Japan-based Olympus Corporation took part in a ground-breaking project as a business promoter, in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan, entitled, “Survey Study for International Expansion of Endoscopes Utilizing High-definition Imaging Technology AI Diagnosis Support System in Thailand.” The project aims to develop advanced endoscopy diagnostics in Thailand, where there are relatively few endoscopists.

For the project in Thailand, in collaboration with CYBERNET SYSTEMS CO., LTD., Olympus conduct a demonstration survey on the effectiveness and potential dissemination of the AI diagnostic support system in collaboration with Thai Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Association (TAGE).

With this Thailand will have an opportunity to enhance experiences in AI in endoscopy and assists the next generation of endoscopists to gain new knowledge and skills in the latest AI technology for a diagnostic endoscopy. It also accelerates Thailand and Japan relation further in the field of medical ICT will further develop

Specialist lecturers and physicians from Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital and TAGE representatives from Siriraj Hospital, Rajavithi Hospital, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and Ramathibodi Hospital will provide expert guidance to doctors from major medical institutions in Thailand.

In addition to training doctors in techniques for detecting diseases and differential diagnosis by colonoscope, they will also train the doctors on how to instruct the next generation of endoscopists between August 2021 and March 2022.

Signify Health, Inc. a leading value-based care platform that leverages advanced analytics, technology and nationwide healthcare provider networks, has activated its Transition to Home solution in 50+ hospitals to provide Medicare patients with the clinical and social care support they need as they make the transition from the hospital to the home. The solution, designed to reduce the clinical and financial impacts of avoidable inpatient readmissions and unnecessary emergency department visits, is being used by some of the industry’s most visionary health systems and healthcare providers, including Ardent Health Services, Beaumont Health, Cape Fear Valley Health, and Premier Health.

Signify Health’s Transition to Home solution is designed to complement existing post-discharge care coordination strategies at hospitals, health systems, clinically-integrated networks (CINs), and accountable care organizations (ACOs). Through virtual and telephonic clinical and social care coordination, Signify Health employs an evidence-based, holistic clinical model that supports Medicare patients for 90 days following discharge from an acute care facility. Through this customizable and scalable model, Signify Health collaborates with patients and their care teams to improve quality of care and outcomes, and to ensure a high-touch patient experience that extends beyond the four walls of the facility.

“As large health systems and physician groups assume more risk, they are looking to better address those clinical and social gaps that exist outside the acute care setting, but that can have a significant impact on the health outcomes of their patients,” said Kyle Armbrester, Signify Health CEO. “We are delighted to activate our extensive capabilities of engaging patients in and around the home for our provider partners participating in episodes and other value-based programs. Facilitating a timely transition to the home and extending our partners’ reach beyond the hospital setting will enhance patient care experience, achieve better outcomes and improve financial performance.”

Potentially avoidable hospital readmissions cost Medicare approximately $17 billion per year with hundreds of thousands of patients affected. Post-discharge barriers to recovery are responsible for many of these readmissions and encompass a broad range of issues such as social determinant of health gaps, multiple comorbidities, medication mismanagement, and poor care plan adherence.

An analysis of readmission results for 800,000 episodes of care managed by Signify Health under Medicare’s value-based bundled payment program (BPCI-A) shows that nearly 44% of all readmissions occur more than 30 days following discharge from the hospital. To address the risk of readmission during this critical phase, Signify Health’s Transition to Home solution provides evidence-based clinical and social care coordination services to patients during the 90 days following discharge. The services offered include risk stratification, patient education, a social needs and behavioral health assessment, medication review, care plan reminders, PCP and specialist follow-up facilitation, coordination with acute care clinicians, and escalation and triage care pathways.

These services are performed by Signify Health’s interdisciplinary care team of clinical and social care coordinators, pharmacists, nurses and physicians, who maintain a regular cadence of contact with patients and providers to identify and address individual needs and act as an extension of the patient’s care team. Signify Health’s care team leverages proprietary technology and tools to coordinate care with the patient’s PCP, apply evidence-based care coordination interventions, and facilitate in-network utilization.

