Literature Review

Mass General Brigham's generative AI plans for '24Becker's Health IT, by Bruce Giles; 1/2/24Mass General Brigham plans to use generative artificial intelligence to compare patients to ones with similar profiles to help with their treatment, The Wall Street Journal reported. The health system also intends to release its first AI-powered diagnostic products as part of its new commercial AI office in the first half of 2024, according to the Dec. 29 story. ... With advancements in large language models, algorithms that scan medical images for insights used to take millions of dollars and several years to create, he told the news outlet. Now they can be built in a matter of months.

12 healthcare trends and issues we are following for 2024 Becker's Hospital Review, by Scott Becker and Molly Gamble; 1/2/24The year begins with a number of challenges that have only intensified for U.S. healthcare providers. Below are a dozen trends and issues that commanded our attention throughout 2023 and hold our curiosity in the year ahead. These patterns and shifts directly or indirectly influence how healthcare providers fare in 2024, and ultimately affect how Americans access, afford and receive care.

Stepping forward to enhance end-of-life careLaker Lutz News, by Mary Rathman; 1/2/23Gulfside Hospice, a leading provider of compassionate health care services, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its newest venture — a state-of-the-art Gulfside Hospice Care Center — on Dec. 8, on the future grounds of the center.

Palliative medicine helps stage IV melanoma survivor reclaim her life after treatmentAtrium Health; 1/1/24After a stage IV malignant melanoma diagnosis, brain surgery, radiation therapy and immunotherapy, Kate Crawford, 45, has reclaimed her quality of life thanks to palliative medicine at Atrium Health Levine Cancer. ...  While she has a vibrant, positive energy, the cancer treatments and disease itself led to numerous side effects and symptoms that drastically affected her quality of life. But thanks to palliative medicine at Levine Cancer, Kate says she feels more clear than she has in years. And her family says: “Kate is back.”

We’re college students with ideas of how to promote senior living careers to a younger generation

A Birmingham mother draws on personal tragedy to assist grieving familiesAlabama Reflection, by Ralph Chapoco; 1/2/24Ella Shakeel has been volunteering with Faith in Action Alabama for five years. In that time, she worked exclusively with victims of violent crime as they came to terms with not only the tragedy of losing a loved one, but also with dealing with the logistics of laying them to rest. The source of her empathy stems from the tragedy that she herself has endured.

Continuum Of CareTallahassee Magazine, by Steve Bornhoft; 12/31/23Leaders seek seamless approach to services. In the United States, health services are delivered based on what Mark O’Bryant sees as a “reverse model.” Some might even call it a perverse model.

A timeline of what’s happened since Colorado’s first legal recreational marijuana sales beganThe Denver Post, by John Aguilar and Tiney Ricciardi; 12/31/23Jan. 1, 2024, marks 10 years since the state pioneered cannabis sales and regulation. It’s been 10 years since Colorado launched the first legal recreational marijuana market in the world and became a pioneer in drug reform. But when it came to the nascent industry, the first sales on Jan. 1, 2014, were more a starting block than a finish line. In the decade since legalization, Colorado has refined laws, catalyzed new ones and served as a litmus test for the rest of the country as states followed its lead. Today, cannabis is recreationally available for sale in 24 states — where more than half of Americans live.

From -10.6% to 11.1%: 34 systems ranked by operating marginsBecker's Hospital CFO Report, by Alan Condon adn Madeline Ashley; 12/29/23Hospitals began 2023 with a median operating margin of -0.9%, but that figure has increased steadily month over month to hit 2% in November — the ninth consecutive month of positive margins. Despite a modest positive turning point for some hospitals and health systems this year, Fitch Ratings projects 2024 to be another "make or break" year for a significant portion of the sector.

Chatty AI robot companions help seniors fight loneliness: ‘She makes them smile and brings joy’News8, by Terry Spencer; 12/31/23CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Joyce Loaiza lives alone, but when she returns to her apartment at a Florida senior community, the retired office worker often has a chat with a friendly female voice that asks about her day. ... The women are some of the first in the country to receive the robot ElliQ, whose creators, Intuition Robotics, and senior assistance officials say is the only device using artificial intelligence specifically designed to alleviate the loneliness and isolation experienced by many older Americans. ... The robots are mostly distributed by assistance agencies in New York, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Washington state, but can also be purchased individually for $600 a year and a $250 installation fee. Skuler wouldn’t say how many ElliQs have been distributed so far, but the goal is to have more than 100,000 out within five years.

The 10 biggest Medicare Advantage stories in 2023Becker's Payer Issues, by Rylee Wilson; 12/21/232023 was an eventful year for Medicare Advantage. As the program continued to grow, with enrollment surpassing 30 million in 2023, some hospitals are beginning to push back on private Medicare plans. CMS also introduced new rates and regulations in 2023 that are taking effect in 2024. Here are 10 of the biggest Medicare Advantage stories Becker's reported in 2024...

Doctors are pushing Hollywood for more realistic depictions of death and dying on TVKQED, by April Dembosky; 12/28/23We've seen it so many times. A young, handsome man rushed into the emergency room with a gunshot wound. A flurry of white coats racing the clock: CPR, the heart zapper, the order for a scalpel. Stat! Then finally, the flatline. This is Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider's biggest pet peeve. Where are the TV scripts about the elderly grandmothers dying of heart failure at home? What about an episode on the daughter still grieving her father's fatal lung cancer, ten years later? "Acute, violent death is portrayed many, many, many times more than a natural death," says Ungerleider, an internal medicine doctor and founder of End Well, a nonprofit focused on shifting the American conversation around death.