Insights
Healthcare’s Groundhog Day
https://vimeo.com/800169146 We all know about Groundhog Day, February 2, when Punxsutawney Phil emerges from hibernation and predicts whether we will have six more weeks of winter. But there is a second Groundhog Day, which is January 1. On that day, about 20% of...
Ask OpenAI: Interoperability
The Power of AI What does all this hype interest in artificial intelligence really mean for healthcare? To better understand its potential impact, I "chat" with OpenAI and share the responses with you. Every post will include the exact response. Any changes to the...
Revolutionary Health IT
Revolutionary HIT requires a focus on three key areas: 1) processes and workflows, 2) information technology tools, and 3) healthcare provider tasks, duties and responsibilities.
Crazy U.S. Healthcare: How Did We Get Here?
https://vimeo.com/594748632 According to the Commonwealth Fund the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among the ten highest income OECD countries. We have the highest chronic disease burden and our obesity rates are twice the average of other OECD countries. We also...
Enterprise Analytics: Data, Insight, Process Change, Repeat
In 1966, Avedis Donabedian proposed a conceptual model for examining health services and evaluating quality of care. The Donabedian model includes three pillars: structure, process, and outcomes. Structure represents the physical plant, equipment, and staff available...
Digitally Driven: Link Technology to Process Change
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS] While many organizations recognize the need to become digitally driven to survive in a value-based contracted healthcare marketplace, many providers struggle with creating a provable strategy to achieve success. Measuring digital...
What Pop Health Needs to Learn from Consumer Marketing
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS] In the US, consumers reign supreme. American retailers understand their customers and use data to influence what they buy, what they pay, and when they return for more. With more than 68 percent of the U.S. economy driven by consumer...
AI: Augmented Intelligence or Electric Sheep?
Visionary Elon Musk fears it. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking worried about it. Microsoft’s Bill Gates embraces it. Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wrote about androids having the capacity to dream because of it. At HIMSS 2019, everyone talked about it.
Why AI Needs a Reality Check
Visionary Elon Musk fears it. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking worried about it. Microsoft’s Bill Gates embraces it. Science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick wrote about androids having the capacity to dream because of it. At HIMSS 2019, everyone talked about it. So, what...
COVID-19: Lessons from Smallpox
Although achieving herd immunity is critical to ending the pandemic, it makes sense to look at this task regionally, rather than by country or state.
Let’s Be Careful Out There
We have two choices to crush this pandemic: 1) Vaccination of a large percentage of our population, and 2) Herd immunity. The responsibility of all of us in healthcare is to follow the science, share what we know with the public, and be careful in how we do so.
Reimaging Healthcare and IT – Integration and Analytics in the EHR
https://vimeo.com/video/447941829 Discussion with experts Barry Chaiken, MD and Tom Koulopoulos on healthcare analytics In this episode of Reimagining Healthcare and IT, Tom Koulopoulos and Dr. Barry Chaiken explore the importance of workflow in healthcare and its...
Is it Safe to Reopen Schools?
Our country now faces the most significant public health crisis in more than a century. The COVID-19 virus has upended our lives and put all of us at risk for illness. As we approach the Fall, our thoughts turn to our children and their need to return to school. We...
Final Two Phases on the Road to Recovery
In my first two articles on our road to recovery, I covered the first two phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In them I shared my thoughts on how provider organizations could restart their service lines and expand their operations. Phase 3 of the pandemic is defined as...
Phase 2: Next Stop on Provider Road to Recovery
In Phase 2, businesses expand their services and modify their business practices (e.g., limited seating in restaurants). The COVID-19 disease incidence rate will plateau with a steady number of new cases reported daily. Although researchers are hard at work, we will not have a meaningful treatment or vaccine. As we enter Phase 2 of the pandemic, provider organizations should adjust to the changes in healthcare delivery to take advantage of the opportunities presented.
When in Crisis Mode, Let Everyone Follow the Data
During normal times, managers often make decisions based on their knowledge and experience; analysis of data to varying degrees informs that decision-making process. Circumstances change at an easily manageable pace, errors in judgment can be corrected, and the impact of those poor choices is often insignificant. During a healthcare crisis, however, the cost of being wrong is exponential.
Provider Road to Recovery: Phase 1
To survive, provider organizations must quickly restore their previous revenue streams while preparing for the potential next waves of the pandemic. Successful recovery for these organizations is not represented by a return to the old ways of providing services.
The Choice
Data informs our decision making, hopefully leading us to better choices. But in the end, it is us humans who choose.