Experts say hospitals must plan for providing care after an attack

Cybersecurity and patient safety

Experts offer advice for hospitals on protecting systems and patients

Tips and tough love

Criminals know smaller systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks

Targeting small hospitals

Patrick Yam is the CEO and cofounder of Somnology

Mark Goettling is the cofounder of BodiMetrics

Smart wearable devices are having a moment, with demand 

Sleep, too, is also having a moment, with major sports celebrities like LeBron James starring in podcasts and TV segments espousing the merits of clocking in a full night of z’s.

With both trends converging, it’s no wonder the market for wearable smart rings embedded with sleep trackers has soared. According to the latest estimates, the wearable sleep trackers market is projected to reach 

, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.6% between 2021 to 2026.

Yet there is also a growing disconnect between the sleep data generated by these devices and our ability to make a measurable difference in resolving sleep problems that affect an estimated 

What we need is not only better ways to manage sleep data, but also a more comprehensive system for managing our health.

Generating quality sleep data expands access to diagnosis

Over the last two years, technologists have made strides in improving the accuracy of wearables that can detect meaningful sleep patterns and concerns. Solutions on the market today can detect sleep patterns that compare favorably with an in-person sleep study and continuously monitor and record blood oxygen levels—something not typical for at-home wearables—which leads to more accurate readings.

This is incredible progress, considering that sleep disorders contribute to chronic conditions such as heart disease and hypertension and can worsen diseases such as diabetes. 

 revealed that just one bad night of sleep—defined as less than 6 consecutive hours of z’s—increased feelings of anger, nervousness, loneliness and frustration.

The significance is also manifold because wearables have the potential to reduce the barriers to accessing sleep disorders in a sleep lab—of which there are many.

 have indicated that black patients and patients with darker skin tones are at a higher risk for hypoxemia and subsequent negative health impacts due to less accurate pulse oximeter measurements compared to white patients. In recent years, there have been 

 in oximeters and wearables to close that health disparity gap and deliver accurate diagnosis to all patients, regardless of their skin tone.

More broadly, most consumers are reluctant to make an appointment with their doctors to address sleep disorders because they are aware of the huge time commitment involved if they need to undergo an in-person sleep study. 

Sleep studies require at least 12 hours of time away from the home—not including time spent traveling—and are also intrusive and uncomfortable. (Not to mention, the wait time for scheduling a consultation with a sleep specialist could take months.) Plus, obtaining data from a single night of sleep in a sleep center is insufficient because it doesn’t account for variances in individual sleep patterns.

Also, the sleep study itself doesn’t actually

 the patient. It’s true that if a patient is diagnosed with sleep apnea, most health plans will cover the fitting, training and use of CPAP devices. 

But it’s not standard practice to check in with patients to ensure they’re continuing to use the device. Those suffering from sleep problems in conjunction with other disorders, such as PTSD, are left to their own devices to figure out how to supplement care.

Having clinically validated solutions that can distill and contextualize data into meaningful and actionable insights for the consumer to act upon is a gamechanger.

Yet it is only a gamechanger if we act. As most disorders are complex in nature and co-occur with physical and mental issues such as stress, PTSD, lung disease or MS, we need to consider treatments in a broader context. All of these conditions impact an individual’s quality of life and cannot be treated by simply prescribing a CPAP device.

A more holistic approach would address sleep while addressing other concerns. This might include, for example, the use of medical-grade sleep-tracking smart rings to collect data on a nightly basis, and then transmit it to a remote sleep lab for analysis by a clinical specialist. Using a rich data set, such as 10 to 14 consecutive nights of data, can help specialists isolate individual behaviors, like waking up two to three times per night, that requires attention.

If this comprehensive approach is used along with telehealth to facilitate interactions between individuals and sleep specialists, patients will regularly interact with the professionals who can offer more specific solutions and supplemental care, such as seeing a behavioral health therapist or lifestyle modification.

Elevating sleep, improving quality of life

The sleep crisis in America won’t be solved by handing out lavender satchels or fitting everyone in America with a CPAP device. To truly address sleep health, we need to reframe our mindset around sleep as a key contributor to overall health management.

As more consumers adopt wearable technology, health leaders should seize this moment as an opportunity for engaging them in improving their sleep health. By easing the barriers to sleep health awareness, diagnosis of disorders and treatments, health leaders will ensure that more Americans will have the access to resources they need to sleep soundly long into the future.

