News From Around the Web
> A Canadian mobile health innovation aims to prevent deaths and improve the health of expectant mothers, newborns and children throughout the developing world with an app that turns smartphones or tablets into diagnostic tools. Vancouver-based LionsGate Technologies (LGTmedical), is scaling up development of the Phone Oximeter, according to an announcement. Announcement
> Sacramento-area youth in the early stages of serious mental illness can receive a new smartphone app that helps them detect early warning signs of psychosis, through a one-year, $588,000 grant to the UC Davis Early Diagnosis and Preventive Treatment (EDAPT) Clinic from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to study whether harnessing mobile technology improves patient care, according to an announcement about the program, named Ginger.io. Announcement
Health IT News
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Monday updated language in its hardship exemption applications for Fiscal Year 2015 for both eligible hospitals and eligible professionals participating in the Medicare Meaningful Use incentive program. The updates come in the wake of hardship excemption flexibility announced Feb. 27 at HIMSS14 in Orlando, Fla. Article
> Inaction on the part of a Washington-based hospital following a notification of HIPAA non-compliance has led to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights issuing its first fine of a local government. Article
Provider News
> In the wake of a recent study that found patient-centered medical homes don't significantly improve quality or save money, a congressional agency questioned the model and its payment mechanisms. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) expressed concern last week during a public hearing with the PCMH recognition standards and bonuses that practices receive for treating patients in a medical home. Article
And Finally... College kids are the real animals in this sad situation. Article