With all the factors involved in optimizing OR utilization, assigning OR slots is a complex proposition. When you consider that the average cost to run a fully equipped OR is now at approximately $1,000 per hour in staff and equipment costs, it is more important than ever for hospitals to…
Editor's Note This Canadian study finds that hospitals impacted by COVID-19 can reduce their surgical backlogs by scheduling elective surgeries on the weekends. Using machine learning algorithms, the researchers demonstrated that even after resuming their usual level of surgical cases, the wait list would not decrease without a substantial increase…
The passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009 brought electronic health records (EHR) to the forefront, but the concept existed long before that. Larry Weed and Jan Schultz at the University of Vermont developed a preliminary system in the 1970s. In 2014,…
Editor's Note According to an “electronic health information” release by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), titled “HHS Needs to Improve Communications for Breach Reporting” and published on May 27, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has seen an increase in reported breaches of health information since 2015,…
Editor's Note In this study from the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, researchers developed a machine learning model that improved the ability to predict surgery end times and PACU discharge at a range of start times in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC). Of 13,447 surgical procedures analyzed, the…
Editor's Note Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York City, have developed a machine learning model that uses physiological metrics collected from wearable devices that can detect and predict COVID-19 in healthcare workers (HCWs). A total of 407 HCWs from 7 hospitals were enrolled in the…
Editor's Note On June 13, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued new guidance for HIPPA-covered healthcare providers and health plans to comply with privacy, security, and breach notification requirements when using remote communication technologies to provide “audio-only” telehealth services, the American Hospital…
Editor's Note Machine learning (ML) models designed by surgeons at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston show a high level of accuracy in predicting which types of patients are most likely to have a hernia recurrence or other complications after surgery in this study. Of 725…
Editor's Note The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), designed by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University, has performed laparoscopic intestinal anastomoses in four experiments on pig tissue without human help. The robot outperformed surgeons using manual-laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical techniques in the consistency of suture spacing and bite…
Editor's Note Artificial intelligence (AI)-based scheduling significantly improved physician engagement and reduced burnout, in this study presented by Ochsner Health researchers, January 28, at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2022, the Anesthesiology Business Event, in Dallas. The AI-based scheduling software, which created fair and flexible schedules that supported work-life…