Literature Review

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."

Hospital CEOs ask patients to receive care at home Becker's Hospital Review; by Madeline Ashley; 5/14/24 Hospital executives are making the push to move more care, specifically recovery rooms and exams, out of the hospital and into patient homes, to potentially save money and improve finances as the country continues to move out of the pandemic, Politico reported May 11. And Congress is supporting these efforts by introducing legislation that would expand at-home care and to allow Medicare to continue funding telehealth. Here are five findings from the report: ... [Click on the title's link to read more.]

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:]

Top 5 AI concerns for nurses Becker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 5/8/24Nurses have been expressing concern about healthcare artificial intelligence lately, with some even marching in protest against the technology. But what are their main qualms with AI? [According to a recent study:]

AI governance and cybersecurity certifications: Are they worth it? CSO; by Maria Korolov; 5/6/24The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), SANS Institute, and other organizations are releasing new AI certifications in the areas of governance and cybersecurity or adding new AI modules to existing programs. These may help professionals find employment, but with the area being relatively new, experts warn certifications could be out of date almost immediately. ... On the other hand, the new AI governance and cybersecurity certifications cover the basics needed to get up to speed, create a foundation layer on which people can build later, create a common language for practitioners to use, and will typically include ongoing training requirements to help people stay current. Here, in alphabetical order by organization are all the AI governance training and certificates known at the time of publishing. ...

FTC makes changes to healthcare breach reporting Becker's Health IT; by Naomi Diza; 4/26/24... The changes clarify the rule's scope regarding health apps and similar technologies while expanding the information covered entities must provide to consumers in the event of a breach of their health data, according to an April 26 FTC news release. Under the new rule, vendors of personal health records and related entities not governed by HIPAA are mandated to notify individuals, the FTC and, when applicable, the media, in case of a breach of unsecured personally identifiable health data. [Click on the title's link for more revisions to the rule.]

Prioritizing patient care: Medical technology innovations on the horizon MedCityNews; by Dhaval Shah; 5/1/24 The MedTech industry is poised for breakthroughs, owing to the rapid integration of digital ecosystems and technologies like AI and cloud. 2023 was a banner year for MedTech, especially in terms of technological innovations. Incidentally, it also witnessed the largest ever number of FDA approvals on novel medical devices in a single year. This list included a number of AI-enabled MedTech products, among others. ... Three key areas are continuing to shape the industry: 

FTC finalizes changes to data privacy rule to step up scrutiny of digital health apps Fierce Healthcare; by Heather Landi; 4/26/24 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a rule Friday that aims to tighten the reins on digital health apps sharing consumers' sensitive medical data with tech companies. The agency issued a final version of its revised Health Breach Notification Rule to underscore the rule’s applicability to health apps in a bid to protect consumers' data privacy and provide more transparency about how companies collect their health information.