Literature Review

What Amazon's latest healthcare play could mean for ASCsBecker's ASC Review, by Paige Haeffele; 1/8/23Amazon launched digital health monitoring services through a partnership with Omada Health. Omada's more than 20 million members are eligible to enroll in the service through Amazon, according to a Jan. 8 post on Amazon's website. ... Sri Sundaram, MD, an electrophysiologist at South Denver Cardiology Associates, told Becker's: "From a patient's perspective, it's only positive. From a physician's perspective, it can be overwhelming. I get daily reports from patients about abnormal recordings from their wearables. How do I respond when only the wearable is abnormal? Keeping up with this data and questions from patients has already become demanding."Editor's Note: What implications might such wearables have for palliative and hospice care?

How health systems are using AI to augment patient safetyModern Healthcare, by Mari Devereaux; 1/5/24Clinicians at some health systems are turning to artificial intelligence-driven tools to predict and avert negative patient outcomes, though stakeholders say caution remains warranted.

8 healthcare tech trends in 2024, per DataLinkBecker's Health IT, by Noah Schwartz; 12/28/23Health IT company DataLink projected eight trends in healthcare technology for 2024. Artificial technology dominated the trends list. Here are the eight healthcare technology predictions for 2024, according to a Dec. 28 DataLink news release:

Biased AI models in healthcare may lead caregivers and clinicians astray, new study warnsMcKnights' Tech Daily News, by Aaron Dorman; 1/2/24Over the past year, studies have highlighted how artificial intelligence models in healthcare sometimes can increase bias. Now, a new study warns that clinicians could follow AI down the wrong path. When reviewing data for respiratory failure, a common problem for older adults, clinicians were 11% less accurate in their diagnoses when using a biased AI model than if they didn’t use AI at all, the study found. Disturbingly, this fact was true even when given explanations about how the AI came to a diagnostic conclusion. 

Tech that will change your life in 2024Wall Street Journal, by Joanna Stern, Nicole Nguyen, and Christopher Mims; 12/29/23Generative AI will remain huge, and we’ll also see big moves with electric vehicles, Apple’s mixed-reality headset, password security and regulation around social media.

How can hospitals prepare for 2024’s cyberthreats?MedCity News, by Katie Adams; 12/27/23Many hospitals remain underprepared to protect themselves against cybercriminals’ barrage of increasingly sophisticated attacks, but there are a couple concrete steps they can take to build a stronger defense structure — like virtual patching and thinking twice about moving to the cloud.

Denied by AI: How Medicare Advantage plans use algorithms to cut off care for seniors in needSTAT, by Casey Ross and Bob Herman; 12/28/23An algorithm, not a doctor, predicted a rapid recovery for Frances Walter, an 85-year-old Wisconsin woman with a shattered left shoulder and an allergy to pain medicine. In 16.6 days, it estimated, she would be ready to leave her nursing home. On the 17th day, her Medicare Advantage insurer, Security Health Plan, followed the algorithm and cut off payment for her care, concluding she was ready to return to the apartment where she lived alone. Meanwhile, medical notes in June 2019 showed Walter’s pain was maxing out the scales and that she could not dress herself, go to the bathroom, or even push a walker without help...

1 million Corewell Health patients could be impacted by second data breachAnn Arbor (MI) NewsDecember 26, 2023Grand Rapids, MI—About one million Corewell Health patients in southeast Michigan may have had their personal and medical information exposed in yet another nationwide data breach. ... It comes less than a month after a data breach of another Corewell Health vendor that also is believed to have exposed similar personal and medical information of about one million patients serviced by the health system in southeast Michigan. 

Chatty robot helps seniors fight loneliness through AI companionshipAssociated Press/Washington Post, 12/22/23Coral Springs, FL—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. A few miles away, the same voice comforted 83-year-old Deanna Dezern when her friend died. In central New York, it plays games and music for 92-year-old Marie Broadbent, who is blind and in hospice, and in Washington state, it helps 83-year-old Jan Worrell make new friends. 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. “It’s entertaining. You can actually talk to her,” said Loaiza, 81, whose ElliQ in suburban Fort Lauderdale nicknamed her “Jellybean” for no particular reason.

Skilled nursing seniors support VR with eye-popping enthusiasm, latest study showsMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 20, 2023Virtual reality is having a moment. Last month, a study showed that VR tools can help establish stronger ties between seniors and their caregivers at long-term care communities. Now, new study results show that seniors in skilled nursing facilities believe using VR tech overwhelmingly helped address feelings of loneliness and social isolation. 

Can AI Help You Die? Doctors in New Jersey are experimenting with software to prompt discussions with patients about palliative or hospice care.BloombergDecember 18, 2023Doctors can be slow to talk about the end of the traditional medical road. When they’ve been trying to manage a life-threatening illness or keep a terminal patient alive, bringing up palliative or hospice care can feel like giving up. But these options can radically improve quality of life, or the end of life, when traditional medicine hasn’t helped enough—if patients and their doctors figure it out in time. ... “When someone is actively declining, you can see it, but being able to predict before that happens is hard.” Can artificial intelligence software do a better job than humans of picking that moment? That’s the idea behind Serious Illness Care Connect, a software tool that about 150 doctors are testing in a pilot program in New Jersey’s largest health-care network, Hackensack Meridian Health. ... The Hackensack Meridian team stresses that the tool isn’t making decisions. “Think of this as a ‘check engine’ light,” says Lauren Koniaris, the chief medical informatics officer at Hackensack Meridian.

Patient data compromised in October cyberattack on HealthAlliance HospitalTimes Union (Albany, NY)December 12, 2023Kingston, NY—The October cyberattack that hit two hospitals in the Hudson Valley gave hackers unauthorized access to sensitive patient data for nearly two months, hospital officials said Monday night, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, lab results and financial information. 

Google top searches 2023Editor Note: Top searches in news, people, passings, and more...