Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | August 21, 2023
As COVID-19 rages on, warning sirens have sounded of late amid a flurry of headlines surrounding Ultraviolet-C (UVC) light device safety issues. Rightfully so, as the current pandemic has ushered in a veritable “wild west” of UVC gadget deployments with subpar consumer safeguards, instructions or guidance. So important are the concerns amid this rapidly proliferating product sphere, the FDA recently issued a consumer advisory regarding UVC light technology that’s applicable for industrial, business, travel and residential use.
Once largely a germicidal method leveraged in hospital, industrial and other commercial settings for its extreme efficacy, today’s breed of UVC technologies are small, portable and inexpensive enough to be making their way into businesses of every type across the globe—and even traverse with individuals while they’re out and about. This, as generalist retailers like Amazon and Walmart have joined the fray in their attempts to divert market share from the more specialized, expert-driven, safety-focused UVC purveyors.
While germ-killing UVC technologies do proffer tremendous advantages and results for users—serving as a potent tool for easily and effectively eradicating harmful viruses, bacteria, pathogens and microorganisms—there are a number of considerations a business (or employee) should heed before procuring and using such a powerful device. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, why; when; where; and how it will be used—variables that impact safety and risk concerns related to UVC wavelength, dose and duration of radiation exposure.
Shopping in this category can be equally overwhelming. One need only Google “UVC lamps,” which delivers nearly 100,000 results, to realize how bloated this category has become. Amid the chaos, I did happen upon a highly targeted, category-dedicated source wholly dedicated to UVC technologies: CureUV.com. This company draws on over 20-years of expertise in the design, development and provision of technologically advanced UV products and solutions. Today, they are a premier provider of germicidal UVC light solutions for commercial, industrial, portable, residential and even water applications.
While its form factor catalog is copious, below are a few of CureUV’s more popular UVC devices starting under $90 that proffer chemical-free disinfection, which can help ensure your spaces remain free of illness-causing microbial contaminants like viruses, bacteria, mold and other fungi:
Rechargeable Handheld UV Sanitizer Wand With Digital Timer
Here's a highly portable way to eliminate germs and have a cleaner environment no matter where you may be. This powerful UVC illumination system, which retails around $89, eradicates up to 99.9 percent of viruses, bacteria, germs, mold, dust mite eggs and flea eggs on surfaces. This non-chemical option adds an extra layer of safety to you with no hazardous residue. It contains a 6-inch UVC lightbulb allowing for a wider coverage of area as well as accelerating sanitation in the process. A built in timer inside the device allows you to keep track of desired dosage creating precise sanitation sessions-- anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes to indefinite. Its silent operation allows for a noise free solution for sanitation, and sleek and cordless and lightweight design is perfect for travel however near or far--daily around town or those hotel visits. Sanitize how you want in your desired target area or on your personal items keeping them germ free. An internal rechargeable battery saves money on replaceable battery purchases as compared to various other handheld wands on the market.
GermAwayUV 18-Watt Handheld UVC Surface Sanitizer
This device offers reliable and highly portable sanitizing performance at an entry-level price. Indeed, at under $120, this is an affordable, dual-bulb, handheld UV sanitizer that still maintains power levels similar to more industrial UV surface sanitizers. This lightweight and ergonomically designed 18-watt UVC sanitizer will give you much peace of mind. It has a 6-foot cord adequate for most applications, but the sanitizer will run easily with virtually any simple power extension. Its two 9-watt UVC sanitizer bulbs are guaranteed to produce UV light in the 253.7 nanometer (nm) wavelength, which has been consistently proven to eliminate all illness-causing microorganisms. It's the perfect tool to disinfect high use and traffic areas, as well as locations where bacteria and viruses congregate like bathrooms, door handles, seating areas and cooking/dining spaces. It'll prevent the spread of harmful bacteria and microorganisms, or simply add an extra layer of cleanliness and protection to your cleaning procedures. It comes bundled with protective amber UV safety glasses.