Articles

Wearable sleep trackers, when used correctly and consistently, have vast potential to enable individuals to measure the quality of their sleep. But that’s just the beginning.

Why improving sleep quality requires better data — and better follow up

Travis Capers has been hired to fill a new role in Vanderbilt Health.

Capers has been selected as the first president of Vanderbilt Regional Community Hospitals. He assumes his new role on Monday, Aug. 15. Capers will lead the community-based hospitals within Vanderbilt Health, the system said in a news release.

Capers has served as president of SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, a 500-bed hospital in St. Louis, for six years.

“Vanderbilt Health is a world-renowned academic health system delivering exceptional care to patients and improving the future of health care,” Capers said in a statement. “I am excited and humbled to be joining the team as we enhance the health of the communities we’re so blessed to serve.”

Capers will oversee these Vanderbilt community hospitals:

Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital in Shelbyville, Tennessee

Vanderbilt Tullahoma Harton Hospital in Tullahoma, Tennessee

Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital in Lebanon, Tennessee

Capers will also represent Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s interest in joint operations of Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville in Clarksville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt has a 20% ownership stake in the facility, while Community Health Systems owns 80%.

He brings years of experience in key leadership roles. Earlier, Capers was CEO of Ochsner Medical Center West Bank Region from 2011-2016. In Nashville, he was chief operating officer of HCA TriStar Division Southern Hills Medical Center from 2003-2011.

Capers will report to C. Wright Pinson, deputy CEO and chief health system officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Pinson said the leadership team is confident he will be a great fit with the organization.

“Travis has the skills, drive and experience to take on this responsibility,” Pinson said in a statement.

UVA Health names first chief of human resources

UVA Health has named Karmen Fittes as the inaugural chief of UVA Health Human Resources.

In this new role, Fittes will oversee human resources for UVA Health’s various entities. She will join UVA Health on Sept. 1.

Fittes comes to UVA from the University of California, Davis, where she has served as executive director of talent and rewards for the university and its health system since 2016.

UVA Health said Fittes will work to recruit and retain team members to the system.

“I am excited to join UVA in support of the all-important vision to be the nation’s leading public academic health system and best place to work,” Fittes said in a statement.

“I look forward to working with health system leadership, the human resources team and everyone at this leading institution to support workplaces where employees want to work, want to stay, and want to contribute,” she added. “A highly diverse and highly engaged talented workforce is foundational to achieving our objectives.”

Fittes possesses more than a quarter-century of human resources experience, including more than 20 years in the healthcare industry. Before joining UC Davis, she served from 2013 to 2016 as director of organizational effectiveness for Alberta Health Services in Canada.

John Kosky, UVA vice president & chief human resources officer, said Fittes will be a welcome addition to the system.

“She has the right mix of skills, experience, and background to support our team members with opportunities to grow, develop and succeed, as well as to recruit more people to join our mission of transforming health and inspiring hope for everyone,” Kosky said in a statement.

Stephanie D. Conners has been named the next chief executive officer and president of BayCare Health System in Florida.

BayCare is largest not-for-profit health care provider in west-central Florida and one of the region’s largest employers.

Conners, 50, is succeeding Tommy Inzina, BayCare’s current CEO and president, who plans to retire by the end of the year. Conners, who will join BayCare in October, will be the fourth CEO of the 25-year-old organization.

She’s the executive vice president and chief operating officer for Jefferson Health, the health care system based in Philadelphia.

“I am humbled and honored to lead such a remarkable organization,” Conners said in a statement. “Its legacy of compassionate care is palpable, and I look forward to helping ensure its future success. It is my personal mission to make a difference in the lives of others.”

She has served as Jefferson’s chief operating officer since 2018, but she has spent nearly three decades in the healthcare industry.

In 2002, Conners took her first senior leadership role with Tenet Healthcare as chief nursing officer for Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, a post she held for a decade. She later served as senior vice president for operations and system chief nursing officer for Robert Wood Johnson University and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s hospitals in New Jersey. She also served as chief operating officer and chief nursing officer for Cooper University Health Care in New Jersey.

Rick Colón, chairman of BayCare’s board of trustees, called Conners “an engaging and compassionate leader who will lead BayCare into its next era of serving the community’s health, our team members and our medical community.”

OSF HealthCare names CEO of central region

Bob Anderson has been named chief executive officer of OSF HealthCare’s central region.

Anderson is the president of OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center, a position he will continue to hold until a replacement is hired. He will begin his new role on Sept. 1.

