The Collective and Augmented Intelligence Against COVID-19 (CAIAC) alliance An alliance of researchers across the country has formed to tackle complex data in an effort to better combat COVID-19. The Future Society and Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), with the support of UNESCO and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, announced the … [Read more...]
Diversifying the Supply Strategy
When member needs outweighed current contracted supplies, Vizient approached one manufacturer about a unique way to quickly scale to meet demand. How do you handle a demand increase of 10 times the normal amount? For healthcare suppliers and providers, that scenario became a reality almost overnight. “In the pre-COVID industry environment, there was simply no way that the … [Read more...]
Selling to a Stressed-Out World
A patient with diabetes frets because their out-of-pocket cost for insulin is $250. The doctor empathizes with her, but realizes there’s little they can do to help. Physicians on average spend more time on their EMR than on patient contact, and one or two more hours of data input at home every night, studies show. How do physicians – who only want to connect with their … [Read more...]
Brace Yourself
Distributors, manufacturers and supply chain teams across the country were hard at work preparing for the upcoming respiratory season. In 2020, there will be no rest for the weary. At least not in the healthcare supply chain. As summer turned to fall, the nation’s med/surg community was hard at work making preparations for known demand and the unknown possibility of COVID-19 … [Read more...]
Breaking Down Silos
Collaboration between Supply Chain and IT helped one health system streamline its contracting following a merger. By Graham Garrison Implementing standardization across an organization following a merger of two entities can be challenging. Jordan Scott, MBA, Supply Chain – IT Program Manager at HonorHealth, has another term for it – natural turbulence. HonorHealth was … [Read more...]
What about Wearables?
How wearable technology could lead us into the future of healthcare. By Jim Poggi If you perform an internet search on wearables, you will find references going back to the 13th century with the first eyeglasses. In the timeline there are classics including calculator watches and Bluetooth earpieces, and less notable items including the sneaker phone and airconditioned … [Read more...]
Publisher’s Letter
View from the Field Had this year gone to plan, I should have been booking my flight to HIDA right about now and getting geared up for selling season, as well as setting up travel to do year-end reviews and start pitching 2021. But it’s 2020, and the hits keep on coming! Before I go too far, let me just say I miss seeing you all at meetings and events. Given our new … [Read more...]
2020: A Wild Ride
By Scott Adams “For the first time in my career, I feel like I’m making a difference in the lives of Americans,” one rep told me during a recent conversation. The comment caught me a little off guard because of who it was coming from – a 20-plus year veteran of the industry, who has made all kinds of contributions to his organization and the med/surg community overall. “I … [Read more...]