By: Robert Spence

The Healthcare industry is on the edge of major changes.

As advances in technology transform the industry, healthcare is now finally catching up with other industries in regards to new forms of technology that could streamline operations, make workflow more efficient, and centralize data in one organized and accessible place.

“We are all immigrants entering a new country and a new age,” said Dr. David Levin, the Chief Medical Information Officer at the Cleveland Clinic at this year’s HealthBeat 2013. “Change is coming as we transition from a volume-based system, where people get paid based on the results, quality of care, efficiency, and how satisfied our patients are.”

The healthcare industry has traditionally operated on outdated IT systems and is typically slow to adapt to new forms of technology.  New developments such as the Internet, cloud computing, data analysis and mobile technologies are finding their way to health providers, and Levine wants to “push the limits of excellence in patient experience” by integrating them in an effective way.

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According to Levin, “Change is coming as we transition from a volume-based system to a value-based system, where people get paid based on the results, quality of care, efficiency, and how satisfied our patients are.”

The CMIO identified three major shifts: the 3 P’s. The first is Personalization.

“We are going to see medical practice highly customized for each individual, using real time information and considering individual preferences and tastes,” Levine explains, calling it the zoom-in approach. “The full flower of personalized health will extend beyond the molecular level and be about what who each patient is a person and what they need. In medicine problem of having too much information long ago surpassed that of having too little. We can make use of that knowledge.”

The second “P” is “population-based,” or the “zooming out” to systems designed for large groups of similar patients. By obtaining and analyzing health data, clinicians and researchers can gain greater insight into health patterns. The third “P”, according to Levine is Pervasive. “Everything is connected, everything is ubiquitous.” Levin believes health care will become universal as the world becomes more virtualized. 

In regard to mobile health apps, Levine states that “We are at the beginning of the beginning.” He believes the two main reasons for failure are either something technical, “the app simply doesn’t work, or that it does not fit into the workflow and actually impedes job performance.” Most of the apps the Cleveland Clinic has tested and integrated have not worked in a proper way.

Levin’s Cleveland Clinic has a number of projects and initiatives to improve patient experience and make healthcare and health IT more efficient. His organization has created a new clinical systems office that moves from Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to EMR “as a portal” that lays the foundation for a “knowledge management ecosystem,” complete with decision engines and a collaboration platform. 

By: Robert Spence

Thousands of healthcare workers walked off the job at the University of California’s five medical centers on Tuesday, delaying surgeries, diagnostics procedures, treatments and emergency care throughout the state.

The Union representing 13,000 California Hospital employees said the strike is scheduled to last two days to draw attention to staffing shortages they say undermine patient care at the hospitals in San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego and Irvine. The two-day walkout could cost the system’s medical centers up to $20 million.

AFSCME, the union representing healthcare workers, says UC refuses to ensure adequate staffing at its five medicate centers. Union rep Todd Stenhouse said that’s creating unsafe working conditions.

“Oftentimes now we’re asking fewer staff to do more with less. On a balance sheet, that may look great. If it’s your relative or your loved one that’s in that hospital, it doesn’t look so good,” Stenhouse said.

Stenhouse added the union also wants management to stop contracting out healthcare jobs to temps and volunteers.

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Some of the public hospital system’s estimated 3,400 pharmacists, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists and lab scientists also walked out on Tuesday in a one-day sympathy strike at the five medical centers.

University of California Vice President for Human Resources Dwaine Duckett said his organization had offered the workers a four-year contract with up to 3.5 percent annual wage increases. The average employee in the union earns $55,000 a year, he said

“The allegation is they’re doing this for patient safety,” UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said. “If we had unsafe staffing levels, we wouldn’t be in operation. I really don’t understand how walking off the job and leaving patients stranded is helping them.”

Klein says the sticking point in negotiations have been the union’s unwillingness to agree to changes to a pension system that most of the university’s other workers have already accepted.

“What AFSCME wants is a special deal for them, and we don’t think it’s fair,” she said.

Proposed changes include raising employee pension contributions, revising eligibility rules for retiree health benefits, and creating a second tier of retirement benefits for new workers.

Stenhouse said the union would be happy to deal with pension reform, but said management isn’t playing fair.

The U.S. is facing an extreme shortage of primary care physicians and some policymakers want to fill the growing gap by expanding the role of nurse practitioners. However, the two professions are currently occupied in a debate over who is better and more qualified to deliver patient care.

The results of a recent survey were reported in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Leading experts did expect some slight controversy, but they were surprised by how much doctors and nurse practitioners vary in their opinions. Among the nearly 1,000 doctors and nurse practitioners surveyed they were most divided on who provides a higher quality of care to patients: Two-thirds of physicians said if a doctor and nurse practitioner provided the same service, the doctor would do it better. Very few nurse practitioners agreed with that opinion.  82 percent of nurse practitioners felt that nurse practitioners should lead their own practices, while only 17 percent of doctors agreed.

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"We weren't surprised that there were differences in their opinions, but we were surprised by the magnitude of the difference," said lead researcher Karen Donelan, a senior scientist at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston.

Dr. David Blumenthal, co-author of an editorial published with the study, agreed.

"It's striking how different their perceptions are, even though they work in the same physical environment," said Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based foundation that supports research on health policy.

Blumenthal and Donelan agree that the divide between doctors and nurse practitioners will have serious implications on the future on health care in the U.S., and the shortage of primary care practitioners is already at a staggering 33k.

A study revealed that 16 percent of U.S. adults have to wait, on average, at least six days for a doctor’s appointment when they have health problems that need immediate attention. The shortage will become far worse when the health care reform extends coverage to 30 million more Americans.

By some estimates 12 nurse practitioners can be educated for the same cost as one doctor, and there is evidence that nurse practitioners perform just as well as doctors. 

Doctors are using new tools to help decide when their patients can completely skip harsh medical treatments like chemotherapy when treating cancer. The “one-size-fits-all” days of cancer treatment might be over.

"What is happening is a combination of new technology and more-targeted cancer drugs," said Dr Sandra Swain, medical director of the Cancer Institute at Washington Hospital Center and president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). "We've tried the approach of big, nonspecific treatments ... We have found that throwing chemo at patients has not (necessarily) cured them."

Chemotherapy drugs work by attacking all the cells in the body. They cannot distinguish between cancer cells and healthy cells, causing harsh side effects like fatigue, loss of appetite, hair loss and weight loss.