By applying motivational interviewing techniques that enable deeper conversations, Signify Health care coordinators typically identify between two and four social needs (such as food insecurity and lack of access to transportation) per patient and are able to address more than 50% of those needs.

“Signify Health’s evidence-based approach for our Transition to Home solution focuses on key drivers of unnecessary rehospitalizations,” said Marc Rothman, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Signify Health. “Our clinical and social care professionals are trained to address patients’ needs regardless of their risk level, ensuring that provider care teams can focus on the highest-need cases. Ultimately, this offering was built to deliver on the most important metric of success: healthier, happier patients and empowered clinicians.”

Since launching the program on a pilot basis in 2021, Signify Health’s Transition to Home solution has grown rapidly and is now supporting patients in 10 states. Early results indicate strong consumer interest in telephonic post-discharge care coordination support, with upwards of 60% of patients reached engaging with the Signify Health care team and early analyses showing this engagement has a statistically significant effect on reducing rehospitalization rates.

To learn more about Signify Health’s Transition to Home solution, please visit our website at https://www.signifyhealth.com/solutions-episodes-of-care-transition-to-home or contact us at info@signifyhealth.com.

About Signify Health
Signify Health is a leading healthcare platform that leverages advanced analytics, technology, and nationwide healthcare provider networks to create and power value-based payment programs. Our mission is to transform how care is paid for and delivered so that people can enjoy more healthy, happy days at home. Our solutions support value-based payment programs by aligning financial incentives around outcomes, providing tools to health plans and healthcare organizations designed to assess and manage risk and identify actionable opportunities for improved patient outcomes, coordination and cost-savings. Through our platform, we coordinate what we believe is a holistic suite of clinical, social, and behavioral services to address an individual’s healthcare needs and prevent adverse events that drive excess cost, all while shifting services towards the home.

It is generally assumed that American healthcare is held together by series of stringent rules. To break them is to court chaos, inviting anarchy into the system.

However, the sector has become more flexible in recent times. Multiple innovations are changing the industry, and the mentality of workers has slowly started to adapt as well. The rulebook has not been thrown out of the window. Instead, it has had a few necessary chapters added to it for the benefit of all.

Some changes to healthcare can even better accommodate the needs of more patients, so professionals should take potential adjustments seriously and adhere to each of them where better results can be found. Otherwise, there is a genuine possibility that those in their care will be denied access to the crucial support and treatment they require.

So, where is there room for some creativity? Just how important is flexibility when it comes to the provision of healthcare? What should the workers themselves keep in mind here? Read on for more details.

Accommodating Telemedicine Options

An unprecedented worldwide catastrophe, the coronavirus changed how people seek treatment for illness and injury. The healthcare industry has needed to adapt accordingly.

Predictably, the pandemic has accelerated the use of telemedicine technologies, enabling patients to seek health guidance remotely. Americans were slow to pick up on the trend pre-coronavirus, but social distancing measures meant that telehealth interactions were projected to reach 1 billion by the end of last year.

These changes may be permanent too. After all, as more people report feelings of unease and anxiety, it may be many American’s favored method of receiving healthcare advice. They can do so from the comfort of their home rather than in the office of a stranger. Additionally, those who are busy may seek guidance via these telemedicine channels also.

Flexibility could save lives here. If people do not feel brave enough to visit their doctors in person, telemedicine may be a suitable alternative to prevent any number of serious illnesses. Ultimately, it is undoubtedly better than not receiving medical guidance at all.

Innovative Remote Surgeries

It is not only medical consultations that the coronavirus has changed. Important procedures have also been influenced, with new technologies immerging to compensate for any workplace restrictions in healthcare.

For instance, robot assisted surgeries were a blessing to healthcare professionals, ensuring minimum contact between the patient and the professional during the pandemic. As these operations commenced, surgeons sat at a computer-operated console. In many instances, it gave them greater control over the procedure, enabling them to command the precise hand movements of the robotic arms. Ultimately, these technologies have undoubtedly been life-saving in many instances.

