Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) will assist substantially more not-for-profit hospitals with Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) and implementation plans this year.

CHC expects a significant increase this year over the previous two years because many CHC client hospitals are due to complete their CHNA in 2022. Another factor driving CHC’s CHNA increase is that hospitals are more likely to outsource the work this year because of the pandemic’s impact on their operations.

A CHNA is a study of a hospital’s community that focuses on specific health and social needs that could have a major impact on the community’s health.

The federal government’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires not-for-profits to submit CHNAs once every three years in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. The deadline to submit a CHNA is the last day of a hospital’s taxable year, although industry trade groups have recently requested the government to grant an extension for facilities with difficulty meeting the deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For nearly a year, hospitals have been forced to shift their operational priorities in order to meet the challenges of providing care to patients infected with COVID-19 and other health-related problems. That has resulted in hospitals having less time and fewer internal resources to commit to non-pandemic activities like CHNAs.

CHC is fully prepared to offer its assistance to hospitals struggling to complete a CHNA and develop plans to improve healthcare for their communities. CHC has conducted more than 100 compliant CHNAs and implementation plans across many states for community health centers and critical access hospitals to specialty hospitals, regional studies and large multi-hospital systems.

CHC Vice President of Planning Lisette Hudson commented: “Hospitals are stretched very thin as their primary focus is providing the best quality care possible to their patients during this unprecedented public health crisis. Many smaller community hospitals may be hard-pressed to complete and submit CHNAs in a timely manner, as their operations are almost entirely directed toward overcoming the challenges of the pandemic. CHC understands their predicament and can relieve them of this complicated and time-consuming task by offering our years of experience and expertise in handling the CHNA process.”

Mary Poole, director of Public Relations at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas-Beaumont shared: “CHC has been instrumental in creating and implementing our highly effective community needs assessment. Beyond a roadmap, this document helps with our education, grant writing and philanthropic efforts.”

About Community Hospital Corporation-HELP WHERE HOSPITALS NEED IT®
Community Hospital Corporation owns, manages and consults with hospitals through CHC Hospitals, CHC Consulting and CHC ContinueCARE, with the common purpose to guide, support and enhance the mission of community hospitals and healthcare providers. Based in Plano, Texas, CHC provides the resources and experience community hospitals need to improve quality outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial performance.

ReddyPort, a medical technology company focused on bringing non-invasive ventilation (NIV) products into market, announced the launch of ReddyPort™ Microphone and Controller, a first-of-its-kind device that includes a single-patient use microphone which integrates with ReddyPort™ Elbow, providing an interface for application of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or bi-level therapy.

ReddyPort Microphone and Controller is a proprietary system enabling clinicians and patients to communicate clearly with one another and their families during treatment, without removing their mask and reducing known risks for successful NIV therapy. For clinicians and family members, it helps ease the frustration of not being able to understand the patient behind the mask, especially during a life-threatening illness.

NIV is the use of breathing support, often times administered through a face mask where air, with added oxygen, is delivered through positive pressure. This treatment is considered non-invasive because it is delivered with a mask fitted to the face, but without a need for tracheal intubation, and also used to wean patients off mechanical ventilation. NIV is the first line of therapy in respiratory insufficiency or failure like COPD, CHF1-2, Asthma3, pneumonia4, or ARDS5.

“Non-invasive ventilation is often a life-saving patient intervention for respiratory distress, but these ventilation masks create barriers for adequate communication between doctors and patients,” said Dr. Quinn M. Snyder, emergency physician in Mesa, Arizona. “As an emergency physician, my ability to obtain accurate and expedient clinical history can often alter the course of treatment. With the ReddyPort microphone technology, I am no longer deprived of information I need to care for these critical patients.”

