Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to pop up in headlines nearly every day. With applications ranging from individual nutritional guidance to prediction of premature death, ever-evolving computer-based algorithms present intriguing possibilities for the future of healthcare. Depending on how proactive your facility is and how rich in resources, you may already…

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Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) in Sarasota, Florida, is a Level 2 trauma center with 839 beds and more than 900 physicians. The 430 members of the surgical staff perform more than 24,300 inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures in the 34 operating suites each year. With this level of…

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Editor's Note Machine learning can be used to improve surgical risk prediction compared to traditional risk calculators, this study from Singapore finds. The traditional Combined Assessment of Risk Encountered in Surgery and the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status models were compared with machine learning models in the prediction of…

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Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on April 1 announced the 11 US healthcare organizations that received its 2019 Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. The winners demonstrated excellence in overall spend management in their supply chain processes, and include: Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA Cooperative Services…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 2 issued a statement announcing steps toward a new, tailored review framework for artificial intelligence (AI)-based medical devices. AI and machine learning have the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare, with earlier disease detection, more accurate diagnoses, more targeted…

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Editor's Note The US government claimed that digitization of healthcare records would improve the quality and value of healthcare; however, 10 years after legislation fast-tracked the move to electronic healthcare records (EHRs), even the architects of the effort agree that the $36 billion investment has not delivered as expected, the…

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Editor's Note US hospitals added 18,800 jobs in January to a seasonally adjusted 5,214,200, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on February 1. That’s up 112,100 more employees than a year ago. Overall, healthcare employment has increased 367,800 in the past year. The overall unemployment rose by 0.1% in January…

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Supply chain is ripe for innovation, as Amazon Business and technology manufacturers have discovered. In part 1 of this two-part series, we focused on the company’s role in the supply chain (OR Manager, February 2019, 1, 9-12). In part 2, we look at technology-related trends and innovations that can improve…

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Interest in data analytics, artificial intelligence, technology, and innovation has skyrocketed with rapid advances in systems and devices designed to improve patient care. When it comes to data analytics, asking the right questions is key to finding answers that will enhance efficiency and patient safety, according to David Wyatt, PhD,…

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Each year, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) adapt to numerous federal regulatory policy reforms. As an example, since 2012, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program ASCs had been asking for, ASCs have reported data for a changing set of…

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