Economics

This channel highlights factors that impact hospital and healthcare economics and revenue. This includes news on healthcare policies, reimbursement, marketing, business plans, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain, salaries, staffing, and the implementation of a cost-effective environment for patients and providers.

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Visualization dashboards for EHR data improve situational awareness, decrease errors

Visualization dashboards in the intensive care unit (ICU) were able to decrease time spent gathering data and completing tasks, while reducing errors, according to recent research. They also improved situational awareness, guideline compliance and navigation.

Infection prevention programs need 66% more staffing

Infection preventionist and relative support staffing levels need to be 31 to 66 percent higher for healthcare organizations to sustain an effective infection prevention program, according to a study published in the May 2018 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.

Drawing application helps elderly, impaired patients to pinpoint pain

Researchers from Hannover Medical School in Germany have developed a tablet-based symptom drawing application to provide clinicians and patients with a way to assess pain. The team published its findings May 30 in JMIR mHealth and uHealth.

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Less educated, nonwhite patients appreciate access to clinician notes the most

Patients who are nonwhite and less educated value patient portals to view clinician notes more than white and educated patients, according to a study published May 24 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Half of medication-related harm in discharged patients is preventable

Harm from medicines occurs in one in three older patients following discharge, 50 percent of which is preventable. Findings were published May 22 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

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Tablet use before bed could spell trouble for sleep patterns

The use of light-emitting tablets near bedtime could delay sleep, suppress melatonin production and hinder next-morning alertness, according to a study published May 22 in Physiological Reports.

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Smartphone training improves clinical trial participation in elderly populations

Basic smartphone training could improve rates of engagement in groups of clinical trial participants not proficient in technology, including elderly individuals, according to a study published April 26 in JMIR Human Factors.

UK group raises ethical concerns regarding AI in healthcare

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a British independent monitoring body, in a recent briefing note, has expressed concern regarding the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare.

Around the web

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.