Patients also experience physical discomforts that can impede physical wellbeing during NIV treatment, including dry mouth and phlegm build-up. NIV treatment clinical studies conclude mask intolerance is a major cause of overall NIV failure6, resulting in increased length of hospital stay and poor outcomes. Removing a NIV mask during critical treatment—including proper oral care—can lead to airway and alveolar collapse7 and potential risk of aerosolization and transmission of bio-aerosols for healthcare providers.

About ReddyPort
ReddyPort products promote non-invasive ventilation (NIV) success and better care experiences for patients on NIV, providing solutions to help improve satisfaction, reduce risk and cost, enable better workflows, and enhance quality of care

Some examples of musculoskeletal conditions include arthritis, gout, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoporosis, and sarcopenia to name a few. These are conditions that generally affect the joints, bones, and muscles. This article focuses on ways to relieve your musculoskeletal conditions, allowing you to live a quality life.

Physiotherapy

One of the primary ways to help relieve your musculoskeletal condition is physiotherapy. Some of the advanced treatment methods leveraged in physiotherapy include shockwave and laser therapy. One physiotherapy Guelph specialist suggests that you should first have your condition assessed beforehand for you to have a custom treatment specifically addressing your pain points. Keep in mind that the condition of every patient is unique such that what may prove to be effective for one person may be deemed as ineffectual for you.

Chiropractic Manipulation

Another effective way to help relieve your musculoskeletal condition is chiropractic manipulation. In this method, a trained chiropractor will align the musculoskeletal structure of your body. He or she will try to put your body back into position without the need for surgery or medication.

Hydrotherapy

You can also alleviate your musculoskeletal condition through hydrotherapy. In this method, all you need to do is to indulge in a hot, relaxing bath to instantly relieve all your aches and pains. The great part is that a hot bath will even foster a night of better sleep, allowing you to get plenty of rest which is essential for your condition.

Massage

Relaxing massage therapy can also help you relieve yourself from your musculoskeletal condition. During the massage, the soft tissues in your body will be moved around, sending electrical and chemical signals to your brain to reduce the pain and boost the circulation of your blood. This will then pave the way for a lighter and more comfortable feeling.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a treatment that can significantly alleviate your musculoskeletal condition. It involves the insertion of fine needles into the different parts of your body for therapeutic purposes. In doing so, your sensory nerves under the skin and in the muscles of your body are stimulated to produce endorphins.

Yoga

You can also try various yoga poses to help alleviate the pain caused by your musculoskeletal condition. For instance, the cobra pose is great for back pain while the butterfly pose can help ease the pain on your hips. On the other hand, the supported warrior pose is beneficial for knee pain.

Hypnosis

Finally, there is also the option for you to try hypnosis to help you ease the pain caused by your musculoskeletal condition. In this method, your perception of pain will be targeted, aiming to reduce it significantly. Just keep in mind that this process takes time before you master the skill. The effective ways to relieve your musculoskeletal conditions listed above are only some of the things that you can consider to help you live a quality life. There are other treatments available such as strengthening or stretching exercises. The key is in getting in touch with a medical professional who will be able to help you explore viable options for your specific condition.

RightEye LLC, an award-winning sports vision and eye-tracking technology company correlating eye movement behavior to enhanced athletic performance, announced that longtime partner, USA Baseball will again be utilizing RightEye Sports Vision^TMtechnology this year at its newly enhanced Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP)., This years’ PDP, a joint development and assessment program between Major League Baseball (MLB) and USA Baseball, will feature a lineup of evaluation and showcase events for 2021 & 2022 MLB Draft prospects, including the first-ever MLB Draft Combine for high school and college baseball players.

The inaugural pre-draft combine will be hosted at the Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Prospects will complete a RightEye Sports Vision assessment which comprises 11 objective eye-tracking tests that quickly and easily measure and analyze eye movements, brain processing, and reaction time. The resulting report provides an overall score and quantified test results, allowing athletes to compare themselves against peers, amateur, and pro athletes.

