Methods to Access Alarm Data for Analysis
Difficulty getting access to alarm data is the elephant in the living room in the house of alarm fatigue. There are lots of conference presentations, webinars and papers about analyzing medical device alarm data. What’s missing are detailed discussions on how to get to the actual alarm data in the first place. This post will present a framework for the hardest part of alarm analysis: getting access to alarm data so it can be analyzed. We’re going to define the kind of data we’re seeking, where it can be found, the various ways to get access to said data and finally, analytical tools.
The vast majori...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - March 30, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Clinical Alarms Source Type: blogs
Major EU Remote Monitoring Pilot Results
This post looks at some lessons learned from remote monitoring projects in Europe. This and subsequent posts are based on my last eight years of supporting these projects combined with some thoughts from my implementation experience of technology systems in many different scenarios over the last thirty years. I hope that some of it will be of value to the readers wherever they are in the healthcare industry delivery chain.
Overview
I’m finishing up support of two long-term projects based in Europe that are focused on using remote monitoring technologies and integrated platforms to support chronic disease manage...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - March 17, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Bridget Moorman Tags: Care Delivery Remote Monitoring Source Type: blogs
HIMSS16 Recap
It was great to see so many blog readers and old friends at HIMSS this year. For those who downloaded my list of connected health exhibitors, how did the list work for you? I found sorting by booth number really cut down on running back and forth across the show floor.
The exhibits are always the big draw for me at HIMSS, and this year was no exception. Where else can you meet with companies ranging from embedded system medical devices to digital health to horizontal market IT solutions? This year I visited and talked with 45 companies, all exhibitors but two.
As reported in the pre-HIMSS16 post, digital health (workflow a...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - March 11, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Events HIMSS HIMSS16 Source Type: blogs
4 Ways Health Care Is Different
Conclusion
Every industry has its quirks, health care is just quirkier than most. Keep in mind that of the four ways health care is different along with the examples, all or most of them can apply to any given product or solution. Working through all these issues is often an iterative process that is refined and optimized — and sometimes completely reworked — as experience in the market place is gained.
Have fun! (Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting)
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - February 24, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Mobile Health Strategy & Planning Source Type: blogs
HIMSS16 Preview
It’s back to Las Vegas for HIMSS16 in a bit more than a week, which begs the question, what’s going to be theme of this year’s show? There’s typically very little data to apply to questions like that, until now.
Drew Ivan, Healthcare Solutions Strategist with Orion Health, wrote a post on LinkedIn on HIMSS16 trends – with data! There’s a great diagram that compares the number of presentations under educational session categories have changed between 2015 and 2016. As an example, here are the top 5:
Care Coordination and Population Health – up substantially over last year
Proces...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - February 18, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Events Source Type: blogs
Interview with Sailesh Chutani, CEO, Mobisante
My first exposure to Mobisante and their disruptive diagnostic ultrasound system was the mHealth Summit in November of 2010. At that time, the consumerization of medical devices had been gaining traction, mostly in the physician office market. Consumerization offers medical device manufacturers advantages in lower design costs, shorter time-to-market, lower product costs, increased usability and lower training costs.
I recently got Sailesh Chutani, co-founder and CEO of Mobisante, on the phone and we discussed their product strategy — a software based diagnostic ultrasound that runs on a variety of consumer electroni...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - January 26, 2015 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Business Planning Company Profiles connectivity Product Development Source Type: blogs
The FDA October Workshop on Cybersecurity
If it were possible to be unaware of the general problem of cybersecurity, the recent Sony hack with its public disclosures of “private” e- conversations and then terroristic blackmail, following the earlier release of celebrity cloud photos, ought to have provided notice that what is electronically stored is likely to be available to those determined to have it. Moreover we know that cybersecurity can in principle also impact the function and availability of connected systems (Sony again) and/or the information they contain. We also need to be concerned about the malicious alteration of information or di...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - January 5, 2015 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: William Hyman Tags: Events Standards & Regulatory cybersecurity Source Type: blogs
DHHS OIG Work Plan Targets Networked Devices
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services has released a report (pdf) outlining its 2015 work plan. Among a host of subjects is “Information Technology Security, Protected Health Information, and Data Accuracy” with the subsection “Controls over networked medical devices at hospitals”. The focus here is on the security of patient electronic health information which is to be protected under law. Other risks associated with device networking are not addressed.
