Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | July 14, 2023
Workers in the healthcare industry are among the most burned out demographics following the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, a report by Medscape on physician burnout and depression in 2022 calculated a five-percentage point increase in burnout overall, from 42% in 2020 to 47% in 2021. Critical care physician burnout was also found to increase from 44% to 51% last year, placing them at the top of Maryville University’s list of physician specialties with the highest cases of burnout. This is closely followed by rheumatology physician burnout, which was 50% in 2021. At the bottom of the list, emergency medicine physician burnout still came in close at a rate of 44%.
Burnout can result in, among other things, exhaustion and a loss of concentration, which can be dangerous in healthcare. With that, advancements in technology have been made to help mitigate stress and reduce the chances of burnout in healthcare.
Maximum Tasks, Minimum Efficiency
Reports show that many technological advancements in the healthcare industry actually aren’t appropriate for managing physician workloads. This is due to the range of tasks physicians need to perform, from creating treatment plans to managing EHRs. Our previous discussion on EHR-Generated Messages highlighted how the misapplication of this algorithm had actually led to these inboxes getting clogged. This has primary care physicians spending more than half their workday interacting with EHRs that only remind physicians to order certain tests, instead of dealing with critical messages from patients or colleagues. This has been counterproductive in terms of efficiency, leading to more burnout symptoms and the tendency to reduce clinical work hours. It is therefore important that technology integrations consistently consider the broader picture of the tasks of physicians.
Tech Developments for Reducing Burnout
Shifts in the industry have thus begun to focus on the quality of efficiency and physician assistance, rather than the quantity of technology available. Here are some notable examples of technology that has become finely integrated within the healthcare industry.
Ambient Technology in Clinical Documentation
Ambient computing streamlines the clinical documentation process by using artificial intelligence to respond to human behavior and needs. This provides front-end speech and computer-assisted documentation, reducing the time needed for physicians to work on admin tasks, and thereby minimizing burnout. Smart hospitals have started leveraging this through sensor-based solutions, and experts from Michigan University believe usage must be made easier and simpler to use for the provider if the healthcare industry is to further leverage ambient computing for CDI. As of 2021, adoption has only started to take off, especially in the revenue cycle.
Computer Modeling in Vaccine Development
The traditional process of designing novel vaccines usually lasts 10 to 15 years and can cost between $200 million and $500 million. However, a feature by News Medical highlights the recent development of COVID-19 vaccines, which uncovered the capabilities of computational modeling systems. This showed an ability to predict which parts of a pathogen may be recognized by the immune system’s B cells and T cells. This allows rapid identification of vaccine targets from a genetic sequence, which reduces the years required for preclinical research. Physicians are thus able to respond faster to vaccine developments, and reduce the overload of health systems during any future pandemics or epidemics in the long term.
Patient Placement Technology
The shortage of physicians is a common setback in the industry, one that staff at the Rice County District Hospital in Lyons, Kansas mitigated using patient placement technology. Patient placement technology coordinated care for patients inside the 25-bed, level 4 hospital, as well as those needing to be transferred to another facility. By integrating local EMS and other transport services with health systems, manual telephone calls were no longer necessary. Hence, physicians were able to quickly and effectively get patients the care they needed while managing time-critical diagnoses. This maximizes the limited resources available without stretching out the workforce. Physicians are able to focus solely on their patients, knowing that the time-consuming logistics are being efficiently handled by technology. The industry needs to continue to look into the practices of reducing burnout among physicians, more so as we continue to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. By emphasizing physician wellness and efficient technology, we can continue to assure the health and productivity of healthcare workers into the future.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | September 8, 2023
Discover the potential of EHR implementation in revolutionizing clinical processes. Uncover strategies for addressing EHR ethical issues, ensuring integration that prioritizes patient-centered care.
Amidst the fusion of healthcare and technology, integrating electronic health records (EHRs) has emerged as a transformative element in modern medical practice. As a digital repository for a patient's medical journey, EHRs present unprecedented prospects for elevated care quality, improved data accessibility, and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, these advancements bring forth an array of EHR ethical issues that demand meticulous attention. In this context, establishing and adhering to the best practices for the ethical training of EHRs assumes paramount importance and a moral obligation. By skillfully navigating the intricate convergence of technology, patient confidentiality, and conscientious healthcare, these ethical EHR best practices illuminate the path toward a future where innovation and ethical principles harmoniously coexist.
