Literature Review

Baptist Health taps 3 vendors to build a population health system that works Healthcare IT News; by Bill Siwicki; 7/26/24With help from Oracle, Innovaccer and Salesforce, the South Florida provider is scoring big population health wins, including a 7% increase in coding gap closure rate and a 17% increase in annual wellness visit completion rates. Baptist Health South Florida operates a network of 11 hospitals covering four counties. It also includes numerous ambulatory facilities, urgent care centers and emergency departments to provide comprehensive healthcare services across the region. ... "One of our primary issues was the fragmented nature of patient data across multiple provider organizations and electronic health record systems," said Milady Cervera, vice president, population health and physician integrated networks, at Baptist Health South Florida. "This lack of interoperability made it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of our patients' health status, care history and ongoing needs. ..."

Keeping staff members safe and sound by optimizing security technology Security; by Paul Sarnese; 7/12/24 Nobody wants to invest in technology, only to have it go the way of the stationary bike that sits unused in the corner of a room. That holds true for healthcare organization leaders who are looking to invest in staff safety alarm systems that can help avert potentially dangerous situations. With workplace violence against caregivers increasing 115% since 2021, many healthcare organizations are, indeed, looking to protect workers from harm — and to shield their organizations from resultant financial distress.Editor's Note: Workplace violence and staff safety continues to trend as a root cause for nursing and other healthcare strikes across the nation. Examine your organization's Incident Reports and QAPI initiatives. What needs to be addressed?

How 'Human-Kind' AI can reshape your business Forbes; by Mark Cameron; 7/1/24 As AI models mature, their impact on the economy is becoming increasingly profound. They offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation and efficiency. Here's how. ... AI enables traditional businesses to accomplish more with fewer resources. ... As AI begins to take over mundane tasks, the role of the human workforce is evolving. Employees are no longer cogs in the machine—they're becoming value creators. The focus is evolving toward roles that require critical thinking, creativity and emotional intelligence—areas where humans excel, but AI still has limitations. This shift necessitates upskilling and reskilling initiatives to prepare the workforce for new, high-value roles in an AI-driven economy.

7 of the top tech and IT jobs in demand for the future TechTarget; by David Weldon; 6/24/24 Businesses of the future will rely on workers with IT skills even more than they do today. Find out which jobs might be most in demand and what those roles entail. ... Organizations are having to create new tech roles and redefine existing ones to manage the integration of AI and data into core business functions. Meanwhile, cybersecurity continues to be a top concern, as do digital transformation and cloud computing. These challenges are increasing the demand for job roles that merge technical expertise with strategic business acumen. ... So, what will be some of the hottest IT jobs of the future? ... Roles are listed in alphabetical order. 

A paradigm shift for healthtech CEOs: Increasing patient satisfaction and retention Forbes; by Eric Giesecke; 6/24/24In our hyperconnected world, seamless communication is the norm. From the latest news to customer service chats, consumers expect streamlined interactions. However, the healthcare and healthtech industries have lagged in adopting consumer-friendly practices. ... A patient’s experience is extremely important for healthcare organizations to thrive. It’s important to remember that in the digital age, competitors are not just other healthcare companies. ... So how can we customize experiences better than ever before? One important step is taking the time to understand your organization's current technology. ...

171K+ clicks saved: Inside Johns Hopkins' nurse documentation revamp Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Erica Carbajal; 6/17/24 Across healthcare, efforts to advance documentation are often focused on enhancing physicians' workflow. But at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital, leaders are equally focused on improving documentation in nursing. ... [The] American Nurses Credentialing Center recognized Johns Hopkins with 10 exemplars, one of which recognized the hospital as a leader in nursing informatics. Case in point: The hospital has saved nurses 170,620 clicks in four months, April Saathoff, DNP, RN, vice president and chief nursing information officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told Becker's. ... "Instead of the nurse having to go in and document on every single row on a head-to-toe reassessment for the patient, we now have some fields added to the top where the nurse can document reassessment changes noted or reassessed no changes," Dr. Saathoff said, adding that the changes are saving nurses an average of 13 minutes per reassessment. Editor's Note: What might your organization be able to streamline in your online documentation? Before IT or clinical management decides unilaterally, get input from your clinicians who make the visits and use the system. Include your psychosocial/spiritual care team members as well, as you might delete something crucial that they need.