Once again, it is worth speculating whether these innovations are a temporary measure only. If the robotic hand movements are so precise, could they supersede the jitters of a nervous surgeon? Of course, it would be preferable if medical professionals could perform their roles to a fault, but even the ablest professionals can be prone to human error. Perhaps unfortunate incidents could be mitigated via these technologies?

Streamlined Payment Processes

Unfortunately, healthcare in the US is frequently plagued by overly complicated payment procedures. In some instances, the issue of compensation can raise barriers and interrupt the healing process.

However, NadaPayments’ healthcare payment system offers complete flexibility and transparency for both patients and healthcare professionals. There are various payment options available that accommodate any financial situation, with in-person, online, over the phone, or mobile payments all being readily available. They also answer any questions and disclose their data security methods so that patients always know where they stand.

Additionally, this healthcare payment system ensures that the professionals get paid sooner. Less manual effort is required on the admin side of things as well, which means they do not need to issue bills, orchestrate deposit checks, or chase down late payers. These situations almost resolve themselves through the ease of the system’s use and free up time to attend to more pressing matters.

The last thing patients need in their healthcare experience is their finances taking a substantial hit. Not only this but patient care can be disrupted when busy work with payments becomes overwhelming. Ultimately, flexible payment systems ensure that everyone’s best interests are protected on both sides of the healthcare line.

Improved Data Management Solutions

Both patients and healthcare professionals have sensitive personal data to share with their practice. When that happens, their information needs to be safeguarded thereafter.

File cabinets and folders were once popular, but they have been rendered obsolete by the range of IT technologies that are now available. Many healthcare businesses should now be using cloud storage solutions to store sensitive information for the following reasons:

• Remote access – So long as healthcare employees have suitable smartphone apps, they can access their essential data anywhere and everywhere.
• Faster communication – Data can be shared between colleagues instantly, reducing the need for in-person meetings or frantic folder searching.
• Compartmentalizing data – Certain files can be stored in password-encrypted areas of the cloud, meaning that users will be unable to access data that does not pertain to them.
• Scalable technology – Healthcare businesses do not need to be wholly reliant on these systems immediately but can progressively utilize them over time to ease the transition.
• Backup Options – Replicated data can be stored on the cloud and accessed in the event of a data breach, minimizing crippling setbacks.

Cloud storage is highly dynamic and a great asset to the healthcare professional. Productivity can be improved here, which may also influence the quality of care patients receive. For instance, a doctor may spend more time comforting and getting to know their patients instead of fixing relentless admin logistics.

Heightened Employee Awareness

Healthcare professionals are intelligent individuals, and they must never lose their aptitude for further learning. By keeping their minds open, they may be able to identify multiple ways to improve their practice and thus patient care.

After all, implementing cloud storage may be a fruitless endeavor if workers are not well-versed in its use. If they do not take these matters seriously, improper use may occur or even a lack of use altogether. Therefore, worker attitudes must change alongside the integration of new technologies and processes, minimizing growing pains in the evolution of their workplace. Even one neglectful healthcare professional can leave a practice vulnerable here.

Unfortunately, digital attacks on the healthcare sector are also on the rise, with data breaches in Michigan revealing names, insurance details, and contact information of 3.3 million patients. Healthcare professionals may assume they have limited options in resolving these problems and leave the responsibility for IT technicians. However, even simply avoiding phishing scams in their emails can potentially better this situation. They could also implement a backup data strategy to minimize any possible downtimes. Often, many of the solutions are simple.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry has rightly been strict with many of its measures in the past. Today it continues to uphold high standards. However, there is room for flexibility in the industry, especially as new technologies and work trends begin to immerge. So long as healthcare workers are willing to be creative and adaptable in their processes, significant strides can be made throughout the sector. Ultimately, the patient must always come first, and healthcare professionals should do everything in their power to meet that unwavering goal.

