HIMSSCast

COVID-19 pandemic exposes vulnerabilities in the digital ecosystem; CMS anticipates $33 Medicare Part D Premiums . Plus: WellSky is deepens its social determinants of health offerings by acquiring Healthify.Links to the stories:Healthcare data breaches on the riseMedicare Part D average premiums to increase nearly 5% in 2022, CMS saysWellSky beefs up community care tools with Healthify acquisition

Limitations and uncertainty around telehealth reimbursement have always been an impediment to adoption. During the COVID-19 emergency, that burden was eased somewhat, but now the new normal is starting to take shape. What barriers still remain to telehealth reimbursement, and how might they be overcome?  To answer that question, host Jonah Comstock and Healthcare Finance News Managing Editor Susan Morse welcome McKinsey & Company Partners Oleg Bestsennyy and Gunjan Khanna.This episode is brought to you by BlueJeans.Talking points:COVID-19 reimbursement changes and which of them will stick aroundAdoption lessons learned and how they’ll influence reimbursement policyHolistic tele-care and care beyond the video visitInfluence of new entrants and innovation on the spaceIs fee-for-service reimbursement an innovation blocker?Reimbursement for different telehealth modalitiesTime to lead rather than follow for private payers?The still-unresolved question of induced utilizationThe rise of value-based care and hybrid care modelsTelehealth reimbursement and health equityHow are patients feeling about telehealth now?Final thoughts: the future of telehealth reimbursementMore about this episode:Report shows 'vast improvement' in state telehealth reimbursement policiesCOVID-19 may permanently alter the telehealth landscape, from reimbursement to utilizationTelehealth reimbursement parity spurs insurer concerns of overutilizationCMS will reimburse for 11 new telehealth services during the public health emergencyTelehealth: A quarter-trillion-dollar post-COVID-19 reality? (McKinsey)COVID-19 Consumer Healthcare Insights: What 2021 may hold (McKinsey)How COVID-19 has changed the way US consumers think about healthcare (McKinsey)

Health systems across the board are increasingly embracing digital transformation initiatives as the impact of the pandemic subsides.  The events of the past year have highlighted areas in need of immediate change that demand a different approach.  Key among these changes is simplification of the clinical IT experience, reducing and removing IT backpressure that distracts caregivers from the clinical experience.  By deliberately approaching the resources and information clinicians need, presented as a simplified and aggregated set of tools, Healthcare IT can accelerate the digital transformation efforts.

2020 was the year that "Zoom" entered our vocabulary as a verb meaning "to video chat". For Zoom it was a year that their customer base exploded, including in the healthcare space. It was a year of validation for the then nine-year-old tech company, but also a year of the sorts of challenges that come from rapid, unexpected scaling. On today's HIMSSCast, Zoom Head of Healthcare joins guest host Kat Jercich to look back at  a tumultuous time, and look ahead to the future.This episode is brought to you by Zoom.Talking points:Zoom’s pre-pandemic healthcare business and how it changedFactors that helped Zoom in healthcare thrive during the pandemicDealing with a huge uptake in customer and end user volumePatient engagement with telehealth, a pleasant surpriseFocusing on convenience and flexibility, with or without reimbursementAccommodating people with disabilities and different needsZoom’s journey to ubiquityDealing with Zoom bombing and other security and privacy challengesZoom’s mission to “deliver happiness”Looking ahead to the future at ZoomMore about this episode:How to ensure your telehealth offering is up to codeWhat Zoom is bringing to telemedicineEnterprise video conferencing company Zoom teams up with Epic to launch configurable telehealth platformTriHealth switches to Zoom for pandemic, sees 3,650% increase in telehealth useUsing Zoom with Epic to bring telehealth to kids during COVID-19Weaving Zoom into workflow and updating EHR saves clinic during COVID-19

As Point-of-Care Ultrasound use continues to proliferate through the healthcare landscape, organizations are being challenged to properly capture, manage, and integrate that imaging content with the rest of the enterprise. It is imperative to develop a strategy early in your adoption of POCUS for consistent management of all types of clinical images. Proper planning ensures their availably and integrity for both clinical care and future research efforts. Julie McDonald, RN (Senior Customer Success Manager) and Lyle McMillin (Product Manager) will walk you through considerations and best practices Hyland has discovered for developing end-to-end POCUS workflows.

