News Briefs
2024 FDA Guidance Likely to Include AI, Cybersecurity
The Food and Drug Administration is ramping up production of medtech guidance, adding 18 draft documents to the list of priorities for its 2024 financial year. The plan for 2024 is more ambitious, with the administration aiming to draft documents on topics such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, real-world evidence, and pulse oximeters.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2023-10-19)
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AI Chatbots May Improve Care, But Some Found to Be Racist
As hospitals and healthcare systems turn to artificial intelligence to help summarize doctors' notes and analyze health records, a new study led by Stanford School of Medicine researchers cautions that popular chatbots are perpetuating racist, debunked medical ideas, prompting concerns that the tools could worsen health disparities for Black patients. Powered by AI models trained on troves of text pulled from the internet, chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google's Bard responded to the researchers' questions with a range of misconceptions and falsehoods about Black patients, sometimes including fabricated, race-based equations, according to the study published in the academic journal Digital Medicine.
(Source: ABC News, 2023-10-20)
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Number of Healthcare Data Breaches On Par to Double in 2023
Health data breaches reported to HHS' Office for Civil Rights have soared in 2023, on pace to double last year's total, according to a POLITICO analysis of the latest agency data. Nearly 89 million people in the U.S. have had their sensitive health information breached so far this year, up from 43.5 million during the same period last year.
(Source: Politico, 2023-10-17)
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AIMPA Launches to Help Unify Independent Physicians
Despite growth of huge health systems and consolidation in healthcare, there still are independent physicians -- and a new organization aims to unify them. The American Independent Medical Practice Association (AIMPA) launched with almost 5,000 physicians in 200 practices collectively treating 10 million patients around the country.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2023-10-21)
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New Coalition Pushing Congress to Boost Healthcare Workforce
The American Health Care Association is one of several groups representing different healthcare sectors who are uniting in a new coalition to push Congress into acting on critical workforce and immigration solutions. The new Healthcare Workforce Coalition will focus on education of new nurses and clinicians, retention, and recruitment of international health workers.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2023-10-23)
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Factors Other Than Burnout Causing Physicians to Leave Practices
Physicians' decisions to leave their practices is a complex choice "with multiple interdependent factors," and is not solely impacted by burnout, pay, or frustrations with electronic health records, according to a new qualitative study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. The study, which interviewed physicians who left their ambulatory care practices between 2018 and 2021, found that they were motivated to increase time off, have more flexibility, or receive higher earnings.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2023-10-20)
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Hospitals Urge CMS to Revise Proposal to Address Drug Shortages
Hospital groups and healthcare think tanks are urging CMS to revise its proposal to address medication shortages, which have been persistent for decades and have struck multiple therapeutic areas in 2023. In the U.S., numerous chemotherapies, local anesthetics, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs have been in short supply for months, and in the first quarter of the year, the number of drug shortages hit a 10-year high.
(Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 2023-10-19)
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Survey Finds Drug, Medical Equipment Shortage Harming Patients
Ongoing national medication, medical supply, and medical equipment shortages are harming patients, a new survey reveals. Providing appropriate care has become increasingly difficult, leading to instances of unsafe practices, compromised care, and harmful, otherwise avoidable patient safety incidents, the survey found.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-10-23)
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Pharmacy Deserts Leaving Many in Rural Areas Without Access
Nearly one out of every eight pharmacies closed between 2009 and 2015, according to a JAMA Internal Medicine study. When pharmacies close, it can create so-called pharmacy deserts -- areas where residents live at least 10 miles from the nearest pharmacy.
(Source: Yahoo News, 2023-10-20)
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Lobbying Groups Say Physician-Owned Hospital Groups Saved $1.1B
Physician-owned hospitals treated some of the most expensive Medicare beneficiaries at lower costs compared to traditional hospitals despite seeing similar patient populations, according to a recent study. The study estimated that Medicare would have saved $1.1 billion if beneficiaries were treated at physician-owned hospitals in their area.
(Source: RevCycle Intelligence, 2023-10-23)
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Amazon Drone Delivery for Prescriptions Medicines Takes Off
Amazon Pharmacy is launching drone delivery for prescription medication orders with the service initially taking flight in College Station, Texas, the company announced. The pharmacy deliveries will be dropped, quite literally, outside a consumer's front door within 60 minutes at no additional cost for eligible Amazon Pharmacy customers, the company said.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-10-18)
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