James Hoevelmann of Sullivan, Missouri, used to work in hospital construction. But these days, even though he suffers from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the retired carpenter, 74, doesn't want to go anywhere near a medical facility. And he doesn't need to, even though his COPD has been bad enough in the past to regularly land him in the emergency room and the intensive care unit. The reason: Hoevelmann now gets his care from Mercy Virtual Care Center some 50 miles away in Chesterfield.
Digital healthcare investing has gone through several waves: 2013 was the year of consumer wearables, 2014 of healthcare big data, 2015 of virtual care delivery and 2016, so far, has been about payer disruption. 2017 will be a return to the core practice of medicine: technology that enables providers and biopharma to extend their reach and take greater risk for outcomes.
Children's Mercy developed an app for babies born with a serious congenital disease. The app already has saved babies' lives and is being expanded to other hospitals.
Bon Secours Health System, Inc. says it is notifying 655,000 patients that R-C Management inadvertently left files containing patient information accessible on the internet when attempting to adjust their network setting from April 18 – 21, 2016. It says approximately 110,000 were patients in the bordering areas of South Carolina and North Carolina.
Officials at a Novato company that provides medical billing and electronic medical records services to many Marin physicians aren't talking about a ransomware attack on their system this month that left doctors unable to access patient records for more than 10 days. Lynn Mitchell, CEO of Marin Medical Practice Concepts, issued a terse email on Aug. 4 confirming that her company had paid a ransom to regain access to its data.
The widespread use of electronic medical records has granted doctors readier access to patient data. Now, the trouble is getting a hold of crucial, up-to-date data, and many find themselves hovered in front of a screen checking to see if new information has been entered in the system. Herald Health, which has roots in Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School, wants to put an end to the waiting game and has just partnered with Brigham and Women's Hospital to do so.