Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Huge Implications For Healthcare': Patient Portal Messages Have Surged More Than 150% Since 2020, Analysis Shows
MedPage Today: Patient Portal Messages Have Spiked Since 2020
Patient portal messaging has surged in recent years, signaling a significant change in the way physicians deliver care, a cross-sectional analysis of electronic health record data showed. (Fiore, 6/22)
Modern Healthcare: AdventHealth, MetroHealth Expand Hospital Smart Room Technology
Smart technology has emerged as a new standard of care among hospitals that can afford the investment. Many health systems, including AdventHealth, MetroHealth and Houston Methodist, are making steep investments, partnering with technology vendors to install smart room capabilities at care sites. Systems say the technology helps them provide more personalized care, expand access to off-site clinicians, improve patient safety and increase capacity amid workforce shortages. (Hudson, 6/22)
Modern Healthcare: Stanford, UMass, OSF Invest In Remote Patient Monitoring
Health systems are investing in at-home monitoring programs, even though many aren’t making money on the initiatives in the short run. Stanford Health Care, UMass Memorial Health, OSF HealthCare and others are using technology to keep an eye on patients outside hospital walls. Reimbursement doesn’t always cover the cost of the technology and staffing for the services. But providers are banking on remote monitoring programs’ long-term, less easily quantified benefits such as freeing up hospital beds, keeping patients from flooding emergency departments and connecting people to other services. (Eastabrook, 6/22)
Axios: Organ Donation Overhaul Nears Critical Moment
The troubled U.S. organ donation system is set for a pivotal series of changes as administrators begin overhauling the process for deciding which organizations work with hospitals to facilitate donations. More than 100,000 Americans are waiting for transplants, and the system has been dogged by patient safety concerns, instances of inappropriate conduct and conflicts of interest among organ procurement groups. (Goldman, 6/23)
On the use of AI in healthcare —
The New York Times: Doctors Thought It Was Asthma. A.I. Flagged A Serious Heart Problem
Artificial intelligence most likely saved Louie Quiros’s life. Mr. Quiros, a 45-year-old caregiver and security guard, showed up at a Queens emergency room in February 2025. For the past four days, he said, he had been coughing up blood and finding it harder and harder to breathe. (Kolata, 6/22)
Stat: AI Tool Turns EKGs Into Predictions Of Structural Heart Disease
Doctors using OpenEvidence will soon be able to upload an image of an electrocardiogram to get an algorithmic prediction of whether a patient has structural heart disease. (Aguilar, 6/23)
KFF Health News: Medicare’s AI Push Snarls Patients And Doctors In Errors And Delays
Bill Curry, 65, raises cattle on the same land in rural Oklahoma once owned by his father and generations before him. Each quarter, for several years, he has made the 2½-hour drive to Oklahoma City for an epidural in his spine to treat his back pain. But this year, because of a new Medicare program, Curry has traveled a little more often. (Tahir, 6/23)
The Washington Post: 1 In 3 Americans Use Chatbots For Health Advice. These 6 Patients Explain Why
Chatbots fueled by artificial intelligence bear disclaimers saying they cannot dispense medical advice or diagnose conditions, but they still field millions of queries from users who are sick, trying to decipher medical records or understand their treatment options. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have turned to the bots for health information, according to a recent survey by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy and education organization. (Nirappil, 6/22)