The PDP identifies and creates a player assessment pathway to all 30 MLB clubs for elite amateur baseball players in advance of the annual MLB Draft. RightEye has been working with USA Baseball for the past four years to provide MLB clubs with objective RightEye Sports Vision reports as a part of an athlete’s PDP draft look-books.

“Research proves that visual and oculomotor abilities can predict baseball performance, and many MLB clubs already incorporate RightEye eye movement data into their scouting reports,” said Adam Gross, co-founder and CEO of RightEye. “We are thrilled that USA Baseball and Major League Baseball has chosen to incorporate RightEye Sports Vision assessments into MLB’s first-ever combine. Every athlete should complete an assessment, not only to help them understand their visual strengths, but to identify their weaknesses, which can almost always be improved with training.”

About RightEye LLC
RightEye LLC is an eye movement behavior biomarker company using eye-tracking technology to revolutionize health care and vision performance through innovative vision tests and vision training programs. RightEye technology helps support sports organizations, health care providers, and educational institutions with the assessment of their patients’ visual impairment, reading disorders, and athletic performance issues by following an evidence-based, metrics-driven methodology. Using a cloud-based platform, RightEye provides data-rich reports that offer an objective, measurable way to view the quality of a person’s eye movement and monitor the success of various treatments. RightEye’s Dynamic Vision Trainer provides an effective oculomotor training program that remains under the doctor’s oversight. RightEye customers include recognized professional and amateur sports teams, vision care providers, hospital systems, rehabilitation facilities, and the U.S. military.

HealthHub Patient Engagement Solutions and Voyce are pleased to announce a partnership that enables healthcare access for underserved demographics in Canadian hospitals by eliminating language barriers between hospital staff and patients.

Voyce is a virtual on-demand language interpretation service that delivers immediate, seamless, and secure access to interpreters. HealthHub Patient Engagement Solutions is the provider of myHealthHub, a digital patient engagement platform built for healthcare in Canada. It empowers patients to actively participate and manage their own healthcare plan and helps clinicians focus on providing care. Partnering with HealthHub’s digital platform, myHealthHub, Voyce is now able to broaden the types of services the portal allows healthcare providers to give to their patients. The integration of Voyce software to myHealthHub will offer healthcare providers and patients easy access to interpreters 24/7 in over 235 languages and dialects on a platform that’s encrypted and secure. The scope of impact is nationwide since myHealthHub platform is used across Canada by healthcare providers.

“Canada is one of the most diverse countries in the world. We respect the incredible diversity of people here and realise that not all people are able to speak English or French fluently. Voyce is a critical tool to ensure these people are still able to get the care they need,” said Voyce CEO Andrew Royce. “Health equity can be actualized through providers’ use of the best tools available. Voyce ensures conversations can be started, consent can take place, and the little nuances that are so central to a patient experience are recognized, not ignored.”

“Digital health technology in Canada is transforming the way hospitals operate and we have witnessed this evolution accelerate by the COVID-19 pandemic. From the outset I knew this partnership was a great fit for the company. myHealthHub is designed to enable patients to manage their care while meeting the needs of the healthcare provider, and the hospital. We saw an opportunity to help provide all Canadians with equal access to care through our platform myHealthHub, that is already at the bedside for so many patients across Canada,” said CEO of HealthHub Patient Engagement Solutions Larry MacGirr.

A study by Health Canada found that, “those facing language barriers also face increased risk of medication errors and complications, and adverse events. The rights of limited English proficient patients to informed consent and confidentiality are often not protected.” The first pilot hospital to offer the service to its patients will be announced in late Spring.

Voyce and HealthHub believe that, when patients are provided with the right information, they become better informed, more empowered and more engaged in their own care – all of which leads to better health outcomes and a more efficient healthcare system.

About HealthHub Patient Engagement Solutions
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, HealthHub Patient Engagement Solutions help Canadian hospitals engage their patients and transform their experience through our digital bedside patient engagement platform. We’re proud healthtech advocates, partnering with Canadian healthcare leaders, empowering patients to play an active role in their care and providing clinicians with real-time access to information. We’re driven by our passion to help deliver the best care and experience possible.