Scientists have made significant progress with unlocking the genetic basis for a range of diseases since the human genome project was completed in 2003. This paved the way for genetic testing and drugs that block pathways that cancer cells use to grow. These kinds of targeted cancer drugs will sometimes prevent the need for harsher drugs like chemotherapy. They are being sold by the world’s largest drug companies like Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, which earlier this year launched its first drug to treat leukemia.

Successfully treated in her 20’s for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 64 year old Laurie Levin faced a dilemma after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Since the earlier radiation and chemotherapy raised her risk of developing heart problems or leukemia, a genetic test (which can cost up to $4k) revealed that her breast cancer was not likely to go into remission, infusing her with the confidence to have a lumpectomy and avoid chemotherapy altogether.

"It was like someone handed me my life back when I got those results," Levin says.

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The Oncotype DX test has cut the use of chemotherapy in U.S. breast cancer patients by 20 percent in the past eight years. The test analyzes genes involved in tumor recurrence. Genomic Health Inc, the maker of the Oncotype DX test also launched a similar test that measures if men with prostate cancer need to undergo surgery or radiation. While tests and studies can help clarify a treatment path, the costs associate can be extremely expensive, often costing thousands of dollars monthly. According to IMS Health, by 2016 the annual global sales of cancer drugs will nearly triple.

ASCO’s annual meeting in Chicago will highlight the “less is more” approach to cancer treatment. On Wednesday, ASCO released thousands of abstracts on new clinical trials of cancer treatments.

A study found that most men diagnosed with a common type of testicular cancer, Seminoma, did well after surgery and no additional treatment. The study was conducted in Europe and the cure rates for the disease have been rather high. In the U.S., about half of early-stage patients are still given radiation or chemotherapy.

"Opting for surveillance spares patients, most of who are young men, from the harmful side effects of chemotherapy and radiation without diminishing their chances for a long and healthy life," said ASCO's incoming president, Dr Clifford Hudis, in a statement.

Physicians say it is tricky to measure in data; There is a growing acknowledgment that less is more in terms of potentially toxic cancer treatments. The approach is especially important for young patients who will have many years ahead of them after beating an initial bout of cancer.

"We are right-sizing treatment," said Dr. James Mohler, chair of the department of urology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. With new technology comes risk and benefits and ‘right-sizing’ cancer treatment seems to be effective. 

Written by Shukti Sarma

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

#1. Harvard School of Medicine

It goes without saying that Harvard is on of the most prestigious brands to reckon with, and in terms of research, it is the most trusted institution. The Academic Ranking Of World Universities, an annual ranking of the world's universities published from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, recently named Harvard as the top medical school in the world. The school has a large and distinguished faculty to support its missions of education, research, and clinical care. Harvard also has a distinguished list of teaching affiliates, and its alumni include some of the most respected names in medicine. Its MD-PhD program allows a student to receive an M.D. from HMS and a Ph.D. from either Harvard or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under its famous Medical Scientist Training Program. The MD programme offers two tracks - the New Pathway, that emphasizes problem-based learning, while the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology focuses on research.

#2. John Hopkins University

John Hopkins School of Medicines consistently ranks among the top medical schools in the world. It gets the maximum number of competitive research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health, and from 1991-2001, the John Hopkins hospital has been named the best in the country by US News and World Report.

#3. University of California

The University of California, San Francisco is one of the best names in primary care. UCLA is well known for research in AIDS, family medicine and drug and alcohol abuse. The UCLA medical centre ranks among the top medical specialty areas, and is named one of the best hospitals in the country.

#4. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The US News and World Report ranks it as the best place to study primary care, and is one of the premier institutes to study rural care. One of the original Ivy League Universities, it is a prominent name in cancer research.

#5. Stanford University

One of the oldest medical schools in the country, Stanford University School of Medicine is synonymous with innovation, and is a premier institute for biomedical research. Students also manage two free clinics, and the school lays emphasis on serving the underserved sections of the society.

#6. University of Cambridge

The School of Clinical Medicine is one of the best in the world, and half the training is provided at the famous Addenbrooke's Hospital site. Most seats are for British students, while some overseas students are accepted. It is one of the most prestigious schools in the world, and the selection procedure is extremely tough.

#7. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Counted not only among the best research and primary care institutes, it is known for internal medicine, women’s health and geriatrics. The vast University of Michigan Health System provides immense opportunities for learning and practical experience.

#8. Columbia University

The first university in the US to grant an MD degree, and is one of the most selective institutes in the world. The academic medical centre has four schools - each ranking within the top five in its area. The college for physicians and surgeons is currently ranked 5th amongst medical schools in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

#9. Karolinska Institute

No list is complete without considering the institution that awards the Nobel Prize. It is one of Sweden's largest centres for training and research, and according to the 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities, Karolinska Institute is ranked 9th in the world in the field of clinical medicine and pharmacology and among the first 20 universities in life sciences.

#10. Duke University

It counts among the top three institutes for medical research in the US, and students can learn and seize the opportunities that the Duke University Health System offers. It consistently ranks among the top 10 medical schools and hospitals.

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

This month in Healthcare Global we take a look inside the largest hospital in South Africa, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. We considered the institutions quest for operational excellence, the importance of training and efficient people management and uncovered the challenges of working under extreme environmental conditions.

• Inside South Africa's Largest Hospital: The Chris Hani Baragwanath

Speaking of training, we also take a look at the world’s best medical schools in this edition of the magazine, after all, great healthcare provision starts with well-trained physicians and medical professionals.

• Top 10 Medical Schools In The World

Also in this issue we uncover how wireless technology is having an impact on the way hospital executives manage their supply chains. Mobile technology is big news in the healthcare industry at the moment, so healthcare executives need to sit up and listen.

• Mobile Technology Is Transforming Healthcare
• Wireless Technology In The Hospital Supply Chain
• How Does Medical Insurance Affect Patient Care?

Enjoy the issue!

Abigail Phillips

Editor, Healthcare Global

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, known affectionately as ‘Bara’ is South Africa’s largest hospital and the third largest hospital in the world. Bara is the only hospital in South Africa's largest township sprawling over 173 acres, 429 buildings and 10km of corridor. The hospital has more than 3,000 beds to serve a population of about four million and employs more than 6000 members of staff.

Located in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, it provides medical care to more than 2000 patients every day from catchment areas as far as Klerksdorp. The hospital is one of 40 Gauteng provincial hospitals and is financed and run by Gauteng Provincial Health Authorities. It is a teaching hospital for the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, along with the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital.

