Literature Review

What’s ahead for AI regulation in 2025? Modern Healthcare; by Brock E.W. Turner; 12/24/24 The development of artificial intelligence in healthcare continues to pace ahead of the industry's ability to regulate the technology. Over the past year, large tech firms partnered with providers and digital health companies to implement healthcare-focused AI at speeds rarely found in the industry. But outside of a few states passing specific health AI bills, legislators have not kept up with development leading the industry to regulate itself. Most experts say comprehensive federal policy that would regulate healthcare AI remains unlikely in 2025, but there will be a lot of activity at the state level and through industry groups. 

Recommendations to ensure safety of AI in real-world clinical careJAMA; Dean F. Sittig, PhD; Hardeep Singh, MD, MPH; 11/24As HCOs [health care organizations] adapt their clinical and administrative workflows to new AI [artificial intelligence]-driven technologies, unintended adverse consequences will inevitably occur, particularly during transitions. To address these risks, HCOs and AI/EHR [electronic health record] developers must collaborate to ensure that AI systems are robust, reliable, and transparent. HCOs must proactively develop AI safety assurance programs that leverage shared responsibility principles, implement a multifaceted approach to address AI implementation, monitor AI use, and engage clinicians and patients. Monitoring risks is crucial to maintaining system integrity, prioritizing patient safety, and ensuring data security. 

Beyond the logo: The healthcare executive’s guide to creating genuine healthcare technology partnerships Healthcare IT News; by Notable; 12/23/24 Understanding both the perspective of the healthcare technology buyer and that of builders and sellers can give healthcare executives greater insight into vendor-customer dynamics and what goes into successful partnerships. Healthcare vendor-customer relationships can vary greatly: some are built on trust and some lack it; some succeed and some don’t; some meet expectations and some fall short. Following these best practices can help both parties to achieve their strategic goals, maximize success, minimize frustration and find true joy in their work. 

Mobile app–facilitated collaborative palliative care intervention for critically ill older adults-A randomized clinical trialJAMA Internal Medicine; Christopher E. Cox, MD, MPH; Deepshikha C. Ashana, MD, MBA, MS; Katelyn Dempsey, MPH; Maren K. Olsen, PhD; Alice Parish, MSPH; David Casarett, MD; Kimberly S. Johnson, MD; Krista L. Haines, DO; Colleen Naglee, MD; Jason N. Katz, MD, MHS; Mashael Al-Hegelan, MD, MBA; Isaretta L. Riley, MD, MPH; Sharron L. Docherty, RN, PNP, PhD; 12/24An automated electronic health record–integrated, mobile application–based communication platform that displayed family-reported needs over 7 days, coached ICU attending physicians on addressing needs, and prompted palliative care consultation if needs were not reduced within 3 study days. In this randomized clinical trial, a collaborative, person-centered, ICU-based palliative care intervention had no effect on palliative care needs or psychological distress compared to usual care despite a higher frequency of palliative care consultations and family meetings among intervention participants.

Which skills will survive the AI onslaught? National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Arlington, VA; by Vivek Sharma and David C. Edelman; 12/17/24 ... Boards and CEOs are inundated with reports projecting doomsday scenarios of job displacement due to AI. For example, according to the World Economic Forum's The Future of Jobs Report 2020, automation and AI are expected to displace 85 million jobs globally by 2025, especially in industries such as manufacturing, data entry, and customer service due to the repetitive nature and predictable processes of these fields. AI is already disrupting many roles hitherto considered firmly within the human domain. ... Irreplaceable Human Dimensions ... In analyzing a wide range of articles on the topic, when a job scores high along any of the following three dimensions, it creates significant hurdles for displacement by AI:

Navigating the Generative AI journey: A strategic roadmap for healthcare organizations Perficient; by Felix Bradbury; 12/13/24 The healthcare industry stands at a transformative crossroads with generative AI (GenAI) poised to revolutionize care delivery, operational efficiency, and patient outcomes. Recent MIT Technology Review research indicates that while 88% of organizations are using or experimenting with GenAI, healthcare organizations face unique challenges in implementation. Let’s explore a comprehensive approach to successful GenAI adoption in healthcare. ... The journey to GenAI adoption requires careful consideration of three key dimensions: organizational readiness, use case prioritization, and infrastructure capabilities, [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Researcher explores using AI to overcome language barriers with patientsJAMA Network; Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH; Kate Schweitzer; 12/24In the US, 25 million people with language barriers receive worse health care by nearly every standard than those who speak English fluently. In a recent Viewpoint in JAMA, K. Casey Lion, MD, MPH, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, listed the poorer-quality outcomes: inferior comprehension, lower adherence, higher costs, and more frequent serious safety events, to name a few. In this study, we want to understand how it performs under real-world conditions because those are the conditions we would be using it in. I would also encourage other health care systems that are thinking about implementing AI for language access to think about talking to and involving their patients and families in the work to be sure that it’s reflecting what our patients and families actually want rather than what we think they want.