1. Upholding Privacy and Confidentiality
Revealing a patient's information to external parties should strictly happen with the patient's explicit consent or within the parameters defined by legal regulations. Data stemming from clinical interactions is confidential and requires rigorous protection. The effective operation of EHRs requires authorized access by healthcare institutions, insurers, and related entities. Access by users is contingent upon predefined role-based privileges. The administrator identifies users, specifies the extent of information accessibility, and allocates exclusive usernames and passwords. Users must be conscientious about responsibly utilizing the information they access within their designated roles. Therefore, assigning user privileges plays a pivotal role in securing medical records. However, while regulating data access remains crucial, it doesn’t completely ensure confidentiality. Strengthening security through comprehensive privacy and security protocols remains essential for reinforcing patient data's inviolabilit.
2. Safeguarding Against Data Breaches
Ensuring patient privacy and safeguarding sensitive medical data is paramount in EHR ethical training. The imperatives of inadequate data security, encompassing compromised medical information, unauthorized access due to weak password safeguards, and the lack of encryption, accentuate the immediate need for a holistic approach. Employing strategies such as secure cloud storage, robust password protocols, two-factor authentication, and encryption is pivotal in enhancing data security, preventing the mishandling of patient records, and abiding by ethical standards. The potential legal and financial consequences of breaches underscore the criticality of these practices in maintaining patient trust and confidentiality within the digital healthcare domain.
3. EHR System Implementation
The integration of EHRs within healthcare organizations poses significant challenges, including resource waste, provider dissatisfaction, diminished patient trust, and potential safety risks. Successful EHR development, implementation, and upkeep demand substantial investment and collaboration among stakeholders, including clinicians, IT experts, educators, and consultants. Clinicians' active engagement is often underestimated, leading to the failure of EHR projects; therefore, clinician-led guidance is crucial in tasks such as EHR selection, workflow design, and quality improvement. Thoroughly mapping workflows before selecting an EHR is crucial, while maintaining user-friendly interfaces remains essential for success. Neglecting these aspects can reduce efficiency, compromise care, and increase safety threats. By prioritizing comprehensive planning, engaging clinicians, and optimizing user interfaces, healthcare institutions can ensure ethical and efficient EHR integration, ultimately enhancing patient care and safety.
4. Maintaining Data Accuracy
Upholding data accuracy stands as a fundamental principle in the ethical EHR domain. The integrity of information guarantees its unaltered and precise nature, contributing significantly to the enhancement of patient safety, reduction of healthcare errors, mitigation of health disparities, and betterment of public health. Nevertheless, concerns have been voiced regarding the reliability of data input into electronic records. The improper utilization of functionalities such as 'cut and paste' can lead to misleading portrayals of a patient's condition and treatment, breaching ethical standards. This practice poses elevated risks to patients and increases the liability of clinicians and institutions. Challenges also arise from drop-down menus that limit a clinician's choices, potentially giving rise to substantial errors, especially under time constraints. The collaborative efforts of clinicians and vendors can address software concerns, promoting user-friendly, reliable EHRs while tackling EHR ethical issues. Furthermore, data loss during transfers raises pertinent concerns about the accuracy of the database, a critical aspect as patient care decisions hinge on this data.
5. Guaranteeing Data Authenticity
The assurance of documentation integrity pertains to the accurate and precise nature of the comprehensive health record. This includes principles of information governance, identifying patients, validating authorship, handling amendments and corrections in records, and auditing documentation validity while submitting reimbursement claims. EHR tools offer flexible documentation options through the utilization of templates and smart phrases, assisting in precise record-keeping. However, if these tools are misused, doubts about data integrity can arise, making information unreliable and possibly raising concerns about fraudulent activity. Established policies and procedures, including audit functions, must be in place to ensure proper billing. With adequate safeguards, records may accurately represent the patient's condition at admission and over time. Providers must understand the importance of reviewing and refining default data to ensure that only patient-specific information for that visit is recorded. In contrast, irrelevant data from default templates is removed.
