Our brain is an extraordinary organ. This three-pound structure is the central processing unit of our universe that controls intelligence, sense, movement, behavior and much more. When healthy, we take it for granted, and when diseased we carry a substantial burden. Astonishingly, the burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias is growing rapidly with an aging population. The economic and health burden is expected to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2050. This is a massive
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AI Can Eliminate Surprise Bills, Improve Payment Integrity
Anyone who receives a hospital, medical imaging, or outpatient surgery bill is usually surprised at the cost. No matter the cost, how do they know the bill is correct? They don’t. Incorrect medical bills have become so prevalent that organizations have started applying technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to reduce drastically high healthcare costs. Consider what organizations as diverse as the Office of the Inspector General, Harvard
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Why AI-Driven Cancer Screening Will Soon Become Standard of Care
Healthcare delivery is undergoing a dramatic transformation as AI technologies begin to take hold in the care setting. The technology is revolutionizing radiology, particularly in ED triage, early disease detection, and now in cancer imaging and reporting. These fields are particularly suited to improvements using AI, given their antiquated workflows and resistance to change over the decades. But how – specifically – is AI transforming this industry for good? Using AI for advanced cancer
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Why Adopting Value-Based Care Models for Autism Care Is Imperative
We all know the stark reality: rates of mental illness, substance use, and developmental disorders continue to rise in the U.S. and estimates show that 1 in 44 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Add to that the ongoing efforts to reduce stigma and it’s no surprise that the increased demand is overwhelming existing resources. Improvements in both the efficiency and effectiveness of care and treatment are critical in addressing the crisis. Doing so
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How Urgent Care Can Address Its Degrading Scope of Practice
Over the past several years, urgent care centers nationwide have opened their doors to millions of patients in need of COVID-19 testing and treatment, driving an increase in daily patient visit volumes and new, challenging patient care demands. To accommodate this rapid influx, urgent care centers developed new workflows that prioritized efficiency and transitioned to a reimbursement model that rewards providers for the number of patients treated per day. As a result, urgent care centers across
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Nurse Engagement and Satisfaction Start With Their Schedules
How do we attract good nurses? More importantly: How do we keep them? Those questions have reverberated throughout hospitals and health systems nationwide lately—but they’re not new. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, industry analysts warned of significant nurse shortages. The pandemic only added more stress and exhaustion to the nursing experience, prompting the largest exodus of nurses from the profession in 40 years. Unfortunately, the nurse shortage is
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Improving Healthcare With Systems of Engagement
It’s been nearly 15 years since the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and its requirements for the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). As expected, virtually all hospitals have implemented some form of EHR. In fact, the American Hospital Association (AHA) reported usage by 96% of non-federally run acute care hospitals and almost 80% of office-based physicians in 2021. Have healthcare providers realized the promised
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How Health Payment Accounts Improve Health Equity
In 2022, 38 percent of Americans reported delaying medical care—a 20-year high. But as with many things, the burden of paying for healthcare doesn’t affect all Americans equally. Lower-income communities, for example, tend to have higher incidences of disease and therefore a greater need for healthcare. And in a vicious catch-22, those with lower incomes, Black and Hispanic adults, and women often have health benefits mis-sized to their income, which contributes to higher incidences of
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How AI Can Improve the Human Connections of Healthcare
ChatGPT is the latest artificial intelligence (AI) advancement making waves. Nearly every industry is evaluating the advantages and disadvantages associated with incorporating this technology into their processes. In healthcare specifically, ChatGPT’s AI capabilities are far away from true disruption, but there is a sharp lens on its future potential for improving healthcare operations and delivery of care. Looking more broadly, we are at a pivotal moment in time with the AI and machine learning
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Health Equity Gap: Why Cybersecurity Should Be A Priority
There has been a newfound effort to highlight and address the disparity in health outcomes for patients who belong to one or more marginalized communities. Opportunities for health and wellness are dictated by social, economic, environmental, and systemic factors, not by factors that are inherently genetic or physiologic. This means that the color of one’s skin, what ZIP code they are born and live in, the education they receive, the food and housing they have access to, and the jobs they hold
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