What You Should Know: - Publicly traded logistics company ArcBest announced its
deal with Doctor On Demand to introduce its virtual-first health plan to its
13,000 employees, who are largely "essential workers" as long-haul
truckers. - Employees appreciated the convenience and safety of 24/7 virtual care – from their homes, from the road – and ArcBest is now doubling down on virtual care for 2021 – and offering a holistic, virtual-first primary care health plan – one where patients see
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Hospitals Hit with Low Volumes, High Expenses, Poor Margins as COVID-19 Cases Mount
What You Should Know: - October was a challenging month for hospitals and
health systems nationwide amid ongoing instability spurred by the COVID-19
pandemic, according to Kaufman Hall’s latest Hospital Flash Report. - Margins and volumes fell, revenues flattened, and
expenses rose as COVID metrics continued to climb and some states moved to
retighten social distancing guidelines. - As of Oct. 31, the number of daily U.S. COVID cases
reached a high of more than 90,500 and related
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Lean on Your Connected Community of Care in Times of Crisis
We’ve all experienced crises in our lives. They may be personal in nature (e.g., involving our interpersonal relationships), organizational (e.g., relating to our employment or retirement income), or nature-made (e.g., floods, tornados, or the COVID-19 pandemic). When crises hit our communities, the impacts can be widespread and far-reaching. Healthcare providers and community-based organizations (CBOs) are called upon to provide more rapid and extensive care and support to the community than is
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Rural Hospital Execs Can Beat COVID-19 By Shifting From Reactive to Proactive Care
The COVID-19 virus is ravaging the planet at a scale not seen since the infamous Spanish Flu of the early 1900s, inflicting immense devastation as the U.S. loses more than 200,000 lives and counting. According to CDC statistics, 94% of patient mortalities associated with COVID-19 were simultaneously suffering from preexisting conditions, leaving a mere 6% of victims with COVID-19 as their sole cause of death. However, while immediate prospects for a mass vaccine might not be until 2021, there is
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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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Value-Based Reimbursement Contracts Now Account for 26% of Hospital Revenue, KLAS Finds
What You Should Know: - Value-based reimbursement (VBR) contracts now account
for 26% of hospital revenue, according to a new report from KLAS research and
CHIME. - Report reveals providers are looking first to their
electronic health record (EHR) systems to drive PHM, and are most interested in
investing in new healthcare information technology (HIT) when they know there
is a clear ROI. With value-based reimbursement (VBR) adoption slowing, healthcare providers are searching
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Accounting for the Social Determinants of Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a medical crisis. Since the highly contagious disease hit American shores in early 2020, the virus has dramatically changed all sectors of society, negatively impacting everything from food supply chains and sporting events to the nation’s mental and behavioral health. For some people, work-from-home plans and limited access to entertainment are manageable obstacles. For others, the shuttered schools, lost wages, and social isolation spell disaster –
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Ready Raises $54M to Become The Uber of On-Demand Healthcare Services
What You Should Know: - Ready, a company described as the “Uber” of on-demand health
service, just raised $54 million in its Series C funding round. - Ready’s on-demand care model is evolving the healthcare
industry with customer service and mobility, just like Uber did for ride
sharing and Postmates for food delivery. Ready, an New Orleans,
LA-based on-demand healthcare service, today announced that it closed $54
million of new funding to finance the expansion of its operations and
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Raising the Bar for COVID-19 Data Integrity and Disease Surveillance
Just a few weeks ago, the mood among technologists in the Coronavirus pandemic remained cautiously optimistic about reopening society with the help of testing data, contact tracing apps, and other IT-enabled resources. But the recent spike in illness – 1.9 million new US cases in July, more than double any other month – is a sobering reboot on a crisis we now understand needs far more IT and data coordination than previously recognized. The emerging consensus among epidemiologists is that
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After COVID-19, Healthcare’s Next Big Challenge: Reforming Surgery
Nearly six months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, many hard-hit healthcare systems have begun resuming elective surgeries and redeploying surgeons, residents, and fellows back to their home departments after enlisting them in COVID wards and ICUs. These practitioners are returning physically exhausted and emotionally strained from the harrowing experience of serving on the front lines of the COVID response. Meanwhile, they have also seen their training
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