About Voyce
Voyce is a technology company deeply committed to helping people in need facing language barriers, enabling them to easily and quickly communicate and get help. Voyce provides access to a language interpreter through a mobile app, telehealth platform, the web, and phone in 235 languages including American Sign Language. Thousands of providers use Voyce to speak clearly and safely, eliminating miscommunication. Voyce’s mission is to bring people together regardless of what language they speak.

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with software company DrDoctor to give all patients the option to view their hospital appointment letters online.

Digital letters were trialed at the trust’s dermatology service and its success has lead to the service being rolled out across more departments. In order to benefit from the service patients need to ensure the trust as a mobile phone number for them. When a letter has been prepared for them, patients will be sent an text message to alert them that it is ready to view online.

An NHS link in the message will direct patients to a DrDoctor Patient Portal where they can view and download letters, which will also be stored online for future reference. Patients can choose to receive all their future letters digitally if they wish to do so.

David Walliker, chief digital and partnership officer at the trust, said: “We are very excited to see this new system rolled out across our whole trust.

“Aside from the convenience for our patients of being able to access their letters in digital form, there will be a significant environmental benefit, which contributes greatly to our aim to become a sustainable organisation for the future.”

If a letter is not opened and viewed, the trust will send a text reminder 24 hours later. After 48 hours, if the letter has still not been viewed, a paper copy will be sent by post.

Patients can also change their mind and reply ‘STOP’ to the next text message to opt out of the system. Craig Lister, the trust’s elective access services and systems manager, added: “With digital letters, patients receive their appointment information much quicker, and this has been very reassuring for them.

“The new digital systems have also increased efficiency, and our team feels very positive about supporting the Trust in its move towards paperless solutions.”

Oxford University Hospitals join Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) NHS Foundation Trust which went live with DrDoctor in 2019.

Health Catalyst, Inc., a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, announced the launch of the new Healthcare.AI™. Created to address healthcare business opportunities and challenges across revenue, cost, and quality, the Healthcare.AI suite of augmented intelligence (AI) products and services will significantly expand the effective use and use cases of AI in healthcare.

Healthcare leaders face an unprecedented list of increasingly unique business, clinical, financial, and operational challenges; the ongoing implications of the global pandemic; the new government-mandated Price Transparency Rule and other regulations; overcoming inequity, and an industry-wide shift in care delivery models, making data-informed decision making more crucial than ever.

To address business, clinical, financial, and operational challenges, healthcare organizations have historically turned to transactive predictive modeling, a version of AI that was quickly adopted in the healthcare setting. While the proliferation was positive, healthcare organizations soon realized that self-service predictive models often require tailoring and expert guidance to achieve accurate predictions and results. Further, expert guidance is required to integrate predictive models into workflows, deploy broadly, and sustain positive change. Lastly, transactional predictive models do not address the many other use cases for AI in healthcare.

Jason Jones, Chief Analytic and Data Science Officer at Health Catalyst, said, “I came to Health Catalyst to build what I could not buy from within some of the greatest healthcare organizations in the world—tools and services to improve health and healthcare for people at the hospital bedside, in the boardroom, and at their kitchen tables. In contrast to traditional AI approaches, we designed Healthcare.AI as a new approach to meet the needs of healthcare, enabling better decisions both at the point of care and by those leading system-level change.”

Healthcare.AI significantly expands the potential use cases for AI in healthcare and now supports five levels of healthcare AI analytics.

About Health Catalyst
Health Catalyst is a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations committed to being the catalyst for massive, measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement. Its customers leverage the cloud-based data platform—powered by data from more than 100 million patient records and encompassing trillions of facts—as well as its analytics software and professional services expertise to make data-informed decisions and realize measurable clinical, financial, and operational improvements. Health Catalyst envisions a future in which all healthcare decisions are data informed.