Bara operates on three central guiding principles and strives to achieve success on a daily basis, while overcoming challenges associated with its location, funding and skill shortages within the province. Its guiding principles are >>>

1. To achieve the highest level of patient care based on sound scientific principles and administered with empathy and insight;
2. To train our work corps to be the best equipped and motivated to serve the sick and injured;
3. To maintain and defend truth, integrity and justice for all, at all times, to the benefit of patients, staff and the community.

Overcoming Challenges

Like all healthcare institutions, especially those of such a huge scale, the hospital faces many challenges on a daily basis, however Bara is unique insofar as it operates in South Africa, which has the largest HIV/AIDS population in the world; more than half of the patients admitted are HIV positive. Furthermore, the hospital operates within a city with one of the world’s highest crime rates and feels the fall out from that. Nearby Townships mean that there is a huge volume of patients admitted to the hospital every day with violence related injuries and on top of this, reports have suggested that violence within the hospital itself has also been a concern, with theft and assault of medical staff a continuing problem.   

The hospital also suffers from a lack of resources and many of its staff find themselves working around the clock to provide the level of care required by the high volume of patients. There are not enough beds, the equipment is often out of date and the facility often faces power outages.

Bara is likely one of the most challenged medical institutions in the world and yet it still manages to achieve successful levels of patient care day in day out. This is largely down to the dedication and hard work of its senior management team, the provincial health department and its team of medical professionals. In the past few months, the hospital has also appointed a new CEO, leading to a lot of positive discourse surrounding the facility. The new CEO hopes to continue building on the success of the hospital while tightening up processes, assessing where cost savings can be made to facilitate to purchase of more medical equipment and training to ultimately generate a more positive PR image for the hospital that does such good work. 

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Overcoming Skill Shortages

South Africa has for many years suffered from a lack of skilled employees within the healthcare sector. Lack of funding and poor education often means that there are not enough medical professionals qualified to serve in hospitals and healthcare institutions.

Bara has taken great steps to overcome this hurdle by working closely with the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, along with the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Not only has this provided the hospital with a steady stream of qualified medical professionals, it has also enhanced the level of care the hospital gives its patients. Being attached to a research institution has meant that medical breakthroughs reach the hospital much quicker. Its connection with these universities has also raised its profile in the local area, sparking new funding avenues.

Furthermore, the hospital is also dedicated to providing its staff with regular training to bring them up to date with the latest processes and health and safety compliance rules. The new CEO believes that training is exceptionally important for all levels of employees from senior physicians through to cleaners and ward technicians to maintain successful levels of patient care. As such training both internally and externally is top of the agenda.

Despite working in exceptionally challenging circumstances, the staff and senior managers at Bara do the hospital and the local community proud every day. The dedication of staff is unparalleled and it is this level of devotion to facilitating better healthcare in South Africa that will see the hospital improve and develop now and in years to come.  

Written by Pooja Thakkar

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

Smart mobile devices and applications, working in concert with social networking, cloud computing, smart mobility and big data analytics, have surfaced to enable a new vision of providing healthcare everywhere with the potential to increase accessibility, contain costs and improve outcomes. The healthcare and life sciences industry is recognized as one of the top three fields along with consumer products and the financial services industry likely to propel mobile device growth in the next five years.

A few years back, Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and venture capitalist backing Facebook, Groupon, Skype, Twitter, Zynga and Foursquare, stated that we are on the verge of disruptive change that is altering the landscape with healthcare and education being next in line for fundamental software-based transformation.

Today, the entire healthcare ecosystem and its key stakeholders - physicians, providers, patients and payers are in the midst of a dramatic transformation. The adoption of mobile devices has already changed the way healthcare professionals engage in their daily work and care for patients. This change is reflective in the performance of professional healthcare students, while on internships and fieldwork placements, and ultimately in their work as healthcare providers.

The capabilities offered by mobile technologies are fast becoming appreciated by industry stakeholders, with variant devices, sensors, apps, and other programs being developed and created to help target chronic conditions, telemedicine and remote monitoring, patient data capture, electronic records, e-prescribing, and the parallel industries of fitness and wellness.

Key Drivers Of mHealth

Analysts’ forecasts estimate the potential value of the Mobile Health, or mHealth as it is commonly known, market to be approximately $4.6 billion as early as 2014. Three major trends already happening in healthcare lend themselves to the revolution in mobile technology:

Ageing Population

Firstly, ageing population and chronic illness are driving regulatory reform. Secondly, Public sector healthcare is seeking better access and quality, and it's looking to the private sector for innovation and efficiency. mHealth improves access and quality, and offers dramatic innovation and cost reduction.

Foundations Already Laid

The platform for mHealth is set with the foundations of industrialization of healthcare — electronic medical records, remote monitoring and communications already in place. ‘Care anywhere’ is already emerging.

Personalization

Healthcare, like other industries, is getting personal and rightly so. mHealth is offering personal toolkits for predictive, participatory and preventative care.

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Going Toe-To-Toe With The New Wave

According to a data, 78 percent of healthcare analysts believe that the healthcare/life sciences sector holds the greatest potential in stimulating mobile business model innovation through 4G technology.

Another recent survey conducted by mobile technology consulting firm Float Mobile Learning determined that healthcare professionals remain on the cutting edge of mobile technology users. According to the study, Physicians are 250 percent more likely than other consumers to own a tablet computer while 80 percent of surveyed physicians said they use smartphones and medical applications. 56 percent of surveyed physicians also said that they use mobile devices to help them make faster clinical decisions while 40 percent of surveyed physicians said mobile devices help them reduce the amount of time they spend on administrative work.

Technology’s Prescription For Healthcare: Dose Of Simplicity

When it comes to technological design, Apple emerges a clear winner. Doctors, want technology that’s easy to use, easy on the eye and that can travel universally with them from desktop to mobile and vice versa.

On September 2, 2011, Apple launched an ‘iTunes room for Healthcare’, listing 50 apps for healthcare professionals. Apps used on the iPhone or iPad are the most common technologies used in the clinical field.

There are a plethora of other free mobile medical apps for physician including Epocrates, Medscape, Doximity, Sermo, QuantiaMD, and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Some progressive physicians are also using these apps to connect with other physicians and they are joining an online social network to share stories, collaborate, and answer questions posed by other physicians.