Top places to work in IT: 17 health systems rank in 2025 Becker's Health IT; by Laura Dyrda; 12/10/24 Computerworld published a list of the top places to work in IT for 2025, including several prominent health systems. Foundry, the publisher for Computerworld, examined several companies across the size spectrum on their commitment to in-house IT talent, training, technical and soft skills, as well as culture, diversity and satisfaction. The publication reported 79% of companies surveyed increased the number of IT employees in the last three years, and around half plan to continue growing their IT teams next year. The health systems and provider organizations ranked include:

Applying natural language processing to electronic health record data—From text to triageJAMA Network Open; Grace K. Sun, BS; Andrew P. Ambrosy, MD; 11/24Most information about a patient’s clinical status, disease progression, and response to treatment lies in qualitative clinician documentation in the electronic health record (EHR). The New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification was developed to standardize functional status assessments and treatment decisions ... [but] ... due to inconsistent implementation in routine care, much of the critical information remains in unstructured EHR data that is difficult to capture and analyze. Natural language processing (NLP) is an emerging tool that uses artificial intelligence to process unstructured or semistructured free-text data, such as the embedded assessments of HF symptom status in clinician documentation. NLP, a field of artificial intelligence that focuses on understanding, interpreting, and generating human language, is capable of evaluating these data and providing large-scale insights into patient progress and treatment response, with some limitations. Overall, these findings suggest that deep learning approaches may be used to address meaningful gaps in clinician documentation.

Dallas’ Analog Informatics emerges from stealth to modernize patient engagement in over 150 languages Dallas Innovates, Dallas, TX; by Lance Murray; 12/4/24 AIC aims to "bridge the communication gap" between healthcare providers and patients worldwide by leveraging secure AI and modern communication tools. CEO Philip Lieberman created the platform based on his experiences in caring for his hospitalized mother-in-law during the COVID pandemic. ... Shocked that he knew “more about his Amazon packages” than the state of his loved one, Lieberman vowed to use the experience and resources he’d gained from the previous multinational companies he created “to bring compassionate yet automated continuous communication to every patient and their families.” ... AIC aims to "bridge the communication gap" between healthcare providers and patients worldwide by leveraging secure AI and modern communication tools.  ... AIC said its platform “bridges the communication gap” between healthcare providers and patients, offering continuous automated logistical support in more than 150 languages. 

A people-centric approach powers successful digital transformations in healthcare HFMA - Healthcare Financial Management Association; by Utlimate Kronos Group; 12/2/24 Digital transformation is a high priority for C-suite executives at healthcare organizations, and a dizzying array of new technologies in a growing market is beckoning. But to succeed, leaders must be able to meld the use of technology with a people-first mindset and embrace their people focus in a systematic, measurable manner. ... McKinsey research suggests that almost 90% of health system executives believe that digital and AI transformation is a high or top priority for their organization, though 75% indicated that budget constraints and issues with legacy systems were hampering achievement of technology goals. ... [The discussion includes the following.]

AI can’t worry about patients, and a clinical ethicist says that mattersJAMA; Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH; Jennifer Abbasi; 11/24This conversation is part of a series of interviews in which JAMA Network editors and expert guests explore issues surrounding the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine. Today, Hull is an associate professor and serves as associate director of the biomedical ethics program at Yale, where her clinical practice focuses on echocardiography and cardiac care of patients with cancer. She spoke about ethical boundaries for using AI in the clinic in a recent conversation with Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH, an associate editor at JAMA and the newly launched JAMA+ AI and an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. Medicine is, they remind the reader, “as much art as science, as much a moral endeavor as a technical one.”

TCN Podcast: Industry Trends Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux, with Maria Warren; 11/27/24Join us for an insightful conversation with Maria Warren, Vice President of McBee, part of NetSmart, as she demystifies the challenges of hospice care audits. Maria shares her journey from entry-level consultant to a leader in compliance, highlighting how audits, designed to combat fraud, can unintentionally burden resources and detract from patient care. Her thoughtful perspective sheds light on balancing regulatory demands with compassionate care. We also dive into the transformative role of technology in hospice care with insights from Betsy Hansen. Discover how electronic medical records (EMRs) go beyond digital documentation to improve patient outcomes and streamline operations. Learn about the potential of EMRs to enhance compliance and care quality while tackling the challenges of implementing innovative, user-friendly systems. This segment emphasizes the importance of creativity and high standards in overcoming staffing hurdles and fostering a supportive care environment.