 

Cegedim’s Pharmacy Display enables multi-site pharmacy operators to achieve an omni-channel engagement strategy to protect and grow business while removing unnecessary cost and optimising workforce efficiencies.

Cegedim Healthcare Solutions is pleased to announce the general availability of its new “Pharmacy Display” solution; a stand-alone, complete hardware, software and service-based communications offering for multi-site pharmacy operators designed to overcome five key business challenges as they straddle the NHS service and retail model.

Pharmacy Display comprises the three key elements of: high quality digital displays in-store and in-window which captivate and engage customers; a powerful web-based content management system and scheduling tools which enable the delivery of fresh, relevant and compliant marketing campaigns; and managed content which is created and curated by Cegedim’s Pharmacy Display team which delivers a full range of assets to use in planning and executing marketing plans.

Gianpiero Celino, Clinical Director, Cegedim Healthcare Solutions, comments: “Community pharmacies face multiple challenges as a consequence of their dual role as NHS service provider and retailer, yet getting both right is key to commercial success. Traditional customer communications – be that to highlight new services, achieve NHS compliance, or deliver retail advertising campaigns – have largely been manual, centred around physical window posters or printed material. These are highly static, cumbersome to deliver and resource heavy; simply no longer in keeping with either today’s customer expectations or the need for greater and more agile communications.”

Pharmacy Display has been designed to deliver:

• Flexible and adaptable retail campaigns based on changing consumer demand, by season, by day and by customer demographic;
• Increased customer engagement with eye-catching animations that are relevant to pharmacy services;
• NHS compliance, with less resource intensity and improved aesthetics;
• Improved advertising revenue and commercial opportunities; and
• Workforce efficiencies through the centralising and digitising of communications

Digital Displays

Cegedim has established strong and influential relationships with top-tier manufacturers of digital displays to ensure that Pharmacy Display customers are equipped with the right display solution in every case. Its hardware solution comprises a large and flexible catalogue of hardware, in varying sizes, luminosity and mounting to ensure maximum impact in each setting.

Content Management System

At the heart of Pharmacy Display is Cegedim’s web-based Content Management System (CMS), which provides a feature rich and intuitive solution for planning and executing digital marketing campaigns. This includes a dedicated content library populated with both core content assets and a pharmacy’s own content; content creation and scheduling tools; RSS-feeds for real-time content integration; and monitoring and metrics reporting, essential in evidencing reach for NHS or third party advertisers.

Managed Content Service

Pharmacy Display customers will have access to Cegedim’s created and curated content assets developed to equip pharmacy with ready to use content, including evergreen and seasonal content; awareness campaigns; official PHE & NHS content; retail promotion templates and imagery; and corporate branded features.

Following a market survey of 180 community pharmacies in the UK, Cegedim identified that driving demand for consultations and services is an equal or higher priority to OTC sales for 82% of respondents, while 54% reported having either a basic or non-existent marketing plan, particularly amongst those with less than 20 sites. Only 10% of respondents currently use digital screens, highlighting the opportunity for Cegedim’s Pharmacy Display offering.

The launch of Pharmacy Display follows a comprehensive trial with Weldricks Pharmacy in Doncaster during which in-store and in-window displays were installed to demonstrate the benefits of this solution.

Jackie Steel, Head of Operations, Weldricks said, “We’ve been delighted to work with the team at Cegedim Healthcare Solutions and host the beta trial for Pharmacy Display. As a Pharmacy group, we have long liked the idea of having screens both in store and in the windows of our branches to engage customers with our products and services. Pharmacy Display allow us to do this in a bold, colourful way, allowing informative content and ads to be played. Doing this during the pandemic has demonstrated how important it is to have responsive and agile communication tools in place allowing us to respond quickly and effectively in a fast moving market.”

