How to Employ Locum Tenens Clinicians to Fill Workforce Gaps
There are about 50,000 locum tenens physicians working in the United States, says Joseph Sturdivant, MD, CMO of IMN Enterprises, a healthcare staffing company. With a clinician shortage nationwide, he notes, they’re a popular solution to fill workforce gaps.
There’s Value to Generative AI in Healthcare—if Leaders Understand Its Limits
While large language models like ChatGPT are poised to make substantial contributions to patient care, their immediate value likely won’t be derived in the ways clinicians and healthcare leaders think.
Virtual Second Opinions Improve Access and Diagnoses
A recent analysis of the results of The Clinic’s virtual second opinions has found an average savings of $8,700 in cost per patient, but beyond the financial aspect, the analysis also uncovered that patients are often saved from unnecessary procedures by discovering less invasive or life-altering options to treat their condition.
The 600 Pathways Yale New Haven Health Takes to Improved Care Delivery
Decreasing variation has been a central goal of quality improvement since W. Edwards Deming pioneered the concept in the Toyota Production System in the 1970s. In care delivery, research has shown the consequences of inappropriate variation include underusing needed services, overusing unwarranted services, higher costs, and worse clinical outcomes.
Improved Care Coordination with AI and Automation
Providers will increasingly look to AI and automation to drive operational efficiencies, improve care coordination and patient flow, relieve workers’ stress, enable staff to work at the top of their licenses, and enhance patient engagement.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 108 – Focusing on Improved IV Safety
On episode 108 of PSQH: The Podcast, Andrew Barton, a nurse consultant with the U.K.’s National Health Service, talks about a recent study on reducing IV leaks.
Innovative Tech Helps Surgeons ‘See’ What They’re Doing
AR and VR technology have been making slow and steady progress into healthcare, with benefits for patients as well as providers. Health systems and hospitals are experimenting with the technology as a decision support tool, giving clinicians a new and often far more detailed look at what they’re examining.
Health Plans Have an Engagement Problem, but Care Providers Can Help
Care collaboration can make all the difference in how, where, and whether a member receives care. By leveraging the doctor-patient relationship, health plans have the opportunity to reach the members in a way that positively impacts their health and potentially their costs.
New Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Highlights Needs to Treat the Patient, Not the Disease
This breakthrough marks significant progress in diagnosing the disease, which now requires testing cerebrospinal fluids or PET scans. More accessible testing could allow drug therapy to begin at earlier stages of the disease, potentially with better outcomes.
Addressing the Disparity of Care for Rural Patients
The challenges don’t just stop at lack of staffing. Rural hospitals struggle financially, particularly now as COVID subsidies expire and reimbursements decline. Half of rural hospitals lost money in the past years, and 418 rural hospitals have been labeled as vulnerable to closure.