Unfortunately, alcohol abuse is not so uncommon, a lot of people struggle with it all around the world. But nowadays it’s easier to seek help and get the right treatment! The only important thing is to reach out and find the most suitable option for the patient. Here are some alcohol use disorder treatments that have been proven effective!

Establishing a routine

It all starts with the first step of seeking help, it’s not easy but it’s necessary in order to get better. People who struggle with alcohol abuse need to get a treatment plan – something that they can follow until they become fully sober. Being goal-oriented in this phase is a must in order to get used to the sudden change – these changes are both on a physical and mental level, so it will involve going to the care center and establishing a cycle that works for the specific person!

Depending on the care center

Not all hospitals and rehabs are the same, and the same goes for patients – it all depends on the case and the level of severity. The only important thing is that the person who is in need seeks help from a professional for alcohol treatment if they want to get the best results. If you want to get the most effective results and get better, your first step is to find quality help, someone who will take care of you and guide you through this tough process.

Detoxing

In almost all alcohol abuse cases, patients need to go through a detox phase – getting rid of all the alcohol from their system, which will involve a withdrawal phase as well, as those two go hand in hand. In order for a person to get clean – depending on the level of addiction and how long it’s been going on, the body of the patient needs to slowly become less and less dependent on the alcohol. Thankfully, rehabs and care centers offer medication that helps in those times of crisis so the patient can move on to the next level of help.

Different kinds of medication

Nowadays there are many different kinds of medications that help with addiction, both for physical and mental well-being. Obviously, there is no such thing as a miracle drug that can instantly cure this kind of disorder, but it definitely helps in the process. Medications such as Disulfiram (Antabuse) helps with keeping you away from drinking, as it makes you sick from alcohol, whilst on the other hand Naltrexone will help with reducing cravings and lessen the chances of you getting back to old drinking habits.

Injections

Depending on the facility, a lot of the same medication used to help with alcohol abuse can be found in a form of injections. It’s not that uncommon for professionals to take this route and give their patients a shot of Vivitrol or in other words Naltrexone, but it all depends on the patient and the facility they are in.

Counseling

Medications are only a fragment of the process, there is so much more that goes into sobriety, it’s not that black and white! Counseling is necessary, alcohol abuse affects your body and your mental state so you’ll need to work on both. Focusing on building a life during and after rehab is extremely important and through counseling and therapy, it can be easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In order to get better, a person needs to be both mentally and physically over the alcohol abuse, and the only way to properly do so is to talk to people, go to therapy and focus on setting goals for yourself.

Support groups

The most important thing to remember is that you are not alone! Going through something like alcohol addiction can make you feel isolated and alone, but in reality, a lot of people carry the same struggles and it’s completely normal to share. One of the vital parts of any kind of addiction treatment is to have a solid support system – regardless if it’s family, friends, or support groups you started attending along the way. This can help in so many ways, maintain your social life, meet people who relate to your struggles, who understand you – you are in this together!

At the end of the day, getting better from alcohol abuse is a whole process, it takes time and it’s extremely intricate. Every case and every person is different, a professional will decide what suits their needs the most in order to reach success faster.  The road is long and hard, but if you are in the right hands, you have nothing to worry about!

More than four million NHS patients are waiting to have a condition or complaint diagnosed, according to a new report from Policy Exchange. The report calls for the Government to invest £1.3bn in new capital funding for diagnostics to achieve a much faster, 8-week diagnosis.

New analysis undertaken by the think tank of the Referral to Treatment (RTT) Statistics from NHS England has found that 80% of the current NHS waiting list (more than 4.2 million people) are still without a decision to admit, effectively the earliest point of diagnosis, with average wait times across specialisms approaching ten months (37 weeks). This represents an enormous unknown clinical risk to the individual and the NHS – one in five cancers are picked up following a non-cancer referral.*

The paper warns that 90,000 cases of cancer are usually detected in patients on non-cancer pathways, meaning that there are likely to be hundreds of undiagnosed cancer patients sitting on a routine referral within each NHS hospital in England.

