Our recent roundup of surveys and reports from around the industry. We found interesting information that continues to give a glimpse into where we are going in healthcare. We are still talking and studying COVID, its impact and how it will help prepare for future pandemics. We are still seeing supply chain and labor challenges. And will we ever really see cost savings in healthcare? Check out these studies.
Strata’s New Financial Forecast Guidance Report Provides Insight into Cost Inflation for Labor, Drugs and Supplies
Strata Decision Technology (Strata) (@StrataDecision), a pioneer in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, revealed key insights from its June 2022 Financial Forecast Guidance Report. The guide, developed by analyzing data from over 300 hospitals, revealed that cost inflation for labor and drugs has approached 7% and 10% respectively, whereas supply costs have risen by 3%.
Need Your Health Records on the Weekend? You May Be Out of Luck
The vast majority of Americans (92%) say it is important to have quick, easy access to their medical records, but nearly half report trouble getting them from a patient portal (45%) or a provider’s office (42%) when they need them, according to a new survey from health tech pioneer DrFirst (@DrFirst). The survey of 1,000 consumers explored experiences with storing and accessing medical records, both for individuals and between family members.
Medicare Bundles See 55-70% Cost Savings with Luna’s In-Home Outpatient PT Program, New Study Reveals
Luna (@getlunacare) announced the results of a retrospective analysis which demonstrated significant financial savings for those choosing in-home outpatient physical therapy (PT) compared to traditional home health for Medicare patients. The study, the first of its kind, shows that Luna outpatient in-home PT saves an average of $3,000 per case for post-surgical rehab for bundled care cases (both BPCI and CJR), equating to Medicare savings of 55%-70% per case.
COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Research Released on Nature Medicine
The paper from Nature Medicine (@NatureMedicine) describes the invention of the world’s first in-silico method to evaluate any given COVID-19 vaccines’ vaccine effectiveness (VE) against different SARS-CoV-2 variants strains by performing viral genome analysis, while also accounting for the differences in VE resulted from using different vaccine platforms such as mRNA. In other words, this technology enables evaluation of different vaccines’ VE against any old or new variants in real-time, without having to wait for real world infection data. This allows governments and health officials to make informed risk assessment against any new variants emerged as early as possible and make necessary response immediately, such as preparing health system for another potential resurgence of cases. On the other hand, vaccine producers could also benefit from the technology in areas such as product development and clinical trial design.
More Than 80% of Healthcare Executives Expect the Metaverse Will Have a Positive Impact on Their Organizations, According to a New Accenture Report
Accenture’s (@Accenture) Digital Health Technology Vision 2022 report found that 81% of healthcare executives expect the metaverse to have a positive impact on the healthcare industry. According to the report, “Accenture Digital Health Technology Vision 2022,” the “metaverse continuum” is a spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities and business models that will transform nearly every aspect of life and business in the next decade and beyond, including the healthcare industry. To help healthcare organizations design, execute and accelerate their metaverse journeys, Accenture recently announced the launch of the Accenture Metaverse Continuum business group, which combines metaverse-skilled professionals and market-leading capabilities in customer experience, digital commerce, extended reality, blockchain, digital twins, artificial intelligence and computer vision.
JITC Publishes OncoHost Study Identifying Predictive Proteomic Signature to Analyze Treatment Resistance in NSCLC Patients
OncoHost (@OncoHost), a global company in next-generation precision oncology for improved personalized cancer therapy, announced a peer-reviewed article published in Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer (JITC), a BMJ oncology journal. The study highlights the role of blood plasma proteomic profiling for assessing resistance in non-small cell lung cancer patients being treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
New Study Demonstrates Value of VR Training in Surgical Technique Performance and Radiographic Accuracy
Osso VR (@Osso_VR), a virtual reality-based surgical training company, revealed the results of a new study published in the Journal of the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons Global Research & Reviews by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Led by the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, researchers found that training with VR was subjectively rated higher compared with reading/video methods and had similar performance outcomes compared with training with physical simulation.
Strengthening WHO Preparedness For and Response to Health Emergencies
From the 75th World Health Assembly (@WHO) – WHA75 considered the final report – PDF of the U.S.-co-chaired Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response (WGPR). Countries decided to repurpose the current WGPR as a working group on the International Health Regulations (IHR), to guide discussions on proposed changes to those protocols. Countries also decided to amend the timeline to one year for when such changes to the IHR would take effect.