The shortage of physicians in America is a growing concern, with serious consequences for our nation’s hospitals. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates a shortage of between 21,000 and 77,100 non-primary care physicians by 2034, including surgical and other medical specialists. Already, 50% of hospitals are short coverage for three or more specialties, and 90% are short at least one. Half of the nation’s hospitals ended 2022 in the red, and for many Americans, getting
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Health IT & Digital Health-Opinion | Op-Eds | Guest Columns | Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
With A Recession Looming, Here’s How Practices Can Ensure Minimal Revenue Loss
Healthcare systems driven by insurers fronting most of their members’ healthcare bills have allowed hospitals to be relatively immune to economic downturns in the past. However, this dynamic began to shift as consumer-directed health plans hit the mainstream. Exaggerated by the rise of the current consumer mentality, even more, patients will be vulnerable to healthcare financial responsibility due to the prevalence of high deductible plans (HDHPs) as consumers embark on the looming bust.
To
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VP Shares 5 DEI Tips for Health Systems During PRIDE Month
In honor of PRIDE month, Dr. Rhae-Anne Booker, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) with the University of Michigan Health-West, shares five key DEI tips on why it’s important for health systems to have a plan for treating patients with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities:
Understand and respect patients' sexual identities, preferences and preferred pronouns
Respecting someone’s identity is one of the quickest and easiest ways to help patients feel
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Regulators Force Medical Device Manufacturers to Protect Against Cyberattacks
There is a fine line that connects the cars we drive and the medical devices we occasionally use. Both connect to the internet, and as such, are exposed to cyberattacks that could compromise consumers' safety. These are not theoretical risks: Bluetooth vulnerabilities exposed millions of vehicle users to cyberattacks; a 19-year-old teenager remotely infiltrated 25 Tesla vehicles in 13 countries switching the engines on and off; Medtronic insulin pumps were hacked remotely by Whitehat
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Lessons From Oncology – How We Can Better Utilize AI for GI
Oncology is seen as an early adopter of machine learning in healthcare, and as a doctor who has been working in medical oncology for over a decade, I have seen firsthand how technology has advanced the field. Now, I work at a computer vision company that is using artificial intelligence (AI) in gastroenterology and although these areas of medicine differ, I am struck by the similarities in opportunities that technology has to help advance care and improve outcomes for patients afflicted by
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Unleashing the Power of Protocols in Critical Care
Protocol Driven Care
Often proclaimed as the most effective method of reducing costs for hospitals, standardization is said to promote quality patient care at a cost-effective price. Standardization reduces waste, makes treatment predictable and controllable, and defines clear responsibilities for all team members. Standardization leads to more efficient, less costly care, and a more consistent patient experience — outcomes that become critical as the industry accelerates the
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CalAIM and How It Is Changing Medicaid’s Narrative
On December 29, 2021, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) received approval of the CalAIM Section 1115 demonstration waiver, CalAIM Section 1915(b) waiver, and Medi-Cal State Plan Amendments from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through December 31, 2026.
California’s fresh approach to healthcare has been in the works for a while. In 2016, the Golden State began its Whole-Person Care (WPC) pilots at the county level integrating physical
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Healthcare Is Changing, Right? Here’s 5 Reasons It’s Not.
We hear it every day, right? Articles and headlines touting “the healthcare industry is constantly evolving and changing” to be more consumer-focused and patient-centric. But is that really all that true? While ideas of innovation, news articles of the next big thing, and healthcare conferences are more exciting than actual healthcare improvements, tangible change feels…. questionable.
We can all hope for a better future, but the reality is that a number of issues continue to hold back
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Improving Physical Therapist and Patient Experiences with Technology Innovation
Today’s physical therapists are exhausted and drowning in debt from school loans. Looking at the physical therapy (PT) profession as a whole, there is an average turnover rate of 13.6%, a significant portion of the current healthcare industry’s staggering rate of 100.5% turnover, over the last 5 years, according to Daily Pay’s Healthcare Turnover Rates [2022 Edition]. What’s even more concerning is that 1 in 3 rehab professionals describe themselves as burnt-out.
What’s contributing to such
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6 Digital Business Card Use Cases to Enhance Patient Experience
The healthcare industry is undergoing digital transformation in every aspect, with more innovative approaches replacing outdated, manual practices. Healthcare’s digital overhaul includes changes that improve the overall patient experience by prioritizing convenience and access to care. However, digital transformation in healthcare doesn't solely improve the patient experience — it has also improved the experiences of healthcare professionals.
One tool changing the industry that caters
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