named Mark Fidow as Chief Technology Officer.
• Quantum Health released research showing its care navigation tool for employers limited healthcare cost increase to less than 1% from 2016 to 2019, compared to nearly 25% for all other companies. In addition, Quantum Health formed an Oncology Clinical Advisory Board.
• AI engagement platform mPulse Mobile launched new content formats and educational courses.
• Telemental health provider Brightside Health unveiled Crisis Care, a program for treating patients with elevated suicide risk. The announcement also includes a referral partnership with NeuroFlow to help triage patients.
• Value-based care platform Edifecs introduced new capabilities to support episodes of care with precision risk intelligence
• Wireless monitoring device maker X-trodes released a wearable device that enables remote measurement of facial electromyography, or fEMG.
• Digital pathology platform Deciphex released Patholytix 3.0, allowing researchers to review and score non-clinical studies on a single platform.

Sales

• Washington state’s MultiCare Health System selected IllumiCare to enable providers to recommend clinical trials at the point of care.
• Provider-led ACO Triad HealthCare Network selected DrFirst‘s MedHx tool for its initiative to improve medication adherence among high-risk patient populations.
• Remote monitoring provider Doccla will provide the technology for virtual wards for Solent NHS Trust at its Portsmouth and Southampton facilities.
• American Endovascular & Amputation Prevention implemented eClinicalWorks PRISMA search too and EHR system.
• Centene subsidiary Superior Health Plan chose MedArrive to support its home health and care management program. The health plan will also offer virtual behavioral health services from Brave as part of the program.
• Maryland-based Luminis Health selected VisiQuate for denials Management, revenue management, and billing analytics.
• Community-based oncology network OPN Healthcare is implementing KAID Health chart analysis and natural language processing tools.

Awards

• Frost & Sullivan recognized MEDITECH with the 2022 North America Enabling Technology Leadership Award, citing the EHR vendor’s work on clinical decision support.
• In addition, VitalConnect received the 2022 North America New Product Innovation Award from Frost & Sullivan for VitalPatch, its wearable cardiac biosensor.
• Health at home technology provider Axxess was named one of the Best Places to Work in IT by Computerworld for the eighth consecutive year.

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Happy Holidays from Healthcare IT Today! Bonus Features will be taking a bit of a break over the next couple weeks. Look for us again in 2023.