Tech

The doctor’s digital twin will see you now

Tech
March 14, 2024

Imagine a day when you wake up from a perfect six hours and thirty-six minutes of restorative sleep. Overnight, a wearable device or implanted chip has been continuously monitoring and capturing a comprehensive set of your biological and physiological variables. The ingested data from the variables collected is processed through an adaptive machine learning algorithm to create a physician-directed longevity score to increase health span—the length of time a person …

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Elon Musk’s Neuralink aims to empower disabled with brain implants

Tech
March 9, 2024

As of January 29th, the Elon Musk startup Neuralink delivered its first brain implant to a human. As described in initial reports, the patient seems to be doing well and is already benefiting from increased interneuronal communication. The goal of this application is to empower those with disabilities, specifically those with sensory and motor deficits, to be able to control a keyboard or a cursor using their brain. This …

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If surgery is so precise, why are we leaving outcomes up to chance?

Tech
March 7, 2024

It is well known that today there is significant variability in surgical outcomes – not only in different parts of the world, but even within the hospital. And, little understanding as to why. While video is becoming a key component of surgery, up until now, it has gone largely uncaptured, making it impossible for surgeons to surface how different techniques and surgical practices impact quality and efficiency. Compounding the problem …

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2024 technology trends to revolutionize the field of oncology

Tech
March 5, 2024

Between interest rates reaching their highest levels in 15 years and the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI), 2023 was a year filled with both challenges and opportunities for those of us in the health care technology industry. For better or worse, many of those same trends are following us into 2024. Obstacles such as the worsening clinician shortage and innovations such as the adoption of AI will remain top-of-mind for …

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Telemedicine’s impact on lifespan and cancer eradication

Tech
March 2, 2024

Forty years ago when I first started in medicine, there were no CT scans or MRIs. In the next forty years, I foresee cancer as an illness of the past, and life expectancy will be over one hundred years old.

Scientific advancements will push medicine ahead, improving quality of life in increments, slowly taking two steps forward and one step back. The pandemic caused us to take one step back, but …

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The costly divide: tech innovations and global health inequality

Tech
February 27, 2024

“You have various options for this procedure. However, we will only be able to get the best results with the newest artificial lens on the market. Unfortunately, this type of lens is not covered by any insurance provider since it is sold by a single company in U.S. dollars. Unless you can afford it out of pocket, we would have to go with the older version.”

This is part of a …

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Apple Vision Pro rebooting medical diagnosis

Tech
February 19, 2024

An excerpt from Apple Vision Healthcare Pioneers: A Community for Professionals & Patients.

In health care technology, diagnostics, and disease detection have undergone significant advancements, notably with the introduction of Apple Vision Pro. Developed by Apple Inc., this cutting-edge technology promises to transform the early detection and diagnosis of diseases, marrying the clinical understanding of seasoned physicians with the precision of …

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Mastering the art of efficient patient encounters: tips for physicians

Tech
February 18, 2024

An excerpt from No Work After Hours: Tools to Maintain a Pleasant, Efficient, and Productive Clinic Without Work Before or After Hours.

The patient encounter is the core of clinical physician practices. That’s why we went to medical school from the very beginning. The excitement and passion for seeing sick patients and helping them on the path of healing was an ambition. One skill set is to be a good …

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How do we get a critical mass of women physician innovators?

Tech
February 12, 2024

Dr. Margaret-Mary Wilson is UnitedHealth Group (UHG)’s chief medical officer, and she recently told Fortune magazine that UHG’s acquisition of physician practices and surgery centers through its subsidiary Optum has allowed UnitedHealth Group to gather “a critical mass” of doctors, which helps the company improve care. She said that the practices that they’ve acquired are not a bunch of “flashy acquisitions” but rather each one “brings the pieces together to …

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How this country doctor embraced artificial intelligence

Tech
February 9, 2024

I guess you could call me a country doctor. In addition to serving as a chief medical officer and practicing in an office in a small New Jersey town, I co-own an independent family care practice with my wife Kerri in a converted barn situated in the rolling hills and fields of NJ’s “horse country.”

