Literature Review

All posts tagged with “Technology / Innovations News.”



Providence spins off patient portal company

04/09/24 at 03:00 AM

Providence spins off patient portal company Modern Healthcare, by Brock E.W. Turner; 4/2/24 Providence is spinning off a patient portal company from its incubator program, the health system said Tuesday. The Renton, Washington-based Catholic health system Providence is spinning out consumer engagement technology company Praia Health. Praia also received a $20 million Series A funding round as part of the spinoff.

Read More

How Large Language Models will improve the patient experience

04/08/24 at 03:15 AM

How Large Language Models will improve the patient experience MedCity News, by Piotr Orzechowski; 4/4/24 An LLM [Lare Language Model] is a form of artificial intelligence that can generate human-like text and functions as a form of an input – output machine, according to Stanford Medicine. The input is a text prompt, and the output is represented by a text-based response powered by an algorithm that swiftly sifts through and condenses billions of data points into the most probable answer, based on available information. LLMs bring great potential to help the healthcare industry center care around patients’ needs by improving communication, access, and engagement. However, LLMs also present significant challenges associated with privacy and bias that also must be considered.

Read More

Telehealth effective in supporting rural caregivers

04/08/24 at 03:00 AM

Telehealth effective in supporting rural caregivers Hospice News, by Jim Parker; 4/3/24Palliative care delivered via telehealth is effective at improving access to caregiver support. Moreover, these services can also be cost-effective, recent research has found. ... “[Technology-enhanced transitional palliative care] is a feasible, low cost and sustainable strategy to enhance [family caregiver] support in rural areas,” researches indicated in the study. “Potential reimbursement mechanisms are available to offset the costs to the health system for providing transitional palliative care to caregivers of patients recently hospitalized.”

Read More

Accepting applications for grants to fund high-speed Internet and digital equipment for rural and tribal communities

04/08/24 at 03:00 AM

USDA Rural Development accepting applications for grants to fund high-speed Internet and digital equipment for rural and tribal communitiesU.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, by Leigh Hallet; 4/4/24The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development invites grant applications for two programs that fund broadband access. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program helps organizations provide online training, education, and health services. It funds services, training, and equipment to digitally connect people to education, training, and health care resources.

Read More

FDA approves AI Tool that can detect sepsis

04/05/24 at 03:00 AM

FDA approves AI Tool that can detect sepsis Forbes, by Cailey Gleeson; 4/3/24 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an AI tool that can diagnose sepsis, Prenosis, the company behind the software, announced Wednesday, the latest in a series of agency approvals for AI diagnostic tools. ... At least 350,000. That’s how many adults who develop sepsis die from the condition or are discharged to hospice annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Read More

9 health systems join digital startup venture with Northwell Health

04/04/24 at 03:00 AM

9 health systems join digital startup venture with Northwell HealthBecker's Health IT, by Giles Bruces, 4/2/24 Nine health systems are partnering with a venture studio aiming to launch digital health startups. The systems will work with Aegis Ventures, a startup incubator that has built four companies over the past three years with New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health. John Noseworthy, MD, emeritus president and CEO of Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic, will serve as chair of the new Digital Consortium. The group says its goal is to develop solutions "built for health systems by health systems." The nine founding members of Aegis Ventures' Digital Consortium are:

Read More

Hospital struggles to restore MyChart months after cyberattack

04/03/24 at 03:00 AM

Hospital struggles to restore MyChart months after cyberattack Becker's Health IT, by Giles Bruce; 4/1/24 Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago is still trying to restore its MyChart patient portal two months after a cyberattack took its systems offline. ... The organization was struck by a "known criminal threat actor" and disconnected its IT and phone systems Jan. 31. A hacking group later claimed it sold the hospital's data for $3.4 million. Lurie Children's has since restored its phones, email and EHR, but has been working to reinstate MyChart for weeks.

Read More

Sutter Health Partners with Abridge on generative AI solution to improve patient, physician experience

04/01/24 at 03:00 AM

Sutter Health Partners with Abridge on generative AI solution to improve patient, physician experienceBusiness Wire Press Release, by Jill O'Brien and Liz Madison; 3/27/24Abridge and Sutter Health announced they will make Abridge’s generative AI platform for clinical documentation available to groups of its physicians across California. ... For physicians and advanced practice clinicians, Abridge generates a draft note in real-time based on the clinical conversation that flows directly into the electronic health record. Once clinicians review and verify the note, their paperwork is complete. 

Read More

Northwell backs 'emotionally intelligent' AI voice startup

04/01/24 at 03:00 AM

Northwell backs 'emotionally intelligent' AI voice startupBecker's Health IT, by Gile Bruce; 3/28/24The venture capital arm of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is backing a startup that is developing a conversational artificial intelligence platform that mimics human speech. Northwell Holdings participated in a $50 million series B funding round March 27 for Hume AI, which was founded by a former Google researcher to provide "near-human-level conversation" with AI. Northwell has already invested several million dollars in the "emotionally intelligent" voice interface.Editor's Note: Is this an April's Fools Day joke? No. Will these replacements of human conversation improve or potentially harm the patient/caregiver experience? What outcomes could be generated if $50 million was invested in making human professionals more emotionally intelligent? For this high-tech oriented hospice and palliative editor/leader, this direction raises patient/caregiver/professional concerns and cautions. 