Anderson replaces Mike Cruz as CEO of the central region. Cruz was recently named chief operating officer of the 15-hospital system based in Illinois. The system’s central region includes OSF Saint Francis, OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois in the Peoria area, OSF Aviation, and the surrounding Peoria area.

Anderson began his career at OSF HealthCare in 1981 as a medical technologist in the laboratory services department.

He went on to serve as senior vice president and chief operating officer at OSF Saint Francis before becoming the hospital’s president in 2017.

As president, Anderson has led a number of efforts to improve healthcare, including the OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute, which is slated to open on the OSF Saint Francis campus in 2024.

OSF HealthCare is owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, based in Peoria, Illinois. The system employs more than 24,000 workers, dubbed “mission partners,” at 150 locations.

Meenesh Bhimani has been named the new chief operating officer of El Camino Health in California.

Bhimani began in his new role Aug. 8. He’ll oversee inpatient areas, nursing, the patient experience and all other support services, the organization said.

“I am proud to join an organization with a deeply rooted culture of innovation and safety as well as a commitment to raising the bar in delivering patient care,” Bhimani said in a statement. “These are areas I am passionate about, and I look forward to serving El Camino Health as COO.”

Before joining El Camino Health, Dr. Bhimani served as hospital executive at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, Calif.. He was also president of Emergency Physicians Associates.

Bhimani is board certified in emergency medicine and was a physician at Kaiser Permanente Greater Southern Alameda County, Washington Hospital, and St. Louise Regional Hospital.

Dan Woods, chief executive officer of El Camino Health, called Bhimani “a great fit for the enterprise.”

“I believe Meenesh’s track record of leadership as both a hospital and physician executive as well as his insight as an emergency medicine physician with more than 20 years of experience will be a valuable addition to our leadership team,” Woods said in a statement.

El Camino operates two nonprofit hospitals in Los Gatos and Mountain View, and primary care, specialty care, and urgent care services throughout Santa Clara County.

UVA Health hires its first chief of human resources, BayCare Health System selects a CEO, and other leaders take new posts.


MED MOVES: Vanderbilt Health names president to lead 3 hospitals, and more

It doesn’t take long for Joshua Titus to get to the obvious question when talking about Gozio Health.

Is it necessary to have an app that helps patients get to the hospital?

Titus, the CEO of Gozio Health, says his company’s technology helps patients get to the hospital and much more. The Atlanta-based company partners with hospitals and health systems on patient engagement solutions.

Gozio helps patients get to the hospital and the specific floor and department they need, which can be daunting for patients or family members visiting a large, sprawling hospital. Gozio also helps patients navigate their way to the parking lot and even the nearest vending machines. Beyond navigation, Gozio enables patients to schedule appointments and pay bills.

The future of healthcare ‘is about the consumer’

, Titus talked about Gozio and its potential to help health systems connect with patients. (The story continues below the video.)

Titus said the system’s wayfinding component came out of his earlier experience working with smartphones and silicon chips. “I knew the greasy underbelly of smartphones and the sensors that went into them,” he said.

“The idea of these hospitals that have grown organically over time, they’re these huge labyrinths,” Titus said. “You’re stressed when you’re there, your normal 150 IQ is running at about 75, because you’re stressed about some clinical outcome. Can I somehow help you navigate the system? Using the sensors on a smartphone that I had access to and understanding of, can I bring those to bear on the problem? It turns out that we could.”

Titus said that was the genesis of Gozio, but it was only the beginning.

“We’re going to help people on a rather rough day, getting people through these big hospitals. And what we realized, once we had people engaging on mobile, there’s so much more that we can do on mobile as we do in all other walks of life and experiences, where mobile is our problem-solving companion, essentially,” he said.

“To take that and solve problems in healthcare is what we’ve dedicated ourselves to since then,” Titus said.

Health systems plan for digital transformation, but must pick up the pace

American Hospital Association Leadership Summit

 last month, Titus said the company is showing it can help health systems improve their patient engagement.

“I think what we’re doing that is unique is that we are taking the experiences and human nature that happens in all other walks of life outside healthcare… and we’re bringing that into a system that is probably a decade behind,” Titus said.

Gozio Health is partnering with more than 30 health systems, and around 200 hospitals, on their patient engagement platforms. The company is working with 

, Grady Health System, Baptist Health in Jacksonville, University Health in San Antonio, Yale New Haven Health and others.

