⚕️ New AI Transparency Rule

Good Morning. AI is continuing to make waves in the healthtech landscape and regulatory bodies are moving fast to adapt to it. We’re diving deep into the AI transparency rule and more today.

Here’s what to expect:

• M&A Surge Prompts Healthcare Rebranding Wave

• Healthcare Job Cuts Jump 99% YoY

• 3 Generative AI Use Cases Transforming Healthcare

TOP STORY
M&A Surge Prompts Healthcare Rebranding Wave

• 86% of healthcare executives are stating that mergers and acquisitions will exert a considerable influence on their 2024 strategy.

What’s Happening: Hospital and health system M&A’s have seen a resurgence in 2023. Organizations have begun rebranding initiatives in order to embrace new identities to match their affiliated partners.  

Here is a deep dive into recent M&A deals in the world of healthcare.

1. HCA Healthcare's Medical City Healthcare in Dallas successfully completed the acquisition of Wise Health System's three inpatient hospitals in Decatur, Texas.

2. Lifepoint Health, based in Brentwood, Tenn., and Ascension Saint Thomas have entered into a joint venture, jointly owning Highpoint Health, a four-hospital system owned by Lifepoint.

3. Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth expanded its network through the addition of Pueblo, Colo.-based Parkview Health.

The larger trend: Some large health care organizations have acquired or partnered with non-traditional industry disruptors and innovators as they try to meet the needs of an increasingly savvy and more empowered health care consumer.

OneMedical’s acquisition by Amazon, UnitedHealth’s acquisition of Change Healthcare are all examples of potential disruption that led to innovation.

These new entrants, unencumbered by outdated business models, tend to be focused on meeting consumer needs. This could help legacy health systems transcend from business-as-usual to groundbreaking business models and offerings that meet rapidly changing consumer expectations.

INSIGHT
HHS Releases AI Transparency Rule

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken the initial step in regulating emerging AI tools and algorithms within the healthcare sector with the release of “Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Certification Program Updates, Algorithm Transparency, and Information Sharing" rule.

Five things to know about this rule:

1. This initiative mandates transparency standards for certified health IT and software developers, with a specific emphasis on AI and predictive algorithms. This includes models for analyzing medical imaging, generating clinical notes, and alerting clinicians to potential patient risks

2. Developers are required to provide healthcare organizations with data that they can use to evaluate whether their algorithms are promoting fairness, appropriateness, validity, effectiveness and safety.

3. Developers must provide details on the software's development process and functionality. This includes disclosing funding sources, specifying its intended role in decision-making and providing guidelines on when caution is warranted for clinicians using it.

4. Developers will also need to inform customers about the AI's training data. They will also be required to disclose performance metrics, elaborate on ongoing performance monitoring procedures and outline the frequency of algorithm updates.

5. By the end of 2024, healthcare professionals utilizing decision support software certified by the HHS will be subject to these regulations.

Read the full ruling here.

NEWS IN NUMBERS
Healthcare Job Cuts Jump 99% Year Over Year

• Healthcare/product companies, including hospitals and manufacturers, rank third in job cuts among 30 industries

• The sector announced 57,758 job cuts from January to November this year, reflecting a significant 99% increase compared to the 29,031 announced during the same period previous year.

• U.S. job openings decreased to 8.7 million in October, the lowest since March 2021, particularly affecting the healthcare and social assistance sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Read the full report here.

ANALYSIS
3 Generative AI Use Cases Transforming Healthcare

Generative AI, one of the fast evolving technologies of 2023 is taking center stage in the healthcare domain. The healthcare generative AI market was valued at more than $1 billion in 2022 and the numbers are expected to continue growing.

This article takes a deep dive into generative AI use cases that are transforming healthcare.

1. Automation of administrative tasks

2. Image analysis in radiology

3. Better clinical documentation

Read up on real world use cases of Generative AI in healthcare and its transformative potential here.

SNIPPETS
What else is making news

• White House gets pledges from big healthcare players on AI safety and ethics. Boston Children’s, CVS, Geisinger, UC San Diego and Wellspan are among the 28 providers and payers promising their AI and machine learning models are geared to ensure healthcare outcomes that are "Fair, Appropriate, Valid, Effective and Safe."

• Healthtech startup Biobeat and Best Buy Health are teaming up to integrate the capabilities of Biobeat’s wrist and chest monitors with the Current Health platform by Best Buy Health. This partnership aims to better facilitate patient population management through a unified platform, with care teams able to monitor patients across various levels of acuity.

• Veradigm unveiled its new conversational artificial intelligence agent for its Practice Fusion Billing Services product through an integration with Microsoft and the Azure-based software solution from Zammo.ai, a SaaS accelerator. The generative AI agent answers questions based on feedback from the Practice Fusion EHR platform.