Geriatric End-of-Life Screening Tool prediction of 6-month mortality in older patientsJAMA Open Network; by Adrian D. Haimovich, MD, PhD, Ryan C. Burke, PhD, MPH, Larry A. Nathanson, MD, David Rubins, MD, R. Andrew Taylor, MD, MHS, Erin K. Kross, MD, Kei Ouchi, MD, MPH, Nathan I. Shapiro, MD, MPH, Mara A. Schonberg, MD, MPH; 5/31/24In this prognostic study of 82,371 ED encounters within a tertiary care emergency department, the Geriatric End-of-Life Screening Tool (GEST) performed robustly on external validation, identifying 11.6% of the population as having a 30% or greater mortality risk. Compared with serious illness diagnoses, GEST provided a greater net benefit as a screening tool using decision curve analysis. The findings of this prognostic external validation study highlight the opportunity to use pragmatic, prognostic electronic health record algorithms to identify older adults in the emergency department for end-of-life care interventions.Publisher's Note: See related article posted earlier this week from McKnight's Long-Term Care News, Screening tool predicts older adults’ need for end-of-life care intervention.

Screening tool predicts older adults’ need for end-of-life care interventionMcKnight's Long-Term Care News; by Donna Shryer; 6/2/24A computerized tool can accurately identify older adults visiting the emergency department who have a high risk of dying within six months, a new study found. The tool, called the Geriatric End-of-Life Screening Tool, or GEST, performed more reliably than reviewing diagnosed serious illnesses and estimating mortality rate. GEST uses routine medical data such as age, vital signs, blood tests and past hospitalizations to calculate each person’s individualized mortality risk over the next six months. In the study of more than 80,000 emergency department visits by older adults, GEST maintained high accuracy regardless of the person’s gender, race/ethnicity or year of visit.

Tech solutions for better patient care: How modern tools are transforming hospice management NerdBot; by Nerd Voices; 5/30/24 Hospice care, fundamentally centered on providing comfort and support to terminally ill patients, has traditionally been a deeply personal and human-centric field. However, as technology advances, it is clear that modern tools can significantly enhance the quality of care. Integrating technology into hospice revenue management allows caregivers to streamline operations, reduce errors, and focus more on delivering compassionate care.

What AccentCare’s clinicians wanted from the company’s AI implementationHome Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 5/23/24Like many others, AccentCare has embraced artificial intelligence. However, the company wasn’t satisfied with implementing generative AI and looping in its clinicians afterwards. Instead, the company made its nurses a part of this process from the start. “It’s our philosophy at AccentCare that we don’t make changes to clinical practice without having a conversation with the people who are delivering clinical care,” Tracy Dent, vice president of clinical operations at AccentCare, told Home Health Care News. “They’re the people who are delivering care at the bedside. We want to make sure they have a voice in decisions that are going to impact their ability to do so.”Editor's Note: Pair this with another article in today's newsletter, "Three ways to communicate with Gen-Z—and why it’s important."

Upskilling and retraining for talent innovation in the AI ​​era Tech Trends Post; 5/13/24 According to a report from the IBM Institute for Business Value, more than 60% of executives say generative AI will disrupt the way their organizations design customer and employee experiences. Employees must change to meet these demands. Many are turning to AI upskilling – the act of providing the workforce with the skills and training to use AI to do their jobs. ... A 2024 Gallup poll found that about 25% of workers worry that their jobs could become obsolete due to AI. ... [This article outlines the following:]

6 ways to cut EHR burdens for physicians AMA - American Medical Association; by Sara Berg, MS; 5/7/24 When Jane F. Fogg, MD, MPH, first became a doctor, patient charts were on paper. She looked forward to the rise of the EHR, believing electronic charting could help modernize the care she provided while also empowering herself and her patients. Funny how things turn out. “EHRs are a source of burnout—we have lots and lots of great evidence that has helped us understand the low usability and the high work burden that it adds to physicians,” Dr. Fogg, senior physician adviser at the AMA. ... Here are just a few ways that health systems and organizations can improve EHR workflows to reduce physician burden.