Reaping The Benefits

Today’s physicians who have experienced the power of mobile technologies also prioritize the following technology benefits >>>

• Freedom from the desk while working, in the morning hours, during lunch, and after dinner
• Anywhere, anytime scheduling
• Simple, intuitive experience
• Ability to communication with patients
• Ability to instantly power up and access information, so they can provide meaningful decisions
• Ability to stay connected to other physicians and practice members – the “front and back” office
• Optimized ease of login

Evolving Ecosystems

Many mobile and healthcare/life sciences companies are beginning to collaborate in high-profile alliances. A good example is the Continua Health Alliance where a growing collective of over 200 technology, medical devices, and healthcare companies have collaborated to accelerate the development of interoperable mHealth solutions. Another such example is, open mHealth consortium, which has established a flourishing ecosystem of multiple players across the mobile and healthcare industries to implement a roadmap for mHealth technology development.

A New Era Of Care

While there will always be a place for brick-and-mortar hospitals, mobile technologies will go a long way towards moving healthcare systems beyond facility-based care and as technology continues to reach new frontiers in medicine and medical interaction, it’s becoming clear that we’re entering a new era of healthcare or as some people are beginning to call it, Health 2.0.

Written by Emily Couch

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

The hospital supply chain has been trying to pull alongside its counterparts in the retail and manufacturing industries when it comes to the implementation of wireless technology in their facilities.  A hospitals supply chain is one of the most complex operations within the hospital. The adoption of wireless technology as a means to manage and lower the cost of hospital supplies and streamline the management of the supply chain is becoming a hot topic at the forefront of the healthcare industry. The goal of reducing cost while providing high-quality medical care is a top strategic objective.

When trying to lower annual cost and save money, one of the first steps any healthcare facilities should take is to look at all aspects of their supply chain. On average, one-third of their budget is allocated to supplies, which is only second to labor cost. Conventionally hospitals only used logistics software to track and manage high-cost elements; in today's economy it dictates that organizations should use software tools to identify any elements that could be causing them to lose money.

Putting The Emphasis On Software

It is critically important to rely on data collection tools. In the nations unpredictable economy it is imperative for hospitals to examine every part of their supply chain for any possible areas of cost savings.  All supply chain categories, including information technology, facilities and purchased services, should be accounted for. Cost savings can come from unlikely places and that’s why relying on supply software to analyze your supply chain is more effective and less subject to human error.

When hospitals widen their search for savings in the supply chain, they need to employ different tools and networks to do so effectively. For most organizations it is not cost efficient to have multiple employees with high levels of expertise on staff. The ideal situation would be having supply chain experts on staff to help their facilities to better manage their supply chain and inventory.  Instead, healthcare providers should consider using supply chain software and wireless technology that can aid in discovering any issues or potential cost saving shortcuts.

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• Cost Management Within Hospital Supply Chain
• Managing The Medical Supply Chain

Inventory Management

The main purpose of introducing wireless technology into a hospitals supply chain if for cost reduction through inventory management. Electronic medication administration and reporting systemsalong with automated drug dispensing systems can help manage the amount of drugs being dispensed and to whom. Having a more precise system of tracking drugs and where they are going leaves less room for human error.

Inventory management systems can adequately track all inventory in the hospital from surgical supplies to high end machinery. In the past hospitals did not pay as much attention to lower end inventory, but it came to light that savings on the lower end inventory can save hundreds of thousands in the annual budget.

Visibility Within The Supply Chain

The savings of time is at the helm of this issue. Generally speaking an individual lacks the visibility of their entire supply chain. With the implantation of mobile devices all aspects of the supply chain are right at their fingertips while they move about the hospital. Up-to-date inventory reporting, ordering and notifications are instantaneously. The user no longer has to go back to their desk to access and update valuable information, improving their work flow.

The value of implementing wireless technology to a hospitals supply chain can cut down on wasted time, money and resources. Ensuring the right people and wireless technology is employed to manage a supply chain is just as vital as the supply chain itself. Establishing a governing supply chain council will provide direction and help align supply chain strategies with the hospitals overall strategy. This governing council should be lead by the leader of the supply chain organization as well as corporate executives, business unit managers, and other influential company leaders.

Overall, a reduction in data inaccuracy, increased cycle times and decreased supply chain cost, can be the direct benefits of employing wireless technology into a hospitals supply chain. 

Written by Pelle Gustafson CMO and Jon Ahlberg Senior CMO, Patientförsäkringen LÖF

Read This Article In The May Edition Of Healthcare Global's Digital Magazine

Medical insurance is often seen as outside the patient pathway, but insurers can have real influence over how patients are treated and cared for.

Medical insurance companies can drive healthcare costs upwards and are less motivated to become involved in improving care if hospitals are paid per “executed task” regardless of necessity. Although this kind of remuneration is common in the medical community, it is increasingly being questioned and replaced by other reimbursement models where payment is based on objective or subjective results.

These new models are proving hugely beneficial for patient care. As well as lowering net costs, by reducing poor outcomes and adverse events, medical insurance companies have a new incentive to influence the level of quality and safety. By offering rewards that are based on an agreed level of quality or service, they can help healthcare providers place more emphasis on outcomes. Both providers of care and insurers benefit from this close cooperation and the main winners are the patients.

Financially Motivate Caregivers

Perhaps the most significant result of these developments is that insurance companies can financially motivate caregivers to comply with certain levels of education, staffing, training programs and safety procedures. Across the world there are countless examples where minimum levels of staffing and competence must be kept intact or the insurance policy is simply not valid, or is more expensive or limited for the caregiver. The insurer can also agree to decrease premiums with increased levels of competence, training and safety programs. In a US hospital, for instance, medical employees who have been involved in adverse events were identified by the insurer as “poor communicators and poor documenters” and were trained to improve in these areas.

Read Related Articles In Healthcare Global

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Risk & Compliance

But beyond the immediate financial benefits there is also a great deal that healthcare professionals can learn from the methods, practices and culture of insurers. Two very central themes in the running of an insurance company are “risk” and “compliance”. Handling and controlling risks is something that insurers are clearly good at and those in healthcare are learning from this system of identifying, describing and minimizing risks.

Gathering & Analyzing Information

This is not simply a case of learning by osmosis. Insurers are also taking active steps to collect and distribute information of risk-prone procedures and treatments to care-providers to improve safety and quality. Various early-warning systems for certain medical procedures or implants are being set up with insurers playing a major role in their design and implementation. Insurers are also contributing through the sponsorship of research in the fields of patient safety and quality improvement.

