Healthcare Analytics

Zus Health Joins Civitas Networks for Health

Zus Health Joins Civitas

Zus Health, a shared health data platform designed to accelerate healthcare data interoperability, announced it has joined Civitas Networks for Health, the largest national network of its kind. Civitas includes member organizations working to use health information exchange, health data and multi-stakeholder, cross-sector approaches to improve health.

As an innovator in healthcare data interoperability, Zus Health provides user-friendly, accessible patient data at the point of care. Joining Civitas, a community that promotes collaboration across systems throughout the country, strengthens both organizations' shared mission. This move not only signals Zus' commitment to furthering healthcare innovation but is also an important step in building towards a collaborative health data sharing ecosystem that will ultimately enhance patient care and outcomes.

"Healthcare data is like a conversation where everyone is earnestly reaching out and communicating to each other – but in totally different languages!" said Jonathan Bush, CEO & Founder of Zus. "That's why we're thrilled to be a part of the Civitas community. This organization and its members are working hard to translate, and we want to support that."

"Civitas Networks for Health is excited to have Zus join our national network," said Lisa Bari, CEO of Civitas. "We are raising the voices of local health collaboratives and those providing critical services to support health transformation. From the secure exchange of life-saving data to the accountability of multi-stakeholder initiatives, our member organizations have built the most trusted, connected, and inventive programs to serve their communities. Zus' commitment to data interoperability fosters unparalleled collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem and aligns seamlessly with our organization's mission. Civitas looks forward to working with their team."

About Zus Health

Zus Health is a shared health data platform designed to accelerate healthcare data interoperability by providing easy-to-use patient data via API, a standalone app, embedded components, and direct EHR integrations. Founded in 2020 by Jonathan Bush, co-founder and former CEO of athenahealth, Zus collaborates with HIEs and other data networks to transform complex clinical history into accessible, user-friendly information at the point of care. Their networks provide access to data across 70K+ provider sites and 270M+ patients. Zus's mission is to catalyze healthcare's greatest innovators by maximizing the value of patient insights - so that they can build up, not around.

About Civitas Networks for Health

Civitas Networks for Health is a national collaborative comprised of over 165 member organizations working to use health information exchange, health data, and multi-stakeholder, cross-sector approaches to improve health. Civitas educates, promotes, and influences both the private sector and policymakers on matters of interoperability, quality, coordination, health equity, and cost-effectiveness of health care.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

Health Technology, Medical Devices

GE HealthCare Receives FDA Clearance of Allia IGS Pulse - the Next Generation of Image-Guided Systems Designed for Cardiac Imaging Excellence

