Literature Review

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. ...

Telehealth study investigates reimbursements for rural health care deliveryMedical Xpress, by Vincent Jacobbi, Mayo Clinic; 3/15/24A recent Mayo Clinic study published in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine investigated how telehealth in palliative care may provide value for rural caregivers, health care teams and their patients. Researchers were particularly interested in determining what billing models were most cost-effective and sustainable for health care teams and caregivers transitioning patients from hospital to home care

Healthcare execs need to 'iterate faster' for success, says CIO Becker's Health IT, by Laura Dyrda; 3/13/24 Baton Rouge, LA-based Franciscan Ministries of Our Lady Health System embarked on a journey last year to incorporate more artificial intelligence into its operational and clinical systems. Will Landry, senior vice president and CIO of the system, said while the organization doesn't want AI making decisions, there is a lot of value in supporting caregivers and team mates. He joined the "Becker's Healthcare Podcast" to share the health system's strategy for governance and his push for more innovative thinking around AI applications.

What are important ethical implications of using Facial Recognition Technology in health care? AMA Journal of Ethics, by Nicole Martinez-Martin, JD, PhD; orig post 2/24, redistributed 3/13/24Applications of facial recognition technology (FRT) in health care settings have been developed to identify and monitor patients as well as to diagnose genetic, medical, and behavioral conditions. The use of FRT in health care suggests the importance of informed consent, data input and analysis quality, effective communication about incidental findings, and potential influence on patient-clinician relationships. Privacy and data protection are thought to present challenges for the use of FRT for health applications.

Opportunity uncovered: How COVID-19 accelerated healthcare transformation Managed Healthcare Executive; by Patrick Horine, MHA; 3/6/24The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on the healthcare landscape, spotlighting critical areas for improvement while accelerating transformations that were already underway. From addressing disparities in equity and access to adopting digital health strategies, the pandemic has forced healthcare to move swiftly to meet urgent needs. First, let us look at some of the issues we had been facing and how these were changed by the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. ...

WellSky ® and Millennium Physician Group set new standard for healthcare delivery with innovative new partnership Benzinga, by Business Wire; 3/5/24 WellSky, a leading health and community care technology company, and Millennium Physician Group, a value-based physician group with more than 800 healthcare providers across the Southeast, today announced a new multi-year partnership to drive improved outcomes for Millennium patients. ... WellSky serves more than 20,000 client sites — including the largest hospital systems, blood banks, cell therapy labs, home health and hospice franchises, post-acute providers, government agencies, and human services organizations. 

How to help elderly parents from a distance: Tech can ease logistical, emotional burden USA Today, by Marc Ramirez; 2/28/24 As a neuropsychologist trained in developing technology for cognitively impaired older adults, Alyssa Weakley’s research at the University of California, Davis, made her acutely aware of the challenges of long-distance caregiving. ... Soon, she and her family found themselves in a position shared by nearly 6 million other Americans, acting as caregivers from a complicated and often distressing distance. According to a 2020 AARP report, long-distance caregivers represent more than 1 in 10 of the country’s estimated 53 million family caregivers, meaning they live an hour or more from their care recipient; on average, they live about 450 miles away. Editor's Note: What systems do you have in place to communicate with and support family members who live long-distance, who never have the opportunity to meet with any hospice team members in person? 

'This innovation was a home run!': Top tech projects for 8 systemsBecker's Health IT, by Laura Dyrda; 2/19/24C-suite executives are taking a critical eye to any technology spend, focusing on applications and partnerships that will support the clinical workforce, automate administrative tasks and expand access to care through virtual platforms. They're also looking upstream at opportunities to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to gather better insights into operational efficiency and patient care. Which investments yielded the best results in the last year? Eight health system leaders shared with Becker's the most needle-moving projects and initiatives from 2023.

Northern Light Health works to get back online after computer server breachMainebiz, by William Hall; 2/5/24Maine's second-largest health care system, Northern Light Health, said on Monday part of its computer network remained down after servers were discovered Saturday to have been breached. Nothern Light Health comprises 10 hospitals including 411-bed Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor; over 1,000 physicians; six home care and hospice centers; and a total of more than 120 care locations.

Top 5 digital health priorities for health systemsBecker's Health IT, by Giles Bruce; 1/31/24Nearly two-thirds of health system C-suite leaders say digital health is easing access to care, though using it to improve patient experience has fallen as a tech priority for executives, a new study found. ... [According] to the Jan. 22 report from management consultant Sage Growth Partners ... [here are] the top five digital health priorities for the next 12 months, per the survey of 108 hospital and health system C-suite executives:

Health systems want tech to make work 'more human'Becker's Health IT, by Laura Dyrda; 1/23/24Healthcare delivery needs more humanity. Over the last 15 years, clinicians have been forced behind the computer entering data into the EHR during patient visits. Increasing patient volume and workforce shortages make it a challenge to deliver high-touch patient care without burning out clinical staff.

Acceptance of digital health technologies in palliative care patientsPalliat Med Rep; by Stefan Wicki, Ian C Clark, Manuel Amann, Sebastian M Christ, Markus Schettle, Caroline Hertler, Gudrun Theile, David Blum; 1/13/24Results: A majority of patients indicated an interest in (69.0%) and positive attitude toward (75.9%) digital health technologies. Nearly all (93.1%) patients believe that digital health technologies will become more important in medicine in the future. Most patients would consider using their smartphone (79.3%) or wearable (69.0%) more often for their health.