Deluxe GermAwayUV 95-Watt UVC Surface Sanitizer with Cage
With a 95-watt bulb, this chemical-free, tabletop UV room and surface sanitizer is the strongest of its kind. It will result in effective room sanitation by killing up to 99.9 percent of bacteria, viruses, mold spores, yeasts, C. diff, odors and other harmful microorganisms. With a simple touch of a button you'll be able to leave the room while the entire space is cleaned and disinfected in a matter of minutes. The device has five time settings: 10, 20, 30 and 60 minutes; and hold for indefinite run time. After the selected dosage time has elapsed, the device will automatically shut off. You can use it regularly to ensure a consistently clean room.
Heavy Duty Dual Bulb 72-Watt HVAC UV Air Purifier
Suitable for use anywhere, including schools, offices, work-floors and medical rooms to sanitize air and environmental surfaces, this device is effective in small and large rooms/buildings alike, up to 2,400 square feet. With a powerful 72-watt bulb and a standard electrical unit, you can insert this premium UVC bulb into any HVAC system as an easy add on to sanitize the air in the system. Typical air purifier units and HVAC systems are definitely useful, designed to filter and ventilate air well. But even the finest filters can’t stop atomic sized bacteria and viruses. This device is therefore a great extra add on because it really does target and stop bacteria and viruses from circulating. It sanitizes and disinfects air passing through the HVAC system. Its 72-watt bulb emits UVC light of 254nm and is the most powerful bulb. Most devices are typically only effective in small rooms, but with this level of wattage you can use this device in large rooms and building types. At its wavelength, the emitted light is able to penetrate and kill the DNA of atomic sized organisms that create problems for humans. UVC emission also acts to eliminate mold spores, yeast and fungi. So, inserting this unit device into your existing HVAC system ensures that not only will the air that moves through your building be ventilated, it will also be irradiated and disinfected as it passes over the bulb. Instead of just filtered air in your system, you’ll end up with sanitized, healthy air. Add on (retrofit) features like this one are great because you can just insert them into an already installed and operating HVAC system with minimal additional running costs. This device is easy to install and is capable of DIY application. Other available HVAC retrofit air sanitation and purification solutions include a coil scrubber or 36-watt HVAC UVC air purifier.
GermAwayUV High Occupancy Wall Mountable 150-Watt Air Purifier and Sanitizer
This is a safe and efficient way to sanitize and disinfect the air in high traffic occupied areas. Simply mount the sanitizer on the wall as you would hang a TV or mount a standalone AC system and let the system do its magic. The air purifier will use its powerful, yet quiet, fan to continually cycle all of the air in the room through the system. Once the air does so, it will be met by a quintuple filtration and sanitation system that culminates in a full 150-watt UVC germicidal irradiation. Put this system in a busy hallway, a crowded restaurant, a veterinary clinic with high traffic, a busy office, etc… and it will eliminate bacteria, viruses and harmful pollutants as quickly as possible without exposing anybody to any UVC rays. It proffers optimum perf
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | September 8, 2023
Managing accounts receivable (A/R) in private practice is a constant battle for physicians. Though most understand that lowering their A/R is critical for improving their practices’ efficiency and profitability, physicians often do not know how to address issues like lengthy collection periods and insurance claim denials.
It can be complex to manage A/R, as doing so involves various parties, including insurance carriers, the patient, the front office and billing staff, and the provider. All must work together to achieve a clean claims rate and avoid denials.
The best way to improve medical billing A/R is to reduce claim denials and speed up the patient collections process. In addition, you’ll need to ensure that patients and staff are filling out paperwork correctly and submitting claims on time. Other areas to manage are the follow-ups to correct errors and past-due accounts.
Accounts receivable is a collaborative effort
Each member of the practice staff plays an integral role in reducing claims denial rates. Take an all-hands-on-deck approach in order to identify issues and develop solutions. Start by making every team member privy to the A/R management process. This will ensure everyone is on the same page and involved. It will also help to increase efficiency, avoid redundancies, and eliminate mistakes that could waste time or profitability.
The front office staff is the front line of A/R. They are the first to verify and update patients’ insurance and personal details like address and contact information. They must also ensure that patients sign certain documents, like financial policies.
