News Briefs
Google Cloud Unveils AI to Help Doctors with Search Capabilities
Google Cloud announced new artificial intelligence-powered search capabilities that it said will help healthcare workers quickly pull accurate clinical information from different types of medical records. Google Cloud's new search tool will allow doctors to pull information from clinical notes, scanned documents, and electronic health records so it can be accessed in one place.
(Source: CNBC, 2023-10-09)
READ MORE >
DEA, HHS Extend Telehealth Prescribing Flexibilities
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the HHS announced they will extend pandemic-era telehealth prescribing flexibilities for controlled substances through 2024. The temporary extension marks the second time regulators have prolonged the relaxed prescribing rules for drugs like opioid use disorder medications or stimulants for ADHD, which allow clinicians to provide the drugs virtually without first conducting an in-person evaluation.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2023-10-09)
READ MORE >
Drug Firms Agree to Price Negotiation with Medicare
For the first time, Medicare is beginning to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs. Despite a pack of industry lawsuits to keep the negotiations from happening, the drugmakers say they are coming to the bargaining table anyway.
(Source: NPR, 2023-10-04)
READ MORE >
High Court Cases Could Have Big Impact on Long-Term Care Sector
Three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this term could have significant repercussions for the long-term care sector, including how much authority federal agencies have to create and enforce regulations that go beyond the intention of Congress. Justices heard arguments on a case challenging the existence and authority of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which has recently focused its attention on what it perceived as nursing homes' strong-armed billing and collection practices.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2023-10-05)
READ MORE >
Senior Living Occupancy Rate Increased to 84.4% in Third Quarter
Sustained supply-demand trends could drive senior living occupancy rates to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, according to NIC MAP Vision and the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care. The senior living (assisted living and independent living combined) occupancy rate for the 31 NIC MAP primary markets continued to see gains from the previous quarter, increasing 0.8 percentage points from 83.6 percent in the second quarter to 84.4 percent in the third quarter, according to the NIC MAP market fundamentals report.
(Source: McKnight's Senior Living, 2023-10-05)
READ MORE >
MGMA Says Rural Physician, Facility Reimbursement Not Sustainable
Physician and facility reimbursement for rural practices is not sustainable and is impacting patient access to rural healthcare, the Medical Group Management Association tells Congress in a new comment letter. A Congressional Request for Information seeks to explore ways to improve access to healthcare in rural and underserved areas. But MGMA says that unsustainable financing is getting in the way of enhanced access to care for these populations as rural providers struggle to even keep their doors open.
(Source: RevCycle Intelligence, 2023-10-09)
READ MORE >
Dollar General Tests Retail Healthcare Experience in Rural Areas
Dollar General, the nation's largest retailer by number of stores, with more than 19,000, partnered with New York-based mobile medical services company DocGo to test whether they could draw more customers and tackle persistent health inequities. Deploying mobile clinics to fill care gaps in underserved areas isn't a new idea. But pairing them with Dollar General's ubiquitous small-town presence has been heralded by investment analysts and some rural health experts as a way to ease the healthcare drought in rural America.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-10-05)
READ MORE >
Job Offers Strong for Physicians, But Burnout Weighing Heavy
More than half of new physicians receive over 100 job offers during their training, but many would not choose the healthcare field again, a survey from AMN Healthcare found. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they received 100 or more job solicitations from hospitals, medical groups, and physician recruiters during training, the highest number recorded since the survey was first conducted in 1991, highlighting the impact of staffing shortages on physician demand.
(Source: RevCycle Intelligence, 2023-10-06)
READ MORE >
Survey Finds Over 25% of Nurses Plan to Leave Profession by 2027
Many of the 4.5 million registered nurses in the U.S. may be ready to quit. A 2022 national survey of almost 335 000 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and licensed vocational nurses published earlier this year by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found that more than a quarter planned to leave the profession by 2027.
(Source: JAMA Network, 2023-10-04)
READ MORE >
Tracker Values Healthcare Generative AI Market at Over $1 Billion
The Generative AI Tracker said the healthcare generative artificial intelligence market is valued at more than $1 billion as of 2022, but technology companies and investors will play a significant role in development. They'll team up with healthcare companies including providers, payers, and others in the healthcare ecosystem to train large language models on healthcare-specific data and establish robust benchmarks.
(Source: Healthcare IT News, 2023-10-06)
READ MORE >