Read More

Disruptions to endure even as Change Healthcare fixes systems

03/29/24 at 03:15 AM

Disruptions to endure even as Change Healthcare fixes systems Modern Healthcare, by Lauren Berryman; 3/28/24 Providers and health insurance companies see a long road ahead that stretches past whenever UnitedHealth Group declares Change Healthcare is fixed. Full restoration of claims, billing and other processes won't mark the end of the mess that began with a cyberattack last month, which forced UnitedHealth Group to take Change Healthcare systems offline and plunged the healthcare sector into disarray. Healthcare organizations anticipate operational and financial effects even when Change Healthcare is up and running again. 

Read More

How healthcare AI is regulated by the FDA, HHS, state laws

03/29/24 at 03:00 AM

How healthcare AI is regulated by the FDA, HHS, state laws Modern Healthcare, by Gabriel Perna; 3/26/24 Widespread oversight of artificial intelligence in healthcare is still a work in progress but that doesn’t mean the technology is completely unregulated. ... There are areas where developers, providers and insurers are regulated in how they use AI. Federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Health and Human Services Department have some oversight authority. Also, a few states have enacted laws governing use of AI within clinical care.

Read More

UnitedHealth urges Change customers to reconnect to restored systems

03/29/24 at 03:00 AM

UnitedHealth urges Change customers to reconnect to restored systems Modern Healthcare, by Lauren Berryman; 3/28/24 UnitedHealth group is calling on more health insurance companies to utilize the Change Healthcare systems it has already restored and bring the healthcare system closer to normalcy. The company, which operates Change Healthcare through its Optum subsidiary, is processing claims through its restored Assurance software and has reactivated its Relay Exchange clearinghouse, for example. But UnitedHealth Group needs more insurers to reconnect, it said in a notice on its website Wednesday.

Read More

5 weeks of uncertainty: How the Change breach has unfolded

03/27/24 at 03:00 AM

5 weeks of uncertainty: How the Change breach has unfolded Modern Healthcare, by Tim Broderick; 3/25/24 The healthcare industry is starting to play catch-up following a cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare subsidiary nearly five weeks ago that forced the company to disconnect its vital everyday systems. Change Healthcare processes about 50% of medical claims and manages prior authorization requests and reimbursement processes. The unprecedented network outage has forced hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and other providers to scramble as they try to mitigate operational and financial challenges. ... Here's a closer look at the fallout from the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

Read More

Digital avatars and personalized voices—How AI is helping to restore speech to patients

03/26/24 at 03:00 AM

Digital avatars and personalized voices—How AI is helping to restore speech to patients JAMA Network, by Samantha Anderer and Yulin Hswen, ScD, MHP; 3/22/24 This conversation is part of a series of interviews in which JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, and expert guests explore issues surrounding the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine.  As a specialist in advanced brain mapping methods, Edward Chang, MD, set out to understand the mechanisms that turn our thoughts into words. Now, with the help of AI, his team at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Weill Institute for Neurosciences has demonstrated that the brain signals associated with speech-related sensory and motor processes could grant a new voice to patients who have lost the ability to speak.

Read More

AI scribe saves doctors an hour at the keyboard every day

03/25/24 at 03:00 AM

AI scribe saves doctors an hour at the keyboard every dayAMA, by Andis Robeznieks; 3/18/24 When a health system rolls out new technology that it insists will make physicians’ lives easier, the announcement is typically met with skepticism. But the use of augmented intelligence (AI)—often called artificial intelligence—has changed that. The Permanente Medical Group’s rollout of ambient AI scribes to reduce documentation burdens has been deemed a success, saving most of the physicians using it an average of one hour a day at the keyboard. ... Refinement of the tool, however, is ongoing. ... For example, one physician mentioned scheduling a patient’s prostate exam, but the AI scribe recorded that the exam had been performed. 

Read More

Providence Chief Nursing Officer: All hospitals should be using these 3 tools

03/22/24 at 03:15 AM

Providence Chief Nursing Officer: All hospitals should be using these 3 tools MedCity News, by Katie Adams; 3/19/24 The workforce shortage is especially acute among nurses. There are 193,100 projected job openings per year for nurses in the U.S. between 2022 and 2032, but only 177,400 new nurses are predicted to enter the workforce during that entire 10-year period. That isn’t even enough to fill one year’s worth of the projected job openings. In order for this issue to improve, hospitals must embrace the technology on the market that has been proven to alleviate nurse burnout, said Syl Trepanier, chief nursing officer at Providence, in a recent interview at the ViVE conference in Los Angeles. ...

Read More

UnitedHealth says unit Change has restored and rebuilt functions handled by Amazon

03/22/24 at 03:00 AM

UnitedHealth says unit Change has restored and rebuilt functions handled by Amazon Reuters; 3/20/24 UnitedHealth Group said on Wednesday its unit Change Healthcare's cloud-based services for handling medical claims were completely rebuilt and restored, about a month after a cybersecurity attack on the subsidiary crippled healthcare in the United States. Amazon's cloud services for two of Change Healthcare's applications were restored from backups and cleared by their cybersecurity partners, the insurer said. 

