Becker's Hospital Review

72 CIO / HEALTH IT Partners experiences technical issues, including EHR downtime By Anuja Vaidya B oston-based Partners HealthCare regained access to its EHR platform af- ter it was down for several hours Feb. 11, according to The Boston Globe. In a series of tweets early the morning of Feb. 11, Partners said it was experienc- ing "technical issues with some clinical and administrative information systems, including Partners eCare." Partners eCare is the health system's EHR network that was launched in 2012 in partnership with Epic. Partners said some nonurgent procedures would be rescheduled or delayed. A Partners spokesperson told The Boston Globe that emergency medical proce- dures were not affected. Partners did not respond to Becker's Hospital Review's request for a statement prior to publication. n Tenet extends contract with Cerner By Jessica Kim Cohen D allas-basedTenet Healthcare has extended long-term agreement with Cerner. Under the agreement, Tenet will work with Cerner to make information systems more efficient across the health system. The organizations will focus on automa- tion, user experience, interoperability and cloud infrastructure. "With our expanded Cerner collaboration, we are able to enhance the func- tionality of our systems and provide our clinicians with greater visibility into patients' most recent, relevant information," said Paola Arbour, CIO of Tenet. n Apple rolls out iPhone health records feature to veterans By Jessica Kim Cohen V eterans across the U.S. will soon have the option to access their medical data through the iPhone's Health app, thanks to a new partnership between Apple and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Under the deal, the more than 9 million veterans who receive care through the Vet- erans Health Administration will be able to view aggregated medical information from participating providers on their iP- hone. e VA's 1,243 facilities will join more than 100 hospitals and clinics that are al- ready live on Apple's health records feature. "We have great admiration for veterans, and we're proud to bring a solution like health records on iPhone to the veteran community," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release. The iPhone maker launched its health records project in early 2018 with a vi- sion to integrate patient health data — such as allergies, immunizations and lab results — from various providers into one central location: the iPhone's Health app. Apple kicked off the program at 12 hospitals, including leading providers like Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medi- cine, in January 2018. "When patients have better access to their health information, they have more pro- ductive conversations with their physi- cians," Apple COO Jeff Williams said in a news release. "By bringing health records on iPhone to VA patients, we hope veter- ans will experience improved healthcare that will enhance their lives." In November 2018, e Wall Street Jour- nal reported that the VA was in talks to develop "special soware tools" that would put veterans' health data on the iPhone. At the time, this project was rumored to be independent from Apple's existing health records project. n Cerner introduces AI tool for physician burnout By Jackie Drees C erner unveiled its new artificial intelligence tool, called Chart Assist, which is designed to reduce physician burnout. Chart Assist is a workflow tool, part of a suite of AI solutions that aim to identify gaps and inconsistencies within the patient record to improve user efficiency. De- signed to help reduce physician workload, the new tool focuses on helping providers address patient care and validate diagnoses. Using AI technology, Cerner aims to address fast-paced demands the healthcare in- dustry places on physicians, Jeffrey Wall, MD, director and physician strategy executive at Cerner, said in a press release. "Some physicians express feelings of fatigue, frustration and disempowerment. This can have a real impact on their personal wellness and the quality of care they deliver to patients," Dr. Wall said. "Our new AI-driven advancement will complement our existing workflows to enhance the physician experience. Our goal is to bring real change to the industry-wide challenge of physician burnout." n

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