Looking at the Future of Organ Transplant Logistics
The American Society for Artificial Internal Organs recently published new data in its ASAIO Journal from a study comparing hospital costs and clinical outcomes among heart transplant patients. Specifically, the study compared patients who received heart transplants preserved with Paragonix’s SherpaPak versus the common practice of consumer coolers with ice.
Preventing Common and Costly Water Damage in Healthcare
Water damage presents unique challenges for the healthcare industry, and reducing or preventing this damage delivers tremendous value to patients and healthcare providers. Water damage repairs can force patients to reschedule their appointments or even to find new doctors.
‘Tripledemic’ Reveals Critical Need for Better Patient Triage and Transfer Services
During November 2022, hospitals in states such as Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina were forced to set up triaging tents in their parking lots, postpone elective surgeries, or impose visitor restrictions owing to the high numbers of patients showing up in their EDs. In December, patients at one Oregon health system had to wait for more than two days to be transferred to other facilities for higher levels of care. In effect, the situation felt like 2020 again.
Overcoming Social Determinants of Health to Improve Medication Adherence
The healthcare industry still has a medication adherence problem. It’s come up time and time again in recent years, but progress is slow, particularly among patients living in pharmacy deserts or facing other geographic or socioeconomic challenges. Meanwhile, avoidable medical costs due to nonadherence make up 20% of healthcare spending in the U.S. How can technology address these gaps?
The Value of Personalized Education on Pregnancy Risks
Despite this increasing rate of risk, many expectant mothers don’t know all the signs of the most common pregnancy-related complications. The Future of Pregnancy Health report, published in October 2022 by Mirvie and The Harris Poll, suggests that providing new and expectant mothers with more targeted education and tools to monitor their health can help to prevent common pregnancy-related risks.
2023 and Beyond: Where Technology in Healthcare Is Headed
The digital transformation in healthcare is happening now. As we enter 2023, the question inevitably comes up: What’s next? Healthcare organizations have already had a plethora of new options and technologies arise from the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically regarding safety and telehealth. How will these continue to evolve during the upcoming year?
High Reliability: What Healthcare Can Take From Aviation
Indiana-based Parkview Health, a soon-to-be nine-hospital system with over 160 physician offices scattered throughout Indiana and Ohio, has been using concepts from the aviation industry to build its own culture of compliance, safety, and security. After all, healthcare is no stranger to the same contributing factors that led to the Tenerife disaster.
Bringing Prescribing and Fulfillment of Specialty Medications Into the 21st Century
Often, to prescribe the specialty drug, the physician must write a letter requesting the health plan to cover it and provide lab and/or test results to verify medical necessity. Meanwhile, the patient, who typically has a complex, difficult-to-manage health condition, waits needlessly for a drug that they hope will improve their health and quality of life.
Three Ways to Ensure Healthcare Technology Design Focuses on the End User
Today’s technology solutions can help stem the tide of burnout—but to do so, their design must incorporate direct input from the end user. With informatics solutions that span care settings and are easy to use, clinicians and nurses can spend more time on patient care rather than grappling with disparate technologies that don’t fit into their workflows.
Integrated Healthcare: Making Behavioral Medicine Part of the Total Picture
A recent study found that patients with behavioral health conditions face annual healthcare costs of $12,272 versus $3,552 for patients without. But it’s not just a matter of cost; over half of adults in the U.S. with mental illnesses, or roughly 27 million people, do not receive treatment for their condition.