This process of reinvesting earnings into safety programs is an increasingly common solution in the insurance sector, especially if the organisation is a mutual. In Sweden for instance, our mutual national patient insurance company Patientförsäkringen LÖF (P-LOF) has run four projects in cooperation with 24 separate professional organizations and care-givers in areas of safe delivery care, infections after joint prosthesis surgery, abdominal surgery and medication practice in primary care. In each case the professional medical organizations are fully responsible for the medical contents of the projects while P-LOF takes the financial and administrative responsibility. The projects begin with self-assessments made by clinical departments that are followed by peer reviews, agreements on action programs and finally a follow up also performed by the peers.

Although insurer-led, these programs instigated the type of self-assessment that is needed to uncover latent risks that may be known about but not acted upon. Questions around procedures and guidelines, measurements of staff compliance and suggested areas of improvement were all asked by the insurer and answered comprehensively by care providers.

Facilitating Safe Delivery

In our safe delivery program for instance, all 46 Swedish delivery departments (and their teams of obstetricians, midwives, pediatricians and neonatologists) participated. Among the results from this project are a new definition and terminology regarding CTG-interpretation, interactive web-based training programs on interpretation of CTG-curves and neonatal resuscitation. Virtually all departments have updated or produced new local guidelines as a result and most reported an increased awareness of the importance of compliance. Preliminary data show that the number of birth-related adverse events resulting in hypoxia has decreased as a result of this insurer-provider collaboration, though these early findings have to still be interpreted with the utmost care.

Similar joint projects aimed at eliminating prosthesis-related infections and promoting safer abdominal surgery are now also underway. This type of structured, collaborative model is proving effective because it is multi-professional, voluntary, self-rated, non-normative and focused on the system and the processes. The healthcare organizations have, without exception, risen to the challenge.

Although these improvements to patient safety must ultimately be implemented by healthcare providers, insurance companies are increasingly taking a role in encouraging, incentivizing and facilitating change. Insurers must be accountable for patient care and use their resources and knowledge to create safer health environments for the future.

Research from Patientförsäkringen's projects will be presented at the Patient Safety Congress, 21-22 May in Birmingham, UK. 

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Last month, the FDA moved to block the manufacture and sale of generic versions of the original OxyContin, which has gone off patent but which is easier to abuse than the current version. A newer version of OxyContin, introduced by its maker, Purdue Pharma LP, in 2010, contains an infusion of polymer that makes the pill difficult to crush, meaning addicts can't get all of the extended-release ingredients at once to get high.

Similarly, this week the FDA is considering the effectiveness of another safeguarded, brand-name painkiller, Endo Pharmaceuticals Opana ER. If the FDA rules that Opana ER slows abuse, the agency can choose to shield Endo from the competition, because the generic options don’t have abuse-deterrents.

Such a decision would send a strong message to pharma manufacturers, that pain drugs with no safeguards are likely to be removed from the market—and that there are billions of dollars in potential revenue to be had from the sale of painkillers that are abuse proof.

Creating An Abuse Proof Painkiller

With such a ruling in the pipeline, companies such as Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and Endo are trying to crack the potentially lucrative market.

• Pfizer wants to introduce Remoxy, a direct OxyContin competitor with abuse deterrents, and a morphine drug called Embeda.
• Johnson & Johnson is conducting tests to demonstrate abuse-deterrent properties of its opioid for moderate to severe pain.
• Purdue Pharma wants to adapt its abuse-deterrent technology for a hydrocodone product—a class of drugs currently dominated by low-cost generics that don't have abuse-proof formulations.

“Over time, it should be a scientific race across the whole pharmaceutical industry to create a market where all opioids have abuse-deterrent properties,” said Gary L. Stiles, Senior Vice-President of Research and Development at the closely held Purdue Pharma.

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The race could give a boost to an already lucrative market and raise the cost of pain treatment. A recent Cowen & Co. report predicts an increase in prescription pain drug sales of more than 15 percent by 2017, reaching $8.4 billion, thanks in part to the FDA ruling. It could also bring about a reshuffling of market share in the fast-growing $7.3 billion pain market, as companies such as Pfizer move with full force in the opioid painkiller market for the first time.

The FDA isn't directly requiring all painkillers to have safeguards. But should an effective abuse-deterrent drug be developed, the FDA said it has the power to remove on-the-market rival products, which don't.

With this in mind many of the world’s pharma giants are ramping up their R&D when it comes to finding and implementing effective abuse-deterrents. 

Written by Adam Groff 

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery, or lap band surgery, has an equal amount of support as well as opposition. And, because it’s one of the most popular forms of weight loss surgery next to gastric bypass, it gets a lot of attention.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

So, what exactly are people saying about the surgery and should there be any cause for concern?

Pros

The benefits of lap band surgery cannot be ignored. In terms of the potential for weight loss, most patients who undergo the surgery cut their weight by 30 to 40 percent on average. And, many patients experience losses of up to half their body weight or more.

Because lap band surgery can be reversed and it’s considered one of the less invasive weight loss surgeries, it’s also thought of as less risky. In addition, the lap band can be adjusted any number of times without any further surgery.

It’s important to keep in mind that not all surgery results are the same from one individual to the next. A patient’s body mass index, health, and age all factor into the surgery’s weight loss potential.

Cons

A surgery’s drawbacks should always carry more importance than its benefits. This is especially true with weight loss surgeries. Although a patient’s stomach does not need to be cut or stapled with lap band surgery, complications can still arise.

First and foremost on the lap band con list is the ability for the band itself to slip or shift resulting in the puncturing of the stomach. This is unlikely, but cases have been reported. Likewise, infection and bleeding can occur on or around the location of the lap band.

As with any surgery, it’s important to discuss the risks with a doctor.

Although a patient is ready for weight loss surgery, their body might not be. An estimated 1 and 1,500 patients die from lap band surgery, so the proper pre-surgery measures should be taken.

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Statistics

According to the Alliance for Natural Health USA, 20 million obese adults meet the requirements for lap band surgery. Of those potential candidates, over 300,000 patients undergo lap band surgery each year.

And, although the main requirement for the surgery is that a patient have a body mass index of 35 to 40, the FDA just passed a law that allows the use of the device in less obese patients. This increases the candidate pool to roughly 15 million Americans.

Red Flags

With procedures costing as much as $20,000 and the lap band device ranging in the hundreds, lap band surgery is expensive. But, this doesn’t mean an amazing lap band surgery deal will result in the best surgery.