UNC Health partnered with Gozio’s wayfinding service and WELL Health’s patient communication platform and reported a 443% increase in downloads and digital interactions.

Titus said Gozio's wayfinding device to help patients avoid getting lost actually only represents a portion of the company’s platform.

“The rest of it is, once I have those mobile eyeballs, once I have someone engaged with my hospital system’s mobile application, what are the other pieces that I want?

“There’s virtual care, maybe it’s access to care in terms of quick care, and urgent care, maybe the ED I need to visit,” Titus said. “Schedule some time on my doctor’s calendar. Find the right doctor for me: ear nose and throat that speaks Spanish and availability tomorrow near my house. This helps me connect with care that way.”

Gozio’s platform can also help patients access their electronic medical records and pay bills.

“All those other pieces that by themselves wouldn’t be compelling enough to engage me, when you combine them together in the whole, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts,” Titus said. “And that is what we’ve learned in mobile engagement in healthcare.”

It’s the combination of features and services on the platform that drive engagement, such as hand-holding a patient trying to navigate the maze that is the hospital to scheduling follow-up appointments, he said. “The sticky features cause me to return again,” Titus said.

Titus said a key early lesson in Gozio’s growth is that there’s not any one singular feature that is going to drive consumers to use the app. However, Titus said the goal is to provide enough “key components that you hit a tipping point.”

“The app stores are strung with the skeletons of attempts to get people to engage on mobile devices,” Titus said. “One thing that Gozio has learned how to do is how to get not thousands but tens of thousands of people to engage on a mobile device daily with hospital systems.”

Titus said he is enthusiastic about Gozio’s prospects for the future. 

"The utility of it is the fact that people actually use it," Titus said. "To do that you have to deliver value to the patient or the visitor, that makes their life better in some way. Once you do that, then you’re in good shape. We struggled to do it for years and I think we cracked the secret code here at Gozio to get people to engage."

Before co-founding Gozio, Titus spent 12 years at the computing company NVIDIA. He also worked with Dell Computers, Ross Technology and Xpeed.

Gozio is based in Atlanta, with offices in “a cool part of town,” Titus said, but many of Gozio’s employees work remotely. “We view that as a way to attract and retain talent,” he said.

As Gozio grows, Titus said he aims to keep the company’s unique culture.

Citing one of Gozio’s prime features of its technology, Titus says he wants to grow while continuing “to build a team that doesn’t lose its way.”

The company’s technology helps patients navigate sprawling hospitals, along with scheduling and billing. CEO Joshua Titus says Gozio’s platform helps hospitals see higher patient engagement.

Gozio Health looks to help hospitals move in the right direction

President Biden’s administration is hearing more calls to continue the COVID-19 public health emergency beyond October.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services extended the public health emergency by 90 days last month, meaning it would expire in the middle of October without an extension. Healthcare organizations are anxious because U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has said he would give health organizations 60 days notice before ending the public health emergency.

As the calendar draws closer to that point, healthcare organizations have said they want the emergency extended, because the designation provides hospitals and health systems important tools to fight COVID-19. The designation includes waivers that have expanded 

 programs, hospital bed flexibility and other measures.

The Medical Group Management Association wrote a 

 to Becerra Thursday, urging the government to continue the public health emergency and its waivers beyond the October expiration date. The MGMA represents more than 15,000 medical groups which employ more than 350,000 doctors.

“As workforce shortages and inflation continue to strain medical groups, any disruptions to the flexibilities afforded by the PHE could further exacerbate an already precarious situation,” the MGMA stated in the letter.

“Further, if you intend not to renew the PHE, we are concerned that a 60-day notice before ending it, is not enough time to sufficiently wind down flexibilities that have been in effect for over two and a half years,” the letter continued. “MGMA recommends you provide at least 90-days’ notice prior to terminating the COVID-19 PHE to provide practices with the appropriate time to evaluate changes in policy as a result of the expiration of pandemic-related flexibilities.”

Hospitals are also pushing for an extension

The American Hospital Association sent a 

 to the health secretary July 29 to urge the extension of the emergency designation beyond October. 

, president of the hospital association, said the phasing out of waivers would make it more difficult for patients.

We strongly urge you to continue the COVID-19 PHE set to expire in October and allow for significant stakeholder engagement to create a smooth transition out of the pandemic,” he wrote.