6. Validating Dictation to Prevent Errors
Voice recognition systems lacking a validation step pose considerable challenges in maintaining data accuracy and preventing documentation errors within organizations, particularly when it comes to ethical issues with electronic health records. EHR companies need to implement a protocol requiring providers to promptly assess, modify, and validate dictated information. Given these documents' frequent use and sharing, precise and high-quality documentation in EHR systems is of utmost significance. The adoption of EHRs has led to substantial shifts in provider workflows and documentation processes. However, providers still need to clearly outline or fully understand comprehensive best practices for maintaining high-quality documentation in EHRs. Advancements are necessary to enhance documentation tools and methods, with a renewed emphasis on the essential aspects of data accuracy and quality. This should precede the widespread implementation of interoperable health information exchange initiatives.
7. Ensuring Accurate Documentation
Maintaining the integrity of documentation is compromised when incorrect information finds its way onto the wrong patient's health record. Patient identification errors can influence clinical decisions, endanger patient safety, violate privacy and security, and lead to redundant testing and escalated expenses for patients as well as providers. The propagation of patient identification mistakes can rapidly expand within EHR, personal health records, and Health Information Exchange (HIE) networks as information disseminates. Failing to implement advanced front-end solutions that incorporate robust matching algorithms or innovative techniques like biometrics or fingerprinting can expose organizations to risk. EHRs can incorporate targeted alerts to anticipate safety problems, like blood type inconsistencies or allergies, during treatment, addressing EHR issues. Organizations must institute a patient identity integrity program, integrating performance improvement metrics to monitor error rates and duplicate records in their electronic master patient index. Policies and procedures must ensure the accuracy of critical demographic data, facilitating the linkage of records within and across systems. Addressing the initial point of data capture as a primary front-end verification is also vital within policies.
8. Preserving the Authenticity of Audit Trails
Effective audits are crucial to ensuring that the health record documentation aligns with the reported level of service, fulfills reimbursement requirements set by payers, and guarantees that only authorized personnel access patient medical records and make entries. The audit trail must encompass the user's name, the triggering application, workstation details, the specific document, a description of the audited event (such as amendments, corrections, or deletions), and the timestamp. This audit trail outlines modifications (including deletions) within the health record and provides auditors with a foundation for compliance audits. Inadequate audit trail functionality within EHRs raises concerns about the integrity of health record documentation, potentially exposing organizations to legal liabilities and inadvertently fostering or shielding criminal activities. It may become challenging to ascertain if corrections or amendments were executed, who authorized the changes, or the nature of the modifications. In addition to the inherent unintentional errors that documentation might encounter, audit trail functionality can aid in detecting instances where records are altered to obstruct the disclosure of detrimental information. Organizations can utilize EHR trends to leverage audit trail features for identifying and analyzing patterns in health record usage. Typically, users can generate reports over specific time frames categorized by provider or provider type, with results directed to a compliance committee or the organization's governing body.
9. Fostering Compliance Awareness
Enhancing ethical EHR training involves a strategic focus on ensuring providers are well-versed in compliance and legal risks, starting from the EHR training phase. To address EHR problems, organizations should implement educational initiatives aimed at mitigating compliance issues. Staff education must emphasize the integrity of health record documentation, with a continuous program monitored and provided quarterly or annually. Addressing the 'who, what, why, and how' ensures a solid grasp of organizational practices that uphold individual best practices, encompassing identifying potential fraud, universal and administrative security measures, data validity, authorship, continual education's significance, and strategies for daily fraud prevention.
10. Conducting Feedback Sessions
Contrary to common assumptions, ongoing training is essential post-EHR implementation. After installing the EHR and initiating patient interactions, challenges inevitably emerge—be it staff unfamiliarity with functions or the need to revamp workflow processes. Promptly identifying these concerns to prevent errors and swiftly resolving them involves collecting feedback from EHR users among the staff, particularly in relation to EHR ethical issues. During the weeks after the system's launch, contemplate arranging routine meetings to gather insights. Ensuring diverse representation, including clinical staff, physicians, administrators, billing, and front desk personnel, is crucial. Seek input on their adaptation to changes and areas requiring improvement. Determine if specific training concepts need reinforcement. Surveys can be used in place of frequent meetings. Subsequently, prioritizing problem areas aids focused resolution by promptly addressing critical matters. The introduction of incremental changes helps staff adapt to the EHR seamlessly, safeguarding patient care continuity during the transition.
