The Department of Veterans Affairs has been having issues with its data. What are those issues, exactly? I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and we’ll answer that question and more in this week’s Top Stories.
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Veterans Affairs did not ensure the quality of data migrated to its new Cerner electronic health record system before the initial deployment in October 2020. HealthcareITNews reports (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/watchdog-va-did-not-ensure-quality-migrated-data-ehr-modernization-efforts) that clinicians found challenges with the migrated information's accessibility, accuracy and appropriateness. The challenges occurred in part because the VA did not establish performance measures and goals for migrated data quality, the watchdog said. Until the VA addresses the issue, the department could deploy an EHR system that falls short of meeting clinicians’ needs and threatens the continuity of patient care.
AliveCor is rolling out a new credit-card-size personal ECG called the KardiaMobile Card. The technology, which landed FDA clearance in November, is able to take a single-lead ECG in 30 seconds. As we see in MobiHealthNews https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/alivecor-rolls-out-credit-card-sized-ecg), the Bluetooth-backed technology is able to pair with a smartphone and detect six types of arrhythmias. The $149 card comes with a year of KardiaCare, which gives users access to heart health reports, cardiologist ECG reviews, cloud storage, automatic ECG sharing, weight and blood pressure monitoring, and medication-tracking.
Finally this week, a federal court has banned former CEO and "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life. According to Healthcare Finance News (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/Court-bans-pharma-bro-martin-shkreli-life-pharma-industry), Judge Denise Cote of U,S. District Court in New York held Shkreli liable for antitrust claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission and a group of seven states. The court also found Shkreli liable for $64.6 million. In 2015, Shkreli raised the price of Daraprim by 4,000%, according to the lawsuit. The drug is used to prevent toxoplasmosis infection in people with HIV infection and to treat a serious parasite infection. Shkreli also initiated a scheme to block the entry of generic drug competition, the court said.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.