WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report published in JAMA (Journal Against Medical Advice) found the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to streamline the process of approving drugs has been made possible by removing the cumbersome step of reviewing any and all pertinent evidence.

“When we stepped back and asked what was the biggest hurdle in the FDA’s process of approving of new drugs for the market we found that reviewing clinical trials and their evidence as the major rate-limiting step,” explained FDA spokesperson Ira Brisk. “Over the past few decades, we have made good progress rolling out novel drugs based on weaker evidence. It’s time to take the next step forward. Evidence shmevidence.”

Consider your most recent healthcare interaction. It likely involved some sort of medical device or equipment — a blood pressure monitor, a continuous glucose monitor, maybe even an MRI scanner.

This should come as no surprise: More than 500,000 medical technologies are currently available, according to a recent Deloitte report.

Today’s internet-connected devices are being designed to improve efficiencies, lower care costs and drive better outcomes in healthcare. As computing power and wireless capabilities improve, organizations are leveraging the potential of Internet of Medical Things technologies.

With their ability to collect, analyze and transmit health data, IoMT tools are rapidly changing healthcare delivery. For patients and clinicians, these applications are playing a central part in tracking and preventing chronic illnesses — and they’re poised to evolve the future of care.

But how exactly does this connected ecosystem work? And what is the real difference between the Internet of Things and IoMT?

Healthcare information technology will be the focus of investors in 2020, with interest in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector, home and hospice care and managed care companies also high on the list, according to a KPMG report including survey results from 333 investment professionals. WHY IT MATTERS The study projected the healthcare and life sciences industry would likely continue to be an attractive investment target for the foreseeable future, as national healthcare spending rises to $6 trillion by 2027.

The American Heart Association — and cardiology as a whole — is primed for the adoption of data-driven innovations, says Dr. Robert Harrington, president of the AHA.

Vendors offer their perspective on the opportunities and challenges for healthcare data exchange in the year ahead.

It’s been difficult for healthcare to tackle the interoperability challenge compared to other industries, says Drew Ivan, EVP of product and strategy at Rhapsody.

The cloud giant’s director of product, healthcare and life sciences discusses these three trends and why they will be important at the big HIMSS20 event.

Half of physicians said they would take a salary reduction of up to $20,000 per year in exchange for working less hours and achieving a better work-life balance, according to a new survey.

The Medscape survey of more than 15,000 physicians found that was pretty consistent across generations. Millennials (52%), Generation Xers (48%) and baby boomers (49%) all said they would take a salary cut in exchange for more personal time. That was true even among millennials, who typically earn less than their more established peers. Some 53% of women said they would take a pay cut, versus 47% of men.

“This is a big step forward in personalizing cancer treatment and ensuring better patient outcomes,” said Professor Lim Chwee Teck, Mechanobiology Institute,

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have used big data analytics to devise a personalised tool for prediction of cancer, patient survivability and patient response to immunotherapy.

The new year ushered in a landmark California privacy law that gives residents more control over how their digital data is used. The Golden State isn’t the only beneficiary, though, because many companies are extending the protections — the most important being the right to see and delete the personal data a company has — to all their customers in the United States.

In the fall, I took the right of access for a test drive, asking companies in the business of profiling and scoring consumers for their files on me. One of the companies, Sift, which assesses a user’s trustworthiness, sent me a 400-page file that contained years’ worth of my Airbnb messages, Yelp orders and Coinbase activity. Soon after my article was published, Sift was deluged with over 16,000 requests, forcing it to hire a vendor to deal with the crush.

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a draft of a five-year strategic health IT plan that is largely focused on providing patients with secure access to their health information as well as supporting secure, interoperable health information exchange among healthcare providers.

A new American Hospital Association report on workforce strategic planning trends says technology is well-positioned to help health systems combat professional staffing shortages.

“This is a big step forward in personalizing cancer treatment and ensuring better patient outcomes,” said Professor Lim Chwee Teck, Mechanobiology Institute, NUS Biomedical Engineering.

Quorum Health achieved many financial milestones from a successful spinoff operation, and its integration of the athenahealth EHR across the org also helped get the Chronic Care Management program to 60,000 Medicare patients.

Physicians spend on average just over 16 minutes on electronic health records (EHRs) for each patient visit, according to a new study.

That adds up to a significant portion of a physician’s day, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Healthcare organizations need to carefully assess whether data they hold falls under the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act, says attorney Anne Kimbol, assistant general counsel of HITRUST, especially now that the regulation’s Jan. 1 compliance deadline has hit.