Business Wire | October 18, 2023

GE HealthCare announced US FDA 510(k) clearance of Allia IGS Pulse - the latest addition to the company’s image guided system (IGS) offerings. Allia IGS Pulse features a new imaging chain engineered to provide exceptional imaging at the right dose for visible impact in complex cardiology interventions regardless of patient size. In modern healthcare today, cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to grow in prevalence, with CVDs being the leading cause of death globally. As clinicians work to treat CVDs, cardiology procedures continue to evolve as demand for minimally invasive surgery grows. GE HealthCare is committed to helping interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons and other interventional specialists use image guidance technologies to their full potential by optimizing workflows and providing exceptional image quality to help clinicians provide quality care to their patients, while also enabling better clinical and operational outcomes. According to a survey of interventionalists, nearly 50% of interventional procedures are performed at working positions where clinicians have poor access to user interface functions and display.3 Designed to address these challenges, the new Allia IGS Pulse provides a personalized workspace that meets the operator’s specific needs and preferences. As part of its new image chain, the system features the first monopolar x-ray tube used to capture images for interventional procedures. This new tube is powerful, yet quieter than normal conversation4 to optimize the operating environment during a procedure. The small footprint of the new tube also helps clinicians reach steep angulation for better understanding of coronary artery anatomy, even with the 30cm detector configurations. The latest version of MyIQ technology incorporated into the system allows clinicians to select their favorite image look from four different image styles with just one click for a tailored experience at no additional dose. In the treatment of complex cardiovascular diseases, image quality and optimized dose management regardless of patient size are also important to clinicians. With Allia IGS Pulse, interventionalists are able to get exceptional image quality for large and bariatric patients with a BMI of greater than 30. The system’s reduced pulse width and unmatched X-ray peak power helps to decrease motion blur for better visualization of moving elements such as vessels and devices. To relieve clinicians and technologists of the complex task of optimizing image quality and dose during procedures, Allia IGS Pulse takes AutoRight, the company’s intelligent image chain leveraging AI, a step further with AutoRight PLUS - the next generation of the automation platform. With AutoRight PLUS, the system now optimizes seven parameters in real time, including Focal Spot Shape. By removing the burden of manual adjustment during procedures, clinicians can stay focused on the procedure and treatment of their patients. To further optimize dose along the image chain, a unique suite of tools is also available to help support dose efficiency, dose reduction and dose awareness. Since January 2023, Allia IGS Pulse has been in pilot operations at Clinique Pasteur - Toulouse in Toulouse, France. “At Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse, we perform thousands of interventional cardiology procedures each year,” says Dr. Nicolas Dumonteil, Interventional Cardiologist, Clinique Pasteur, Toulouse. “As an operator of the Allia IGS Pulse system, I felt a significant and real improvement in the imaging quality, as well as a significant reduction of this noise in my daily procedures which gave me great confidence and comfort in the operating room. The system is also quite adaptable and versatile to all of my daily situations and procedures – from percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) to other complex and structural ones.” says Dr Raphaël Philippart, Interventional Cardiologist, Clinique Pasteur, Toulouse. I saw a significant improvement in the image quality, especially with obese patients and complex angioplasties - where a good visibility of my guidewire, balloons and stents are particularly important. [Source – Business Wire] “Interventional cardiology procedures require exceptional image quality,” says Arnaud Marie – General Manager of Interventional for GE HealthCare. “I’m excited by the addition of Allia IGS Pulse to our interventional offerings because it addresses the very things clinicians continue to tell us present challenges in their day-to-day practice. By developing new features to further evolve our core platform, we’re helping to reduce complexity and improve the operating environment so that clinicians can have a personalized workspace that better enables them to keep their focus where it belongs – on their patients.”

Read More

Health Technology, Digital Healthcare

Launch of RICOH Remote Patient Monitoring Enablement Designed to Help Ease Healthcare Staffing Challenges Amid Unprecedented Industry Burnout Crisis

PR Newswire | October 06, 2023

Ricoh USA, Inc. announces the launch of RICOH Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Enablement, the newest end-to-end managed services offering for health systems that is designed to help fuel more efficient and sustainable RPM workflows that can lead to improved patient and care delivery team experiences. RICOH RPM Enablement comes at a time when health systems are grappling with a simultaneous monumental shift to virtual care delivery and an unprecedented shortage of healthcare workers. This care worker shortage has reached a nationwide crisis level where there aren't nearly enough healthcare staff to fill vital RPM management roles, leading to alarming care gaps impacting the most vulnerable patient populations. RICOH RPM Enablement is designed to help health systems close this gap and to help lead to improved patient experiences by integrating into existing virtual care programs to support the deployment of remote patient monitoring system devices, inventory tracking, logistics, and device returns. The healthcare worker burnout and staffing shortage – most recently worsened by COVID – is putting extraordinary constraints on health systems to staff RPM management roles, which limits their ability to scale virtual programs and impacts the standard of patient care. According to the Surgeon General, 98% of healthcare workers worry about their own burnout1, which is likely accelerating nurse retirement, fueling a shortfall of 1.1 million registered nurses1. The Mayo Clinic's research has also revealed that U.S. doctor burnout has reached an all-time high of 63%2. Additionally, 98% of clinicians are concerned that burnout can reduce quality of care and 82% of the public believes that a worker shortage will impact their health3. Technology can be the difference maker in systemic change – and clinicians agree as 50-70% welcome the change to use technologies in their work4. "Clinicians currently spend over 50% of their working hours using EHRs5. That's their reality and a massive contributor to burnout, so our mission is centered on pivoting that time back to patient care through supporting the modernization, automation, and enablement of the care workflows that are most critical to health system's success," said Rory Fitzpatrick, Vice President, Industry Vertical Marketing, Ricoh North America. RPM Enablement is the latest demonstration of our commitment. In this period of burnout crisis, the healthcare industry has an opportunity to commit to workers' emotional and physical wellbeing – and Ricoh is dedicated to supporting positive systemic change with sustainable, scalable solutions. [Source: PR Newswire] RPM is often considered one of the largest value drivers of virtual care with applications from primary care through chronic disease management. In fact, when RPM is part of a care plan, the Mayo Clinic has shown that 72.5% of remote patient monitoring patients comply with the care plan's tasks, including taking medications and monitoring vitals6. Further, only 9.4% were readmitted within 30 days versus 20% of patients not using RPM6. Ricoh is uniquely positioned to help address workflow challenges resulting from the qualified healthcare worker shortage due to its large footprint and depth of managed services experience in the industry. Ricoh currently supports thousands of healthcare organizations with various aspects of their business, including 9 out of 11 of the largest for-profit hospital systems and 22 out of 32 of the largest nonprofit hospital systems, with about 3,200 facilities under its support – and is also responsible for managing over 1 million devices in the United States through more than 2,100 U.S. field technicians across various industries.

