The United States is still reeling from a devastating opioid epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that death from drug overdoses reached just under 108,000 between 2020 and 2021. That is enough to fill over four professional baseball stadiums. This staggering number of overdose deaths is due to many factors, including the sale of counterfeit medications and illegal drugs that often contain deadly doses of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and other
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Teleradiology Market Primed to Hit $3.7Bn by 2026 – What’s Driving the Surge in Demand?
4.7bn diagnostic imaging procedures were performed globally in 2021, representing a strong recovery over 2020. Healthy demand for teleradiology services resulted in the global penetration of teleradiology reads into diagnostic imaging procedures bouncing back to 1.9%, and the overall teleradiology reading services and IT market revenue elevating past its pre-pandemic level to USD $1.7bn. With a projection for the market to reach USD $3.7bn in 2026, here I explore five drivers fueling this period
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When Innovation Isn’t Enough: Pharma’s Next Frontier
I met Mark Cuban once. Our conversation didn’t last very long. It was at a medical conference a few years ago. Cuban felt like a great guy to approach with an idea for a healthcare startup. We were both investors in an automation software startup called Zoba, and I of course knew him from his role on the popular entrepreneurial reality TV series Shark Tank. A few seconds into our conversation, Cuban paused. “Healthcare is hard,” he sighed. That was his way of politely telling me: for that
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Minding the Gaps: 4 Traditionally Non-IT Roles Necessary for IT Success
As healthcare continues to digitally transform, integrating health data among various IT stakeholders demands much more collaboration than our predecessors could have imagined. Once focused intensely on preventing fraud, waste, and abuse and ensuring high-quality patient care, the compliance department is tasked with maintaining programs that meet the regulations and laws of numerous government bodies pertaining to various areas, especially electronic protected health information (ePHI).
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How Community Health Investments Will Define The Future of Healthcare
Community health is more than how someone’s physical health needs are being met. It involves all the physical, social, and environmental factors — access to nutritious food, stable income and housing, education opportunities, and more. These social determinants of health, or SDoH, are interconnected and integral to the overall health of communities across the world — and healthcare systems are taking note. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear one person’s health could
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PE Firms Rebrand Prison Healthcare Companies, But Care Issues Continue
What You Should Know: - A new report, “Private Equity Firms Rebrand Prison Healthcare Companies, But Care Issues Continue,” by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) focuses on healthcare company Wellpath and the regulatory risks that the company continues to take in local jails and prisons. - Wellpath is owned by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital and is among the largest healthcare companies serving U.S. prisons and jails. Wellpath has had a litany of staffing and access to
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5 Proven Strategies to Increase Employee Retention And Reduce Operational Costs In Senior Living
Staffing turnover in senior care has reached an all-time high at an annual rate of 48.5% among all employees and 68.1% among resident assistants and personal care aides. At a sunk cost of roughly $2,200 per employee, staff turnover is expensive and results in lower resident satisfaction, quality of care and occupancy. Staff leave for a myriad of reasons, but what if a few simple changes could transform the trajectory of your organization? Luckily there are proven strategies to increase staff
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Prior Authorization Reforms Don’t Address the Real Problem. Here’s How AI Can Help.
After waiting weeks for an open appointment, John finally gets in to see the orthopedic surgeon to evaluate his acute knee pain. He’s already been off work for over two months and has barely been able to leave the house, popping anti-inflammatory and pain medicine to manage the pain every day. Suspecting a torn meniscus, the doctor orders an MRI to verify the diagnosis and plan his treatment approach. The nurse begins the process by calling John’s insurance carrier to verify coverage,
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We Need to Use Data to Maximize Home and Community-Based Services for Our Most Vulnerable
Millions of children and adults living with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) rely on long-term services and support (LTSS) offered through the state Medicaid program to meet their complex health needs. Medicaid LTSS enables many to achieve personal goals and lead fulfilling lives. These individuals are often some of the most vulnerable, highest-cost clients in the healthcare system. But for many, these services are not attainable, nor is the process easy to
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From Physician to Innovator: Surfacing the Inventor In All Of Us
As a physician, we have the unique privilege of having complete strangers share the most personal aspects of their lives and trust us to make their lives better. While we find successful ways to help a majority of our patients, frustration begins to set in when we encounter a handful of patients we cannot assist. Sometimes, the root cause is something as simple as lack of timely communication, but often, it’s the technology, or the solution, that’s not available. When the
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