Literature Review

The changing role of chief privacy officers Becker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 9/6/24 Chief privacy officers are expanding their roles to take on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Whereas chief privacy officers traditionally focused on being compliant with privacy laws, 69% now have responsibility for AI or data governance, 37% cover cybersecurity regulatory compliance, and 20% have platform liability duties, according to the IAPP survey of 671 professionals released Sept. 6. Some health systems have standalone chief privacy officers, but the hospital industry is more likely to have chief information security officers with privacy duties or a combined role. 

The biggest threat in health IT and RCM Becker's Hospital Review; by Randi Haseman; 9/6/24 Are organizations adopting AI technology too quickly or too slowly? And what's the future of payer relationships? ... As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. ... Question: What is the biggest threat in health IT and RCM right now? [Responses from 47 executives featured in this article address the following and more: payer programs; modernizing legacy systems while ensuring data security and compliance; cyber-crime / cybersecurity; relieving provider and staff burden thgouth clinical workflows; state and federal legislation; human error; Gen AI 'mission-creep'; extended systems downtimes; the velocity of technical disruption; more ...]

Alzheimer’s prognosis models should expand data sources McKnights Senior Living; by Kristen Fischer; 8/12/24 Integrating data from nursing home electronic health records and claims in addition to the minimum data set — data required for nursing home residents — could be better than just relying on the MDS sources to produce an accurate prognosis for nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, according to a report published Thursday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. ... The authors of the report noted that a recent review of prognostic models for late-stage ADRD found that assessments commonly used to evaluate prognosis-based eligibility for hospice weren’t reliable. ... Only 15% of people enrolled in hospice have a primary diagnosis of ADRD. That’s because it’s challenging to estimate the six-month prognosis required to be eligible for hospice, and dementias have a prognosis of 12 to 18 months when they are in the late stage, the authors pointed out.

Empowering patient access, protection, and choice: The 21st Century Cures Act eight years on Healthcare Business Today; by David Navarro; 7/26/24 The 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in December 2016, marked a significant shift in the healthcare landscape by focusing on patient empowerment through enhanced access to medical records, stringent privacy protections, and increased choices in healthcare options. Eight years later, this landmark legislation continues to revolutionize the interaction between patients, providers, and the healthcare system. Recently, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an updated ruling to the Act to establish penalties for healthcare providers who engage in information blocking. This rule, aims to deter practices that prevent or discourage the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI).

Following the CrowdStrike outage, healthcare stresses the importance of prevention HealthCare Brew; by Cassie McGrath; 7/25/24... [The recent CrowdStrike outage] affected millions across all sorts of industries, from healthcare to travel. ... However, amid the chaos, what has largely gone untold are stories of the companies that emerged unscathed. And within those unaffected companies lies a lesson for others, according to Andrew Molosky, president and CEO of Tampa-based Chapters Health System. ... “We’ve really focused on business continuity, redundancies, safety nets, and understanding of the difference between cybersecurity as a task and cybersecurity as a cultural commitment of your organization,” Molosky said. ... These investments, Molosky said, included protocols for documenting on paper, using a backup application that provides patient information when electronic medical records and other systems are offline, and allowances for bringing in personal devices to use if company devices go down. 

HIMSSCast: Improving patient safety and employee retention with best incident reporting practicesHealthcare IT News; by Andrea Fox; 7/26/24 By modernizing systems and improving leadership and culture to embrace reporting, healthcare organizations can better address the top 10 patient safety concerns for 2024, says Heidi Raines, founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners. Ultimately improving the quality of care healthcare systems deliver and preventing harm requires a degree of self-reflection. Along with digital transformation, putting an easy-to-use incident reporting system in place can help healthcare organizations address today's chief patient safety concerns, including medication errors, care delays, workplace violence and preventing patient falls, said Raines.

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.