After years of big promises, telemedicine is finally living up to its potential.
Driven by faster internet connections, ubiquitous smartphones and changing insurance standards, more health providers are turning to electronic communications to do their jobs—and it’s upending the delivery of health care.
Doctors are linking up with patients by phone, email and webcam. They’re also consulting with each other electronically—sometimes to make split-second decisions on heart attacks and strokes. Patients, meanwhile, are using new devices to relay their blood pressure, heart rate and other vital signs to their doctors so they can manage chronic conditions at home.
Telemedicine also allows for better care in places where medical expertise is hard to come by. The Wall Street Journal, more...
Kaiser Permanente Designed A Health Center That Puts Patients First
The first thing you notice when you step into the exam room at Kaiser Permanente’s new health center in Manhattan Beach, California, is the roomy leather exam chair. Instead of forcing patients to perch awkwardly—as a standard, paper-covered table does—it allows them to sit eye-to-eye with their doctor, who can summon X-rays, lab results, and even real-time specialist consultations on a wall-mounted touch screen, or send prescriptions to an on-site pharmacy via a tablet. Sitting smack in the center of the room, the chair ensures that everything literally revolves around the patient.
That’s exactly the point. According to Kaiser chairman and CEO Bernard J. Tyson, the question driving the redesign of the exam room was: "How do we create a holistic experience where this organization is showing you care, compassion, and respect—and giving you all the medical information that you need?"
The exam room is part of Kaiser’s championing of a new human-centered, design-driven approach to medicine—and its vision for the future of health care delivery.
Fast Company, Co-Exist more...
Hospitals Have Until November to Prepare for New CMS Rule
The Joint Commission says hospitals will have until November to prepare for new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements. CMS will begin surveying health care facilities on its new Conditions of Participation (CoPs) on November 7, 2016, after the CoP effective date of July 5. Beginning November 7, facilities will need to comply with the new CoPs, which adopt the 2012 editions of NFPA 101: Life Safety Code® and NFPA 99: Health Care Facilities Code.
When CMS published its new CoPs in a federal rule in May, the effective date was July 5, 2016. The Joint Commission issued a memo on June 10 stating the new CMS survey deadline of November 7 and noting that this allows health care providers and suppliers more time to assess their facilities for compliance. ASHE, more ..
Retrofits Deliver Bottom-Line Benefits to Healthcare Facilities
Planning and performing retrofits and upgrades of any type of institutional and commercial facility is a complex undertaking. Maintenance and engineering managers involved in these projects have to balance a range of issues that includes facility schedules, staff workloads, new technology and materials, and budgets. But for managers in healthcare facilities, the challenges are even greater because overlying everything is the need to protect the health and safety of patients.
For as complex as healthcare upgrades and retrofits are, they still need to achieve the same goals as projects in any other facilities, from greater energy efficiency and cost savings to enhanced occupant comfort and safety. facilitiesnet, more . . .
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