Artificial intelligence may be dominating conversations in Silicon Valley and college campuses, but you might be …

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How responsible AI can benefit patients and clinicians

Tech
February 3, 2024

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) is palpable across the health care spectrum, from aiding in early disease detection through image analysis to streamlining administrative tasks. Regulatory agencies recognize the need for rapid integration of health care AI solutions, as demonstrated by the FDA’s clearance of over 500 AI solutions classified as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD).

However, AI developers often prioritize speed over meticulous validation, which can compromise …

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2024 health care informatics forecast: AI diagnostics, personalized medicine, and cybersecurity transformations

Tech
January 31, 2024

Predicting specific developments in health care informatics for 2024 is challenging, but trends suggest continued advancements in AI-driven diagnostics, personalized medicine, and enhanced interoperability for seamless data exchange among health care systems. The emphasis on cybersecurity to protect sensitive health data will also likely increase.

AI-driven diagnostics are likely to see advancements in accuracy and efficiency. Improved algorithms will enable faster and more precise analysis of medical data, such as diagnostic …

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Break free from screen addiction: a doctor’s prescription for smartphone sanity

Tech
January 29, 2024

Screentime addiction is real and it is everywhere. Over the past decade, I’ve worked with only one physician who doggedly held onto his pager, refusing to adopt the hospital’s HIPAA-compliant messaging app. He happens to be in his seventies, and a giant in his field; if he gets any grief for not using a smartphone 24/7, he probably doesn’t care. For the rest of us, though, this isn’t an option. …

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Enhancing your digital footprint: a must for health care professionals

Tech
January 24, 2024

In the ever-evolving health care landscape, where technological advancements and digital presence are increasingly intertwined, health care professionals, including doctors and nurses, must understand the importance of a robust digital footprint. This isn’t just about staying relevant; it’s about showcasing your expertise, connecting with peers and potential employers, and embracing technological innovations like AI in health care.

Your digital footprint encompasses everything you …

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Practice permanently closed: How to avoid this costly mistake

Tech
January 23, 2024

Imagine a patient searches online for you only to discover your online business listing says your practice is permanently closed.

This recently happened to a well-respected, mid-career surgical oncologist with a loyal patient base. Opting for a new role, he joined a hospital an hour from his previous workplace. Unfortunately, his former employer managed his online business listing, marked his practice permanently closed, and offered no forwarding contact information. This made …

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What doctors can learn from actors about artificial intelligence

Tech
January 17, 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionize the practice of medicine by expanding our knowledge and reducing our workload. However, physicians should tread carefully and take heed of the example set by other industries. For example, AI was at the core of the negotiations in the recent 2023 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. “AI was a dealbreaker,” said Fran Drescher, a union leader of the …

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How health systems are improving preparedness for winter surges

Tech
January 13, 2024

Winters often bring a surge in sicknesses that can overwhelm many health systems. More specifically, a winter-related uptick in the flu, COVID-19, and other illnesses can create overcrowding in physician offices and emergency departments (EDs), which then decreases a health system’s ability to provide timely access to care for non-urgent issues, such as chronic and preventive care needs.

Additionally, EDs see a rise in a wide variety of non-respiratory illness cases …

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It’s time to evolve how we measure the success of EHRs to make us healthier

Tech
January 6, 2024

We’ve known for the last decade that electronic health records (EHRs) have a significant impact on physicians’ ability to deliver high-value care. It not only has a largely negative influence on their quality of life, which bleeds over into the entire health care landscape, but also impacts their ability to successfully adapt practices to evolving payment models intended to improve patient health outcomes — especially important for primary care.

Yet despite …

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5 things digital health companies need to do to achieve success

Tech
January 1, 2024

It has been a long time since my last post. The digital health economic, clinical, regulatory, and political landscapes have changed significantly since then. The objective of my blog, which began in 2011, was and remains to educate the reader (clinicians, health care IT community, patients and caregivers, and other health care stakeholders about digital health technology and how it is relevant to the changing health care environment. The first …

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The promise and pitfalls of large language models in clinical applications

Tech
December 21, 2023

Since the unveiling of ChatGPT almost a year ago, the health care sector has been abuzz with anticipation and intrigue surrounding the capabilities and potential applications of large language models (LLMs) within the medical sphere. As senior health care executives know all too well, our industry is no stranger to technological advances. But as with every promising tool, it’s essential to recognize its inherent limitations—especially when patient care and safety …

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