Imprivata Healthcare News Watch 4/8/13

Many of us at the Imprivata Lexington office are enjoying ballpark food today as we gear up to watch the Red Sox play Baltimore in the home opening game.  Whether you’re a sports fan or an avid runner prepping for next week’s Boston Marathon, check out our Healthcare News Watch this week!

Today, we are following stories of how big data could save U.S. citizens as much as $450 billion, Health IT predictions for 2018 and innovative ways of using digital pens in the UK.

What are you reading this week?

Big Data Use Could Save $450 Billion in Healthcare Costs FierceHealthIT - Big data could help U.S. citizens save as much as $450 billion in healthcare costs, but fundamental change is necessary to meeting such goals, according to a new analysis published this month by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Among some of the changes needed, according to the analysis, is a continuation of the move away from fee-for-service care, as well as recognition on the part of both providers and patients that data can be an effective tool.

Health IT In 2018: Crystal Ball Predictions InformationWeek Online - In a new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA), three health IT experts summarize the progress made in the field to date, list the barriers that remain, and make predictions about what will happen in health IT over the next five years. Donald W. Simborg, Don Eugene Detmer and Eta S. Berner, who forecasted the current explosion of health IT in a 2005 article now predict that by 2018 we can expect, among others, near universal EHR adoption, breakthrough user interfaces, emphasis on clinical decision support systems and more.

Mobile Tech Helps NHS Reach Remote Patients InformationWeek Online - Healthcare workers providing in-home care use digital pens to send patient information to and from hospital records systems. Making use of technology from Swedish firm Anoto, a provider of digital writing solutions, nurses write information on specially designed digitized forms within their Patient Held Record (hardware that stays with patients in their own homes). That data is sent via Bluetooth to their phone, which then sends the data to the Trust's server, where it is decrypted and picked up by the SCI Store system by FTP.