Don’t be fooled by the price tag. With more and more lap band doctors and surgery centers hitting the market, pricing is competitive. If the cost is too good to be true, then it probably means the doctor is less qualified or the lap band device used is inferior.

In addition, surgery centers that over-advertise and claim unbelievable success rates are usually more in it for the money than the patient. If a doctor cannot backup his or her surgical expertise or the surgery center has no reviews, it’s best to keep searching.

As with any weight loss surgery, getting the doctor’s vote and finding the right surgeon will always result in a healthier weight and a clean bill of health.

About The Author

Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of engaging content. He writes on a variety of topics including personal health,online reputation management, and the ins and outs of weight loss surgery.

On Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration appealed a court order addressing the agency to make the “morning-after” pill available over-the-counter to women of all ages. According to court documents, lawyers with the Justice department filed the appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Known as “Plan B”, the appeal is the latest incursion in the years-long legal battle over the drug, which has sparked outcry from both political and religious sects. The government is seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Edward Korman’s ruling from April 5th that requires the FDA to make the emergency contraception available within 30 days to all girls of reproductive age. 

According to FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson, the Justice Department has asked the district court to temporarily stop its order from taking effect while the appeal is pending.

The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed originally in 2005 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and other groups against age and access limits to the emergency contraception. The groups argue that there is no scientific proof that girls of reproductive age could not safely use the drug without supervision.

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The FDA has originally approved over-the-counter sales with no age limits but the order was reversed in a surprise December 2011 decision by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. President Barack Obama supported that restriction, barring girls from under 17 from buying the pills without a prescription.

In his ruling, Korman calls Sebelius’ decision “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.”

“The motivation for the secretary’s action was obviously political,” he wrote.

The agency confirms its decision to lower the age limit for Plan B One-Step was based on scientific data submitted by Teva that showed girls as young as 15 could safely use the drug without the intervention of a healthcare provider. In addition, cashiers will still have to  verify the customer’s age before selling it, the FDA said.

From devices to monitor patient health to apps for scheduling appointments, investors are pouring billions of dollars into new innovations to improve health care. As more and more hospitals start utilizing “big data” applications to identify patients with elevated risks of hospital re-admissions, new evidence suggests that helping patients take their medication more consistently can be influential in lowering health care costs, while also improving patient outcomes.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Recent studies (Roebuck et al., 2011, Stuart et al.,2011, and Choudhry et al., 2001) have identified direct associations between appropriate medication use and healthcare spending. Data collected from these studies have prompted the Congressional Budget Office to recently change its stance on medication adherence from a budgetary perspective. Previously, CBO did not believe the evidence of a direct connection between medication use and health care spending was sufficient to “score” a medical cost offset in its budgetary forecasts. Now, CBO believes medication adherence can lead to a reduction in doctor visits and hospitalizations, impacting the rise of health care costs.

The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that a 1 percent increase in the number of prescriptions filled would cause Medicare spending on medical services to fall by roughly one-fifth of 1 percent. While this may not seem like much, Medicare will spend more than $2 trillion on hospitalizations over the next ten years. These tiny reductions result in major savings and lower projected savings from the new healthcare provider payment models that are being tested under the Affordable Care Act.  

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In addition, the CBO points out future programs or policies that achieve more targeted improvements in adherence for certain beneficiaries with particular diseases or on particular medication could lead to larger savings.  Cost offsets from medication adherence could also encourage members of Congress to consider additional polices to realize these cost savings.

Recently, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) announced it is analyzing the fiscal impact of adherence on Medicare. MedPAC, an independent Congressional agency that advises Congress on policies affecting Medicare, will have a big influence on how Congress thinks about future policies to promote devotion in the Medicare program. Additionally, private payers are seriously considering how lack of adherence affects medical spending.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken vital steps to promote medication use on a more consistent basis for certain chronic conditions. As part of its “Star Ratings” program, CMS now offers financial bonuses to health plans when they help eligible Medicare beneficiaries increase adherence to blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes medication. 

Overall, the payoff for health plans is huge. Along with the potential medical savings they can utilize when their members take chronic disease medications more consistently, health plans earning 4 or 5 “Stars” can earn an additional 4 to 5 percent in premium bonuses each year. These bonuses can be used to either enhance benefits or lower future plan premiums to attract new members. While we still need to find more effective ways to improving adherence for individual patients, a concerted to push to realize the opportunity along with new incentives and investments in health IT and data could exceptionally strengthen, and potentially improve patient health and lower costs.

Steve Jobs and Apple products have changed the face of healthcare. Before the launch of the iPhone and later the iPad, the vast majority of healthcare data was stored in paper flies. The only technology used by doctors and medical professionals was clunky and cumbersome and very few enjoyed using it, often opting for paper equivalents. Aside from medical equipment, doctors and nurses avoided using technology during their working week. That changed when the first iPhone was launched and therefore many changes in the healthcare tech landscape – the mass uptake of EMRs, the increasing use of medical apps and virtual patient / doctor communication, to name just a few can be directly attributed to Apple.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

A recent study by Manhattan Research found that 75 percent of physicians owned at least one Apple product, rendering the saying ‘an Apple a day keeps the doctor away’ quite untrue. A later study conducted by Vitera Healthcare also stated that 60 percent of doctors surveyed used an iPhone for work and 48 percent owned an iPad. Physician, by and large love Apple products and use them in a professionals environment. 

Apple’s products sparked mass uptake of mobile devices and smartphones, and with that came an insurgence of applications, opening the doors for physicians to instantly access a world of medical information at point of care.

Apple: Training Future Physicians

Apple products have not only been utelised at point of care by trained medical professionals. Yale University's School of Medicine did away with paper materials for training upcoming physicians opting instead to provide its students with iPads and wireless keyboards.

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Facilitating Remote Healthcare

Apple products have facilitated the growth of remote healthcare; just a few months ago, the first ever hospital robot received FDA approval to deliver patient care, and guess what the main component of the device was… an iPad. The iRobot is fitted with an iPad as is the doctor. Via FaceTime the doctor can communicate with patients remotely, allowing him to visit more patients during a working day.

Remote healthcare can also be extended to rural location for example in Africa, where doctors can reach cut-off rural communities via video link to provide vital healthcare. Video healthcare has also been used during the aftermath of natural disasters, where specialist doctors can survey the scene much quicker than if they had to travel to the location. 

