How automated virtual companions can take your digital strategies to the next level
While automated symptom checkers and other chatbot technologies have become common, most are not directly connected to the overall patient journey. By incorporating chat-based interactions that can escalate patients to the appropriate level of care when needed, healthcare can be more personalized, empathetic, cost-effective and scalable.
Wound care standardization: How it drives clinical and financial outcomes — and total value
Healthcare systems face multiple pressures: clinical pressures, economic pressures and pressures to deliver outstanding patient experiences.
Patient care navigation: The differentiator for health systems
Smoothing the transitions between different parts of the patient care journey has become a growing part of hospitals' strategies to improve the patient experience.
How dental AI helps providers improve their diagnostic workflow
A significant challenge in the dental industry is the inconsistency of diagnoses and treatment plans across different providers. Machine learning has the power to change that by building artificial intelligence (AI) models that train using years of professional dental experience.
Tackling the complexity of orthopedic instrumentation reprocessing in ASCs
One of the most common challenges that ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) face is the reprocessing of orthopedic instrumentation. Despite its complexity, this workflow can often be overlooked when constraints related to space, resources and staffing are tight.
Cardiac rehabilitation improves long-term health outcomes for cardiac patients. However, the number of brick-and-mortar cardiac rehab centers is limited and can only serve about half of the patients who need cardiac rehab. Meanwhile, the number of cardiac patients is steadily rising.
Reimbursement for cryoneurolysis with iovera° for OA knee pain
Using the correct current procedural terminology (CPT) codes is crucial for documenting — and getting reimbursement for — novel treatments for which there is specific but narrowly defined guidance.
Effective pain management often relies on administering opioid-based medication, but as opioids have known side effects and can lead to misuse and abuse, alternative approaches that provide non-medicated pain relief and are more versatile hold promise for improving patient care.
Lack of work-life balance, unpredictable schedules and being understaffed are key drivers of provider dissatisfaction and burnout, all of which were exacerbated during the pandemic.
The 3Cs of improving the patient experience: collaboration, connection, and correction
In today's highly competitive environment, hospitals must go above and beyond to provide an exceptional patient experience — but patient experience cannot be viewed in isolation.
The trend toward consumerism in healthcare has been on the rise but accelerated during the pandemic. Expectations for excellent customer service and personalized care continue to climb.
Staffing shortages and pandemic-related process changes have resulted in rising patient safety issues, which has drawn the attention of CMS, state agencies, and The Joint Commission. Not only do health systems have to pass regular accreditation surveys but they must now deal with a rising number of state surveys triggered by patient complaints.
Digital workflow solutions to help healthcare teams get more time back in their day
Staffing shortages in healthcare have organizations scrambling to find talent, automate what they can, do more with less and increase efficiency. It's a challenge that existed before the pandemic but has been much more pronounced since the pandemic began.
Addressing clinician burnout through unified communications and consolidated scheduling
The systems used by clinicians to communicate and align themselves around patient care, and to set their own work schedules, are in need of an overhaul.
Improving the patient and provider experience: getting results from reviews and feedback
Gone are the days when people waited for their insurance or other sources to tell them where to get healthcare. People today look for healthcare the same way they look for a restaurant — with online reviews.
Finding the exact location of an appointment at a healthcare campus can be stressful for patients, especially if they've never been there. UCHealth added Pointr's digital maps and location to their mobile app, to seamlessly guide patients from their home to their appointments. UCHealth uses a digital mapping application to seamlessly guide patients from their home to their appointment.
The benefits of hyper-personalized, consumer-centric healthcare and the technology that fuels it
The healthcare market is racing to catch up to changing consumer expectations. Technology that creates hyper-personalization can offer a positive experience and can leverage data to minimize gaps in care. Organizations with an open data architecture reap financial benefits stemming from the loyalty built.
Accurate and timely transfer of information between first responders, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies and hospitals is critical in an emergency situation. When multiple teams and organizations across a region or state need to coordinate patient care, accurate and timely information is even more critical. Both the Colorado Springs and Des Moines regions turned to Pulsara to help streamline communications across their regional healthcare systems, which has resulted in better patient care for those communities.
Procurement best practices: Five things growing DSOs need to know
As dental service organizations (DSOs) become more common, DSO leadership teams are taking a closer look at procurement. To enhance efficiency, organizations need standardization and controls, as well as new systems and technology.
Zero-trust email crucial to healthcare IT security, cybersecurity experts say
Healthcare is one of the most highly targeted industries for cyberattacks, according to SonicWall's 2022 Cyber Threat Report. The majority of ransomware attacks begin with email as the entry point.
