Ext: FDA Addressing Cybersecurity

FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) issued the discussion paper Strengthening Cybersecurity Practices Associated with Servicing of Medical Devices: Challenges and Opportunities, seeking early input from groups and individuals outside of FDA. According to FDA, cybersecurity is a widespread issue affecting medical devices connected to the internet, networks, and other devices. Cybersecurity is ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: New Device Monitoring Newborns

If a newborn is moved or becomes agitated while on a ventilator, the breathing tube can also move. Just a few seconds with the tube in the wrong position may lead to a critical lack of oxygen to the brain, possibly resulting in lifelong disability, brain damage, or even end the babys life. If a ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: TDOC & Microsoft to Collaborate

On July 14, Teladoc (TDOC) https://www.teladoc.com, announced a collaboration with Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com, where Teladocs Solo platform for hospitals and health systems will be integrated into the Microsoft Teams environment. Both companies will dedicate engineering resources as part of the collaboration and aim to deliver providers a more seamless and unified experience by leveraging data, artificial ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: AI Helps Achieve Better Treatments

Mayo Clinic https://mayoclinic.org, leaders have identified several areas of opportunity for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare. For example, cardiovascular medicine doctors and scientists at Mayo Clinic are combining AI with clinical practice for better care. AIat Mayois being used to program computers to process and respond to data quickly and consistently for ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: GSA Awards GWAC III Contract

GSAs 8(a) STARS GWACs have a long standing partnership with SBA to support 8(a) firms and also provide a way for federal agencies to deliver critical IT services while working with small, disadvantaged businesses. GSA https://www.gsa.gov, has awarded the first phase of the new 8(a) STARS III Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) with a ceiling of ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Bill Introduced to Help Rural Hospitals

Representatives Drew Ferguson (R-GA) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) have introduced the Save Rural Hospitals Act of 2021 to help curb hospital closures in rural communities by ensuring fairness in Medicare hospital payments. As a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, rural hospitals continue to lose revenue despite playing an essential role in serving their ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Tech Helping Multilingual Patients

The Lowell Community Health Center https://lchealth.org,is using technology to help multilingual patients access COVID-19 vaccines. On any given day, up to 60 different languages can be heard at the Health Center located in Lowell Massachusetts. The initial rollout is focused on reaching patients who speak one of the health centers four most spoken languages to ...

Posted July 19, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Ideas to Advance Breakthroughs

The Presidents proposed FY 2022 budget requests $6.5 billion to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to be housed within NIH. The goal is to develop breakthroughs to prevent, detect, and treat diseases like Alzheimers, diabetes, and cancer. In an article published in Science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Connected Health: Impact of AI

Parks Associates 2021 Connected Health Summit https://parksassociates.com, highlighted the session Personalization in Connected Health: Impact of AI. The speakers discussed how sensor data and related devices are making it possible for healthcare to use data driven services to effectively diagnose and provide patient monitoring care remotely. Visionary insight on the topic was provided by Andy ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Amazon Care in the News

As Credit Suisse https://www.credit-suisse.com notes, Amazon Care in the news is not a surprise. Business Insider is reporting that Amazon Care has approached Aetna/CVS and several regional insurers like Premera Blue Cross, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts etc., to join their networks as a covered benefit. The article also notes that the reason Amazon ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: HHS IT Plan Discusses 5 goals

According to Perryn B. Ashmore, HHS Chief Information Officer, the HHS IT Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2023 represents the Departments ambitions to deliver core technology functions with greater agility, security, and effectiveness now and in the future. The HHS IT FY 2021-2023 Plan focuses on five core goals: Goal 1 requires the agency ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Biorepository Now Available Globally

The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) https://mcgill.ca/neuro, is launching the Clinical Biospecimen Imaging and Genetic (C-BIG) Repository one of the worlds largest highly curated biorepositories of neurological disorders in the world, as an open access resource for the global scientific community. There is an urgency for our patients since there have been no major breakthroughs ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Sensor System to Detect Outbreaks

A Rockefeller Foundations https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org, grant will enable collaborating with the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center in San Diego. The funding will enable the creation of a sensor-based early warning system for COVID-19 plus other viral outbreaks focusing on underrepresented and high risk communities. The Collaboration will enable expansion of the DETECT study https://detectstudy.org, which uses ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: MACPAC Releases Report

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), in June 2021,released a report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP. Chapter 4 looks at how EHRs can be used to strengthen clinical integration and improve patient care. According to the report, EHR adoption remains low among behavioral health providers. The Commission has previously commented on ...

Posted July 12, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: FCC Approves 36 Pilot Programs

On June 17, 2021, the FCC https://www.fcc.gov, approved 36 additional pilot projects for over $31 million. The new pilot projects join an initial set of 23 projects approved earlier this year bringing the total to over $57 million for 59 pilot projects serving patients in 30 states plus Washington D.C. According to CMS, telehealth activity ...

Posted July 5, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Effort to Launch DATAcc

The Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc) is being launched https:datacc.dimesociety.org, to develop best practices and to streamline the fields approaches to measuring health using digital technologies. The DATAcc includes FDA, HHS, and more than 20 organizations hosted by the Digital Medicine Society. DATAcc comprises leaders from across the government, non-profits, and the private sector, ...

Posted July 5, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch


Ext: Digital Health Report Released

Credit Suisse https://www.credit-suisse.com, has published their digital health industry primer as well as the companion slide deck. The Primer Healthcare Digital Transformation is Here to Stay: Identifying LT Winners is the Key, provides a detailed discussion of 13 high growth digital health verticals across healthcare services. The high growth digital health verticals across healthcare services ...

Posted July 5, 2021 by Carolyn Bloch