The Path Ahead
Following these ethical EHR training best practices ensures the accuracy and reliability of patient data, leading to improved clinical decision-making and patient safety. By maintaining documentation integrity, professionals can confidently provide quality care and reduce the risk of errors. Ethical EHR training further strengthens compliance with legal regulations, safeguarding both the organization as well as the healthcare provider from potential legal liabilities. Moreover, adhering to best practices promotes efficient workflows, enhancing productivity, and streamlining operations. Patient trust and confidence are strengthened as professionals demonstrate their commitment to data security, confidentiality, and ethical conduct. Ultimately, by upholding ethical EHR training standards, professionals contribute to a robust healthcare system by fostering positive patient outcomes, maintaining trust, and supporting the principles of ethical healthcare delivery.
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Digital Healthcare
Article | November 29, 2023
Healthcare marketing, for a healthcare provider, is challenging as a lot of technologies are emerging in the market. What matters is choosing the right healthcare marketing techniques and technology to market your products and services. The global digital health market size was USD 51.3 billion in 2015. According to Global Market Insights, this is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.9% from 2016 to 2025. However, to compete with your opponents and to face the challenges of increasing patients buying your products and services, you need an excellent and well-designed marketing strategy with the latest healthcare marketing trends.
As we have entered a new decade, healthcare providers should look into developments in the healthcare marketing brought out by the year 2020. The global pandemic has changed all the practices in the industry, including the style of healthcare marketing and technology. Since the turn of the century, online marketing has been a part and parcel of healthcare marketing. However, healthcare marketing is witnessing a new era. This can be attributed to the increasing integration of various smart devices in the everyday lives of people and the introduction of artificial intelligence algorithms. Are you ready to leverage these technological transformations and changes?
This article discusses some of the major healthcare marketing trends to be integrated into your healthcare marketing strategies.
Reviews Matter
One of the important healthcare marketing trends that you can use is online reviews from happy patients. Healthcare providers have largely relied upon these online reviews— the patient sentiment—to establish a reputation and acquire new patients. These reviews are widespread across multiple online platforms and anyone can easily access them.
A study conducted by Binary Fountain in 2019 claimed that 60% of people use online reviews to choose a healthcare provider. It also claimed that 75% are influenced by online feedback when they go for a healthcare provider. This shows how influential this healthcare marketing trend is. Thus, in 2021, healthcare providers should concentrate on acquiring positive reviews and replying to both good and bad reviews and feedback. It is crucial to respond to negative reviews for your online reputation management, as 70% of patients consider it important to address patient concerns publicly.
Content is King
Content marketing is yet another healthcare marketing trend that healthcare providers should focus on. Producing educational, entertaining, engaging, and high-quality content is crucial in increasing your online brand visibility and patient engagement. This aspect of online marketing came into existence ever since Google became the king in the search engine market and established their ever-evolving algorithms.
To leverage this healthcare marketing trend, healthcare providers should have a plan for creating content holistically and publishing it on multiple platforms in different forms. All content that goes online should be well-produced and authoritative. All forms of text-based content, such as articles, blogs, press releases, white papers, and case studies, should be well-written and have high-quality links. It is also good to add images to your content to increase engagement.
Within this healthcare marketing trend, video marketing is considered to be the most effective one because online visual content appeals to users more than any other form of content. To make the most out of your videos, you can run video ads on YouTube, share them on your social media pages, and post them on websites and landing pages.
Responsive, Fast Loading Websites
Among the online healthcare marketing techniques, it is very important to have a very responsive and fast loading website. Also, the navigation on the site should be smooth and easy. This is because the websites with these features win more patients.
Websites of healthcare providers with ads and pop-ups, navigation issues, and slow loading will make users leave the site in no time. This will be much realized in 2021 as patients expect websites to load instantly on all their devices, including their smartphones.