The relevant subsection (page 22) is relatively brief:
We will examine whether CMS overs...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - November 10, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: William Hyman Tags: connectivity Healthcare IT Standards & Regulatory Source Type: blogs
Challenges Using Patient Generated Data for Patient Care
When I do presentations on the use of standards, I invariably have a slide which defines interoperability as “the ability of a system or a product to work with other systems or products without special effort on the part of the customer.” My second slide then defines syntactic and semantic interoperability.
Syntactic interoperability occurs when there are two or more systems capable of communicating and exchanging data and this is usually attainable with the use of physical standards, data standards, and messaging structures. Semantic interoperability is defined as the ability to automatically interpret the inf...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - November 4, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: BMoorman Tags: Remote Monitoring Standards & Regulatory Source Type: blogs
FDA Takes Step Backwards with New MDDS Guidance
We examined a few MDDS-related MAUDE reports, MEDSUN entries, and Recall Letters. None of the defect descriptions contained anything surprising to someone with even a modicum of hands-on IT experience. Four selected MDDS defect reports are described below. We quote directly from the FDA databases (typos may be from the original documents) and provide a link to the original complete documents.
Abbott Initiates Voluntary Recall of FreeStyle lnsulinx Blood Glucose Meters
The company has determined that at extremely high blood glucose levels of 1024 mg/dL and above, the FreeStyle lnsulinx Meter will display and store in ...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - September 9, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: connectivity Healthcare IT Patient Safety Standards & Regulatory Source Type: blogs
Inaugural Clinical Alarm Safety Symposium
Clinical alarm safety can be hard to achieve, and once attained, a struggle to maintain. There are so many challenges:
False/positive and non-actionable alarms;
Optimizing default alarm limits across patient populations and for individual patients;
Spread out nursing units with high patient-to-nurse ratios;
Numerous alarm notification methods – audible signal amplification, monitor techs and alarm notification systems;
And the constant threat of complacency and alarm fatigue.
The inaugural Clinical Alarm Safety Symposium, November 20-21, 2014, will delve into these issues and more to provide attendees with actionab...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - August 25, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Clinical Alarms Events Patient Safety symposium Source Type: blogs
Interview with Jim Welch, EVP, Sotera Wireless
This interview is with a long established thought leader in patient monitoring and alarm notification, Jim Welch. Jim has demonstrated a knack for bringing a fresh approach to long-term persistent problems in monitoring, nursing vigilance and patient care. At Sotera Wireless, Jim’s had a chance to re-imagine patient monitoring in low acuity settings with predictably innovative results.
At the AAMI 2014 conference, I had the opportunity to attend the breakfast symposium where Jim presented, Transforming Care in Non-ICU Settings through Disruptive Continuous Monitoring Technology. The following discussion centers on patien...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - August 4, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Clinical Alarms Company Profiles Patient Safety alarm notification Source Type: blogs
Messaging Middleware Growth Strategies
Developing and launching a competitive product, and getting initial traction in the market are not inconsiderable milestones. And yet for the entrepreneur and their investors, this is just the beginning. What was record setting last quarter is barely acceptable this quarter, and next quarter had better be back on track.
Developing a solid plan for growth depends on two things: a good understanding of the basic means to drive growth, and a deep understanding of the market. This post seeks to combine both of these in a brief survey of the key factors to drive messaging middleware revenue growth in health care. We’re go...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - July 28, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Business Planning Clinical Alarms Healthcare IT alarm notification Emergin messaging secure-messaging Source Type: blogs
Connectivity Standards Adoption Over Time
I was listening today to the CE-IT Webinar on CE and HIT from the 2014 AAMI conference in Philadelphia. Much of the session reviewed what has happened over the last five years and it got me thinking about my experiences and what I’ve seen over the last ten years in medical device connectivity and remote monitoring. It’s been an interesting ride and yet I realize there are a few basic ideas that have resonated over the years. These basic ideas are:
Specifying those requirements that are unique to my situation are where I have the most control in acquisition;
There are other players in the market who may change the land...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - July 16, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: BMoorman Tags: Business Planning connectivity Standards & Regulatory Wireless Medical Devices Source Type: blogs
Interview with Todd Dunsirn, CEO, True Process
A while back I had the opportunity to chat with Todd Dunsirn, the CEO of True Process. True Process provides products and services to both hospitals and various manufacturers. The company is focused on the point of care market offering a medication administration solution and a medical device data system.
What was the genesis for starting True Process?
I started the company in 2004. I have an engineering background, and had several other companies doing IT consulting and then web development, and application development. Then I had a friend contact me to develop a bar-code point-of-care simulation so that sales reps that ...
Source: Medical Connectivity Consulting - July 14, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Tim Gee Tags: Company Profiles BCMA MDDS real time location systems Source Type: blogs
