News From Around the Web
> An article in the October issue of Health and Technology looks at the design and evaluation of a mobile multimedia information system for communicating patient and emergency incident information within the context of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The system design and requirements were examined and a mobile and web-based information technology system was developed to support EMS information exchange and decision-making. A field study was then conducted across EMS and hospital organizations in the Boise, Idaho region for three months to examine use of the system and practitioner perspectives on its utility. Findings from qualitative analysis include practitioners' willingness to use mobile smartphones to communicate during an emergency, transmit digital images and audio recordings, and the potential benefits and challenges of an mHealth application for augmenting communications processes and medical decision-making. Article
> Rockville, Md.-based health IT provider M3 Information announced that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has approved of the company's M3 Clinician as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Prevalidation Vendor. M3 Clinician, the company's most popular product, uses secure mobile health and web-based technologies to deliver behavioral health risk assessments and progress tracking information to consumers. It is a validated, patient-rated, multidimensional, care coordination tool that screens for behavioral health conditions, including depression, bipolar, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and substance use disorders. Practices using M3 Clinician as their behavioral health technology solution will benefit by receiving NCQA PCMH automatic credit in the approved areas, while being able to better manage their more complex patients, saving money and patient suffering, according to the announcement. Article
> MedDiary, an Indianapolis-based mHealth startup specializing in chronic disease management, has launched its MedDiary app for the iOS platform. The app helps patients manage multiple chronic diseases at once while engaging directly with their healthcare providers for real-time monitoring and support. For multiple chronic diseases, the app allows patients to select the combination of chronic diseases they want to manage (for example, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension). The app then aggregates the selected disease management plans into one seamless interface for the patient. Patients track important data points related to each condition, such as self-testing results (ex. weight, blood glucose), medication intake, food consumption and symptoms. Patients can then share this information with their healthcare providers for immediate feedback or subsequent review during their next checkup. Article
EMR News
> There's a love/hate relationship between physicians and electronic health records, according to a study of physician satisfaction by RAND Health. In data gathered from 30 physician practices in six states, docs reported EHRs had both positive and negative effects on their satisfaction. For instance, while physicians like being able to remotely access patient information and cite improvements in quality of care attributable to EHR technology, many also said they are frustrated with issues including poor usability, time-consuming data entry, less time for face-to-face patient care and degradation of clinical documentation by trying to force it into structured fields. Article
Healthcare IT News
> Due to glitches on the HealthCare.gov website, some applicants are going old-fashioned and applying for health insurance via the new exchanges on paper, the Washington Post reported. "It is a slow and labor-intensive substitute for what was supposed to be a snappy online application, similar to Amazon or Travelocity," the article stated. "But faced with a flood of people eager to get health benefits for the first time, what had been considered Plan B has become the plan--at least until the sites are operating more reliably." Processing paper applications will create delays and complicate what was supposed to be a one-stop shopping process. Article
And Finally… Pillow talk for investors. Article