To increase patient acquisition, you may have to streamline and optimize your website for both mobile and desktop viewing. Here are some quick tips to make your website loading fast and navigation easy:
• Decrease image size on your website
• Switch to a faster web host
• Clean up unnecessary code.
Growing Influence of Social Media
Having a strong presence on all social media platforms is an effective digital healthcare marketing tactic. The online presence of your healthcare organization should not be limited to your website. To maximize your brand’s reach and to have an impact in 2021, you may have to make full use of all social media platforms. In terms of lead generation, engagement, marketing, and reputation management, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, among others, are turning more influential nowadays. According to Statista, social media has 2.82 billion active users. More specifically, according to Hootsuite, as of 2020, 90% of older adults use social media to seek or share healthcare information.
This most influential healthcare digital marketing trend can be effectively used by creating and promoting targeted ads on all these platforms. Also, by interacting with users through likes, comments, and shares and publishing content regularly, you can increase your organic reach. For any healthcare provider and marketer of 2021 and beyond, it is a massive mistake to neglect the power of social media.
Data-Driven Healthcare Marketing
In 2021, to personalize outreach campaigns, healthcare providers and marketers will have data and tools. Adhering to HIPAA regulations, healthcare providers can design various marketing materials according to key demographics, such as key health concerns, income levels, age range, etc. This is the more granular approach to reach new patients and to keep your regular and current patients loyal to your brand. This personalized healthcare marketing technique will make patients feel that they are treated well and slowly build up trust in your brand.
A customer relationship management (CRM) tool, which is reliable and healthcare-specific, can store relevant patient data. To optimize your marketing strategy, insights from the stored data can be considered. Thus, this important healthcare marketing technique—data-driven healthcare marketing—helps you personalize your healthcare marketing campaigns.
Turning to Telemedicine Technology
Demanding physical processes and spatial barriers are not yet a big restriction for healthcare providers. Artificial intelligence, telemedicine, automated systems, and IOT contribute a lot to make healthcare more efficient and accessible. Highlighting these features in healthcare also becomes an effective healthcare marketing technique.
Using telemedicine software, healthcare can be provided remotely, which eliminates the need for an in-house visit. Although this breakthrough happened at the start of the century, it will become more accessible, viable, reliable, and will be used widely than ever before in 2021. Patients with mobility and transportation issues prefer using remote healthcare services and adding these facilities to your services can be considered a part of healthcare marketing tactics. So start offering remote healthcare services, if you have not started yet. This will eventually increase your brand reputation and build up trust.
Self-Serving Technologies- Patient Profiles, Chatbots, and Appointment-Scheduling Modules
As part of healthcare marketing plan and strategy, patient profiles, chatbots, and appointment-scheduling modules are incorporated by providers in their websites. These additions provide more awareness and control of their health to the patients. Updating your website to include these self-serving technology will help you improve the patient experience online.
Look forward to the new developments in healthcare marketing technology to improve your healthcare marketing, which is suitable for you. Embracing all of these changes and transformation in healthcare marketing strategy will help you stay ahead of your competitors with effective healthcare marketing campaigns strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are technological advances in healthcare?
The year 2020 witnessed a lot of technological advancements in the healthcare industry due to the pandemic. Some of the major ones among them are personalized medicine, telemedicine, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
What technology is used in healthcare marketing?
Blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots, voice search, and augmented reality are some of the major technologies used in treatment and marketing in healthcare in 2021. However, the technology in healthcare marketing is ever-evolving as new trends are set every moment.
Why is technology important in marketing?
Technology is very important in businesses and marketing as technology helps businesses grow. It also creates relationships and it is necessary for communication between the customer and the organizations. Technology is an essential part of any business for development and growth.
What is the most effective healthcare marketing technology?
There are many existing and emerging healthcare marketing technologies in the global market. However, the most effective marketing technique is social media; generating leads through social media and websites.
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Healthcare Analytics
Article | February 14, 2021
Tempted to throw in the towel on your New Year’s resolutions? It’s a natural reaction during this unprecedented year. I’m here to tell you it’s okay—and you probably don’t need them anyway.