Gianpiero Celino concludes: “Cegedim is committed to helping our pharmacy customers to harness innovation that is going to add bottom line value to their business. Through discussions with existing customers and our wider market survey, we believe we have developed a complete and compelling offering for UK retail pharmacy in Pharmacy Display.”

Spectrum Health, a not-for-profit, integrated health system based in West Michigan, announced a new partnership with TytoCare, the global health care industry’s first all-in-one modular device and examination platform for AI-powered, on-demand, remote medical exams. The integration of TytoCare into Spectrum Health’s current virtual care offerings enhances the health system’s ability to diagnose and treat patients remotely with in-depth, physical examinations during video visits.

Telehealth has never been more important, with people worldwide isolating and avoiding medical clinics and urgent care facilities to stem the spread of the coronavirus. TytoCare’s FDA-approved handheld examination kit enables users to perform comprehensive physical exams of the heart, skin, ears, throat, abdomen and lungs, which are key for treating many non-acute or chronic conditions. This allows health care providers to gain the vital clinical data they require to monitor, diagnose and treat patients and avoid unnecessary in-person visits.

Using the Spectrum Health app, consumers can connect to their provider for a live, on-demand video visit. During the visit, the health care provider will guide the patient through the examination process using the TytoCare exam kit. Based on examination results, the provider can then make a diagnosis and treatment plan and write a prescription, if needed. Video visits with TytoCare and Spectrum Health are available 24/7.

“We are thrilled to partner with Spectrum Health to help expand its existing video-based telehealth offering by fully replicating an in-person visit from any location,” said Dedi Gilad, CEO and co-founder of TytoCare. “TytoCare is enabling Spectrum Health to provide the telehealth experience people desire today, allowing for more thorough virtual care from the comfort of home, at work or on the go, which is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic and routine times as well.”

In an initial pilot with Spectrum Health employees and their families, 75% of patients and 100% of health care providers indicated that using the TytoCare exam kit during video visits improved the quality and comprehensive nature of the appointment.

“Spectrum Health is committed to providing an at-home care experience that truly brings the health care provider to our consumers. TytoCare enables us to do just that,” said Darryl Elmouchi, MD, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan. “The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the importance of telehealth, yet even when the pandemic is behind us, it will still be critical to provide consumers with convenient and accessible high-quality care in the comfort of their own homes.”

About TytoCare

TytoCare is a telehealth company using AI to transform primary care by putting health in the hands of consumers. TytoCare seamlessly connects people to clinicians to provide the best virtual home examination and diagnosis solutions. Its solutions are designed to enable a comprehensive medical exam from any location and include a hand-held, all-in-one tool for examining the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and body temperature; a complete telehealth platform for sharing exam data, conducting live video exams, and scheduling visits; a cloud-based data repository with analytics; and built-in guidance technology and machine learning algorithms to ensure accuracy and ease of use for patients and insights for healthcare providers. Co-founded by Dedi Gilad and Ofer Tzadik in 2012, TytoCare has FDA and CE clearances and has partnered with over 100 major health systems, health plans, and strategic partners in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Israel. To watch a demo video, click here.

About Spectrum Health

Spectrum Health System, a not-for-profit, integrated health system, is committed to improving the health and wellness of our communities. We live our mission every day with 31,000 compassionate professionals, 4,600 medical staff experts, 3,300 committed volunteers and a health plan serving more than 1 million members. Our talented physicians and caregivers are privileged to offer a full continuum of care and wellness services to our communities through 14 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, 150 ambulatory sites and telehealth offerings. We pursue health care solutions for today and tomorrow that diversify our offerings. Locally-governed and based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, our health system provided $550 million in community benefit in calendar year 2019. Thanks to the generosity of our communities, we received $37 million in philanthropy to support research, academics, innovation and clinical care. Spectrum Health has been recognized as one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems by Truven Health Analytics®, part of IBM Watson HealthTM.