Verizon Business on Monday announced its new BlueJeans Telehealth technology. The company bills it as a simple and accessible means of connecting patients and providers remotely via video. WHY IT MATTERS Expected to be generally available next month, BlueJeans Telehealth is designed to offer an intuitive experience for patients, providers and administrators, say Verizon Using […]
Telehealth has the potential to expand access to care to previously underserved populations. However, it also has the possible side effect of worsening health disparities – and it’s vital, stakeholders say, to make changes to address that dynamic as soon as possible. “The pandemic brought telehealth to the forefront of everybody’s mind,” said Dr. […]
Speaking on Thursday at Sirona Strategies’ Health IT Leadership Roundtable, newly-minted National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi offered an overview of ONC’s strategic priorities for the near future, and described how the agency is doing tactical work on wider Biden administration policy goals. Of course, said Tripathi, “Job number one is COVID-19 right now. […]
As of 1 March, researchers can request access to two COVID-19 vaccine datasets through the HDR Innovation Gateway, set up by the national institute for health data science, HDR UK. The datasets available are the England COVID-19 Immunisation dataset and the Welsh COVID-19 Vaccination dataset. England’s COVID Immunisation dataset is now available through the Office for National […]
In a major move announced by HSJ today, NHSX plans to merge into a new transformation directorate to combine digital and operational improvement teams within NHS England and NHS Improvement. Although first proposed at a board meeting in January, NHS England is still waiting for full approval from the Treasury and the Department of Health and […]
Montana state senators this past week unanimously voted to pass a telehealth expansion bill out of committee. The bill, introduced by Sen. Rhonda Knudsen, R-Culbertson, by request of the state auditor, would safeguard telehealth coverage after the COVID-19 pandemic. “My constituents care about this, and this is important to everyone in Montana,” said Knudsen […]
A growing body of research demonstrates that social determinants of health (SDoH), such as healthcare literacy, income level and living environment, have a profound impact on patient outcomes. “We know as much as 80% of our health and well-being are determined by factors including whether someone can access and afford medical care – as well […]
A bipartisan group of U.S. representatives has reintroduced a bill aimed at expanding access to telehealth beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2021 legislation was introduced this past week by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., cosponsored by Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, David Schweikert, R-Ariz., John Curtis, R-Utah; and Doris Matsui, […]
The sluggish rollout of COVID-19 vaccines so far has many causes, but one of the biggest has been a suboptimal infrastructure for coordination and record keeping. A new coalition of some of the biggest healthcare and technology organizations is hoping to change that, and quickly. WHY IT MATTERS The new Vaccination Credential Initiative announced Thursday […]
Microsoft on Monday announced that it would be undertaking a strategic partnership with the Alphabet company Verily and with MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute to accelerate new innovations in biomedicine through the Terra platform. Terra is an open-source platform, historically run on Google’s cloud infrastructure, that researchers can use to analyze data in scientific […]
