Healthcare Headlines: Advocating home health tech, wearables, Walmart healthcare and burnout
Healthcare Headlines: Advocating home health tech, wearables, Walmart healthcare and burnout
Recent news and commentary covering technology in U.S. healthcare
Reevaluating, Reimagining, And Reinventing Healthcare: Innovation In A Post-Pandemic World
“The future of healthcare is undoubtedly more patient-focused, more virtual, more automated, and more environmentally minded. Disruption will see a necessary doubling down on investment in technologies and organizations dedicated to reimagining a more affordable, more convenient, more sustainable, and more comprehensive patient journey. At the end of the day, this is what healthcare is all about: making sure that we are providing the patients we serve with the best care possible.”
(Forbes — May 2022)
The push for clinical trials 2.0
“Even as funding for buzzy technology like telehealth and digital therapeutics dipped significantly in 2022’s first quarter after massive gains amid the pandemic, clinical trial funding globally rose after hauling in $2.7 billion in 2021, according to a report from research firm CB Insights. The movement to modernize trials isn’t new, but it gained steam amid the pandemic, which pushed many trials to lean on technology to conduct trials remotely.”
(POLITICO — May 2022
Caregiving Made Easier: How Technology Can Reduce the Need for Doctor Visits
“The number of U.S. telehealth visits in 2020 was 63 times higher than in 2019, according to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services. But the changes … go far beyond just communications. Medical technology placed in the home can allow patients and caregivers to run tests, such as blood pressure and glucose-level readings, and even perform kidney dialysis and take X-rays.”
(AARP — May 2022)
EU Ready to Spend €2.5 Billion on Hub for Health-Care Data
“The EU’s European Health Data Space aims to get citizens access to their e-prescriptions and health records online, according to an announcement from the European Commission on Tuesday. This system, to start by 2025, will be connected with all 27 EU member states, meaning people can travel around the EU and still access their health information.”
(Bloomberg — May 2022)
Health data for all
“Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have begun to aggregate data from individual institutions in national repositories that are more accessible. In the United States, the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) is the largest patient-privacy-limited data set in the country’s history, says Haendel, who co-leads the effort. Supported by the US National Institutes of Health, N3C encompasses data from more than 70 institutions and holds patient-level information for 13 million individuals. The data include EHRs, imaging scans and genomic sequences of viral variants, all of which are described using a common data model.”
(Nature — May 2022)
EU plans to cut unneeded medical tests with data health plan
“The proliferation of unneeded tests and prescribed drugs is caused mostly by problems in accessing health data, because often health information is not accessible to patients themselves and hospitals only partly share data with each other. … The EU commission believes it could address the problem by making data more accessible to patients through the creation of databases which are freely accessible online.”
(Reuters — May 2022)
Meet the lawmakers and lobbyists who want to bring health tech into the home
“Years into the pandemic’s almost overnight transition to virtual care, providers and health plans are now scrambling to build sustainable systems that can more permanently treat patients in their homes via telehealth or other means, a trend they say could cut costs and make health care more convenient for patients.”
(STAT News — May 2022)
Wearable devices are connecting health care to daily life
“As it becomes more mainstream, the technology in smart wristbands, watches, rings and patches—collectively called “wearables”—is measuring ever more aspects of wearers’ lives more accurately and subtly. An Apple Watch collects millions of data points per day. People are seeing into themselves in ways not possible before and are finding new ways to act on what they learn. The effect on health and lifestyle is likely to be profound.”
(The Economist — May 2022)
How One Retailer Is Redefining Healthcare
“… in 2019 [Walmart] opened its first clinic, in Dallas, Georgia. The success of that facility, which offered affordable services like $40 medical check-ups and mental health counseling for $1 a minute, resulted in an expansion of locations and offerings. Given the cost-effective options Walmart is offering — and the fact that it has an estimated 160 million customers — it’s conceivable that this retailer could alter the course of healthcare in the following ways …”
(Newsweek — April 2022)
Healthcare workers continue to burn out. Can technology help?
nearly 20% of healthcare workers have quit their jobs during the pandemic, another 31% have considered leaving, and almost 80% have said that the shortage of workers in the industry has had an impact on them and their office. As we’ve seen in recent years, technology can play an important role in improving patient outcomes and supporting healthcare workers, and we see it playing an important role in addressing current emergencies in staffing.
(Fast Company — April 2022)
