What Could Possibly Go Wrong? New Study Examines Aftermath of Cyberattacks
A new JAMA study found that emergency room visits and inpatient admissions decrease after ransomware attack. The study looked at emergency department and patient discharge data from the state of California between 2014 and 2020 and identifying eight ransomware attacks that disrupted the operations of 15 hospitals.
Hospitals Take to the Air to Improve Home-Based Care
In the latest example, the Mayo Clinic has announced a partnership with Zipline to integrate drone deliveries into its Advanced Care at Home program. The deal aims to improve care management for the home-based acute care program by giving providers quick access to medical supplies. Mass General Brigham unveiled similar plans in January when it announced a partnership with Canadian drone company Draganfly.
Improving Cybersecurity in Healthcare Through Partnerships
While larger systems are usually the focus of headlines when attacks happen, Frank Forte, CEO of Anatomy IT, points out that the same problems faced by larger healthcare systems are exacerbated in the mid-market or smaller organizations, those with under a thousand full-time staff.
HHS to Invest $50M in Hospitals’ Cybersecurity Initiative
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced on Monday the launch of an initiative to develop tools that IT teams can add to their cybersecurity efforts. As part of the Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous Defense (UPGRADE) program, the agency will be investing more than $50 million for the development of tools.
Has Remote Patient Monitoring Hit a Roadblock?
According to social media and news reports, the roadblock is coming from the American Medical Association’s 21-member CPT Editorial Panel, which hasn’t been able to agree on amendments to the CPT codes covering RPM services. The panel indefinitely suspended the proposed changes at its May meeting.
Banner Health Bets Big on AI for Clinicians
Arizona-based Banner Health is giving clinicians in all 33 of its hospitals across six states access to a tool within the EHR that summarizes clinical notes. The technology, developed by Regard, is designed to reduce the clinician’s time spent in front of a computer and facilitate easier access to decision support for care management.
Providing Personalized Care at Scale Through Automation
How care teams work has never been a one-size-fits-all concept and with the growing complexity of healthcare, changes in the workforce, and the evolution of patient needs, there is an opportunity for healthcare organizations to adapt their models to enable teams to personalize care for every patient at scale.
Nurse Input is Crucial to Jefferson Health’s Virtual Nursing Program
Gartner is one of the point people for the Philadelphia-based health system’s Virtual Nursing program, which is entering its second iteration after a 90-day pilot in 2023 on two floors of one hospital. They’ve sharpened their focus now, she says, with funding for a more durable model and clear goals for sustainability and scalability.
Can AI Be Used to Triage ED Patients?
The study, which appears this week in JAMA, could give health systems a valuable tool for triaging ED patients, particularly during times of heavy traffic or staff shortages. By assessing severity more quickly, the hospital could direct ED staff to those patients in need of emergency care and speed up time to treatment, eventually improving clinical outcomes.
MUSC Pivots on Virtual Nursing to Focus on the Specifics
Warr says it’s critical to identify specific KPIs in evaluating the success of a Virtual Nursing program, and to focus on small, measurable actions rather than larger concepts. For example, it’s great to say such a program will reduce time spent on admissions and discharge, but there are many factors that go into those processes that Virtual Nursing won’t affect.