Hospitals are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases as colder weather settles in, and health systems are finding ways to adapt. I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this is Top Stories.
NorthShore University HealthSystem in Illinois is like many other healthcare organizations around the country in that they’re feeling the financial pinch of a coronavirus surge. In Healthcare Finance News, (https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/northshore-university-healthsystems-digital-strategy-being-tested-against-second-wave-pandemic) we see that the system has weathered the storm through targeted labor strategies and a robust approach to analytics that has earned it a rare Stage 7 designation from the HIMSS Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity. As the highest designation an organization can achieve, Stage 7 means NorthShore is not only strong in its analytics capabilities, but is utilizing the technology in a useful and meaningful way. That has allowed it to mitigate some of the financial effects of the recent surge, and it has advice for other health systems looking to pursue the same strategy.
In the world of pharmacy, retail juggernaut Amazon is building a foothold in the digital pharmacy space by rolling out Amazon Pharmacy, where customers can order and manage prescription medications online and get them delivered to their door. According to MobiHealthNews, (https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/amazon-furthers-foothold-digital-pharmacies-launch-amazon-pharmacy-store) patients can access the store through an app on on their desktops, and they can request that their provider prescribe directly to the service. The announcement comes about two years after Amazon acquired digital pharmacy PillPack for just under $1 billion.
Finally this week, do frontline healthcare workers spend too much time fixing technical problems and attending to patient records? According to a new report from IoT vendor SOTI, the answer is yes. HealthcareITNews reports (https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/frontline-workers-say-they-spend-more-time-ehrs-patient-care) that clinicians are quite often struggling with connectivity, integration, glitches and system failures. Many of the respondents said this adds up to lost time that could be spent with patients, which is especially vexing given that the pandemic is straining health system resources.
I’m Jeff Lagasse with Healthcare Finance News, and this has been Top Stories.