Providers are the next line of A/R. Providers select current procedural terminology (CPT) codes, and must be mindful of tedious details such as bundling correctly in order to ensure that claims are approved. A conscientious provider should not only select appropriate billing codes but also double-check the patient information that the front office staff provide.
The billing office is a final line of defense and should triple check that the patient’s information and the CPT codes are correct. Billing office staff are also responsible for ensuring the claims are submitted on time and that duplicates are not submitted.
Establish financial policies
Every practice needs clearly defined financial policies around patients or clients. Having these policies in place helps to clarify financial details and creates workflows and processes for staff to follow. Here are a few elements to consider:
State whether the practice will accept personal checks and, if so, what charges or actions are in place for bounced checks. Consider implementing technologies that convert paper checks to electronic transactions and verify them before patients leave the office.
Include a financial responsibilities section with information about who is responsible for the claim(s) if a patient’s insurance carrier partially or fully denies their claim.
Define the debt collection process. Patients should quickly know how long they have to pay their bills and at what point you may sell their debt to a third-party debt collectors agency.
Medical records can be copious, and practices often need to make physical copies of them. Consider implementing a policy that covers a pay-per-page cost associated with medical records.
Automate patient statements and payments
Offer different payment options for patients by implementing technologies and creative solutions that make it easier for them to pay their bills. Look for solutions that reduce manual work and provide reporting that tracks efficacy across delivery modes. Here are a few approaches to consider:
Automate sending statements via text message or email to help improve the rate of online payments.
Add QR codes to online and paper statements to help patients quickly access payment portals.
Offer payment plans, especially with low to no interest, to make it easier for patients to pay down balances.
Establish a written collections process
Not collecting patient payments at the time of service is the biggest challenge to patient collections. Establishing a written collections process can help to alleviate that pain point and clarify the practice’s policies and procedures so that patients can understand them more clearly and easily. Here are some guidelines to follow when creating your policies:
Include when, how, and how often bills are sent.
Provide information on payment plans and assistance programs, if available.
Explain the different available payment options and whether patients can pay over the phone, online through a payment portal, etc.
Clarify which extraordinary collection actions may be used, including selling the debt or taking legal action.
One of the most important processes to develop with collections is to respond to patients’ behavior. Communication should not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Patients expect personalization, and reaching out to them based on their preferred means of communication leads to optimal results.
Perseverance is vital when it comes to collections. By establishing clear policies and implementing integrated technology throughout your processes, you can improve the patient experience by eliminating confusion while streamlining workflow to reduce the administrative burden on billing and administrative staff.
Although implementing these steps can help your practice lower your accounts receivables, sometimes choosing to outsource to a medical billing company can help you save time, money, and resources. Medical billing companies can provide medical practices with specialized expertise, technology, and infrastructure to efficiently manage the revenue cycle and ensure timely payments. Outsourcing medical billing can also free up staff time and resources, allowing healthcare providers to focus on patient care and other essential aspects of running their practice. Whether you choose to outsource or to keep your medical billing in-house, these tips will help you to reduce your costs and increase your revenue.
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Healthtech Security
Article | November 29, 2023
As medical science has improved rapidly, life expectancy around the world also has risen. Still, as longevity increases, healthcare systems are facing a growing demand for advanced services, increased costs, and a struggling workforce to meet various requirements of patients. Demand is driven by many unstoppable forces: a shift in lifestyle choices, shifting patient expectations, population aging, and the never-ending cycle of innovation are a few among others.
Challenges Faced by the Healthcare Industry
According to Mckinsey, one in four people in North America and Europe will be over the age of 65 by 2050. This shows that, soon, the healthcare industry will have to deal with a larger number of patients with more complex requirements. Catering to these patients is expensive and requires health systems for providing long-term focused and proactive care. To remain sustainable, healthcare systems need major transformational and structural changes.
The industry also needs a larger workforce because according to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally there is a shortfall of approximately 9.9 million nurses, physicians, and midwives. Apart from attracting, training, and retaining these healthcare professionals, you also have to ensure that their time and effort add value to patient care. Utilizing the solutions powered by modern technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare industry, will add perfection and more value to human efforts.