You’re in good company if you’ve given up on the big shifts. According to widely-cited research study, only 19% of people keep their New Year’s resolutions. In addition, this may not have been the best time to make changes, given all that’s going on with the pandemic.
Also, worthwhile to consider the following insights on the unease with making big changes these days. According to research published in Molecular Psychiatry, when you go through prolonged challenging times (and the pandemic certainly qualifies), chronic stress can change the architecture of your brain and make you feel worn out, anxious, fearful, or depressed. These aren’t the best conditions for making major changes.
You may also face “change saturation,” or in other words, you’ve had to make so many transitions, you just can’t make any more. To prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed, focus on attainable aspirations. Here are a few recommendations.
DREAM ON A SMALLER SCALE
Success for the next 12 months may be closely tied to a less-is-more approach. Instead of seeking a whole new career, maybe you can set your sights on getting assigned to a new project at your current company. In other words, consider how you can tweak your behaviors rather than overhauling them.
Cultivate gratitude. Appreciate the little things. When you’re more tuned into what you have, you’re less focused on what you still want. This “enough mentality” can be helpful to your mental health. You don’t have to make big changes to achieve satisfaction or happiness. Contentment starts with gratitude.
Avoid perfectionism. Often, the fuel for big changes is a feeling you or your situation are not perfect. Remind yourself that perfection is a myth and focus on what’s working. This will help you find fulfillment with your present reality (even if it’s not all you aspire to).
Make a list, then edit down. Another great way to keep your ambitions reasonable is to make a list of all you want to accomplish and then eliminate everything but the top three items. A surefire route to frustration is to expect too much and put unrealistic pressures on yourself. Instead, focus on just a few vital things you want to accomplish, rather than a long list that does not empower you. After you’ve accomplished the first three goals on your list, you can always come back to the others, but give yourself a fighting chance to achieve the most integral top three, first.
MONITOR YOURSELF
Keep yourself accountable through specific techniques—and pay attention to events that may cause you to slide backwards. Research in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin explains that 40% of your behaviors occur in similar situations, which is to say familiar circumstances encourage the repetition of choices. Therefore, if you’re able to adjust one potentially repeated behavior, it can make a difference.
Create routines and conveniences. When you want to nurture a behavior, make it a default so you’re not thinking consciously about it. Research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology found when you repeat behaviors in a consistent context, it helps with habit formation and these take hold much more effectively. You can use this to your advantage. Instead of making a conscious choice each morning whether you want the donut or the smoothie, have the sliced fruit ready to go and the blender on the counter so when you arrive bleary-eyed to the kitchen in the morning, you’re just doing what’s already laid out. Start each day with the routine of responding to quick-hit emails. Rather than deciding what to work on first, just create a routine where you’re repeating behavior that works without as much conscious thought.
Plan ahead. When you can plan for things, you can usually control them more effectively. If you’re going to be in a situation that might create challenges for your new behaviors, make a plan. Perhaps you’re going to the grocery store and you can make a plan to avoid the cookie aisle. Or if you’re back in the office, avoid the calorie-tempting socially distanced happy hour with colleagues by leaving right on time and get a head start on the big project you’re working on. Anticipating what might present challenges will help you overcome them.
FIND SUPPORT
Support can be the difference between making small changes and not succeeding at all. Find a source that works for you.
Find friends. Create a virtual group of people also trying to make changes. Perhaps there’s an online group where you can exchange healthy recipes or provide mutual encouragement for regular trips to the gym. Also tap into your existing network and ask your friend to check in with you to see if you’ve had your workout for the day. Seek out colleagues who can nurture the writing skills you want to develop. Find people who encourage you, provide feedback, and remind you about your ability to succeed.
Use technology thoughtfully. There are a wide variety of virtual solutions to help you shift your behavior. Download the app that allows you to track your water intake or the app that will send you notifications if you haven’t moved enough in the last hour. Look for apps that can help you learn the new language you’ve been wanting to add to your skill set or that can connect you with colleagues who have like-minded ambitions. Behavior shifts are most likely to occur with planning, reminders, and feedback. So, find apps that provide these three kinds of support.
Give yourself permission to do less for now and know you can always do more later. In the meantime, stay strong and be satisfied with a little progress for now.
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