Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
High Rate Of Crime Medical Exams Pushes Colorado Hospital To Build Unit
The Colorado Sun: Medical Exams For Crime Victims Have Increased So Dramatically That A Colorado Springs Hospital Is Building A New Unit
UCHealth’s team of forensic nurses cared for 2,515 children and adults in this city last year who were sexually assaulted, choked or beaten and in need of a medical exam that could become evidence in a criminal case. These exams — more than six per day on average — took place mostly in Memorial Hospital’s emergency department, a Level I trauma center punctuated by the sounds of beeping machines, shouting amongst doctors treating gunshot victims, and law officers standing guard outside of patient rooms. (Brown, 3/20)
In other hospital news —
AP: Beshear Signs Bill To Bolster Kentucky's Rural Hospitals
Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday signed into law a bipartisan measure that’s meant to bolster access to health care across Kentucky by injecting additional revenue into hospitals. The infusion will help shore up financially ailing hospitals in rural Kentucky, supporters said. One hospital administrator called it “a lifesaving action” to preserve hospital services and jobs. (Schreiner, 3/20)
Des Moines Register: Could Iowa Legislature's Bill Keep Rural Hospitals From Closing?
Iowans may soon see a new type of hospital in their rural community. The Iowa Legislature has established a new hospital designation in the state, allowing small hospitals to be licensed as a Rural Emergency Hospital. Under the federal program, hospitals would essentially become standalone emergency rooms, ceasing in-patient services but maintaining out-patient services in rural parts of the state. (Ramm, 3/20)
WGCU: Four Florida Hospitals Are Named Among The Nation’s Top 50 For Heart Care
Four Florida health systems have been named to the PINC AI 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals, awarded for providing top-tier heart care. The list includes St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Lee Health’s HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola. (3/20)
The Boston Globe: Hospitals Plead For Flexibility On Spending Amid Soaring Costs Of Temporary Nurses
Hospitals in Massachusetts are asking the state for financial wiggle room as they contend with staffing challenges, including the $1.5 billion spent last year hiring temporary labor – mostly nurses – to fill in during the pandemic. These “travelers,” who come from all over the country, command wages two or three times higher than staff nurses, and their pay increased as demand grew during the pandemic. In some cases, nurses quit staff jobs to take better-paying traveler positions at their own hospital or one nearby. (Freyer and Lazar, 3/20)
In other health care industry updates —
Modern Healthcare: Microsoft's Nuance Adds ChatGPT Successor GPT-4 To EHR
Nuance Communications, a clinical documentation software company owned by Microsoft, is adding OpenAI’s ChatGPT successor GPT-4 to its latest application. Nuance introduced its new application on Monday morning called Dragon Ambient eXperience Express. The company said this version of Dragon can summarize and enter conversations between clinicians and patients directly into electronic health record systems using OpenAI's GPT-4 generative AI capabilities. (Turner, 3/20)
The Boston Globe: On-Demand Body Scans And AI: Are We Opening A Pandora’s Box?
For-profit companies have long sought to tap into the fears of consumers, offering pricey medical scans they can access without a doctor’s recommendation, as long as they can pay the price out of pocket. Now, some of these ventures are trumpeting scans assisted by artificial intelligence, essentially cutting-edge computer technology they say can reveal hidden health problems, from cancer to obscure bone disorders, and analyze the results more quickly than those typically ordered by doctors. (Lazar, 3/20)
Bangor Daily News: This Doctor Is At The Forefront Of AI's Adoption In Maine
Artificial intelligence is gaining popularity with the rise of ChatGPT and Bing. It also is helping save professionals’ time and improving results in healthcare and other Maine businesses. A pilot program at MaineHealth is using AI to automatically record conversations between a doctor and patient at a regular checkup or follow-up visit on a smartphone and then transcribe them, choosing the most important information. (Valigra, 3/21)
Crain's Cleveland Business: Cleveland Clinic Unveils IBM Quantum System One
Through their 10-year Discovery Accelerator partnership, Cleveland Clinic and IBM have unveiled the IBM-managed quantum computer, billed as the first of its kind in the world dedicated to healthcare research. Installed on the Clinic's main campus, the IBM Quantum System One aims to help accelerate biomedical discoveries and is the first deployment of an onsite private sector IBM-managed quantum computer in the United States, according to a news release. (Coutré, 3/20)
St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri S&T Researchers Study Mobile Cancer Radiation Treatment
Health providers are more frequently using mobile clinics to provide services including dentistry and cancer screenings to far-flung patients in rural areas. Now researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla want to see if the mobile health care model could work for radiation cancer treatment, too. (Fentem, 3/20)
