⚕️ERM Framework Design in Healthcare

Good Morning! Venture capital investments have remained stable through Q1 with 77 deals worth over $1.1 billion taking place. This is still down from the telehealth finding boom during the pandemic.

While investors are steering away from struggling sectors like telemedicine and digital therapeutics, there is an uptick in digital health startups dealing in generative AI and chatbots.

DEEP DIVE
Designing Enterprise Risk Management Framework For Healthcare

• In 2023, OCR reported a 239% increase in hacking-related data breaches between January 1, 2018, and September 30, 2023, and a 278% increase in ransomware attacks over the same period.

• In 2023, an average of 1.99 healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records were reported each day, and on average, 364,571 healthcare records were breached every day.

Deployment of healthcare enterprise risk management (ERM) can alleviate cyber attack risks, thus ensuring patient safety.

Here are the guiding principles for Enterprise Risk Management framework by American Society for Health Care Risk Management:

1. Identification: Track and monitor risks, including those spotted in the near future. Communicate the detected risks to the concerned stakeholders.

2. Assessment: Have risk clarity – pattern of each risk, how it will happen, and ways to mitigate it. Consult a risk management team if needed.

3. Evaluation: Recognize and analyze the risk. Set out a protocol on how to tackle it.

4. Response: Take action on the identified risks as per the ERM strategy.

Read the complete guide to formulating an ERM plan for healthcare organizations here.

PULSE POINTS
Latest Breakthroughs This Week

Here’s the most important breakthroughs and advancements we spotted in the healthcare technology space this week.

• Hospital at Home: Hackensack Meridian Health is expanding its hospital-at-home program systemwide after a successful pilot. Launched with Medically Home in April, the program treated nearly 100 patients in two months, surpassing expectations. The pilot, which began in 2022 at three hospitals, took two years to reach the same patient number. As of June, the average daily census for at-home patients is 10, ahead of the anticipated December target. The pilot, which focused on complex cases, showed positive outcomes in satisfaction, and reduced length-of-stay and readmissions.

• EHR: Confluence Health reduced EHR time for primary care physicians by 34 minutes per day. Family physicians and internists now spend 17% less time in the EHR and 67% less after-hours "pajama time" than national averages. Improvements include reordering message options, adding self-service and online scheduling, routing to pools, providing a MyChart user guide, auto-closing message strings, and filtering out "thank you" messages.

• Virtual Nursing: UT Health East Texas, in partnership with care.ai, launched a virtual nursing program to support bedside nurses with tasks like monitoring, education, and discharge instructions. The program includes video communication with remote nurses and in-room sensors to improve admissions, rounding, and discharge processes, allowing bedside nurses to spend more time on direct patient care.

• AI for Cardiac Care: Duke Health has opened an AI testing lab to evaluate the effectiveness of AI products for heart care. As a collaboration between clinicians and data scientists, the lab will test tools ranging from patient exercise and medication reminders to AI that predicts lethal heart rhythms.

• Policy: The American Society of Clinical Oncology published guidelines for the appropriate use of AI in clinical oncology care. The document emphasizes the need for transparency, stakeholder information, equity and fairness, accountability, oversight and privacy, and maintaining human-centered applications. These principles aim to ensure AI's ethical and effective integration into oncology, protecting patient and clinician interests.

• Healthcare Funding: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committing $3 million to advance pediatric healthcare. Children's National Hospital, Nationwide Children's Hospital, and the Children's Brain Tumor Network will each receive $1 million. This funding aims to enhance global pediatric healthcare by improving research access for vulnerable patient populations.

EXPERT SPOTLIGHT
John Schneider: Creating a Safe Space To Fail

This week, HealthTech Zen got in touch with John Schneider, a seasoned technology executive with extensive experience authoring effective digital strategies.

What are the key skills and qualities you believe are essential for a successful CTO in the healthcare tech sector?

I believe my success has always come from my ability to be constantly learning, to think strategically and to know how to put strategies into action. Nothing is every static in healthcare or technology, so you have to constantly learn and adapt but you also have to meter that with showing results.

Finally, having a rigorous focus on why you are doing what you are doing is key. We don’t do technology for technology’s sake, but rather to serve a higher purpose which in healthcare is often about being able to create highly effective, highly empathetic care environments.

How do you foster a culture of innovation within your technology teams?

To foster innovation I believe you need to give teams a safe place to be able feel free to fail but to always look to learn from failure. Combining this with giving teams time and space to innovate both in the way you direct them (i.e. provide goals not instructions) as well as giving them a bit of whitespace in their week to tinker is key. Finally, you need to ensure there is a light shone on innovation by creating a venue for teams to share their learnings.

Can you share an example of a major project or initiative in healthcare technology that inspired you?

Recently I worked with a Children’s Hospital to create a new communication and collaboration platform for the hospital that helped them reduce busy work, improve collaboration between providers and ultimately spend more time with their patients.

As a parent of a child who had open heart surgery as an infant I know how hard these healthcare providers work to provide compassionate care to the kids as well as to provide emotional support for the parents, who can feel helpless when their child is going through major care. Being able to help make that a bit easier for them through my role as a technologist was tremendously inspiring to me.

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DECODER
What Is Laboratory Information Management System?

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is a software-based system designed to manage and track laboratory workflows and data. It serves as a centralized repository for managing samples, tests, and associated data generated during laboratory processes.

Key functionalities of a LIMS typically include sample tracking, workflow automation, data management, quality control, instrument integration, and reporting. LIMS are commonly used in healthcare laboratories to streamline operations, improve efficiency, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance data integrity and traceability.