Literature Review

CMS Statement on continued action to respond to the cyberattack on change healthcareCMS.gov Press Release; 3/9/24 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing to monitor and assess the impact that the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s subsidiary Change Healthcare has had on all provider and supplier types. Today, CMS is announcing that, in addition to considering applications for accelerated payments for Medicare Part A providers, we will also be considering applications for advance payments for Part B suppliers. 

Mayo's plan to expand AI tool access in 2024 Becker's Health IT, by Naomi Diaz; 3/7/24Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic has saved its nurses 30 seconds per In Basket message using generative AI. ... This AI-driven system assists clinicians by generating initial responses to patient messages that have nonurgent medical questions. ... The tool has been able to generate draft responses to 3.9 million patient messages in 11 months saving nurses approximately 30 seconds per message, leading to potential monthly time savings of 1,500 hours across the organization, according to the post. Editor's Note: Even without purchasing expensive AI software, many basic software systems / email systems have similar systems to generate sample response phrases, e.g. Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail. Your clinicians are sure to have honed out numerous time-savers. Ask! Compile results, assess best practices and reward their input. 

HHS intervenes in Change Healthcare hack Becker's Health IT, by Giles Bruce; 3/5/24HHS said March 5 it would help accelerate payments to hospitals affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack and institute other workarounds for providers. The agency said hospitals facing cash-flow issues from the IT outage can submit accelerated payment requests, like those issued during the pandemic, to their Medicare Administrative Contractors for "individual consideration." HHS said more details would be coming from the contractors later this week. 

Change Healthcare outage: AHA slams UnitedHealth funding program Modern Healthcare - Cybersecurity, by Lauren Berryman; 3/4/2024The American Hospital Association slammed UnitedHealth Group's offer of financial assistance for some healthcare providers in the wake of the cyberattack on Change Healthcare and called on Congress for assistance. AHA President and CEO Richard Pollack said Change Healthcare parent company UnitedHealth Group's temporary loan program misses the mark in a letter sent Monday to UnitedHealth Group President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk McMahon. Pollack criticized the initiative for what he described as its limited eligibility criteria and unfair contract terms and conditions.

Pharmacy associations join forces to advocate for pharmacists during change healthcare outageNewswire Press Release; 3/3/24 Association executives from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), and the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) released an open letter to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) executives and other insurance payers whose systems may have been impacted by the Change Healthcare outage. Pharmacists and pharmacies are asking for assurances that claims fulfilled during this outage will be paid, and paid in a timely manner, considering the challenges faced by pharmacies and pharmacists with predicting co-payments and determining eligibility and coverage. 

How AI will help the world's top hospital CEOs transform health careNewsweek, by Jeff Young; on 2/28/24Artificial intelligence is quickly showing the potential to revolutionize many aspects of care giving, from cancer diagnoses to clerical work. But AI also presents new risks, uncertainties and vexing ethical questions. With the release of Newsweek's ranking of the "World's Best Hospitals," executives at leading hospitals around the world told us how they are using the power of AI.

Driving Accessibility in HealthTech: 3 things founders should consider for thoughtful AI implementation in 2024MedCity News, by Justin Williams; 2/23/24As we stand in the new era in healthcare, the promises of artificial intelligence advancements have electrified us all. But while innovation is being pursued, it’s critical to be aware of the possible pitfalls that could make already-existing inequities in healthcare outcomes worse. Precision and inclusion are pivotal in the venture capital space since startup founders significantly influence how healthcare technology develops in the future.

UnitedHealth unplugs change healthcare information systems to contain cyber attackManaged Healthcare Executive, by Peter Wehrwein; 2/23/24UnitedHealth Group disconnected Change Healthcare's information system to contain a cyberattack that the company says is from an unnamed “nation-state associated cyber security threat actor.”

AI-generated clinical summaries require more than accuracyJAMA Network; by Katherine E. Goodman, JD, PhD; Paul H. Yi, MD; and Daniel J. Morgan, MD, MS; Originally published 1/29/24, redistributed 2/20/24 ... Currently, there are no comprehensive standards for LLM-generated [Large Language Model] clinical summaries beyond the general recognition that summaries should be consistently accurate and concise. Yet there are many ways to accurately summarize clinical information. Variations in summary length, organization, and tone could all nudge clinician interpretations and subsequent decisions either intentionally or unintentionally. To illustrate these challenges concretely, we prompted ChatGPT-4 to summarize a small sample of deidentified clinical documents. [Click on the title's link to view the example.]

Why the Tech Industry Won’t Disrupt Health CareHarvard Business Review, by John Glaser, Sara Vaezy, and Janet Guptill; 2/16/24Because health care delivery is heavily data-driven but lags in adopting new technologies, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that it is ripe for digital disruption. Indeed, it’s obvious that U.S. health care badly needs significant change: It costs too much, its quality isn’t what it could and should be, and as for access, millions of people live hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital and/or don’t have a primary care doctor. But does that mean that new tech-savvy entrants, armed with powerful digital tools and novel business models, could displace and demolish incumbent health systems with their better-fastercheaper ethos? They haven’t so far, and we don’t think that they will.Publisher's note: Thank you Ernesto Lopez, The Denver Hospice, for sharing this article with us.

Virtual reality is a tool for education, relaxation for nurses and patientsOncology Nursing News, by Darlene Dobkowski, MA; 2/13/24Simulated experiences using virtual reality (VR) can help oncology nurses alleviate a patient’s anxiety before undergoing treatment, provide comfort in palliative care settings, and serve as an educational tool for both nurses and patients.

MIDEO Systems Inc. secures contract with city of Austin for innovative end-of-life care solution BBN, by Waqas Arain; 2/13/24MIDEO Systems Inc., a groundbreaking platform offering video-based advance care planning services, has secured a contract with the City of Austin. The partnership aims to streamline and digitize the process of documenting patients' medical preferences, making it more accessible and understandable for medical professionals.