How health systems can combat the COVID-19 'infodemic' — 4 insights
For health systems nationwide, COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of clear communication to patients and other stakeholders throughout the community. Over the last two years, being a public health authority is a role many healthcare organizations have grown into.
AAMI's newest standards for flexible endoscope processing — 5 takeaways
The current updates to the AAMI ST91 national standard are intended to reduce outbreaks linked to the use of contaminated endoscopes through quality processing.
Paths to success: Women tech leaders share their perspectives
Women still make up a minority of the tech workforce, although the trend is decidedly shifting in a positive direction.
3 strategies for confronting healthcare's staffing crisis
Many healthcare facilities are struggling with a shortage of bedside staff, which contributes to burnout, potential missed care, increased length of stay and potential failure to rescue.
Health inequities have risen to the top of healthcare leaders' agendas, and organizations across the country are trying to determine the most effective ways to tackle one of the key issues: barriers to care access.
Why providers must see patients as consumers — 4 takeaways
About 80 percent of what affects health outcomes happens outside of a provider's office. In addition, at any given time, only 15 percent of the people in a population are in a "patient state"; the other 85 percent are in a "consumer mode."
Innovative ways to leverage EHR technology to increase colorectal screening — 5 takeaways
March is colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness month. While the morbidity and mortality associated with colorectal cancer is well understood by the medical community, many patients aren't aware that the recommended screening age for CRC has changed from 50 to 45.1
How Geisinger leverages virtual cardiac recovery to improve patient access and outcomes — 4 insights
Although traditional in-person cardiac rehabilitation programs improve outcomes, only 4% of patients complete a cardiac rehab program despite its life saving benefits. Virtual programs can improve cardiac care and long-term recovery.
How clinical decision support can improve clinician time management and information access
COVID-19 has fundamentally altered the healthcare industry. It has exacerbated staff shortages, which has resulted in an overwhelming amount of work for nurses and clinicians along with ever-persistent time-management challenges.
The vital role HR-compliance collaboration: 4 ways to drive operational effciency
Across the healthcare continuum, the roles of compliance and human resource teams are both critical for maintaining employee licensure and eligibility processes that minimize the risk of sanctions and keep patients safe.
How Cleveland Clinic's use of ET3 benefits patients and providers — 4 insights
As the healthcare industry strives to provide higher quality care at a lower cost, early intervention to direct patients to the most appropriate level of care settings is essential.
Maintaining a strong safety culture is an important goal for healthcare organizations, but the listening methods most commonly used to gain insights on where organizations fall short, and how they can improve, isn´t very effective.
5 lessons from Sentara Healthcare's value-based care journey
Value-based care holds great promise for the future of healthcare. But getting there from today’s still-dominant fee-for-service model is a journey that demands bold decisions.
New year, new processes: Tips for forms automation success
The numerous forms that healthcare providers use are essential for collecting and sharing data. Yet many organizations continue to rely on process-clogging, labor-intensive, error-prone paper forms.
The game plan to deliver exceptional patient experiences
Healthcare organizations must adapt to a new market reality: Patient experiences are also consumer experiences.
How to turn virtual care into a broader digital health strategy — 4 takeaways
Virtual care has become a permanent fixture in care delivery. Now, hospitals and health systems must transition from implementing short-term solutions to figuring out how to make telemedicine part of their long-term plan.
How to introduce surgical technologies & build a successful ASC total joint program — 4 learnings
In the years ahead, many industry leaders believe that most outpatient joint replacements will be performed in ASCs.
Best practices for improving sterile processing procedures in ASCs — 4 takeaways
As ASCs become a more convenient, less costly alternative to hospital-based surgeries, it's important that sterile processing procedures are implemented properly and consistently to ensure safe and high-quality patient care.
How Emory Winship Cancer Institute implemented a data-driven approach to nurse staffing: 6 insights
Consisting of 11 hospitals, 12 infusion centers, and more than 95,000 patients treated annually, Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare has turned to tech-based clinical decision support tools to optimize nurse staffing schedules and patient flows.
How clinical pathways can help hemophilia patients: 3 things to know
Hospital-based clinical pathways can help people with rare bleeding disorders receive proper clinical management in a timely manner.
How UChicago Medicine transformed its non-acute supply chain
Five years ago, UChicago Medicine decided to expand its ambulatory facilities to support consistent system growth. In the years since, the health system has expanded its ambulatory network from three locations to more than 45 sites of care. To do so, it had to create a consistent supply chain experience across all of its sites.
The road to recovery: How health systems are recapturing lost revenue in 2021
On the back of a $323.1 billion loss to the U.S. hospital system in 2020, healthcare organizations are rethinking strategies to bring back patient volumes, recover margins and boost market share in 2021.