Show Notes

March 24, 2020: Today Bill Russell brings you the highlights of the latest news in health IT. The global pandemic has put immense pressure on healthcare systems worldwide, and thus news stories are largely centered around the issues of caring for unprecedented numbers of patients. The medical industry is relying heavily on telehealth to mitigate the pressure, but now these systems are breaking down and failing at times due to the number of people phoning in. Bill talks about the three components of telehealth, the relevance of each, and advises health IT workers on keeping these systems running as smoothly as possible. However, now is not the time to implement changes but rather to focus on getting the already-established processes functioning optimally. He also covers the issues with PPE and testing, talks about what EHR vendors are doing to help equip providers, and the steps that big tech companies like Apple and Google have taken to contribute to the solution. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• A few helpful resources for those involved in health IT during the COVID-19 crisis. 
• CNBC’s report about telemedicine companies struggling to serve the volume of patients. 
• Accepting that your telehealth system is likely to break down at some point. 
• Advice for CIOs about dealing with the immense burden on their telehealth systems. 
• The three components of a telehealth system and how important each is likely to be.
• Why you should avoid implementing anything new to your televisit component at the moment. 
• Helpful tips on managing and using the queuing system more effectively. 
• A few examples of health organizations with well-structured websites and online resources. 
• The importance of having a centralized source where accurate information can be obtained. 
• Two of the biggest problems currently: The lack of PPE and COVID-19 testing taking too long. 
• Questions about how EHR vendors are arming providers to handle COVID-19. 
• How Epic is helping organizations to share information through their network.
• What Apple, Google, and other big tech companies are doing to elevate the pressure on healthcare systems.