In this new episode of the HIMSS21 Changemaker Podcast series, a HIMSSCast production, Healthcare IT News Executive Editor Mike Miliard speaks with Isaiah Nathaniel, chief information officer at Delaware Valley Community Health, a private, non-profit health system, based in Philadelphia, that provides medical, dental and behavioral health services to patients – whether or not they're able to pay.In this interview, Nathaniel explains how Delaware Valley Community Health, which operates seven Federally Qualified Health Centers in the region, was able to respond to the early days of the COVID-19 public health emergency, and configuring and scaling up its IT resources and telehealth capabilities. He talks about interoperability, public health information exchange, vaccine outreach, SDOH data management and much more.In June, HIMSS (parent company of Healthcare IT News) named the first recipients of the Changemakers in Health Awards, meant to recognize leaders worldwide who are harnessing information and technology toward better health outcomes. The awardees will be recognized at the 2021 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for August 9-13 in Las Vegas. Check back in the weeks and months ahead for more podcast interviews with other healthcare leaders from this year's list.Themes and talking points in this Changemaker Podcast episode:The importance and the value of FQHCsHow DVCH was able to maintain its full workforce during the pandemicDeploying telehealth capabilities in just a week and a halfEnabling interoperability that's equitableBuilding technology that better serves the patient and provider experienceLinks related to this episode:HIMSS names 2021 Changemaker Award winnersThe role of health systems in empowering communitiesHospitals facing big hurdles to public health data reportingDigital health literacy as a social determinant of healthFCC awards Massachusetts FQHC Telehealth Consortium $3.1MDigital health tools can help with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancyMedical groups urge racial data collection efforts for COVID-19 vaccinations

Jenna Date and Adam Paulisick will share their ‘how to’s’ on the interactions, environment and process it takes to make services and products simple. They collaborated with a brilliant cross-functional team, and together they created a mobile interface for physicians. The team started with empathy for the doctors they served, they mixed in Human-Centered Design and a good dose of the agile development process. What emerged was a simple product; built by, and for, physicians. With wit, speed and a bit of humor, Jenna and Adam will retell their story, and reveal the growth mindset and 'secret sauce' that made the team’s collaboration a success for the physicians they serve.

Amwell pursues M&A to grow into new markets; AMA joins the call for mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers . Plus: The Department of Veterans Affairs will not continue to deploy its Cerner electronic health record at any more sites for at least the next six months.Links to the stories:Amwell furthers behavioral health, patient automation services via SilverCloud, Conversa Health M&AAMA adds voice to providers and others calling for vaccine mandates for healthcare workersVA will stop Cerner EHR rollouts until next year

Host Jonah Comstock and MobiHealthNews Managing Editor Laura Lovett welcome Heather Mack — former MobiHealthNews Associate Editor and now the head of content and editorial and Greylock Partners — to look back at another serious  funding quarter for digital health, and identify some of the trends that drove the investment.This episode is brought to you by OnTrak.Talking points:How the pandemic exposed the promise, and importance, of digital healthMental health care as a major investment trend in the quarterIs "digital health" just health now?People are realizing how much digital health can doDigital health is here to stay — not a bubbleAdoption, not innovation, is the current biggest driverTelehealth beyond the video visitOnline healthcare habits are becoming the normWhat's the over-saturation risk for digital health niches?SPACs and IPOs — what do they mean?M&As — consolidation vs diversificationThe impact of Amazon Haven's rise and fallQuiet innovation in backend AI/MLExpectations for the second half of the yearMore about this episode:Q2 wraps up with more than $6.2 billion in digital health investmentsHealthcare automation startup Olive scores $400MDigital MSK startup SWORD Health lands $85M in Series CWith more mega deals on the table, 2021 has already surpassed last year's funding total, says Rock Health reportMaker of computerized cardiac models HeartFlow to go public via $2.4B SPAC mergerBaby tech company Owlet hits NYSE after closing SPAC mergerMultimodal primary care provider Carbon Health scores $350M to become largest in the U.S. and more digital health fundingsWeight loss app Noom scores $540M in Series F fundingRo raises $500M, bringing its D2C virtual care business to a $5B valuationOscar Health's CEO on how insurance companies have transformed during COVID-19Amazon Pharmacy offers customers six months of prescription medication for $6

Despite the widespread adoption telehealth saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, many telehealth deployments still fall short of real user-friendliness, providing less-than-ideal patient experiences, especially for certain populations that might have less access to reliable internet or less experience with telecommunications.On this episode, guest host and Healthcare IT News Senior Editor Kat Jercich welcomes Amy Sheon, research director at the Telehealth Equity Coalition, to discuss this  important topic.This episode is brought to you by BlueJeans.Talking points:For whom is telehealth not working?Why it took health systems some time to tumble to their equity challengesTesting devices on the right groupsCommunity health workers might be the key to reaching difficult populationsThe Telehealth Equity CoalitionOther resources available for people making telehealth offerings more equitableEquity issues around internet access and digital redliningWhat can telehealth vendors do?Policy solutions for health equityTelehealth accessibility for people with disabilitiesAsynchronous communication as an accommodationMore about this episode:To achieve healthcare equity, telehealth must be expanded to rural and underserved communities Telehealth used less in disadvantaged areas, Health Affairs study findsEliminating audio-only telehealth coverage could put safety net clinics at riskWomen are less likely to use video for telehealth careTelehealth may worsen digital divide for people with disabilitiesTelehealth has enabled wider access during COVID-19 – but not for everyoneCould telehealth worsen inequity? 'Not under my watch,' says HHS Sec. BecerraHims & Hers, ATA, and 10 others launch Telehealth Equity Coalition