Tag: technology

HLTH Foundation Launches ‘Techquity for Health’ Coalition to Help Integrate Health Equity Standards into Healthcare Technology & Data Practices

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– National Survey, Live Today, Will Benchmark Techquity in Healthcare Industry – 

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — HLTH Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit of HLTH, Inc., today announced the formation of the Techquity for Health Coalition, with a mission to assimilate health equity considerations into healthcare technology innovation and data practices across the industry. Additionally, the Coalition simultaneously launched a broad national survey of techquity in healthcare, available here, with a call for healthcare leaders to participate as respondents in this important and unique industry benchmark.

HLTH FOUNDATION LAUNCHES ‘TECHQUITY FOR HEALTH’ COALITION
HLTH FOUNDATION LAUNCHES ‘TECHQUITY FOR HEALTH’ COALITION

The Coalition defines techquity as the strategic design, development, and deployment of technology to advance health equity, and encompasses the notion that technology can inhibit advancements in health equity if not implemented intentionally and inclusively.

“Technology and data analytics offer enormous promise to improve care access and quality, but also add new layers of consideration for health equity,” said Janna Guinen, Executive Director of the HLTH Foundation, which established the Coalition with Ipsos Healthcare as a strategic research partner. “We urge healthcare leaders to participate in the techquity survey. With the continued digitization of healthcare, action is needed now to avoid further entrenchment of systemic inequities and outcomes disparities,” she said.

The Coalition intends to develop and gain consensus around metrics, best practices and standards to operationalize techquity in healthcare, as well as monitor industry progress.

Findings from the survey will be announced at the ViVE 2023 event in Nashville, taking place March 26 – 29. The Coalition’s research is supported by the American Medical Association, Amazon Web Services, EmpiRx Health, Epistemix, Hopelab, NTT DATA, Outcomes4Me, ResMed, Tegria, and VSP Vision Global Innovation Center.

Research efforts are guided by an Advisory Committee consisting of founding supporters and additional partners, including Ricky

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California’s SB 876: A Missed Opportunity for Education Technology

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California’s SB 876 is a bill that would create a state Digital Education Equity Program (DEEP). This program will be run by the California Department of Education, and the sponsors of the bill argue it would give help and training to schools and other educational organizations in using technology in their classrooms.

The bill would require the California Department of Education to authorize grants to each of the state’s 58 county offices of education. Each county office of education would have to tell the department of education what they did with the money, who they helped, and how much money they used every year. (One of the co-authors of this post sat for some years on a county board of education and can testify that county offices don’t have the capacity to properly evaluate grant proposals in this area.)

Much of the impetus for the bill appears to be addressing the “digital divide” in education. The digital divide refers to “the gap between those with sufficient knowledge of and access to technology and those without,” per an American University blog post. 

According to the bill’s author: 

Educators in many schools lack access to sufficient information and professional development to cost-effectively plan for and implement current and emerging technology to support instruction. … Without a coordinated State and regional focus on policy, programs, and funding, many districts do not have equal access to the resources needed to select, access, and implement technology in classrooms effectively and to provide students access to these resources from homes.

In theory, DEEP would aim to help schools improve their use of technology in the classroom by providing funding for things like teacher training, resources and equipment, and online instruction. It would supposedly also help align technology use with the state’s education standards.

However, SB

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WELL Health joins Digital Technology Supercluster Project to Advance Interoperability and Leverage AI to Reduce Provider Burdens

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VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 13, 2023 /CNW/ – WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) (“WELL” or the “Company“), a company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare providers and their patients globally, is pleased to announce it has partnered with ORX Surgical (“ORX“), Tali AI (“Tali“), and Simon Fraser University (“SFU“) to transform healthcare data into actionable insights through a Digital Technology Supercluster (“DTS“) project called Health Compass.

There has historically been large amounts of data locked in outdated and inefficient electronic medical records (“EMR“) that have proven to be a major cause of burnout for physicians. Sorting through massive amounts of data takes a physician’s time away from delivering care to their patients. Health Compass applies artificial intelligence to existing EMRs, helping physicians find the insights they need, and make critical decisions faster for their patients. Health Compass offers a natural voice interface that recognizes physicians’ voices to streamline clinical documentation and queries for patients, applies predictive analytics to help flag high-need patients, and automates the patient journey in primary care and specialty care to connect patients with life changing care quickly.

