Weekender 9/25/20

Weekly News Recap

• CMS is reportedly preparing to notify the 76% of US hospitals that aren’t submitting daily COVID-19 reports to HHS’s new reporting system that their Medicare payments may be halted.
• A business associate of Community Health Systems will pay $2.3 million to settle charges that it failed to secure its systems even after the FBI warned it that hackers had penetrated them.
• FDA launches the Digital Health Center of Excellence that will advise it on digital health policies and regulatory approaches.
• Microsoft launches Cloud for Healthcare.
• A KLAS Arch Collaborative survey finds that EHRs are not a significant cause of nurse burnout.
• The Carlyle Group acquires a majority stake in global health research network TriNetX.
• Healthcare robotic process automation vendor Olive raises $106 million.
• Informatics pioneer Bill Stead, MD announces that he will retire from Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s senior leadership team after a 29-year career.

Best Reader Comments

A person’s birth sex matters in lab results and medications. How they feel does not and could get them misdiagnosed or possibly killed if I am asked to send how they identify in PID:8. If HL7 wants to add an additional field for delivering how a patient feels about their gender identity, Interface Engineers will deliver it, as we do with all fields. (Don’t Blame The Interfaces)

You aren’t wrong about birth mattering in some situations, but also important to keep in mind that deliberate mis-gendering or dismissiveness of patient gender identity can present a lot of harm to a patient. (Alex)

Congratulations to Dr. Stead. I had the pleasure – as many – at McKesson to work with him on the CPOE system. A gentleman and obvious scholar who was practical is his approach to many of the problems faced by physicians and informatics folks at the time. Dr. Stead, may the sun shine on your face and wind be at your back always. (Mark P)

Your employer / insurer wants to decrease your use of healthcare so that they don’t pay as much. Sending you advertising for healthcare (services) typically increases utilization. Care coordination is expensive in itself and often actually drives up utilization. The majority of Americans at this point are putting off some healthcare issue. Get them into a care management program and suddenly you’re paying for the issue they neglected for the last five years in order to make rent. Pay close attention to their issue and now you catch all the stuff that needs more medical attention. In conclusion, the answer to the question “Why don’t they X?” Is because X doesn’t make them money. (IANAL)

Watercooler Talk Tidbits

Readers funded the Donors Choose teacher grant request of Ms. M in Michigan, who asked for two interactive learning tablets for her elementary school class. She reported in mid-March, “The PBS Kids tablet is a wonderful edition to our classroom. The already installed games really excite our students and help them in the areas of literacy and math. The students are also able to explore with music, art, audible stories and more. They honestly know more about the tablet than I do through exploring. We use the tablet during choice time and also during individual learning time. This tablet really helps the students to have fun, develop technology skills and learn all in one. We could not have gotten this obviously without all of you generous donors. Thank you for caring about our classroom.”

The Los Angeles Chargers team doctor punctures the lung of starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor while administering an injection into his cracked ribs just before kickoff, sending him to the hospital with breathing problems.

Time names Johns Hopkins University engineering professor Lauren Gardner, MSE, PhD as one its 100 most influential people in the world. She led the team that developed the COVID-19 Dashboard in late January in working with first-year PhD student Ensheng Dong, MS while COVID-19 was still contained to China. Her Hopkins role is as associate professor, which seems a bit light for someone who has changed the world. 

A Virginia TV station profiles Nigerian-born otolaryngologist Samkon Gado, MD, who played football for Liberty University, spent six years as an NFL running back, went to medical school and residency, and is now back in Virginia working in an ENT practice with his former college roommate and football teammate. His dream was medical school, not pro football, so he hoped for a four-year NFL career to pay for medical school. He finished his residency caring for COVID-19 patients in St. Louis.

Friends and family of a former World War II Army nurse celebrate her 100th birthday with drive-by greetings. Georgia-born Virginia George says of her post-war move to Binghamton, NY, “I came here over 70 years ago and I haven’t been warm since.”

In Case You Missed It

• News 9/25/20
• EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 9/24/20
• Readers Write: Food for Thought About Apple and Google COVID-Tracing Technology
• HIStalk Interviews Scott Weingarten, MD, Chief Clinical and Innovation Officer, Premier
• News 9/23/20
• Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 9/21/20
• HIStalk Interviews Bill Grana, CEO, HCTec
• Monday Morning Update 9/21/20

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