The " Amazoning " of Health Care; What Exactly Does This Mean?
A recent blog note raised the topic of the"Amazoning" of healthcare (see:The ‘Amazoning’ of Healthcare Will Bring Challenges and Opportunities for Health Plans). In the article, the term"Amazoning" was defined in the following way:At a recent healthcare conference I attended, it sure sounded like it. I heard healthcare professionals using “Amazoning” as a verb referring to therapid delivery of products and services, relentless focus on customer experience and cost optimization, and threat to various industries like retail, computing and entertainment.There is no question that Big Tech comp...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 27, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Point-of-Care Testing Population Health Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Outcomes-Based Pharmaceutical Contracts Can Shape the Future of Healthcare
I think that it would be a very good idea if drug costs, particularly for the most expensive ones, were based on outcomes for patients under treatment. This is to say, payment for the drug would be based on evidence that the drug is both efficacious and safe. Outcomes-based drug contracts were the basis for a recent article (see:Outcomes-Based Contracts Can Shape the Future of Health Care) and an excerpt is presented below: Over the past decade, much of the health care economy has shifted from rewarding quantity (fee-for-service) to instead rewarding quality (outcome- and value-based payments). And yet, pharmac...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 26, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Hospital Financial Pharmaceutical Industry Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Digital Health Wearables Can Be Used to Detect Gait Disorders, Undiagnosed Diseases
Axial motor symptoms related to speech, swallowing, balance, and gait freezing, particularly in the elderly, can be diagnostic of a number of disorders but most physicians are not sufficiently trained to assess them. The notion that walking is a sensitive indicator of overall health status and that self-selected walking speed correlates with life expectancy in elderly persons was made in a recent medical article (see:Gait disorders in adults and the elderly). Below is an excerpt from it:...[S]low gait in elderly non-demented persons correlates more closely with the future emergence of dementia than subjective cogniti...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 25, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Elizabeth Warren Vows to Conduct Antitrust Investigation of EHR Market
Veteran readers of this blog may recall that I have referred to the major EHR vendors, notably Epic and Cerner, as holding a"quasi-monopoly" in the large hospital market and are thus able to exercise substantial leverage over this sector of healthcare (see:Are You an Enterprise or Best-of-Breed CIO? Access to Cash May Make the Difference;Could Apple or Amazon Make a Dent in the Hospital EHR Market?;Consideration of the Organizational and Personal Digital Health Managers of the Future). However, their decisions about EHR design and functionalities may not always be in the best interests of physicians, nurses, and ...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 21, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Hospital Executive Management Medical Consumerism Public Health Source Type: blogs
Veritas Sets Price for WGS and Interpretation at $599; Implications for the Future
The price for whole genome sequencing continues to cascade downward -- Veritas Genetics recently announced a new price of $599 including analysis of test results for 200 conditions (see:Veritas Genetics Drops Its Price for Clinical-Grade Whole-Genome Sequencing to $599, as Gene Sequencing Costs Continue to Fall). Below is an excerpt from the article:By announcing an annotated whole-genome sequencing (WGS) service to consumers for just $599, Veritas Genetics is establishing a new price benchmark for medical laboratories and gene testing companies. Prior to this announcement in July, Veritas priced its standardmy...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 20, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: AI Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Genomic Testing Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Medical Research Pharmaceutical Industry Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Test Source Type: blogs
Addressing Some of the Social Determinants of Health
Discussions about the social determinants of health have been much in the news lately. Here's a definition of the term from the WHO (see:Social determinants of health)The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.If you believe that a person's healthy life can be predicted by...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 15, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Medical Consumerism Medical Ethics Medical Research Population Health Public Health Source Type: blogs
Sanford Health Pays $20M to Settle False Claims Act Allegation
Physicians should be prohibited from having a financial interest in companies that manufacture or distribute medical devices and implants when such physicians benefit financially from the use of these devices in their practices. This rule is pretty basic but the concept seems to have alluded the executives runningStanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D. The health system has been socked with a $20M penalty by the Justice Department for false claims (see:Sanford Health to pay $20M to settle False Claims Act allegations; Physicians accuse Sanford Health of defrauding Medicare: 5 things to know). Below is an excerpt from th...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 13, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Hospital Financial Medical Ethics Medicolegal Issues Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Private Equity Firm Acquires Orchard Software; What's the Future for LISs?