Read More

UnitedHealth hack takes toll on healthcare providers to the nation's poor

03/22/24 at 02:45 AM

UnitedHealth hack takes toll on healthcare providers to the nation's poor Reuters, by Julie Steenhuysen; 3/20/24 The ransomware attack on UnitedHealth that has disrupted payments to U.S. doctors and healthcare facilities nationwide for a month, has taken an especially harsh toll on the community health centers that serve more than 30 million poor and uninsured patients. Many large healthcare centers have been able to resume receiving payments and making claims after the hack by using alternative technology, UnitedHealth says. ... One Texas-based association said if the situation continues through the end of this month, some members will not be able to make payroll.

Read More

Give generative AI another decade to revolutionize healthcare

03/21/24 at 03:00 AM

Give generative AI another decade to revolutionize healthcare Modern Healthcare - Opinion, by Keith Figoli; 3/15/24... Generative artificial intelligence is poised to transform healthcare by enabling solutions to effectively address [common patient care] challenges. This cutting-edge technology opens new avenues for innovation in diagnosis, treatment planning, operations efficiency and overall healthcare delivery–and industry leaders are taking notice. A recent survey revealed that 25% of healthcare organizations implemented a generative AI solution in 2023, while 58% plan to adopt one this year. However, the generative AI-driven transformation won’t – and shouldn’t – happen overnight.

Read More

Insurer responses to Change outage fail to impress provider

03/21/24 at 03:00 AM

Insurer responses to Change outage fail to impress provider Modern Healthcare, by Nona Tepper and Lauren Berryman; 3/18/24Insurers have modified claims and payment operations amid the Change Healthcare network outage, but providers contend the moves are not enough to address their financial challenges.

Read More

Creating a community-led telehealth approach for supportive cancer care

03/20/24 at 03:00 AM

Creating a community-led telehealth approach for supportive cancer care mHealthIntelligence, by Anuja Vaidya; 3/18/24 Tennessee Oncology is joining forces with rural patients to explore strategies for expanding telehealth access to supportive cancer care services. ... The NEST program aims to expand access to palliative care, psychology, and integrative oncology and nutrition services among rural cancer patients in seven Middle Tennessee counties: Robertson, Dickson, Putnam, Dekalb, Warren, Bedford, and Coffee counties.

Read More

UnitedHealth Group cyberattack status update

03/19/24 at 03:00 AM

UnitedHealth Group cyberattack status update UnitedHealth Group Press Release; 3/18/24 Today [Monday 3/18/24], Change Healthcare will begin releasing medical claims preparation software, an important step in the resumption of services. This will be made available to thousands of customers over the next several days. The company expects to have third-party attestations available prior to services becoming operational. Following this initial phase, remaining services restoration will continue through ongoing phases of activation until all customers have been connected.

Read More

Healthcare hit hardest by ransomware last year, FBI IC3 report shows

03/19/24 at 03:00 AM

Healthcare hit hardest by ransomware last year, FBI IC3 report shows HealthITSecurity, by Jill McKeon; 3/12/24 The healthcare sector suffered more ransomware attacks than any other critical infrastructure sector last year, according to complaint data examined in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2023 Internet Crime Report. ... In 2023, IC3 received a record 880,418 complaints, with losses exceeding $12.5 billion. These figures signify a 10 percent increase in complaints received and a 22 percent increase in losses suffered compared to last year’s report.

Read More

Use of machine learning to optimize referral for early palliative care: Are prognostic predictions enough?

03/19/24 at 02:00 AM

Use of machine learning to optimize referral for early palliative care: Are prognostic predictions enough  Journal of Clinical Oncology - Editorials; by Gary E. Weissman, MD, MSHP; Joseph A. Greer, PhD; and Jennifer S. Temel, MD; 3/15/24  The Takeaway In the article that accompanies this editorial, [Weissman] et al used a machine learning (ML) algorithm to identify patients with advanced cancer who were receiving non–curative-intent treatment and at risk of death within 1 year to allocate early palliative care services at least 6 months before death as a means to increase use of early palliative care in the context of limited resources. While ML prognostic models are one promising strategy for triaging palliative care services, initiation of palliative care based exclusively on estimated survival and in the months before death likely excludes patients who would benefit from early palliative care initiated at the time of diagnosis, regardless of their estimated survival.

Read More

HIMSS24: Change Healthcare outage is the elephant in the room

03/18/24 at 03:00 AM

HIMSS24: Change Healthcare outage is the elephant in the room Modern Healthcare - Digital Health, by Brock E.W. Turner; 3/14/24 There's certainly buzz about the Change Healthcare data breach at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s annual conference. But getting executives to talk openly about it is a non-starter. The breach, which has hobbled systems nationwide, has put even greater emphasis on the topics of cybersecurity and protecting patient data. But many attendees at the event in Orlando, Florida, have been unwilling to discuss it on the record, citing their relationship with the claims processing company owned by UnitedHealth Group.

Read More