WELL and its internal several subsidiaries participating in the project (AwareMD, OSCAR Pro, Intrahealth, Ocean, Doctorcare, apps.health) have secured $3M in co-investment funding from DTS to support WELL’s platform which will be used to pilot the Health Compass project. More specifically, the project will leverage and build upon WELL’s open and FHIR-based apps.health ecosystem to seamlessly integrate the Health Compass capabilities into the EMR. The funding will also be used enhance the ability for digital health innovations to interoperate with EMRs and make it easier for providers to augment their EMR with the latest innovations

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MRO Enhances Executive Leadership Team with Two Healthcare Technology Veteran Hires

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Matt Wildman, Chief Commercial Officer, and Moliehi Weitnauer, Chief Product Officer, join MRO to help drive growth and innovation

NORRISTOWN, Pa., Jan. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — MRO, Corp. (MRO), the leading clinical data exchange platform in healthcare, announced today two key additions to the executive leadership team. Matt Wildman has joined as Chief Commercial Officer and Moliehi (Mo) Weitnauer as Chief Product Officer. MRO’s enhanced leadership team brings deep expertise in clinical data circulation and a shared passion to transform the clinical data exchange for providers, payers, and users of clinical data.

Weitnauer enjoys a robust skillset in product strategy and product management, having helped build product organizations for many leading companies. Most recently, she did so at Cotiviti, where she was senior vice president of corporate and product strategy, and FinThrive, where she led product management for the billing and denials management solutions portfolio.

“Clinical data exchange is a core challenge in the healthcare industry. MRO is at the epicenter of this industry challenge and is positioned to continue to bring unique enterprise clinical data exchange solutions to the market,” said Weitnauer. “I’m excited to join a company with deep expertise and advanced technology in clinical data exchange and I’m looking forward to driving innovation and helping shape the portfolio of solutions into the future,” she continued.

Wildman brings a wealth of experience with clinical data and technology. Prior to joining MRO, Wildman spent 20 years with Cerner Corporation in a variety of roles, including general manager of Cerner Australia, head of sales, and senior vice president of client relationships. In Wildman’s new role as chief commercial officer, he is accountable for MRO’s go-to-market strategies, market expansion, and creating deeper alignment with current and prospective clients.

“Healthcare providers are overwhelmed with requests for clinical data, a

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Top 10 Health Technology Hazards in 2023 to Watch

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Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2023

What You Should Know:

– ECRI, the nation’s largest non-profit patient safety organization, names communications gaps with recalls of home-use medical devices as the nation’s most pressing health technology safety issue for 2023.

– ECRI’s Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2023 list identifies the potential sources of danger that will warrant the greatest attention for the coming year and offers practical recommendations for reducing risks. 

Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2023

For 2023, ECRI’s report includes a series of challenges to industry, urging manufacturers to pursue device or process improvements that could mitigate—or even eliminate—some of the hazards included on the list. With healthcare facilities understaffed and healthcare workers overstressed, it’s more important than ever that technologies be designed in ways that ensure their safe use.

The 10 topics on ECRI’s 2023 hazards list are listed below in rank order:

1. Gaps in Recalls for At-Home Medical Devices cause patient confusion and harm

Accurate and understandable information about medical device recalls often does not reach patients using those devices in the home; this information gap is growing every year as healthcare moves into the home setting.

2. Growing Number of Defective Single-Use Medical Devices puts patients at risk

An unacceptably high number of defective single-use medical devices continue to be present in the supply chain. Single-use medical devices—which include products that are used once and then discarded, as well as those that get consumed during use—play a role in virtually every patient encounter. As a result, defective products can have a broad, negative impact on patient care, causing delays and increasing costs—and most concerningly, contributing to patient harm or death in some circumstances.

3. Inappropriate Use of Automated Dispensing Cabinet Overrides can result in medication errors

Automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) are used to provide controlled access to

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