The late Steve Jobs revolutionized the healthcare industry

Digital Imaging

Use of Apple's products goes beyond serving as a reference and communication tool, though. An application that allows radiologists to view MRIs as well as CT, PET, and SPECT scans on iPhones and iPads received FDA approval in 2011. More recently, the FDA cleared the way for privately held Welch Allyn to connect its portable ophthalmoscope to an iPhone for doctors to view retinal images using the company's app.

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iPatients

Apple perhaps also unwittingly opened new horizons for patients also. By April 2012, the App Store included more than 13,600 health-related applications. For example, Vital Art and Science recently gained FDA approval to sell its myVisionTrack product, which enables people with macular degeneration and other degenerative eye diseases to monitor their vision at home with their iPhone. The application automatically alerts a healthcare professional if visual function appears to be deteriorating significantly.

Another app, SkinVision, allows individuals to take pictures of moles and other skin conditions and receive an instant analysis of risk using an algorithm that dermatologists helped develop. SkinVision helps the person find a dermatologist if needed. The significance of this capability can be best understood by looking at melanoma survival rates. When melanoma is caught early, five-year survival rates can be as high as 97 percent. If not caught early, those survival rates drop to 20 percent or less.

No Signs Of Slowing Down

While it's true that Apple products aren't the only ones used in healthcare, the company's devices still dominate the industry. And these products ushered in a revolution in how medical professionals and patients access data and communicate with each other.

Now, many speculate that Apple's next major product could be an iWatch. If so, yet another transformation could occur as tracking of health information becomes even more convenient and transparent. The revolution continues.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Massachusetts-based health centers receiving grants include >>>

• Community Health Center of Cape Cod (Mashpee, MA): A $50,000 grant will support programs related to diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia management.
• Dimock Community Health Center (Roxbury, MA): A $50,000 grant will support programs related to behavioral health integration for coronary artery disease.

The “Innovations in Community Health” grants, which total more than $1 million, have been awarded to 21 community health centers across the country to support the development of innovative, community-based programs and initiatives that focus on the treatment and management of chronic illnesses, specifically heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

"Through our partnership with NACHC, we are providing much-needed funding to support affordable community-based health care models that are producing innovative programming in the area of chronic disease management," said Eileen Howard Boone, President, CVS Caremark Charitable Trust.  "We are honored to recognize programs in Boston and Cape Cod that are using a variety of methods to help people manage their chronic disease and improve health outcomes."

While changes in our health care system will qualify millions of more people for health coverage, it's still a challenge for many to find quality care that could help manage – even prevent – many chronic diseases.

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More than half of Americans suffer from one or more chronic diseases every year and chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. A survey released today by CVS Caremark could explain why. “The CVS Caremark Chronic Disease Awareness Survey” reveals the public’s misconception and understanding of chronic diseases, with the majority of respondents admitting that they are not doing as much as they could to stay healthy. Twenty-eight percent of respondents think there is little they can do to prevent most chronic diseases, yet modifiable health risk behaviors, including lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption, contribute most to the exacerbation of chronic diseases. Additional insights include >>>

• Nearly forty percent of people think what they eat has little to do with whether they get a chronic disease.
• Approximately thirty-two percent of people think smoking does not have an effect on chronic diseases beyond lung cancer.

The survey also showed that while a majority of people agree that reducing stress, exercising, improving their diet or regularly visiting a doctor can help prevent chronic diseases, more than half of people admit they are not doing much to prevent them.

• Sixty percent of respondents are aware they should take steps to reduce stress in their daily lives but do not.
• Nearly sixty-five percent of people are aware they should exercise regularly, but they do not.
• More than half of people admit they do not take the steps they should to improve their diet.

For more information, please visit www.cvscaremarkfyi.com/BuildingHealthierCommunities

About the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, Inc. is a private foundation created by CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS). CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the nation. The Trust's mission is to provide funding for health care, education and community involvement initiatives in CVS Caremark communities. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company's Web site at www.investor.cvs.com, or through the Web site's press roomwww.cvscaremark.com/newsroom.

About the National Association of Community Health Centers

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) was founded in 1971. Its mission is to promote the provision of high quality, comprehensive and affordable health care that is coordinated, culturally and linguistically competent, and community directed for all medically underserved populations. For more information on the National Association of Community Health Centers, please visit http://www.nachc.com/.

About the Community Health Center of Cape Cod

The Community Health Center of Cape Code believes that patients play an important role in their own good health and well-being. The Center works with patients to develop preventive health and medical program to fit patients’ needs and services such as primary care, mental health, women’s health, dental care and special programs. For more information, please visithttp://www.chcofcapecod.org/.

About the Dimock Community Health Center

Recognized nationally as a model for the delivery of comprehensive health and human services in an urban community, The Dimock Center provides the residents of Boston with convenient access to quality health care and human services that might not otherwise be available to the communities we serve.  In 2009, our providers and staff saw over 73,000 patient and client visits. For more information, please visit http://dimockcenter.org/news/page/About-The-Dimock-Center.aspx.

A top NHS doctor has urged the government to ‘crack down’ on the cosmetic surgery industry, citing a complete lack of regulation in some fields.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Bruce Keogh, the Health Service's Medical Director, called for tougher controls over “highly misleading” advertising and voiced his concern at the example set by television reality shows, in a review published on Wednesday.

He also raised doubts over the competence of non-Britain based “fly in, fly out” surgeons in carrying out facelifts, breast implants and nose straightening procedures.

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The report highlighted “the many TV makeover programmes where participants have procedures financed by providers. Of particular concern are TV reality drama shows in which its young stars glamorise cosmetic procedures,” it added. “It is not always made clear that these celebrities have contracts with particular providers.”

Keogh said that those putting their faith in the hands of private surgeons did not have “the safety net that those using the NHS have.”

Health Minister Dan Poulter backed the recommendations and said the government would respond in the summer. “While there are some responsible clinics which do take proper care of their patients, Sir Bruce Keogh's review makes clear that there is a significant risk of people falling into the hands of cowboy firms or individuals whose only aim is to make a quick profit,” he said. “These people simply don't care about the welfare of the people they are taking money from.”

The review was commissioned after breast implants made by the French company PIP were found to contain substandard industrial-grade silicone.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

While a majority of respondents (35 percent) placed meaningful use in the top spot, 19 percent of respondents identified the areas in which HIT will achieve the most significant improvements as health information exchange, clinical Integration and mobile health, respectively.

