Many healthcare provider organizations recognize that implementing effective data governance is critical to meet increasing demand for information to support valuebased care and population health. However, they often find that achieving success in data governance is easier said than done. What is it about healthcare that makes data governance so challenging? What can organizations do to remove these barriers to consistent, timely, actionable information?

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Strong leadership is likely the single most important driver of overall organizational performance, and well-constructed talent management and succession planning systems remain critical to developing and retaining a deep bench of strong leaders. Nowhere is the need for effective talent management and succession planning more pronounced than in the dynamic, complex healthcare industry, where leaders face unprecedented pressure to transform their organizations so as to meet growing demands for high quality, cost-effective care. In fact, to meet the ambitious expectations of health reform (to reduce costs and simultaneously assure high quality) and to meet the goals laid out by the Institute of Medicine—that is, to deliver safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable carei— the industry needs to better prepare and retain men and women to manage the complex organizations that provide and finance care.

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Authors: James A. Dilling, BSIE, CMPE; Stephen J. Swensen, MD, MMM; Michele R. Hoover, MEd; Gene C. Dankbar, MSIE; Amerett L. Donahoe-Anshus, MA; M. Hassan Murad, MD, MPH; Jeff T. Mueller, MD

Diffusion of strong evidence-based practices in the health care system in the United States is all too often measured in decades rather than months.1 The challenge of moving translational research to the bedside has challenged health care organizations for years. For example, it took 25 years for the evidence-based practice of beta-blocker administration after an acute myocardial infarction to reach a penetration of 85%.2The ability to consistently bring innovations and best practices to scale across entire systems will be a hallmark of the successful health care organizations of the future.

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The history of benefits paid to U.S. Military Veterans is actually as old as the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress approved the nation’s first pension law in 1776, granting half-pay for life to Revolutionary War Veterans in cases of loss of limb or other serious disability. 

The first national effort to provide disabled Veterans with medical care began with the opening of the Naval Home in Philadelphia in 1812, followed by the Soldiers’ Home in 1853 and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in 1855 – both in Washington, D.C.
 

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We live in a world that’s connected wirelessly with almost as many cellular phone subscriptions as there are people on the planet. According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were almost 6 billion mobile phones in use worldwide in late 2011.1 The ubiquity of mobile technology offers tremendous opportunities for the healthcare industry to address one of the most pressing global challenges: making healthcare more accessible, faster, better and cheaper.
Unlike many other forms of communication, such as the Internet, mobile health (mHealth) will likely have a greater effect on how care is delivered for three reasons:

• Mobile devices are ubiquitous and personal;

• Competition will continue to drive lower pricing and increase functionality; and

• Mobility by its very nature implies that users are always part of a network, which radically increases the variety, velocity, volume and value of information they send and receive.

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According to Accenture analysis, when combined, key clinical health AI applications can potentially create $150 billion in annual savings for the United States healthcare economy by 2026.

At hyper-speed, AI is re-wiring our modern conception of healthcare delivery. AI in health represents a collection of multiple technologies enabling machines to sense, comprehend, act and learn1, so they can perform administrative and clinical healthcare functions.

Unlike legacy technologies that are only algorithms / tools that complement a human, health AI today can truly augment human activity—taking over tasks that range from medical imaging to risk analysis to diagnosing health conditions.

Abstract

Importance: Patients with cancer who die soon after starting chemotherapy incur costs of treatment without the benefits. Accurately predicting mortality risk before administering chemotherapy is important, but few patient data–driven tools exist.

Objective: To create and validate a machine learning model that predicts mortality in a general oncology cohort starting new chemotherapy, using only data available before the first day of treatment.
 

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons must demonstrate safe and competent opioid prescribing for acute and postoperative pain in their patients. Responsible prescribing of opioids must be a priority, including accessing the state’s prescription-drug monitoring program as well as educating the patient and family about potential risks – and the safe use, storage and disposal – of opioid analgesics. Because prescribing protocols evolve over time, practitioners also should stay informed of the latest public health trends, including possible alternatives to opioid pain treatment.

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IMPROVING PRACTICE THROUGH RECOMMENDATIONS

CDC’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain is intended to improve communication between providers and patients about the risks and benefits of opioid therapy for chronic pain, improve the safety and effectiveness of pain treatment, and reduce the risks associated with long-term opioid therapy, including opioid use disorder and overdose. The Guideline is not intended for patients who are in active cancer treatment, palliative care, or end-of-life care.
 

AUTHORS

Jay Chaudhary, JD Managing Attorney & Director of Medical-Legal Partnerships, Indiana Legal Services Adjunct Faculty Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health

Kate Marple, MSc Senior Research Scientist & Director of Communications, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership

Jillian Bajema Research Assistant, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
 

INTRODUCTION

The current opioid epidemic is a public health crisis, devastating urban, suburban, and rural communities across the United States. The problem — rooted both in the overprescribing of prescription opioids as painkillers, and the increased accessibility of cheap heroin and synthetic heroin substitutes — resulted in more than 42,000 opioid overdose-related deaths in 2016.1 At the end of that same year, 2.1 million Americans were living with an opioid-related substance use disorder (SUD)2, and the problem is getting worse daily.