Mass General Brigham launched a program this month in collaboration with behavioral health medical group Concert Health. Under the program, more than 400 Mass General primary care providers can refer their patients to Concert. The health system’s goal is to increase patients’ access to diagnoses and treatment for mild to moderate behavioral health issues — particularly for Medicaid patients, who are the most underserved.

At HLTH, Shaun Miller — Cedars-Sinai’s chief medical information officer — pointed out one thing he thinks healthcare AI companies haven’t quite gotten right yet. He said he would “really like there to be a lot more recognition around the personalization of AI and the ability for technology to understand that not every clinician is the same.”

At HLTH, Mayo Clinic Platform President John Halamka gave a window into how his health system is mitigating generative AI risks. Some of the measures Mayo is taking include running analyses on how well algorithms perform across various subgroups and training models only on internal de-identified data.

Hospital M&A activity has been returning to pre-pandemic levels this year, according to a new report. There were 18 M&A transactions in Q3, compared to seven in Q3 2021 and 10 in Q3 of last year. The reason why M&A activity is regaining its momentum is because hospitals are seeking partnerships to grow and protect their long-term financial sustainability — the report found financial distress was the driving factor behind nearly 40% of deals announced during Q3.

The last few years, both during and after the pandemic, have been turbulent times for healthcare providers and patients alike. For now, although it appears that healthcare staffing shortages will continue, providers are not without practical strategies for attracting and retaining talent.

If you could only do one thing to improve the health of children in the U.S., it would have to be in the behavioral health sphere, Nemours Children’s Health CEO Lawrence Moss declared at HLTH. The state of youth mental health has reached a crisis point in the U.S., and Moss’ health system is working hard to address this. Some of its efforts include embedding behavioral health into primary care and deploying behavioral health workers in schools.

At HLTH 2023, I had dozens of conversations with providers, digital health investors, startup CEOs and other players in the healthcare industry. When I got home, I compiled seven refreshingly honest takes I heard from them while at the conference.

A recent webinar sponsored by AVIA Health and Seamless MD examined how health systems use remote patient monitoring beyond the usual chronic condition applications, including surgical prep and recovery, women’s health, and more.

To address the growing physician shortage, some people argue that the scope of practice should be expanded for skilled healthcare professionals like nurse practitioners and pharmacists. American Medical Association President Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld said this is a “terrible idea.” He argued that throwing other professionals into physicians’ roles will have poor ramifications of patient safety. In his view, the industry should focus on uplifting strong interprofessional care teams.

The opening day of the HLTH 2023 event offered a surprising announcement from venture capital firm General Catalyst. Weight Watchers CEO called for a change in how we talk about obesity. ENGAGE at HLTH offered compelling discussions around retail health, prescription drug prices and investment trends.

The most successful implementations of digital solutions offer value propositions on both sides of the equation — they create value for the patient and family, while also making the clinician’s job easier and more enjoyable by saving time and eliminating ancillary duties.

Propane can provide reassurance during this time of strain on the electric grid. It can keep hospitals and other critical facilities powered so that patients receive the care they need, and allow emergency responders to do their jobs effectively.

Diana Health, which partners with hospitals to operate a network of maternity practices, closed a $34 million Series B funding round. The startup currently operates three women’s health practices in Tennessee. With its new funding, the company plans to open new practices in Tennessee, Florida and one other yet-to-be-announced state.

Providence announced that it will spin out its fourth digital health startup in the first quarter of next year. The company, called Praia Health, offers a platform designed to build stronger relationships with patients by personalizing their healthcare journeys and connecting them to relevant resources and services.

Hospitals’ operating margins are still in a worse place than they were before the pandemic, but 2023 is ending as a much more stable year for hospital finance than 2022, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall. Because this year hasn’t had any large Covid-19 surges, hospitals have seen less variability in patient volumes. This has helped them allocate their resources more efficiently and decrease their reliance on expensive contract labor.

UNC Health published a study showing that Laudio’s automation software saved the health system $5.4 million in annual nurse turnover costs. The startup’s technology automates administrative tasks for frontline nurse managers — such as patient rounding, schedule making, and quality and safety checks.

Right now, manufacturers are thriving. Hospitals are failing. And patients are suffering. We must stop this trend in its tracks by becoming better stewards of hospital resources and supply chains.

Transcarent announced a new provider network, which seeks to help its employer customers provide their staff with access to high-quality, affordable care. The network includes 10 health systems — including Mount Sinai, Mass General Brigham and Intermountain Health.

The advancement of value-based care cannot and should not exist solely in a payvider model, Intermountain Health CEO Rob Allen argued in an interview last week. Having its own health plan made things “a little easier” when Intermountain began getting serious about at-risk contracts, but achieving success in value-based care “is more about your commitment to the approach” and forging strong relationships with payers of all types.

This article explores the benefits of implementing RFID in healthcare settings and how hospitals can gradually transition from barcode to RFID-enabled medication systems, leading to substantial cost savings and improved patient care.

As hospitals across the nation adopt more and more AI technology, there are some common hazards of which they should be wary. During a conference presentation on Tuesday, healthcare AI expert Suchi Saria laid out seven AI pitfalls hospitals should look out for — some of these include being duped by Big Tech companies’ marketing strategies and focusing too much on administrative use cases.

Roberta Schwartz, Houston Methodist’s chief innovation officer, has had years of experience overseeing technology adoption at her organization. At a conference, she highlighted how important it is for digital health tools to have strong EHR integrations and encouraged hospital leaders to not be afraid of starting various technology initiatives in unrelated areas.

This year, HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud have expanded their partnership by exploring ways to integrate Google’s generative AI into HCA’s workflows. The most developed project under this initiative is a pilot that began in February in which HCA’s emergency department physicians are testing a voice-enabled medical dictation tool to save them time on clinical documentation.

CMS has fined two hospitals in September for alleged violations of its price transparency rule. This marks the third month in a row that the agency has issued fines against hospitals for price transparency noncompliance, following a yearslong period of light enforcement.

The federal government has warned hospitals that using third-party analytics tools on their websites could violate HIPAA, and more than 20 hospitals are facing class-action lawsuits over the use of these tools. But a recent analysis found that hospitals are doing a poor job of fixing their websites and preventing patient data collection.

Only actual hospital prices, displayed as dollars and cents, not estimates, formulas, or algorithms, protect patients from outrageous bills and hold hospitals accountable for overcharges, errors, and fraud. Accepting CMS’ or other substitutes instead of actual prices undermines broader efforts to make hospital price transparency a reality for American patients and healthcare consumers.

This week, senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would make it a federal crime to assault hospital workers. Even though nearly 40 states have passed laws to intensify penalties for violent acts committed against healthcare personnel, there is currently no federal law protecting hospital employees from assault or intimidation. 

A webinar sponsored by AVIA Health and SeamlessMD will discuss the latest trends in remote monitoring and how to extend these benefits beyond chronic conditions all while using fewer staff resources.

During past recessions, the healthcare sector remained relatively immune to economic downswings — but things are different now that a sweeping labor shortage and lower patient volumes have been added to the mix.

California passed a law last year aimed at controlling rising healthcare costs that gave the state the ability to scrutinize healthcare deals of a certain size involving California companies. What impact can it have?