McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics

Emerging Trends in mHealth

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Wednesday, January 14th, 2015
written by Sahiti Myneni, PhD, MSE

• The mHealth—or mobile health—ecosystem is rich and ever-growing, allowing researchers, technologists, and the general public to make use of health technologies that are portable, affordable and scalable [1].
  
  

  Why mHealth Is Big

  The revolutionary use of digital sensors and smartphones makes possible remote patient monitoring and enhanced consumer engagement, which are the markers for meaningful use stage III and beyond [2].

Health Information Technology and Patient Safety

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Wednesday, December 17th, 2014

• The healthcare industry now recognizes that the effective use of health information technology (HIT) can help providers deliver improved care while also enabling patients to engage more fully in their own care.
  
  For example, HIT helps professionals to identify multi-drug interactions. It also prompts clinicians to utilize evidence-based guidelines when providing preventive care services, and paves the way for simple but powerful acts, such as texting patients to remind them to take their medications in a timely manner.
  
  However, introducing new technologies with new practices also has the potential to introduce unintended consequences. The excessive use of “copy and paste” makes it difficult for clinicians to discern relevant new information, while “alert fatigue” occurs when clinicians receives so many irrelevant alerts that they begin to ignore all alerts as a self-defense mechanism.

Health Wearables: What Are They and What Are the Trends?

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Wednesday, December 10th, 2014

• Health wearables and apps have been gaining public interest for years now, and this is a trend that is only expected to grow.
  
  By the end of this year, more than 18 million wearables will be in use. By 2018, that number is predicted to triple.[1] At this time, a quarter of American adults report using some form of fitness tracker or smartphone app to keep an eye on their health, weight or exercise.[2]
  
  

  What the Data Tells Us

  
  With these devices, we now have unprecedented access to information about the food we’re eating and drinks we’re consuming. We can measure the number steps we take and calories we burn. Tracking how far we run and how fast our heart beats are within our grasp, as is assessing how soundly we sleep and how stressed we feel.

How Health Data Analytics Can Help End Health Disparities

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014
written by Susan Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA

• Just about anyone who works in the health care industry would agree that the delivery of care needs to be equitable – that is, everyone should have the same access to care and be treated the same. Unfortunately, this is not the current state of affairs.
  
  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2020 defines a health disparity as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.”[1] This same document says that the Healthy People 2020 project will assess health disparities by tracking rates of illness, death, chronic conditions, and behaviors, among other outcomes. As I consider the widespread differences reported for health and health care, I find myself wondering: What can health informatics and data analytics do to help end health disparities?

What You Need to Know About Your Health Information If You Receive Genetic Testing

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Monday, November 24th, 2014
written by Susan Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA

• In 2008 Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, more commonly known as GINA. [1] Broadly, this law prevents insurance companies from using genetic information to refuse health insurance and employers with more than 15 employees from discriminating against an employee based on genetic information.
  
  Under GINA, genetic tests refer to analyses of human DNA, RNA, chromosomes, proteins or metabolites that detect genotypes, mutations or chromosomal changes. This specifically excludes tests such as complete blood counts or other common laboratory tests. It also does not apply to analyses where the manifestation of the disease is readily detectable by a trained medical professional. For example, the presence or absence of Breast Cancer genes 1 or 2 (BRCA1 or BRCA2) are not apparent, while Down’s Syndrome is.

AMIA Patient Portal

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Monday, November 17, 2014
written by Chelsea Overstreet

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  The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2014 Annual Symposium is taking place this week in Washington, and many of the faculty, students and staff of SBMI are in attendance.
  
  AMIA calls its Symposium “the leading scientific meeting for biomedical and health informatics research and practice,” and each year it brings together thousands of researchers, students, industry partners, informatics practitioners and more to discuss recent discovery in the informatics field and to explore future innovations. It is towards some of these innovations that AMIA asks students to make a unique contributions. 

Spring and Summer 2015 Application Deadline Announcement

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Monday, November 12, 2014

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  The deadline to join the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics during the spring or summer of 2015 is fast approaching. Nov. 15 is the deadline for spring 2015 certificate and master’s admission or for summer 2015 admission to the doctoral program. If you haven’t considered applying for one of our varied and comprehensive degree programs, take a look at why SBMI should be among your top picks.

Your Health and Consumer Health Informatics

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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
written by Elmer Bernstam, MD, MSE

• Have you searched the web for your symptoms in an effort to diagnose yourself? Have you ever made any decisions about your health based on that information, whether or not you ended up seeing a doctor? Then you’re more familiar with consumer health informatics than you might realize.
  
  Consumer health informatics is the sub-field of biomedical informatics that deals with health care consumers’ use of health data, information and knowledge. Even though we may think of these consumers as patients, it’s actually a broader population that includes the medically well, patients’ families, and caregivers.

Ethics and the Electronic Health Record

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Wednesday, November 5, 2014
written by Susan Fenton, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA

• Ethics and the electronic health record (EHR) is an area that has not received a great deal of press or discussion in the literature. When it does, it is usually centered on use of the data, especially genomic data, or on protecting the privacy of the patients.
  
  While these are certainly important ethical issues, there is generally much less consideration given to the issue of software development and implementation—or the functionality being developed and any ethical conundrums that may arise during this process. Perhaps now that so many hospitals and clinics have implemented EHRs, the time has come to take a closer look at these issues.