- Study Predicts Huge Toll Of Hepatitis C Drugs On California Budget (khn.org)
California Association of Health Plans estimates that paying for the patients’… hepatitis C medications in prisons and state hospitals, or through Medi-Cal (Medicaid) and other state programs, could range from $512 million to $5.1 billion..
- Survey: Providers need better cost analytics tools for payments (healthcareitnews.com)
'Finance departments will need to prepare to manage these challenges and have better systems to measure performance'...providers shift away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment models, they're hitting some serious roadblocks – one of them being that the majority of them lack sophisticated IT tools and analysis to support these new models.
- Robotic-assisted tele-rounding effective for NICU patients (fiercehealthit.com)
…offsite doctors with the assistance of remote-controlled robots and direct bedside care providers to be just as effective,.., compared with typical in-person care…On-site…5 minutes per patient…offsite doctors averaged 8 minutes due to slow or dropped Internet connections and time needed to operate the robot.
- Nonadherence to Lupus Treatment Heightens Hospital Admissions (pharmacytimes.com)
Many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus don’t adhere to their medications, leading to significantly more emergency department visits and hospital admissions. "Patients often think that their medication is just to treat their symptoms… patients feel they can choose when to take their medication based on how they feel."
- Express Scripts, CVS Rank in Worst Companies for Workers (pharmacytimes.com)
Express Scripts has been named the worst company to work for in the United States, while CVS ranked 12th on the same list. 24/7 Wall St. compiled the rankings using data from career website Glassdoor, which gathers ratings on more than 400,000 companies globally.
- Providers grapple with cybersecurity (healthcareitnews.com)
Anti-virus, firewalls deployed as protection, but most recognize need for more advanced strategies...Two-thirds of health organizations polled...latest cybersecurity survey say they've recently experienced a "significant security incident."...
- From data to EHRs, clinician offers ‘modest technology agenda’ (fiercehealthit.com)
While big data, electronic health records and patient engagement tools are seen as the big solutions to improving healthcare, there are more modest goals clinicians eye to provide better care,…Using good data, instead of just big data…tools need to be used not just for documentation and billing, but also to help clinicians learn
- Study: Med sync programs a ‘win-win-win’ (drugstorenews.com)
...adoption of technology-driven medication synchronization by community pharmacies results in improved patient adherence, increased revenue streams, and overall improvement in business optimization for pharmacies. That’s according to an analysis of five pharmacy case studies conducted for the National Community Pharmacists Association.
- Navigation Apps for Blind Now on Wearable Devices (pharmacytimes.com)
Two apps designed to assist those with visual impairments can now be used hands-free on wearable devices, such as Apple Watch...Novartis’s ViaOpta Nav app uses... vibration and voice guidance settings to…navigate unfamiliar environments using the device’s camera and voiceover features.
- 5 ways medical tourism can go wrong (fiercehealthcare.com)
Medical tourism…many patients may return from abroad with costly infections or complications. "People are travelling abroad without necessarily understanding that if (something) goes wrong they are not covered in the same way in terms of redress if they were treated by the National Health System or treated privately..."