The potential number of use-cases for AI in healthcare settings seems to be increasing at an exponential pace. Moving beyond uses for research and development, customer service needs, reducing administrative documentation burdens or easing regulatory processes, the latest trend by hospitals is to leverage the technology to help monitor patients.
Generative AI is emerging as a pivotal force in healthcare, poised to reshape patient care, medical research and operations. This sophisticated technology, capable of learning from vast datasets to produce contextually relevant information, is enhancing processes and opening doors to new possibilities in medicine.
Northwest Urgent Care, LLC, a Tucson, Arizona, subsidiary of Community Health Systems, Inc., has completed the acquisition of urgent care centers owned by Carbon Health in Arizona. Northwest Urgent Care is part of Northwest Healthcare's integrated healthcare network serving Tucson and its surrounding communities. With this strategic acquisition, Northwest Healthcare now has more than 80 sites of care across the network. Over the past five years, Northwest Healthcare has invested approximately $200 million in strategic growth and capital projects throughout the Greater Tucson Metro area, including two new hospitals – Northwest Medical Center Sahuarita and Northwest Medical Center Houghton. The Northwest Healthcare system provided medical care for more than 845,000 patient encounters in 2023.
The CEO and co-founder of Chicago-based primary care provider VillageMD has resigned, a move that comes as Walgreens Boots Alliance considers selling its stake in the business. VillageMD spokesperson Molly Lynch confirmed Wednesday that Tim Barry has stepped down as CEO and board chair and that the company's board has appointed VillageMD COO Jim Murray as interim CEO "effective immediately." Lynch did not say why Barry left.
Users of the healthcare app Alan whose queries were answered by a medical AI reported high satisfaction levels, but one exchange included "potentially dangerous inaccuracies"
Mission Health has permanently closed Asheville Specialty Hospital, the only long-term acute care hospital in western North Carolina, less than two months after suspending its services following Tropical Storm Helene. The 34-bed Asheville Specialty included a comprehensive stroke center, dialysis services, physical and speech therapy, and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, among other services, according to Mission's website. The next closest long-term acute facility, or LTACH, is in Greenville, South Carolina, a little more than 60 miles away. The facility was one of three services that Mission Health temporarily shut down after Helene crippled western North Carolina and left Asheville, and Mission Hospital, without water. CarePartners and Solace hospice care also closed and more than 250 employees had to take temporary positions as patients were ported out to facilities in the region and out of state.