Digital Transformation

This evolution of healthcare involves using technology to improve diagnosis, treatments, monitor patients, enhance hospital operations and culture, and bolster consumer-focused care. This includes virtual reality tools, wearable devices, workflow software, health apps and other digital health tools.

In Minnesota, angels smile on medical devices

Some 29 medical device makers benefited in 2011 by a Minnesota program that provides tax credits to angel investors, those affluent individuals who put up capital to nurture new businesses.

Most states making healthcare reform headway

Forty-nine states and Washington, D.C., already have taken action supporting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts (PPACA) implementation, such as passing legislation, issuing regulations or other guidance, or actively reviewing insurer filings, according to an issue brief from Commonwealth Fund.

Review: On-pump CABG should remain standard treatment

Off-pump compared with on-pump CABG surgery offered no significant mortality, stroke or MI benefit, based on a systematic review published March 14 in the Cochrane Review. The review found patients with ischemic heart disease who underwent on-pump CABG with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegic arrest had better long-term survival than did patients who received an off-pump procedure.

AAPM: Shun shielding for CT dose reduction

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has issued a statement recommending that healthcare facilities avoid the use of bismuth shielding for CT dose reduction.

Ascension forms GPO, continues expansion by acquisition

Ascension Health Alliance, created in January when Ascension Health changed its organizational structure to include a parent holding company, has formed a group purchasing organizationand made moves to continue its acquisition streak.

UPMC ranks display systems for pathology

When the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) pathology department conducted a pathology visualization study, Barco's Coronis Fusion 6MP DL medical display outscored other display modalities in a comparison that included consumer displays and medical displays, when viewing whole-slide images.

Independa teams with Telcare on cloud-based glucose metering

Telcares BGM, the blood glucose meter that looks like a cellphone and wirelessly uploads diabetics blood-sugar readings to password-protected websites, will soon be able to send readings to Caregiver, the cloud-based web app created by elder-care company Independa.

Getting To Knowledge and Insight

We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge. -Futurist John Naisbitt

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.