Welcome to the telemedicine review, focusing on the news and functions of telemedicine and emerging trends in telemedicine.
According to Health Leaders Media, when telemedicine plans are urgently needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers may have overlooked key processes that now require attention.
It is no longer enough to figure out how to speed up virtual care. Health care providers also need to consider three things: whether they are providing the best experience; how telemedicine adapts to their overall care model; and how to build patient trust, especially when people are increasingly concerned about privacy and data issues.
Brian Kalis, general manager of digital health at the consulting firm Accenture, pointed out that due to the special circumstances at the beginning of the pandemic, “the experience that people will accept is not optimal. But Kalis told Health Leaders Media that this This kind of goodwill will not last: In the pre-pandemic survey on telemedicine, “50% of people said that a bad digital experience may ruin their entire experience with healthcare providers, or even prompt them to switch to another Medical services” he said.
At the same time, the health system is beginning to evaluate which telemedicine platforms they need to use in the future, Kalis pointed out. This means not only evaluating how telemedicine fits into the overall care model, but also evaluating the workflow that best suits clinicians and patients.
Kalis said: “Consider how to integrate virtual and physical environments as part of providing care.” “There is an opportunity that virtual health is not a stand-alone solution, but a solution that can be integrated into the traditional care model. ”
Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association, emphasized that an important factor in building trust is data security. She told the health leader media: “Organizations need to ensure that they are restricted in terms of privacy and security, especially network security.”
In Accenture’s telemedicine survey before COVID, “We have seen a decline in trust in technology companies, because medical data managers are decreasing, but we have also seen a decline in trust in doctors. This is historically There is a high degree of trust,” Kalis observed.
Kalis added that in addition to strengthening relationships with patients, the health system also needs to establish transparency in all aspects of communication, including how organizations protect telemedicine data. He said: “Transparency and accountability can earn trust.”
According to Health IT Security, the thirty most popular mobile health applications are vulnerable to application programming interface (API) cyber attacks that may allow unauthorized access to patient data, including protected health information and personal identities information.
These findings are based on a study by Knight Ink, a network security marketing company. The companies behind these apps agree to participate, as long as the discovery is not directly attributable to them.
The report shows that the API vulnerability allows unauthorized access to complete patient records, downloadable laboratory results and X-ray images, blood tests, allergies, and personal information such as contact information, family member data and social security numbers. Half of the records accessed in the study contained sensitive patient data. Alissa Knight, a partner cyber security analyst at Knight Ink, said: “The problem is clearly systemic.”
Health IT Security pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of mobile medical applications has skyrocketed and attacks have also increased. Since the start of the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, the number of attacks on healthcare network applications has increased by 51%.
Health IT Security wrote: “The report adds to previous data and highlights the huge privacy risks posed by third-party applications that are not covered by HIPAA.” “A large number of reports show that mobile health and mental health applications are often shared Data, and there is no transparency policy on the behavior.”
The US Department of Justice announced that a man from Florida, along with Nevada company Sterling-Knight Pharmaceuticals and three others, pleaded guilty to federal charges in a long-running telemedicine pharmacy medical fraud conspiracy.
The allegations involve conspiracy to defraud pharmacy benefits administrators nationwide for US$174 million because they filed a total of US$931 million in claims for fraudulent prescriptions purchased from telemarketing companies. The Justice Department stated that prescriptions are used for topical painkillers and other products.
Derrick Jackson, an agent of the Atlanta HHS Inspector General’s Office, said: “After improperly soliciting patient information, these marketing companies obtained approval through contracted telemedicine prescriptions and then sold these expensive prescriptions to Pharmacies in exchange for rebates.” Statement.
“Healthcare fraud is a serious criminal problem that affects every American. The FBI and its law enforcement partners will continue to allocate resources to investigate these crimes and prosecute those that are intended to deceive the health care system,” responsible Joseph Carrico (Joseph Carrico) added. The FBI is located at its headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Individuals who plead guilty face prison sentences, and sentencing is scheduled for later this year. The other defendants involved in the case will stand trial in the Knoxville District Court in July.
Judy George reports on neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today, covering brain aging, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism , Headache, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, etc. follow
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Post time: Mar-01-2021