Warnings Over Falling Accuracy Of Health Care Algorithms

Stat: AI Gone Astray: How Shifts In Patient Data Send Health Algorithms Reeling
A novel investigation by STAT and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that subtle shifts in data fed into popular health care algorithms — used to warn caregivers of impending medical crises — can cause their accuracy to plummet over time, raising the prospect AI could do more harm than good in many hospitals. In a monthslong experiment, STAT and MIT traced the performance of algorithms past their early days of peak performance into the grinding years that follow, when the hype has faded and they must prove their reliability to caregivers. Instead of transforming care, the algorithms withered in the face of fast-moving clinical conditions — unable to keep up with the pace of change. Their frailty exposes gaping holes in the governance of products whose quiet deterioration in hospitals around the country threatens to mislead doctors and undermine patient safety. The initial signs of dysfunction are often faint, making it difficult to root out faulty information before it bleeds into decision-making. (Ross, 2/28)

Stat: How STAT And MIT Rooted Out Weaknesses In Health Care Algorithms
In July 2021, STAT and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to answer a simple question with big implications for the use of AI in medicine: How do popular algorithms used to warn of bad outcomes for patients hold up over time? The months-long experiment, born of a novel partnership in journalism and science, yielded an illuminating result: the algorithms deteriorated over several years, delivering faulty advice about which patients were at the highest risk of deadly complications and prolonged hospital stays. (Yang, Karstens, Ross and Yala, 2/28)

The Hill: Advisory Panel Recommends Overhaul For US Transplant System
A scientific advisory panel said that the U.S. transplant system must be overhauled in the next five years, The Associated Press reported. A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published on Friday detailed flaws that prevent the country from performing more life-saving transplants, according to the AP. More than 41,000 organ transplants were performed last year in the U.S. — a record-breaking number, the AP noted. However, more than 106,000 patients are waiting for transplants, 17 of whom die each day before they are able to undergo surgery. (Folmar, 2/25)

On race matters in health care —

WPLN: Health Care Firms Were Pushed To Confront Racism. Now Some Are Investing In Black Startups. 
Marcus Whitney stands out in Nashville’s $95 billion health care sector as an investor in startups. In addition to co-founding a venture capital firm, he’s organized an annual health tech conference and co-founded the city’s professional soccer club. And, often, he’s the only Black man in the room. So in summer 2020, as Black Lives Matter protesters filled city streets around the country following George Floyd’s murder, Whitney pondered the racial inequalities that are so obvious in his industry — especially locally. “I sat at the intersection of two communities — one that I was born into and one that I had matriculated into,” he said. (Farmer, 2/25)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit Had 18 Black-Owned And Operated Hospitals: Why They Vanished
This year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History set health and wellnes as the theme for Black History Month. In Detroit, the history of Black health care is largely a saga of Black physicians who established a parallel medical universe alongside the white hospitals that shunned them and their Black patients. In 1844, four Catholic nuns — Loyola Ritchie, Rebecca Delone, Felicia Fenwick and Rosaline Brown — came to Detroit. On June 9, 1845, they established St. Vincent's Hospital, the first hospital in the entire Northwest Territory. It was located at Randolph and Larned in what is now downtown Detroit. (Jordan, 2/27)

Also —

Carolina Public Press: ‘Running Calls Around The Clock’: FEMA Ambulances Assist Depleted EMS Crews 
Before a new batch of 25 FEMA-contracted ambulances arrived in North Carolina in early February, overworked crews at Forsyth County Emergency Services had weathered a rising number of calls amid the winter surge of the omicron variant. Like many other EMS agencies across the state, the pandemic heightened demand for their services, but heavy workloads and the ensuing burnout had led to a shortage of qualified paramedics and emergency medical technicians to fully staff Forsyth County’s fleet of ambulances. (Darrough, 2/26)

CIDRAP: Workforce In Nursing Homes, Other Healthcare Areas Shrank Amid COVID
US skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) faced sharp employment losses during the pandemic—particularly in counties with a large infection burden—and did not rebound like other healthcare sectors, finds a study today in JAMA Health Forum. In the study, a team led by RAND Corp. researchers examined the effect of COVID-19 on the US healthcare workforce in 2020 and the first half of 2021, a time of elevated health risks, burnout, and childcare disruptions. "While federal programs have provided financial assistance to hospitals and institutions, the net effect of these forces on health care employment levels and wages has not been examined," the researchers wrote. (2/25)

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska’s Depleted Public Health Nurse Program Is Evolving Amid Chronic Job Vacancies And Burnout
State officials are looking for new ways to operate Alaska’s decades-old public health nursing program as they struggle to fill scores of empty positions two years into a pandemic. They say the program, established in 1943, needs to evolve to address emotional fatigue and burnout, as well as better meet the needs of the communities served by public health centers. (Zaz Hollander, 2/27)

AP: New $70 Million Hospital Planned For Louisville's West End
A new hospital has been announced for Louisville’s west end, the first to be built in the predominantly African American area in 150 years. City leaders announced a $100 million investment by two major employers, including the $70 million hospital from Norton Healthcare, the Courier Journal reported. The large campus on Broadway and 28th Street will include a $30 million headquarters for Goodwill Industries of Kentucky. Russell Cox, CEO of Norton Healthcare, said during the announcement Wednesday that it was a “transformational day in the history of health care in our community.” (2/26)

On health insurance, payment matters —

Georgia Health News: Prescription Drugs: Another Potential Legislative Change That Medicaid Insurers Face
One House bill would make Georgia’s Medicaid managed care insurers face stricter requirements on how they spend their government dollars. There’s a second bill that has also captured their attention – an attempt to wrest control of patients’ prescription drugs from those health plans. House Bill 1351 would remove the function of the three managed care companies — Peach State, Amerigroup and CareSource — to oversee the dispensing of medication, instead placing it under state supervision. The goal of the bill is to improve care for patients and save the state money, said its lead sponsor, Rep. David Knight, a Griffin Republican. (Miller, 2/25)

KHN: The Demise Of Single-Payer In California Trips Up Efforts In Other States
Single-payer health care didn’t stand a chance in California this year. Even in this deep-blue bastion, Democratic lawmakers shied away from legislation that would have put state government in charge of health care and taxed Californians heavily to do so — a massive transformation that would have forced them to take on the powerful health care industry. (Hart, 2/28)