The AHA cites a recent survey of hospital leaders that found 93% said their hospital would be affected if the waivers ended, and 89% said they rely on the waivers to deliver necessary care. Hospitals have faced 

serious financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic along with staffing shortages

While health groups are pushing for an extension, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control 

 for businesses and schools related to the pandemic. The CDC move calls for less action from institutions and more from individuals, 

Schools and other institutions are no longer advised to maintain six-feet distances for social distancing or screen apparently healthy people. The CDC also says individuals don’t have to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, but should wear a mask for 10 days and get tested after the fifth day. 

Given that most Americans are vaccinated or have developed immunity from infection and the greater availability of treatments, the CDC says the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 are “substantially reduced.”

About 42,000 people are hospitalized from COVID-19, which is well below the peak of 160,000 seen in the winter. However, COVID hospitalizations are substantially higher than in early April, when about 15,000 were treated in hospitals.

The federal government poured billions into hospitals to help keep them afloat during the pandemic. Still, hospitals have been frustrated that they didn't receive additional federal aid to deal with the influx of patients infected with the Delta and Omicron variants. 

The group joins hospitals in asking the Biden administration to continue the designation beyond October. At the same time, the CDC is easing some of its guidance.

MGMA calls for COVID-19 public health emergency to be extended

After six years, Intermountain Healthcare said Marc Harrison, the organization's president and CEO, plans to step down.

Harrison is leaving Intermountain to accept a new position to run a healthcare platform business for General Catalyst, the Utah-based health system said Thursday. Harrison plans to make the move in the fall.

Mike Leavitt, the chairman of Intermountain’s board and the former governor of Utah, saluted Harrison’s service.

“Marc has helped spur innovation across our organization during his six-year tenure. We are better today because of his outstanding leadership,” Leavitt said in a statement. 

“At Intermountain, we remain steadfast in our dedication to our patients and the communities we serve," he said. "Our leaders and caregivers will continue to carry our important work forward and ensure that the health and well-being of our patients remain at the center of our work.”

Intermountain said the system plans to name an interim president and CEO. The organization will begin a national search for Harrison’s successor in the fall.

The move comes just days after Intermountain announced 

a strategic collaboration with General Catalyst

, a leading venture capital firm, to drive innovation in healthcare. The organizations said they intend to focus on value-based care, reducing the cost of healthcare and improving health equity.

As part of the collaboration, Intermountain will work with tech companies in General Catalyst’s portfolio, including Transcarent, Olive, Sprinter Health, Commure, and Cadence.

“We’ve historically been on the cutting edge of health innovation, especially when it comes to providing high-quality care that keeps people healthier at more affordable costs,” Harrison said in a statement about the partnership. “This collaboration between Intermountain and General Catalyst can help turbocharge the movement towards population health and value-based care by connecting us with a network of innovators outside the traditional healthcare space.”

Intermountain operates care sites in seven states, including 33 hospitals and 385 clinics. Earlier this year, 

Intermountain completed a merger with SCL Health

 in April, Harrison said the goal of the merger is “to spread high quality care that people can afford and is oriented to keeping people well, further and further across the United States.”

Harrison offered more perspective on Intermountain’s merger with SCL Health and why he thinks patients will benefit. See more of our April interview with Harrison in the video below.

As Intermountain continues to grow, Harrison said digital technology and telehealth will be a big part of the plan.

“We talk about having a clicks-and-mortar footprint in the not-distant future,” Harrison said.

“In an environment where it’s increasingly expensive to deliver care, to be able to do so digitally without people needing to travel and burn the gas in the tanks of their trucks and cars, which is so expensive for them, and to be lighter on labor so it’s less expensive to create a visit, I think it’s going to be very important.”

Marc Harrison will leave in the fall to run a healthcare platform for General Catalyst, which announced a collaboration with Intermountain this week. 

Intermountain Healthcare CEO plans to step down

While many hospitals and health systems have built and refined patient engagement platforms in recent years, Greg Johnsen says he sees a problem with many.

They’re simply too complicated and the opposite of user-friendly, Johnsen, CEO of Lifelink Systems, told 

“We know that digital engagement is key,” Johnsen says.

“The problem is, we’ve spent the last 10, 12, 15 years building engagement systems and modalities that may be feature-rich … but they’re just too hard to use,” he says.

Lifelink Systems, based in the San Francisco bay area, is working to change that by bringing conversational artificial intelligence more broadly to healthcare. Lifelink’s technology enables patients to use their phones to communicate with chatbots to schedule appointments with doctors, go over preparations for surgery, and engage with emergency departments.

