On Tuesday, Nuance Communications announced several new innovations for its diagnostic imaging solutions designed to help radiologists enhance patient care.

These include multimedia reports, advanced lung cancer screening registry reporting and enhanced quality guidance content for radiologists at the point of interpretation.

Nuance tells mHealthWatch that it will demonstrate PowerScribe 360 version 3.5 along with these new quality based innovations in booth #4729 at RSNA 2015 November 29 – December 4 in Chicago.
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Today in America, the number of people living with Schizophrenia outnumbers the combined populations of North Dakota and Wyoming.

But as a statement from SARDAA provided to mHealthWatch this week explains, social stigma and a severe lack of resources make managing the disorder a daily struggle.

Since January of 2008, the Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America (SARDAA) has passionately promoted hope and recovery for those with brain conditions, and its new App is about “to revolutionize management of mental health disorders for good.”
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This week, CareSync — a provider of software and services for chronic disease management — informed mHealthWatch that it has secured $18 million in Series B funding.

Round participants include the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (Merck GHI), Greycroft Partners and Harbert Venture Partners, as well as existing investors Tullis Health Investors, Clearwell Group, CDH Solutions and Travis Bond.

The funding “will help CareSync expand to meet demand for its services-enabled technology platform, strengthening its leading position in the emerging patient-centered care coordination market.”
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This morning, the CAQH Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE) today announced the approval of the Phase IV CAQH CORE Operating Rules package for four healthcare business transactions: healthcare claims; prior authorization; employee premium payment; and enrollment and disenrollment in a health plan.

In an effort to ensure that large amounts of data can be shared electronically across the healthcare system, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated national operating rules for the existing HIPAA administrative standards.

According to a provided statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) selected CAQH CORE as the “authoring entity to develop those operating rules, which specify the actions needed to ensure uniform, reliable electronic data transmission.”
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The following is a guest contributed post from Dr. Anthony Oliva of Nuance.

I’m a family medicine physician who has been training residents and medical leaders since President George Bush, Sr. was in office. In that time, I’ve found very few things that get physicians to spring into action or worry outside of a “code blue.” We’re trained to stay calm, methodical in nature, after all, we are trained in a profession steeped in knowledge, science, and statistical proof. And we are a competitive bunch.

When training a group of physicians on the importance of clinical documentation last week, I brought up a screen from an online site that showed “Surgeon Scorecards,” listing specific facilities by location and specialty where I drilled down to show specific physicians’ names. This had a “shock and awe” effect, and left my audience with mouths agape.  Immediately, every doctor in the room whipped out their phones and frantically typed their names in search of reviews, uttering a sigh of relief when they discovered this potentially damaging online scorecard site published performance stats for surgeons only. I had their full attention now.

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In a recent nationwide study conducted by Technology Advice Research, it was found that 75% of people would be skeptical of a diagnosis from a remote physician, or would trust telemedicine less than a live visit. That’s according to coverage of the research by HIT Consultant.

While this number is high, it is not necessarily out of line with the trust rates of new technology. For those of us who recall when online payment processing was new, most of us had hesitations until payment processors or specific websites had a track record of being safe and reliable. The same is likely to be true for telemedicine.

While the overall percentage of those who are skeptical is high, results vary drastically by demographic. For example, only 17% of respondents 18-24 years old, and 25% of respondents 25-44% would be skeptical of a virtual diagnosis.

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FDA clearance — it’s not easy to get, but when you manage to get it, it’s a major accomplishment and a critical component in modern healthcare tech marketing.

Sentrian, a Remote Patient Intelligence company, says it has received confirmation from the Food & Drug Administration that its Remote Patient Intelligence solution reportedly meets the definition of a “medical device” for which the FDA intends to exercise “Enforcement Discretion.”

The designation identifies medical devices that “are not subject to further FDA regulatory requirements at this time” and clears the way for Sentrian to immediately begin marketing its RPI solution broadly in the U.S.
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