“Those hospitals that can successfully achieve meaningful use implementation will benefit greatly from the resulting updated systems, enhanced processes and increased data security,” said Shane Pilcher, Vice President of Stoltenberg Consulting. He cautioned that “organizations still need to overcome the hurdles inherent in meeting meaningful use however, before they can reap the benefits of it.”

Survey respondents identified the three greatest challenges in fulfilling meaningful use requirements in their organizations as confusion and/or ambiguity about the regulation itself (29 precent); competing health IT projects (23 percent) and lack of resources such as funding, IT skill, talent and time (17 percent).

“While these challenges certainly impact hospitals of all sizes, they are particularly daunting for rural and community hospitals,” noted Pilcher. “To have the best chance of meeting meaningful use, smaller hospitals should develop an effective plan of action that unites IT, internal administration and clinical providers.”

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Emerging Health IT Trends

The Stoltenberg survey also uncovered the top three issues likely to dominate HIT dialogue for the remainder of 2013: Health Information Exchange (62 percent); Mobile Health (58 percent) and Clinical Analytics (54 percent).

Pilcher stated that “like meaningful use, Health Information Exchange, mobile health and clinical analytics can all ultimately have a positive impact on an organization's bottom line in addition to the ability to improve healthcare delivery, but they also require the type of extensive knowledge, expertise and experience in healthcare IT that might be best accessed through a qualified HIT services provider.”

In fact, according to the Stoltenberg survey, the issues or problems that HIT executives would most likely consult with a specialized IT consulting firm to resolve are: ICD-10 (25 percent); meaningful use (25 percent); clinical and business intelligence (23 percent); cloud computing (21 percent); and CPOE/clinical systems implementation (20 percent).

Survey respondents included HIT management, physicians and clinicians representing healthcare providers and payers, government agencies and HIT services vendors, among others.

About Stoltenberg Consulting

Founded in 1995, Pittsburgh-based Stoltenberg Consulting Inc. creates an environment for success by working with healthcare organizations to provide a variety of services including project management, implementation support and integration between systems. Members of the Stoltenberg Consulting team are consultants with extensive experience in both financial and clinical systems, averaging more than 15 years of direct on-site hospital experience. Stoltenberg Consulting has grown rapidly to serve a client base of more than 200 preeminent healthcare organizations throughout the United States providing services for Siemens (Approved Partner), Epic (Preferred Partner), Cerner, McKesson, Meditech, NextGen, Allscripts and Zynx customers. Stoltenberg was named #1 in the Staff Augmentation category by the 2012 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services report. For more information call 1-888-724-1326 or visit www.stoltenberg.com.

The NHS in the UK has come up with the idea of sending elderly patients, new mothers and stroke patients to so called ‘Hotel Hospitals’ to recover from illnesses, falls and similar conditions as part of a plan to ease ‘bed-blocking’ in hospital wards.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

Hotel Hospitals will be run by private hotel chains and will provide users with private en-suite facilities, television, internet connection and room service. Visiting hours for family members would also be a lot more flexible that in hospital wards and relations would be given the opportunity to stay in nearby rooms. It is thought that the system could save the health service tens of millions of pounds. The idea came from Scandinavia, where the set is widely used – many large hotel chains run the service on hospital sites. 

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The aim of the scheme is to support patients who are well enough to leave a hospital environment, but who still require more medical support than they could receive at home. 

According to government estimates, such a patient costs the NHS about £260 a day. The total bill for these delayed discharges has been estimated at £4 million a week and has been increasing at a time when NHS budgets are under intense pressure.

Surprisingly, the cost of accommodating a patient in a hotel, even one staffed by trained carers and fitted with medical equipment, would be significantly lower, according to advocates of the scheme.

In Scandinavia, privately run patient hotels are situated in the grounds of hospitals, where they are staffed by nurses and afford quick access to specialist consultants if patients need urgent treatment.

The proposed system has bought success in the past and could benefit the care of elderly patients, not only because they remain under medical care for longer following trauma, but because the hotel environment is more ‘welcoming’ than a hospital ward.

What do you think about the concept? Join the discussion on our Businessfriend page or tell us your thoughts on Facebook. 

Tablets are becoming increasingly popular in the healthcare industry and systems such as BYOD are fuelling uptake at an astonishing pace. According to a study carried out by IDG, 41 percent of employees in the US now own a tablet device, so it’s no wonder that a lot of healthcare business is conducted on tablet computers.

READ THE APRIL EDITION OF HEALTHCARE GLOBAL HERE

At Healthcare Global we have looked at the benefits tablet computers have bought to healthcare, specifically Apple’s iPad and Microsoft’s Surface, and now Samsung’s Galaxy Note is taking its place in the healthcare market with the launch of the Galaxy Note 8.0.

Galaxy Note In Healthcare

The Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with many great features for healthcare professionals; it comes in a number of different sizes to meet the users requirements and is very portable, which is imperative for healthcare professionals and physicians, and it has a number of security features which will appeal to healthcare professionals who may be using the device to access confidential patient information and medical records.

The Galaxy Note provides users with the ability to be more productive and efficient in their work and daily lives. Users will have access to a number of productivity features such as Multi-Window, Polaris Office, Air View, Awesome Note, Group Play and AllShare Play; they will also be able to download healthcare specific applications from the Google app store.

“With the introduction of the Galaxy Note, we defined a completely new category, and one that has been gaining momentum among businesses due to its flexibility in the workplace,” said Tod Pike, Senior Vice President at Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division. “Bringing the Note 8.0 to the Galaxy family of products will bring an additional option for business professionals looking for a device specifically built for the enterprise and flexible enough for a number of industry uses.”

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Unrivaled Safety Features

The Galaxy Note 8.0 incorporates SAFE (Samsung for Enterprise), which offers certified security features, standardized across devices, to ensure reliability. In addition, the Galaxy Note 8.0 features the innovative S Pen to create and edit professional quality work along with note-taking and signature capabilities. Both these features are exceptionally attractive to people working in the healthcare arena as they are dealing with confidential and sensitive information on a daily basis.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 transforms the patient experience by giving physicians a powerful tablet that allows access to patient information wherever it’s needed, integrating with a range of other healthcare solutions. The S Pen also enables physicians to take handwritten notes quickly and easily, saving time and ensuring more accurate input of information.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 went on sale in the US on April 11th 2013 and is set to become a big player in the healthcare tablet market place.