Read More

Health Technology

Emory Healthcare Teams Up with DrFirst to Enhance Medication Adherence

Emory Healthcare | November 06, 2023

Emory Healthcare aims to improve prescription affordability and medication outcomes by offering comprehensive, real-time data, including patient out-of-pocket drug costs. Emory is optimizing clinician workflows and enhancing patient medication adherence with Fuzion through DrFirst's three medication management services. UPMC Health System employs AI-driven virtual assistants to address medication nonadherence, engaging high-risk patients via SMS or robocall messages before and between prescription fills. Emory Healthcare and DrFirst have collaborated to address medication adherence by providing comprehensive data at the point of care, including options for patients to assess out-of-pocket drug costs. Emory aims to aid patients in achieving prescription affordability and enhancing their medication outcomes. Emory Healthcare has implemented three medication management services available within the Fuzion platform by DrFirst, which offer clinicians access to medication histories. This initiative aims to streamline clinician workflows and enhance medication adherence among patients. This development holds importance in its potential to decrease adverse drug events for Emory Healthcare patients and provide them with AI-driven information about prescription costs during medical visits, thereby fostering transparency and informed decision-making. DrFirst's advanced medication management platform can enhance electronic prescribing workflows by optimizing the usability of clinical data. This platform is capable of electronically completing prior authorizations and addressing claim rejections. Furthermore, it provides real-time prescription drug benefits and pricing information, enabling physicians to discuss medication costs with their patients and potentially transition to more cost-effective therapeutic alternatives. This can reduce prescription abandonment rates and, consequently, enhance overall health outcomes. G. Cameron Deemer, CEO of DrFirst, said. For many patients, especially those with chronic conditions, taking their medications as prescribed is vital to positive health outcomes and staying out of the hospital. [Source – Healthcare IT News] DrFirst believes that precise and comprehensive medication data contributes significantly to patient safety. Additionally, presenting an entire year's worth of patient medication history can expedite medication reconciliation procedures for healthcare providers. Furthermore, providing drug-allergy, dosing, and duplicate therapy alerts directly to clinicians at the point of care supplies them with valuable information. The integration of technology aids in rendering clinical data more user-friendly and facilitates smoother workflows, ultimately aiding clinicians and patients in achieving improved medication outcomes. Emory Healthcare is set to implement HIPAA-compliant automated patient messaging for electronic prescription alerts. This system will allow patients to review their prescriptions and receive relevant patient education materials, among other features. As for the broader trend, the adoption of AI for improving medication adherence has demonstrated its effectiveness, leading to positive outcomes in both clinical and financial aspects.

Read More