I am not overly optimistic in the long run about the future of what I will refer to here as classic LISs, sometimes also called best-of-breed systems (see:Defining a"Best-of-Breed" LIS). The fundamental challenge to their future success is that Epic, with its popular EHR marketed suitable largely for large health systems, has gained substantial popularity in hospital C-suites. Its LIS product, Beaker, has also improved substantially in recent years. CIOs would rather interact with a single company that provides both EHR software and"departmental" software like LISs and RISs. Hence, Beaker continues to g...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 11, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Electronic Health Record (EHR) Genomic Testing Healthcare Information Technology Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures LIS Definitions and Strategy LIS Vendor News Pathology Informatics Point Source Type: blogs
CMS Picks 25 Organizations as Finalists in Its AI Challenge
I have posted a number of previous notes about AI and predictive analytics (see, for example:Diagnostic and Predictive Analytics and Their Possible Link to the Future of the LIS;Three Examples of Predictive Analytics in Clinical Practice). Newly emerging tools such as clinically validated algorithms will not only change the face of medical care but will also be financially remunerative. CMS has been clever in its pursuit of AI by creating a challenge with a prize of $1M. In this contest, 25 finalists have been recently announced (see:IBM, Mayo Clinic, Geisinger among 25 finalists for $1.6M CMS artificial ...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 8, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: AI CMS Diagnostics Healthcare Information Technology Medical Research Population Health Predictive Analytics Public Health Source Type: blogs
Google Said to Be Seeking Data and B-to-B Relationships with Fitbit Purchase
I have been blogging recently about the rationale for the recent Google purchase of Fitbit (see:Google to acquire Fitbit, valuing the smartwatch maker at about $2.1 billion). At first glance, it's somewhat unusual because Google is primarily known for software and not hardware. On the other hand, the huge wellness and fitness market is an attractive target. A recent article speculated on the"real reason" for the purchase (see:The Real Reason Google Is Buying Fitbit) and below is an excerpt from the article:Google already has plenty of hardware and software chops. What else does it get out of the Fitbit ...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 7, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Preventive Medicine Test Kits Source Type: blogs
Status Reports and Hospital Referrals from Wearable Health Ecosystems
I recently began to discuss the emerging business models for wearable health ecosystems (WHEs). These ecosystems are home networks linking together a smartwatch, a smartphone with health apps, and various diagnostic devices such as a six-lead ECG (see:The Evolution of"Wearable Health Ecosystems" and Associated Partnerships). These interoperating devices, enabled by predictive analytics, will shortly be able to generate weekly health status reports and warnings, particularly when acute conditions are detected. This is a reality today in terms of the detection of atrial fibrillation (see:Atrial Fibrillation Detecti...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 5, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Predictive Analytics Public Health Telemedicine Source Type: blogs
Alphabet Makes Offer to Acquire Wearable Device Maker Fitbit
In my blog note this morning, I discussed my interpretation of the emerging"wearable health ecosystems" (see: The Evolution of"Wearable Health Ecosystems" and Associated Partnerships)." I cited the examples of Apple, Fitbit, and Sony with its newly released, connectivity oriented mSafety wearable (see:Sony Develops Health Wearable Providing Connectivity, Stipulating That It's Not a Smartwatch). I have just learned thatAlphabet, the parent company of Google, has made an offer forFitbit (see:Alphabet makes bid for Fitbit as it eyes wearable market). Below is an excerpt from the articl...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 1, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Business Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
The Evolution of " Wearable Health Ecosystems " and Associated Partnerships
I am coming to understand that various types of"wearable health ecosystems" (i.e., wearable business models) are evolving. This is an important step in the creation of consumer-facing, healthcare/wellness systems. The latest example is that of Fitbit partnering with pharmaceutical companies (see:Fitbit collaborating with pharma giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer). Below is an excerpt from this article:Fitbit and pharmaceutical giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer have inked a multiyear partnership to accelerate the detection and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation to reduce the risk of life-threatening e...
Source: Lab Soft News - October 31, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Public Health Telemedicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
High Risk Surgical Patients Have Lower Mortality Rates at Major Teaching Hospitals
I firmly believe that it's important to get oneself to a major teaching hospital if you fall into the category of a high risk, general surgery patient. A recent article put some numbers to this advice (see:High risk patients have lower mortality rates at major teaching hospitals). Below is an excerpt from the article:New research published in the Annals of Surgery shows that high-risk general surgery patients have greater survival rates at major teaching hospitals than at non-teaching hospitals....The 30-day mortality rate for these high-risk patients was 15.9% at major teaching hospitals, compared with 18.2% at ...
Source: Lab Soft News - October 30, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Delivery Hospital Financial Medical Research Population Health Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Sony Develops Health Wearable Providing Connectivity, Stipulating That It's Not a Smartwatch
I have spent a lot of time blogging about health wearables, particularly the Apple Watch, as a component of the Apple health ecosystem (see:Using the Apple Ecosystem to Support Health Research and Clinical Trials) and digital health (see:What Is Digital Health and How Does a Health System Get There?;Consideration of the Organizational and Personal Digital Health Managers of the Future). I view wearables, and the diagnostic devices that connect to mobile phones (see:Six-Lead, Consumer-Facing ECG Device Close to Release to Market), as key elements in the consumer-facing, home-based components in the first tier of healthcare ...
Source: Lab Soft News - October 28, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Point-of-Care Testing Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
