April 2018

By the Numbers
For The Record
Vol. 30 No. 4 P. 34

600
This number of patients were diagnosed with contact with a sword or dagger in 2016, according to ICD-10 data collected by Amino, a San Francisco-based health care transparency company. Additionally, 2,200 people were injured by a nail gun; 8,900 had contact with a workbench tool; and 3,400 were injured by a powered lawn mower.

43,979
Total attendee registration for the 2018 HIMSS conference was this number, up from 42,287 in 2017.

13
The Post and Courier reports that this number of employees were fired in 2017 from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) after it was determined they had broken federal law by using patient records without permission, spying on patient files, or disclosing private information. Eleven of 58 privacy breaches at MUSC in 2017 were categorized as snooping, which sometimes occurs after a case makes the news.

$7.2 Billion
According to a Mercom Capital Group report, venture capital funding in digital heath globally had a record-breaking year in 2017 with nearly this amount raised in 778 deals, which is a 42% increase from the previous record set in 2016 of $5.1 billion in 622 deals.

51
A HEALTHeLINK survey found this percentage of respondents feels the use of EHRs by doctors and hospitals makes health care "more safe," while 18% said "less safe" and 24% said it makes "no impact." Ninety percent of respondents said they knew their doctor uses EHRs, and 88% were aware that their doctor can send/receive medical information to and from other health care providers involved in their care using EHRs.

82
This percentage of respondents to a HEALTHeLINK survey said electronic access is good for health care (24% said "strongly yes" and 58% said "yes").

1/4
A RAND Health study in The American Journal of Managed Care found only about this fraction of US medical practices were using EHRs to their full potential, while 39% of the practices were underusing EHRs.