AI in the healthcare industry has the potential required to transform and revolutionize healthcare by addressing the challenges in the industry mentioned earlier. AI can better the outcomes, improve efficiency, and augment productivity in healthcare delivery. This article takes an in-depth look at the impact of AI in healthcare.
Impact of AI in the Healthcare Industry
In the coming years, AI in the healthcare industry will improve the day-to-day life of healthcare practitioners, augment the patient experience, improve care delivery, and can even facilitate life-saving treatments and revolutionize the industry. Additionally, AI will improve population-health management, operations, and strengthen innovations.
According to Statista, the global AI healthcare market will increase to more than US$28 billion by 2025. Here is a detailed look into the areas where and how AI in the healthcare industry will be impactful.
Chronic Care Management
Chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, kidney diseases, are the leading cause of disability and death in the US and the main drivers of the country’s annual health cost. Effectively managing various chronic diseases is an overarching and long-term process. But with the help of the right tool, healthcare providers can meet the needs of these patients without delay.
Artificial intelligence tools in the healthcare industry can help healthcare providers overcome the complexities of chronic disease management and make it more effective and provide quality treatment. AI in the healthcare industry is increasingly being leveraged by organizations to improve chronic disease management, enhance patient health, and drive down costs, which will also eventually result in data-driven and personalized care. AI in the healthcare industry is expected to move the industry toward proactive care delivery from a reactive one and lead the industry to provide more individualized treatments. This is just one of the ways AI in the medical industry is going to revolutionize chronic care management in hospitals.
Care Delivery
Artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry is changing the way care is delivered; it is expected to make healthcare more efficient, accurate, and accessible. Reducing costs and improving health outcomes are the values health systems and hospitals are trying to deliver to patients every day. Hospitals are increasingly incorporating technologies, which are powered by the use of AI in healthcare to meet the challenge.
According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), AI in the healthcare industry has unlimited potential to solve most of the vexing challenges in the industry. They identify AI use cases in the healthcare industry in four broad areas, which are administrative, operational, financial, and clinical areas.
Administrative Use Cases for AI in the Healthcare Industry
• Admission procedures
• Appointment scheduling
• Customer service responses
• Discharge instructions
• Hiring and orientation protocols
• Licensure verification
• Patient check-in procedure
• Prior authorizations
• Quality measure reporting
Operational Use Cases of AI in the Healthcare Industry
• Inventory management
• Materials management
• Supply chain management
• Facilities management
Financial Use Cases for AI in the Healthcare Industry
• Billing and collections
• Claims management
• Insurance eligibility verification
• Revenue cycle management
Clinical Use Cases of AI in the Healthcare Industry
• Predictive technologies
• Interventional technologies
By incorporating and utilizing these scopes with AI in the healthcare industry, the industry can be transformed into a next-gen level in no time. It also allows healthcare practitioners to focus more on patients, which would eventually help in raising staff morale and improving retention.
Clinical Decision Support
Recent advancements in AI in the health industry are capable of enhancing the currently used clinical decision support (CDS) tools to have value-based imaging and to improve patient safety. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the synergy between CDS systems and AI in the healthcare industry will be able to:
• Reduce friction in radiology workflows
• Identify relevant imaging features easily
• Generate structured data to develop machine learning algorithms
• Enable an evolution toward decision support for a holistic patient perspective
• Suggest imaging examinations in complex clinical scenarios
• Assist in identifying appropriate imaging opportunities
• Suggest appropriate individualized screening
• Aid health practitioners to ensure continuity of care
AI in the healthcare industry is competent in making CDS a next-gen one, enhancing the experiences of radiologists and providers, and improving patient care.
Diagnostics
Slowly but surely, AI is improving almost every aspect of human life with innovations and advancements. The latest is that AI in the healthcare industry is impending a revolution in medical diagnostics by providing accurate risk assessments, accelerating disease detection, and boosting hospital productivity. By automatically prioritizing urgent cases and accelerating reading time, image recognition AI enhances the workflow of radiologists. It even helps in the prevention of diseases by the early detection of diseases.
