Cardinal Health completes acquisition of Specialty Networks and its PPS Analytics platform
Cardinal Health recently announced that it has completed its acquisition of Specialty Networks. Specialty Networks creates clinical and economic value for independent specialty providers and partners across multiple specialty GPOs: UroGPO, Gastrologix and GastroGPO, and United Rheumatology. Specialty Networks’ PPS Analytics platform analyzes data from electronic medical records (EMR), practice management, imaging, and dispensing systems and transforms it into meaningful and actionable insights for providers and other stakeholders by using artificial intelligence and modern data analytics capabilities. The Specialty Networks team joins the Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions segment of Cardinal Health and Shailendra Sharma will continue to lead the business.
PWH announces John Sasen Memorial Scholarship Recipient
Lindsay Shaffer, Director of Sales, UMF Medical, is the 2024 recipient of the John Sasen Memorial Scholarship. Recipient of the scholarship receives a complimentary year of PWH membership, airfare, hotel and attendance to the HIDA Executive Conference. These scholarships are an important element to helping women network and make connections during industry events.
BD collaborates with GOCC to combat sepsis in Poland
BD announced a collaboration with GOCC (The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity), the largest non-governmental non-profit organization in Poland, to expand access to advanced testing for bloodstream infections (BSIs) and sepsis management at more than 150 Polish hospitals and clinics. The GOCC program includes the installation of state-of-the-art BD microbiology equipment across the country, including the BD™ Bruker MALDI Biotyper® sirius IVD System for the identification of microorganisms and BD Phoenix™ M50 Systems for automatic bacterial identification and drug-susceptibility testing of microorganisms. These instruments can help enable clinicians to make critical patient management decisions with speed and accuracy.
BD survey reveals patients receive too many needlesticks
BD announced the results of a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll that reveals that many patients receive too many needlesticks in hospital procedures and amplifies misconceptions and lack of awareness from Americans on the risks of common medical procedures.
Needlesticks are an often-overlooked challenge but can be one of the most traumatic aspects of a patient’s hospital stay. More than half of Americans (51%) report some fear of needles, and of that group, a top reason is fear of needing multiple needle insertions (31%).
The survey findings reflect that this concern isn’t unwarranted: a shocking 11% of survey participants with recent hospital experience needed 10 or more sticks to obtain a single blood sample – and, more than half required multiple needlestick attempts for a single procedure (59% for IVs and 71% for blood draws). Moreover, 77% of patients are unaware that regardless of what conditions they may have, patients should expect no more than two needlestick attempts from one clinician.
Retail clinic utilization increased 202 percent nationally from 2021 to 2022
According to the Seventh Annual FAIR Health Report, retail clinic utilization increased 202% nationally from 2021 to 2022, and emergency room (ER) utilization increased 138%. Retail clinics and ERs had the greatest increases in utilization, with the study also including urgent care centers, telehealth and ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), as outlined in a new FAIR Health white paper containing the seventh annual edition of FH® Healthcare Indicators and FH® Medical Price Index.
Other key findings include ASC utilization increasing 88% nationally from 2021 to 2022, urgent care center utilization increasing 43%, and telehealth 8% in the same period, according to the report.
This year’s edition of FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Medical Price Index provides perspective for healthcare stakeholders in a rapidly changing industry.