Newsbytes

The repository provides a collection of high-resolution microscopic COVID-related human tissue images and is hosted at the National Institutes of Health. “COVID-DPR was created to enable international collaboration by providing a centralized, cloud-based repository for sharing and annotating digital whole slide images of lung, liver, kidney, and heart tissues from patients infected with COVID-19, as well as the closely related coronaviruses associated with SARs and MERs,” according to a press release from the companies. The whole slide images, annotations, and metadata in the repository will serve as a reference data set for education, research, and clinical trials.

COVID-DPR is supported by Indica Labs’ Halo Link software, a collaborative image-management platform designed to securely share digital whole slide images and data. When used with COVID-DPR, Halo Link software is deployed in a Web portal developed and managed by Octo and Axle Informatics to provide a secure, globally accessible central repository. Biomedical scientists can add, view, annotate, analyze, and share whole slide images using Halo Link. Indica Labs’ image analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence tools can also be integrated and accessed in the software’s interface.

The initial data sets in COVID-DPR were provided by infectious disease laboratories across North America, Europe, and Australia. The repository is available at https://covid19pathology.nih.gov.

Indica Labs, 505-492-0979

Voicebrook offering free Web-based reporting tool

Voicebrook has introduced Report Builder Lite, a free Web-based reporting tool that provides standardized grossing templates that can be used with any anatomic pathology system.

“It’s not a replacement for our full-feature VoiceOver PRO software, but it’s a stopgap for people needing an interim solution to help patients get results more accurately and more quickly,” according to a company press release.

Report Builder Lite offers a variety of grossing templates for synoptic and narrative reporting. Once users assemble their structured reports, they can copy the text and insert it into an AP system. The product provides a library of the most common reporting templates, including those needed for emergency surgery.

Report Builder Lite does not save or transmit patient information via the Internet or interact with the user’s AP system. To access it, go to www.reportbuilderlite.com.

Voicebrook, 516-326-9400

ONC and Sequoia Project extend interoperability initiative

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has committed approximately $1.1 million to continue for another year the Sequoia Project’s role as the recognized coordinating entity to support implementation of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. The TEFCA is intended to advance the secure exchange of electronic health information between health information networks.

In its role as the RCE, the Sequoia Project is charged with developing, implementing, and maintaining the TEFCA’s Common Agreement and Qualified Health Information Network Technical Framework, which the ONC labeled a “single ‘on-ramp’ to nationwide connectivity.”

“The TEFCA can help ensure that health information networks, health care providers, health plans, public health, and many more stakeholders have secure access to their electronic health information when and where it is needed most,” said Michael Berry, an ONC subject matter expert, in an ONC Health IT Buzz blog post.

The funds will support the program for its second year, ending August 2021.

Novant Health partners with Zipline for drone deliveries

The Novant Health integrated health care system has announced that it is using drone deliveries to distribute personal protective equipment within its health system through a partnership with Zipline International, a provider of logistics services and drone flights.

“The operation provides contactless distribution of personal protective equipment and critical medical supplies to Novant Health frontline medical teams in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metro area,” according to a press release from the company. Winston-Salem–based Novant has nearly 700 locations, including 15 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics serving Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

An emergency drone fulfillment center adjacent to the Novant Health logistics center in Kannapolis, NC, will launch the Zipline drones to distribute critical medical products to Novant Health hospitals. The operation is sending initial flights to Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center and will expand to other facilities in later phases.

In the early stages of the collaboration, Zipline will fly to Novant facilities in a range of 20 to 30 miles round trip. However, the Zipline drones can travel more than 100 miles, which would allow them to deliver medical supplies from the logistics center to more than 30 Novant Health facilities, with the necessary approvals.

The drones land only at the emergency drone fulfillment center. They make deliveries by hovering over a designated spot and dropping boxes of medical products fitted with paper parachutes. The drones can carry close to four pounds of cargo and fly up to 80 miles an hour, according to Zipline. They can also operate in severe weather.

The operation will provide drone flights in class D controlled airspace, where all air traffic is actively managed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA approved the pandemic response operation under a part 107 waiver, which allows drones to fly in a manner otherwise prohibited by the agency’s small unmanned aircraft regulations.

During the next two years, Zipline and Novant plan to expand their partnership beyond emergency operations to serve health care facilities, and perhaps patients at home, as part of a full commercial service, subject to FAA approvals.

Dr. Aller practices clinical informatics in Southern California. He can be reached at raller@usc.edu.