The Top Three Things Healthcare Executives Should Prioritize in 2022
Finding the right business model to support the clinical mission among these challenges is critical but highly challenging. Enhanced use of data and data analytics, however, can help address these challenges both short and long term. Here are the three things healthcare executives should prioritize in 2022.
Boosting Value From Genomic Database Participation
To boost the promise of more effective therapies, a number of organizations are working to capture the patient data that will drive research around precision medicine, with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us research program being a notable example. Now, Seven Bridges Genomics, a bioinformatics ecosystem provider, has announced the formation of the Unified Patient Network (UPN).
Boosting Quality, Patient Adherence While Cutting Costs with Medication Management Devices
Medication non-adherence, particularly among senior patients, is a costly problem facing the American healthcare system. This issue results in an estimated $100 billion–$290 billion in annual costs, according to studies reviewed in the Annals of Internal Medicine (AIM). Other research cited by AIM indicates that 20%–30% of prescribed medications go unfilled by patients and approximately 50% of medications for chronic diseases aren’t used by patients as prescribed.
Why Hybrid Trials May Be the Best Choice for Patient Centricity
Engaging with patients early in the study design process allows sponsors to better understand what would make a trial work best for patients, their caregivers, and their families. To get to that point, patient groups can help sponsors to identify barriers up front such as travel distance, length of study visits, and financial costs to patients to determine what aspects of the trial could be better designed to reduce patient burden.
Building Blocks to Better Data
The one thing healthcare isn’t short on is data. The industry has data coming in from all directions, but that’s not always a perfect scenario—data that is duplicated, low quality, or siloed can present barriers to better analysis. For healthcare systems to improve the way they want, data needs to be organized and unified.
The Key to a Healthier Enterprise: Unlocking the Potential of Nurse Scheduling
A recent study by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company revealed that 22% of nurses are considering leaving their jobs, 60% of whom said this possibility has become more likely since the beginning of the pandemic. A variety of factors influence nurses voluntarily separating from hospitals, but the 2021 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report found scheduling to be one of the top 10 reasons.
Where Technology and Patient Engagement Meet
With fewer in-person appointments and more remote care, maintaining quality means finding innovative ways to engage patients. Healthcare organizations are combining data, technology, and engagement strategies to enhance care delivery, from educating patients to work toward their recovery goals to ensuring providers can intervene in real time to stave off complications, readmissions, and other reasons for patient dissatisfaction.
Additional Respiratory Support
NHF therapy has been in use since at least the 1960s, providing respiratory support to neonatal, pediatric, and adult patients. In adults, NHF consists of the administration of a gas flow via cannula above 30 liters per minute in adults, heated to 37°C and with a humidity (water vapor) content of 44 milligrams per liter. The method is reportedly more comfortable for patients and can minimize the need for more invasive and costly respiratory support if applied early on.
Improving Care and Monitoring at Home Through Technology
Boston-based Current Health recently merged with Best Buy to increase access to home health options. Chief Medical Officer Adam Wolfberg, MD, was part of discussions about expanding work in this area prior to the pandemic. But when COVID-19 hit, “Current Health quickly realized we had an opportunity to serve an important role,” he says. “Healthcare had a capacity problem, and we were expanding capacity to let relatively less acute patients be cared for at home.”
Why Hospitals Should Disclose Medical Error
Each year in the United States alone, an estimated 4.8 million hospital patients suffer serious harm through preventable causes. This alarming statistic is the driving factor behind Press Ganey’s Safety 2025 Initiative, which challenges the healthcare industry to achieve an 80% reduction in patient harm by 2025. Accomplishing this feat will take a systemic rethinking of the approach to addressing medical malpractice.