The report also calls for the NHS to urgently improve communication with the 5.3 million people in England – 1 in 10 of the population – who are currently waiting to be seen by clinicians in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report, A Wait on Your Mind?, by Policy Exchange’s Head of Health Robert Ede and Sean Phillips, warns that millions are being “left in limbo”, with no idea how long it will be until they are treated.

Former NHS England National Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh, and Former Health Secretary Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell, back the report, alongside Professor Neil Mortenson, President of the Royal College of Surgeons.

In a Preface to the report, Sir Bruce Keogh says:

“Whilst a tolerant British public played their part in reducing demand for non-COVID services, that tolerance must be repaid or it will wane with the pandemic, as families pay a very personal price for delays in diagnosis and treatment. 

Intolerable waiting lists are back. This is our next big test …both the public and NHS staff have now seen better and expect better.”

In a Foreword to the report, Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell, former Health Secretary, writes:

“In an age when Amazon can send a message which predicts to within two hours the time of delivery of a parcel sent from the Far East to your home, it is humiliating that the NHS is unable to offer any meaningful guidance on when it will be able to treat your painful or life limiting condition. Millions of patients are being kept in the dark about when they will be treated and how long they must wait – we cannot let this continue. After Covid, as waiting lists grow, the NHS needs a transparency revolution.”

Focus groups with patients in England waiting longer than six months have highlighted how many feel “left in the dark”.

On communication with patients over waiting lists, the report argues that:

1. The NHS must urgently enhance patient communication, with NHS Trusts rapidly investing in developing patient-centred information and communication materials.

2. The Government must invest in a priority NHS-led digital offer to support patients on the waiting list. These services could include appointment scheduling, list status, signposting to wider services, and made available through the NHS App.

Policy Exchange also calls for a new £1.3bn package for the diagnostics sector over this Parliament, which combined with existing funding would bring NHS capacity in line with the OECD average. This would be delivered in tranches over the next three years, commencing with £500m at the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review. This must be accompanied by a new target to achieve a diagnosis within eight weeks of initial referral – currently patients wait on average 37 weeks.

Robert Ede, Head of Health and Social Care Policy at Policy Exchange and the lead author of the report, said:

“Operational transparency must improve. Current clinical prioritisation and waiting times are hidden from patients. Few are informed about their likely wait time, how this compares to their rights as set out in the NHS constitution, or how new prioritisation methodologies is being applied to their case. The ‘consumer’ of the service is being left in limbo, with limited support whilst they wait. There is evidence that the existing approach is also cementing health inequalities.” 

“There has been a lot of focus on those waiting a long time for treatment. But the figure that should be keeping the new NHS Chief Executive up at night is 4.2 million – the number of people with a routine referral still awaiting a decision from a specialist. This is an enormous clinical risk. A proportion of these patients will have a cancer and other urgent hidden condition. As we look to the spending review, Policy Exchange is calling for reform to the system, putting the funding and incentives in place to prioritise an NHS diagnostics revolution, whilst supporting patients as they wait for treatment.”

Professor Neil Mortensen, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England said:

“We agree that the current state of the waiting list in England is politically unacceptable.  With more than 5.3 million on the waiting list, innovative solutions and investment are sorely needed. Policy Exchange are right to highlight that surgical hubs are one part of the answer.  73% of people say that if they needed an operation, they would be willing to travel to a surgical hub, if it was not their nearest local hospital. The recommendation that hubs should facilitate three session days and seven-day working is ambitious, but increasing activity is essential to bringing down the long backlog of operations.  We urge every Integrated Care System (ICS) in England to identify at least one ‘surgical hub’ where planned surgery can continue, with COVID cases now rising again.”

*The 4.2 million figure awaiting diagnosis was calculated by removing 1,020,705 patients which have a decision to admit from the current waiting list of 5,304,849. The figure is the most reasonable proxy for undiagnosed patients on a routine referral. This uses the most recent statistical release up to May 2021.