The Affordable Care Act's new payment models have hospital leaders searching for effective ways to reduce costs, while increasing care quality. As the 2016 technology market will be inundated with innovations, ECRI Institute has released its annual list of the top technologies, many pointing the way toward value-based care. "Hospital leaders have to deal with a lot of new technology issues – and demands from different departments in their facilities," said Robert P. Maliff, director of ECRI's applied solutions group, in a press statement. The list is meant to assist leaders attempting to update and implement new technology.
While 66 of the 100 largest hospitals in the United States offer consumers mobile health apps, only 2 percent of patients are using them, according to a new report published on Wednesday by Accenture that also found that failure to focus apps on services consumers want most could cost each hospital more than $100 million a year in lost revenue. In its "Losing Patience: Why Healthcare Providers Need to Up Their Mobile Game" report, the consultancy found that 38 of those top U.S. hospitals have developed health apps in-house rather than by hiring a mobile app vendor.
A four-month-old baby born with one lung and a defective heart has celebrated her first Christmas with her family, thanks to a life-saving surgery made possible with Google Cardboard, the tech giant's cheap virtual-reality headset. Teegan Lexcen's condition was deemed inoperable. Doctors were previously too afraid to press ahead with surgery as standard 2D images didn't provide enough detail of the state of her heart. That's when doctors from Nicklaus Children's Hospital turned to Google Cardboard, which costs about $20 and works with any smartphone. They were able to convert 2D MRI scans of Teegan's heart into a 3D model, upload it onto an iPhone, and view it through Google's simple VR headset.
Officials with Indiana University Health Arnett in Lafayette say a USB flash drive containing information from more than 29,000 patients has gone missing. The hospital says the unencrypted drive disappeared Nov. 20 from its emergency department. Norma Gilbert, the hospital's director of quality and clinical excellence, said the hospital system hadn't received any patient reports of fraudulent activity as of Tuesday. The drive had spreadsheets with information of emergency department patients dating to November 2014, including patient names, birth dates, diagnoses and medical record numbers. Gilbert said the spreadsheets did not contain Social Security numbers, credit card or other financial information.
For Nicholas and Kris Wychesit, the hardest part of having a baby was leaving the hospital without their newborn. "That was a huge thing. She had the baby on a Sunday and we were discharged on Tuesday, but we couldn't take our baby home. It was rough," Nicholas said. "It's just awkward. You have a baby and you're supposed to be able to take him home right away." The Oostburg couple welcomed the newest member of their family into the world on Dec. 20, but baby Mason was almost seven weeks early.
Dr. Hans Jenkins was in Idaho last week, but through newly available technology, he was able to see his patients in Utah. "It made me happy as a physician that I could help them when they needed it," the family practitioner said. Jenkins, of Farmington, is one of 12 MountainStar Healthcare doctors in Utah who have signed onto the MDLIVE network, offering virtual care to not only MountainStar Healthcare insured clients, but anyone in the state via tablet, smartphone or personal computer. "Anyone can use it," said Troy Wood, vice president of business development for MountainStar, who helped develop the service.