Health systems plan for digital transformation, but need to pick up the pace

Lifelink’s systems don’t require apps to download. Patients communicate with chatbots via texts to their mobile phones. Johnsen calls it the next phase of patient engagement to make the healthcare system easier for patients. “We think that is grounded in conversations, and grounded in chat, and grounded in the mobile phone,” Johnsen says.

The secret sauce is the system’s easy-to-engage conversation tools, he says.

“It’s the opposite of an app or portal or website,” Johnsen says. “This is more like the way humans actually talk to each other and get things done.”

Hospital and health system executives recognize they need to be more consumer-friendly, particularly in the face of 

 such as Amazon and CVS. At the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit last month, health leaders repeatedly pointed to the need to make it easier for patients to do everything from scheduling appointments to paying bills.

Johnsen says hospitals and health systems need to look at new technologies with patients in mind, because consumers have greater expectations.

“Consumers will vote on their choice of healthcare provider,” Johnsen says. “A lot of it will be to do with how easy it is to engage the health system.”

While Johnsen touts the natural conversation of Lifelink, the chat and messages are automated. By automating these functions with chatbots, Johnsen says health systems free staff for more important duties, which can alleviate stress for hospitals dealing with 

staffing shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic

“‘The main thing is it’s a system that’s designed to scale up and handle millions of conversations so you have a digital workforce around your practice,” Johnsen says. “We think it’s a game changer.”

“It’s about magnifying the workforce at a time when we have nurse shortages and staffing shortages,” he adds. “This is the technology that can scale up and handle whole swaths of interactions and workflow.”

How health systems can use AI to address staffing shortages

Johnsen says Lifelink’s technology can help ease burdens on staffing by unshackling staff from helping patients fill out forms or sending reminders about upcoming appointments.

“We’re offloading a lot of that work, as much as we can, to smart digital conversations, so humans can move onto empathetic work,” he says.

Johnsen says the text messaging system is more convenient for consumers than asking them to go to apps. Lifelink commissioned a 

 in November that found only 7% of all respondents use a healthcare app regularly. Many patients download healthcare apps and then abandon them, Johnsen says. “They don’t come back to it,” he says.

Using the text-based messages, patients don’t have to memorize passwords or download apps, he says.

Lifelink is working with several hospitals and health systems, including Banner Health, Baptist Health, Memorial Health System and Jefferson Health. For now, Lifelink is focusing primarily on enterprise delivery systems that have dozens of sites of care.

Lifelink’s chatbots help guide patients trying to find doctors. If a patient is seeking an appointment, for example, the chatbot will ask if the patient already has a primary care doctor, or would like to find one.

The conversational AI technology can easily be modified to communicate with patients who speak languages other than English, Johnsen says.

Conversational AI can help drive inclusion and diversity in clinical trials, he says.

“Once you’re using language to reach people, the ease and speed and lack of obstacles is one way to make technology available to everybody,” he says.

Johnsen also views conversational AI technology as a way to improve health equity by “leveling the playing field for consumers, regardless of socioeconomic status.”

“It’s one of the ways you can be more equitable,” he says. “If you have more conversations, if you’re talking more… you’re more likely to discover opportunities and create more equitable care.”

In the future, Johnsen suggests health systems are going to need to incorporate new metrics to evaluate patient satisfaction. He said systems shouldn’t look at ways to reduce or constrain interactions with patients. Rather, conversational AI and digital technology can help engage patients more often.

At some point, hospital executives should talk about how they are increasing the number of conversations with patients, Johnsen suggests.

“We should be flipping the script,” he says. “We want to measure the number of interactions that help the patient and drive better healthcare outcomes.”

The company employs chatbots with natural language to connect with patients on mobile phones. CEO Greg Johnsen touts the ease of the technology for consumers.

Lifelink Systems uses conversational AI to engage patients

More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, some healthcare workers may appear to be faring better than others.

Michael Ivy, deputy chief medical officer of Yale New Haven Health, said looks can be deceiving. Most doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have been pushed to the limit, and beyond.

Ivy talked with other healthcare leaders on a panel about 

 at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit in San Diego last month. After the panel, he spoke with 

 about how health leaders must be mindful about caring for the well-being of their people.

Hospital workers may be struggling more than is readily apparent. Health system leaders need to recognize healthcare has changed and adjust expectations, he says.