News From Around the Web
> Minneapolis-based mHealth developer Preventice has announced that it has enhanced the ability of the company's BodyGuardian remote monitoring system to identify anomalous ECG rhythms and will now provide greater precision in identifying the type of arrhythmias that occurred when reporting events to care teams. According to Preventice co-founder, president and CEO, Jon Otterstatter, the company has improved on the original diagnostic powers of the BodyGuardian by increasing from five to 22, the number of classifications for ECG selection and arrhythmia analysis. Article
> Despite the revolution smartphones have brought to other fields, many hospitals still issue pagers to staff because of their reliability, the hassle of changing to a new system and patient privacy laws. However, Seratis, a smartphone app, is hoping to replace pagers with mobile technology that keeps doctors, social workers and other hospital staff in constant touch and up-to-date with patient care. Through its graphical interface, Seratis gives health care workers an instant look at who has responsibility for a patient at any given time, details about tests and results, current problems caregivers need to be aware of, and a log of previous communications about the patient. The app, which is HIPAA compliant, is currently in small-scale tests in three hospitals. Article
> The Savannah Business Group, a Georgia-based employer coalition and purchasing alliance, has partnered with iSelectMD to offer resolution-based mobile health applications and related services to their member companies. While not intended to replace primary care physicians, the service--which provides 24/7 access to board-certified, state-licensed physicians for consultation and treatment of more than 500 non-emergent clinical conditions--is designed to be used after office hours, on weekends and any other time members are unable to get in to see their doctor. Before using the service, members initially complete a thorough personal health profile. Article
EMR News
> While one intention of electronic health record implementation is to improve provider workflow, that was hardly the case for a pair of southern California hospitals, Medscape Medical News reported. In fact, EHR implementation had the exact opposite effect for residents at both Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno, Calif., and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona, Calif.; it increased the average time of residents for seeing patients and charting the visits from 21 minutes to 37 minutes. Article
Healthcare IT News
> The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has issued proposed changes to its Common Security Framework (CSF) to better protect patient data. Developed by a group of larger healthcare companies, HITRUST aims to create a unified security standard specifically tailored for the healthcare industry. Its draft privacy controls, an effort to keep the framework up to date, include 125 specific changes affecting 35 controls in the CSF. The controls are based on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and some other standards bodies. Article
And Finally… Bieber fever. Article