For-profit healthcare organizations that handle certain data of California residents potentially must comply, Kimbol explains in an interview with Information Security Media Group. CCPA covers personal information other than what is defined as protected health information under HIPAA, she explains.

“If you’re a for-profit entity, do business in California, and you either make more than $25 million a year, get 50 percent or more of revenue from data sales … sell or disclose information on more than 50,000 consumers, devices or households - or are 50 percent controlled by a business that meets that definition - CCPA will apply to you,” she says. “So larger for-profit healthcare providers will have to look at this no matter where in the U.S. they are.”

Every day, millions of new medical images containing the personal health information of patients are spilling out onto the internet.

Hundreds of hospitals, medical offices and imaging centers are running insecure storage systems, allowing anyone with an internet connection and free-to-download software to access over 1 billion medical images of patients across the world.

About half of all the exposed images, which include X-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans, belong to patients in the United States.

Yet despite warnings from security researchers who have spent weeks alerting hospitals and doctors’ offices to the problem, many have ignored their warnings and continue to expose their patients’ private health information.

“It seems to get worse every day,” said Dirk Schrader, who led the research at Germany-based security firm Greenbone Networks, which has been monitoring the number of exposed servers for the past year.

Healthcare providers will increasingly be seeking innovative technology as they develop new patient engagement and experience strategies to remain competitive.

LAS VEGAS—Judging by all the smarter wearables and health sensors at CES 2020, digital health is only going to continue take up more real estate at the massive Sands Expo center.

Taking in all the products can be a bit mind-boggling (the show spans more than 2.9 million net square feet of exhibit space, according to CES), but there are broader themes that emerged as tech companies focus on ways smart devices can improve consumers’ health and wellness.

Doctors say digital technology and data are driving change that will create a different world of medicine in the next couple of decades, a new report from Stanford Medicine finds.

In a survey, physicians, residents and medical students say they expect almost a third of their current duties could be automated in 20 years. And doctors are preparing for that very different healthcare future now, according to the report (PDF).

Nearly half of physicians (73%) and most medical students (73%) are seeking additional training in areas such as advanced statistics, genetic counseling, population health and coding. One-third are studying artificial intelligence, according to the national survey of more than 700 physicians, residents and medical students commissioned by Stanford Medicine to understand how changing trends will reach the doctor’s office and shape patient care.

John Halamka, M.D., has got to be the busiest person in healthcare.

He’s a recognized health IT executive, a practicing emergency room physician, a public policy expert, a Harvard professor, a speaker and an advocate for the industry.

He leads technology initiatives at some of the most respected healthcare organizations in the country—at Beth Israel Lahey Health for 20 years and now at Mayo Clinic.

Telemedicine company Teladoc plans to acquire InTouch Health in a $600 million deal, the companies announced January 12.

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based InTouch Health is a leading provider of enterprise telehealth solutions for hospitals and health systems.

The acquisition positions Teladoc Health as the partner of choice for health systems seeking a single solution for their entire virtual care strategy, Teladoc executives said in a press release.

Organizations have boosted strategies and spending, but weaknesses remain.

For most it was a night of partying, for others a period of reflection, and for a few it was a time of uncertainty. We weren’t sure what the new millennium would bring, with crazy stories circulating that the world was going to end. Even if the apocalypse didn’t happen at midnight, the Millennium Bug might strike and we wouldn’t be able to turn on a computer.

As a junior doctor, I was working in A&E that night. I will have been an SHO 1 (FY2 in current terminology). It’s actually difficult to explain the intricate circumstances/interactions that show just how information poor life as a junior doctor was back then.

Not only was Google in its infancy, but the thought of using the internet to inform a decision on how to treat a patient was unthinkable.

We didn’t have an intranet brimming with up to date content either. Any specialist pathway or treatment regime had to be designed, photocopied, laminated, distributed and lord forbid should a pathway change, the whole process restarted.

If there’s one thing the last decade has taught us, it’s that technology is everywhere, influencing every aspect of our lives. More specifically, it’s having an ever-growing impact on the healthcare industry and the delivery of care.

Mobile devices such as tablets are being used as distraction mechanisms and to improve patient experiences. Smart home technology is helping seniors with disabilities to control their lights, thermostats and locks. Even drones are being tested to increase a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival.

These tech trends are likely to continue gaining steam in 2020 and throughout the new decade. However, one trend in particular stands out: the growing adoption of smartwatches for clinical use.

A recent report from Research and Markets predicts sales of global wearable devices will exceed $60 billion by 2025, with the smartwatch segment expected to see the highest level of growth and command the market’s largest share.