Editor's Note:  The World Health Organization (WHO)  has released recommendations around the ethics and guidance of artificial intelligence (AI)-based large language models (LLMs) in healthcare applications.  In a January 18 announcement, the organization recognized that AI LLMs, with their ability to analyze and interpret data, have a wide range of…

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Editor's Note:  Large language models trained to extract patients’ social determinants of health (SDoH) from clinician notes could help to identify patients who need additional support and resources. The findings, from investigators at Mass General Brigham, appeared in the Nature journal Digital Medicine on January 11.  Housing circumstances, employment, access…

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Editor's Note Eight chronic conditions—arthritis, depression, diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD)—continue to expand nationwide along with premature deaths from drugs, firearms, and more, according America’s Health Rankings 2023 Annual Report. Presented by the United Health Foundation in partnership with…

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Takeaways • The Joint Commission eliminated 56 redundant or outdated Elements of Performance, revised four others, and is using more checklists. • The Joint Commission is emphasizing healthcare equity and identifies it as a priority to address healthcare quality and safety, calling organizations to integrate health equity into their QAPI…

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An estimated 126.6 million Americans are dealing with the impact of a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition, according to a US Bone and Joint Initiative report. That means, one in two adults in the US have gone or will be going through a wide range of hip, knee, shoulder, and/or spine procedures.…

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The OR is the financial motor of a hospital. As such, inefficiencies in this space adversely impact patient safety as well as the financial stability of the hospital and/or healthcare system. The first case on-time starts (FCOTS) metric is one of the primary benchmarks for assessing OR efficiency. The following…

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While demand for OR services can be unpredictable, supply is largely fixed—well below the baseline for many hospitals and health systems. The ability to match supply and demand within perioperative services is critical to efficient ORs, as hospitals and health systems must operate with constrained staffing and anesthesia resources. On…

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Editor's Note An analysis of federal health data, done by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system, showed that those who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus are at “increased risk of developing gastrointestinal (GI) disorders within…

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Editor's Note The OR Business Management Conference kicks off today! If you’re in Savannah, welcome! Are you ready for a week of learning, networking, and reconnecting? Registration opens at 6:30 am. Please stop by to pick up your badge if you haven’t already. Download the mobile app to see the…

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Download the PDF Version of the Industry Spotlight In 2013, LeanTaaS partnered with Stanford Health Care to solve an infusion scheduling challenge and created an algorithm to optimally match available supply with ongoing demand. The solution for Stanford worked, leading to 18 months of refining algorithms before creating the product,…

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