#6. W/c 7th October '24

Epic My Care portal to be rolled out to citizens across Northern Ireland and the NHS’s ambition to rebuild general practice and create a single patient record.? In AI news, a study found that an AI tool cuts unexpected hospital deaths by 1 in 4, and Microsoft expands its AI capabilities for health.? Finally, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is increasing its efforts to enhance compliance around information sharing.

My Care portal is to be rolled out to citizens across Northern Ireland

The My Care patient portal is set to be implemented across Northern Ireland, allowing residents to access parts of their medical records electronically. Initiated by the Department of Health, the rollout aims to transition from paper to Electronic Patient Records (EPRs), under the Encompass initiative. This will establish a unified digital care record for all individuals receiving health and social care in the region. My Care was first launched in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in November 2023, followed by the Belfast Trust in mid-2024. The Northern Trust is anticipated to adopt the portal by November 2024, with the Southern and Western Trusts following on May 2025.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt encourages patients to register for the My Care portal to access healthcare information conveniently. The portal provides secure access to medical details, including appointments, medications, and some test results, empowering patients to actively manage their health. Users can also receive traditional communications like paper appointment letters and can allow others, like carers or family members, to access their records through proxy.

The encompass programme's Senior Responsible Owner, Dr Dermot Hughes, highlights the portal's significance in enhancing patient care. Simultaneously, Northern Ireland’s blood transfusion service updated its laboratory information system, aiming for a unified technology platform. The deployment of My Care and the continued development of encompass are expected to significantly improve healthcare delivery in Northern Ireland.

Read more: https://www.digitalhealth.net/2024/10/my-care-portal-to-be-rolled-out-across-northern-ireland/

The NHS’s ambition to rebuild general practice and create a single patient record

The Health and Social Care Secretary delivered a speech at the Royal College of General Practitioners conference, expressing gratitude to those contributing to NHS reforms. Acknowledging the significant challenges facing general practice, the Secretary emphasised the critical role of partnership between health professionals and government to address these issues. The NHS is currently regarded as being in crisis, with notable declines in primary care resources, leading to a shortage of GPs and high workloads.

The government's ambition includes building a robust NHS that focuses on wider community health, digitisation, and preventive care. This involves initiatives like boosting GP recruitment, increasing primary care funding, and utilising data to tackle health inequalities. Additionally, the government intends to launch a "red tape challenge" to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on GPs and improve patient referral processes.

The Secretary highlighted the need to “create a single patient record, owned by the patient, shared across the system so that every part of the NHS has a full picture of the patient”, but expressed concerns that culture issues could pose a bigger challenge than information governance.

The speech concluded with a call for collective effort across the NHS to overcome the current crisis and evolve into a more efficient service, responsive to modern healthcare challenges. The Secretary emphasised that these objectives require cooperation and trust between the government, health professionals, and the broader community.

Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/health-and-social-care-secretary-speech-at-rcgp-conference

AI tool cuts unexpected hospital deaths by 1 in 4, study finds

An AI tool called Chartwatch has significantly reduced unexpected hospital deaths by 26% at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, according to a study. Developed by Unity Health’s AI team in 2017 and implemented in October 2020, Chartwatch analyses data from patients’ medical records to predict potential deterioration, even before symptoms become evident. The AI system evaluates around 100 inputs such as vital signs and lab results, offering dynamic, hourly predictions that alert medical staff to at-risk patients, enabling timely interventions.

The study, involving 13,000 admissions to the hospital's general internal medicine ward, reported better outcomes for patients following the AI intervention, with no similar reduction in deaths in units not using Chartwatch. Notably, a case involved Chartwatch detecting early signs of cellulitis in a patient, allowing for prompt antibiotic treatment.

Whilst Dr Amol Verma, the lead researcher from the University of Toronto, hailed Chartwatch’s success, he recognised the study’s limitations due to its timing during the Covid-19 pandemic and the unique patient demographics at the hospital, which include individuals with complex health issues.

He emphasised that further research is needed across multiple hospitals to validate these findings broadly. Despite this, the results underscore the potential of AI to enhance clinical care by complementing the judgement of healthcare professionals rather than replacing them, positioning AI as a supportive tool in medical practice. Future Care Capital sees these findings as promising for the ongoing integration of AI into healthcare settings.

Read more: https://futurecarecapital.org.uk/latest/ai-cuts-unexpected-hospital-deaths-by-1-in-4/

Microsoft expands AI capabilities to shape a healthier future

Microsoft is introducing new AI capabilities within Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare aimed at revolutionising healthcare by enhancing patient care and streamlining clinical and operational processes. These innovations include healthcare AI models available in Azure AI Studio, which enable integration and analysis of diverse data types like medical imaging and genomics. The deployment of these models, developed with partners such as Providence and Paige.ai , aims to advance fields like cancer research by complementing human expertise with AI insights.

Alongside, Microsoft Fabric offers healthcare data solutions to facilitate better data management and access, addressing the traditionally complex and siloed nature of healthcare data. These solutions enhance insights into patient experiences and are supported by new features for data governance with Microsoft Purview and data integration tools.

Furthermore, Microsoft is previewing a healthcare agent service in Copilot Studio, which assists in automating tasks such as scheduling and patient triage, thereby addressing workforce challenges and improving efficiency in healthcare settings.

In collaboration with major healthcare organisations, Microsoft is also developing AI solutions to alleviate the administrative burden on nurses by automating documentation tasks. This initiative, part of a strategic partnership with Epic, leverages ambient technology to allow nurses to focus more on direct patient care, addressing both current and future challenges posed by nursing workforce shortages.

Read more: https://news.microsoft.com/2024/10/10/microsoft-expands-ai-capabilities-to-shape-a-healthier-future/

Getting Real about Information Blocking and APIs

The U.S. has made significant advancements in digitalising its healthcare system, with widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) facilitated by financial investments and legislative mandates such as the 21st Century Cures Act. This Act requires EHRs to enable data access and exchange via application programming interfaces (APIs). However, challenges persist in ensuring consistent information sharing. Problems include inaccessible API documentation, prohibitive fees imposed by developers, and unnecessary contractual obstacles for patient access. These issues highlight behavioural barriers rather than technological ones, impeding progress.

Certified API developers risk being non-compliant with regulations if practices obstruct data access or sharing without legal justification. Non-compliance undermines trust and adoption of health IT solutions, leading to inefficiencies and compromised patient outcomes. Enforcement by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and its partners includes reviews of compliance, with potential for penalties and certification suspensions.

Efforts to enhance compliance include stricter API documentation reviews, developer engagement sessions, and educational resources to clarify requirements. The ONC encourages transparency and feedback from stakeholders to address issues promptly. The report emphasises the importance of enforcing information sharing policies to realise the benefits of healthcare innovation as envisaged by the 21st Century Cures Act. Stakeholders are urged to report information blocking instances to relevant authorities to aid in crafting effective health IT strategies.

Read more: https://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/electronic-health-and-medical-records/interoperability-electronic-health-and-medical-records/getting-real-about-information-blocking-and-apis