What You Should Know: - Nearly three-quarters of hospital leaders are either moderately (52%) or extremely (22%) concerned about the financial viability of their organizations without an effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-19, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall entitled, “2020 State of Healthcare Performance Improvement Report: The Impact of COVID-19” - One-third of respondents saw operating margin declines in excess of 100% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the
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Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Consumers Cite Trump as Leading Driver of COVID-19 Vaccine Skepticism
What You Should Know: - 65% of patients say they will wait to receive the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine even if it becomes available before the end, according to a new Medisafe survey. - Consumers cited greater trust in Dr. Anthony Fauci and established protocols as a leading factor in determining whether to take the vaccine, and listed President Trump as the leading detractor in driving COVID-19 vaccine skepticism and hesitancy in its effectiveness. Real-world results show users
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COVID-19’s Amplification of Digital Technology in the Patient Experience
In the last decade, the healthcare industry has experienced a rapid rise in digital health solutions that have promised to transform care delivery and improve outcomes. Yet, with change comes skepticism – especially in an industry that is notoriously slow to adopt new technologies and innovations. Despite the industry’s conservative reputation, we have seen an influx of global venture capital funding for digital health services, which hit a record $3.1 billion in funding this
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Imprivata Launches Touchless Palm Vein Scanner to Address Patient Safety Concerns from COVID-19
What You Should Know: - Imprivata launches a new palm vein scanner solution: Imprivata PatientSecure to power touchless biometric patient identification for healthcare. - The next generation palm scanner, developed in collaboration with Keyo, will help healthcare organizations solve the challenge of patient ID amidst the COVID-19 pandemic by eliminating the need to touch any surfaces. (It's also a core component of the Imprivata digital identity framework for healthcare, which provides a
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GYANT Develops First-to-Market COVID-19 Vaccine Care Navigation Tool
What You Should Know: - AI-driven virtual care company, GYANT, has announced its first-to-market COVID-19 vaccine care navigation tool to help health systems anticipate novel patient needs. - GYANT Vaccine deploys as a white-labeled virtual assistant on provider websites, mobile apps, and patient portals, managing the patient journey from initial inquiry to post-visit follow up. GYANT, the AI-powered virtual assistant company, today announced its first-to-market vaccine
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Were We Mentally Ready for COVID-19? Why It’s Time to Take Behavioral Health Seriously
As you read this, over 200,000 American deaths have been attributed to the virus. The influx of cases continues, while state and local economies are experiencing hardship, children are shuttered in their homes learning remotely, grown children are moving back home and the “new normal” disrupts nearly all of life’s plans. Yet, these issues don’t reveal all the traumas that Americans are experiencing 10 months into the pandemic. The pandemic's impact continues to be swift and brutal,
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Getting Beyond the Telehealth ‘Stop-Gap’ Mentality
Since COVID-19 emerged as a major health threat, virtual care has taken off. As many as 46% of patients reported in late April that they had used telehealth to replace a canceled healthcare visit in 2020, while 48% of physicians said they had started using telehealth to treat patients. While a shift in care models was necessary to address business continuity amid the pandemic, these trends also represent positive movements as a growing body of evidence supports the real-life benefits of
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NVIDIA Develops AI Model to Accurately Predict Oxygen Needs for COVID-19 Patients
What You Should Know: - NVIDIA and Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital researchers develop an AI model that determines whether a person showing up in the emergency room with COVID-19 symptoms will need supplemental oxygen hours or even days after an initial exam. - The ultimate goal of this model is to predict the likelihood that a person showing up in the emergency room will need supplemental oxygen, which can aid physicians in determining the appropriate level of care for patients,
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Digital Behavioral Health: Addressing The COVID-19 Behavioral Health Crisis
Living through a pandemic is stressful and anxiety-inducing. Stay-at-home measures are compounding this stress, resulting in social isolation and unprecedented economic hardship, including mass layoffs and loss of health coverage. Fully understanding the impact of these pernicious trends on overall mental health will take time. However, precedents like the Great Recession suggest that these trends are likely to worsen the conditions driving suicide and substance-related deaths, the “deaths of
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Amwell and Cigna Ranks High in Telehealth Patient Satisfaction, J.D. Power Finds
What You Should Know: - Amwell ranks highest among direct to consumer brands and Cigna ranks highest among health plans for telehealth patient satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study - Though telehealth has been pitched as a solution to improve access to healthcare for everyone, more than half (52%) of telehealth users say they encountered at least one barrier that made it difficult to use telehealth. Patient satisfaction with
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