As a new administration prepares for inauguration, the election could signal change for American healthcare. I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this is Top Stories.
The 2020 Presidential election is now in the books, and President-Elect Joe Biden seems poised to take office in January. With Biden and President Trump having vastly different approaches to healthcare, it’s likely that the new administration will pursue changes to the nation’s healthcare system. But there’s also a battle being waged at the Supreme Court. Healthcare Finance News reports (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/supreme-court-appears-favorable-keeping-affordable-care-act) that Supreme Court Justices appeared favorable to keeping the Affordable Care Act after hearing arguments from Texas and other Republican plaintiffs this week on why the defunct mandate to buy health insurance or face a tax penalty should invalidate the 2010 law. The case hinges on whether the law is severable from the mandate, and several justices, including conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, have indicated there’s a strong case to be made for severability. A decision is expected by July 2021.
Changes are also afoot when it comes to healthcare technology. As featured in MobiHealthNews this week, (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/google-cloud-unveils-ai-tools-help-healthcare-analyze-unstructured-medical-text) Google has unveiled a pair of artificial intelligence tools designed to help healthcare and life science organizations scan and analyze large volumes of unstructured text. One of them automatically extracts common trends and other insights from medical records notes or other digital text that would typically require time-intensive manual review. The tool contextualizes language to pinpoint relevant information. The second tool seeks to lower the barrier to AI text data analysis for healthcare workers. Both tools were launched this week.
And finally, customers of the Epic electronic health records system now have access to a validated COVID-19 risk prediction model developed by the Cleveland Clinic. According to HealthcareITNews, (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/epic-makes-cleveland-clinic-devised-covid-19-risk-model-available-mychart) the tool is available through the MyChart portal and calculates patients’ estimated risk of contracting the virus based on a self-assessment combined with demographic data. The idea is to help manage limited healthcare resources by enabling patients to make more informed decisions about when to seek care. HIMSS Media has launched a new HIMSS-Cleveland Clinic digital series, with more installments planned for the coming months.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.