In medical images such as x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, AI-driven software can efficiently be used to accurately spot signs of many diseases, especially in detecting many chronic diseases such as cancer. According to the NIH, AI will be widely applied in the healthcare industry especially for various tasks such as patient engagement and adherence, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. So, there is no doubt that AI in healthcare will revolutionize the diagnostic process in the approaching years by detecting diseases, classifying diseases, and improving the decision-making process. The application of AI in the healthcare industry will make people live longer.
Triage and Diagnosis
AI can be effectively used to automatically triage cases. AI algorithms will analyze the cases and forward cases to pathologists after determining the priority based on the probability of cases according to the criteria set by labs. This makes the workflow of pathologists easier and efficient. Through the process the algorithm will be able to:
• Verify the digital images attached to the case belong to that case
• Validate the tests ordered and match the specimen type
• Identify cases marked as stat
• Determine the cases, which can be positive or are most likely to be negative
Moreover, AI technologies in the healthcare industry also can be effectively used to provide more accurate and faster diagnoses. This speeds up the entire process of triage and diagnosis and is expected to revolutionize the healthcare industry soon.
The Future Outlook for AI in the Healthcare Industry
Over the next few years, AI in the healthcare industry has the best opportunities in hybrid models to support clinicians in diagnosis, identifying risk factors, and in treatment planning. This scope will result in faster adoption of AI technology in healthcare, which will show measurable improvements in operational efficiency and patient outcomes.
With a plethora of issues to overcome, which are driven by documented factors such as growing rates of chronic diseases and the aging population, it is obvious that the healthcare industry needs new innovative solutions. AI-powered solutions in the healthcare industry will achieve a clear impact on the global healthcare industry in a short time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the best application of AI in the healthcare sector?
Cognitive surgical robotics is the best application of AI in the healthcare sector as it helps practitioners collect data from real surgical processes, which would help in improving existing surgical approaches.
Why is artificial intelligence important in healthcare?
Artificial intelligence in healthcare is vital as it can help make decisions, analyze and manage data, and have conversations. So, AI will drastically change the everyday practices and roles of clinicians.
When was AI-first used in healthcare?
The term, Artificial intelligence (AI) was first described in 1950, but the limitations of the term prevented its acceptance. In the 2000s, these limitations were overcome and people started to accept the term.
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Article | July 17, 2020
The COVID-19 virus (C19) pandemic is turning out to be the event of the century. Even World War seems timid in comparison. We are in the 4th month of the virus (in non-China countries) and have gone past the lockdown in many places. Isn’t it time we re-think the approach? What if there is another wave of C19 coming soon? What if C19 is the first of many such events in the future?
Before we get into analysis and solution design, summarizing the C19 quirks:
While a large section of the affected population is asymptomatic, for some it can be lethal
There isn’t clarity on all the ways C19 spreads
It’s known to affect the lungs, heart, and kidneys in patients with weak immunity
It has been hard to identify a definitive pattern of the virus. Some observations in managing the C19 situation are:
With no vaccine in sight, the end of this epidemic looks months or years away
Health care personnel in hospitals need additional protection to treat patients
Lockdowns lead to severe economic hardship and its repeated application can be damaging
Quarantining people has an economic cost, especially in the weaker sections of society
If one takes a step back to re-think about this, we are primarily solving 2 problems:
Minimise deaths: Minimise the death of C19 and non-C19 patients in this period
Maximise economic growth: The GDP output/growth should equal or higher than pre-C19 levels
One needs to achieve the 2 goals in an environment of rising number of C19 cases.
Minimise deaths
An approach that can be applied to achieve this is:
Data driven health care capacity planning
Build a health repository of all the citizens with details like pre-existing diseases, comorbidity, health status, etc. The repository needs to be updated quarterly to account for patient data changes
This health repository data is combined with the C19 profile (disease susceptibility) and/or other seasonal diseases to determine the healthcare capacity (medicines, doctors, etc.) needed
The healthcare capacity deficit/excess needs to be analysed in categories (beds, equipment, medicine, personnel, etc.) and regions (city, state, etc.) and actions taken accordingly
Regular capacity management will ensure patients aren’t deprived of timely treatment. In addition, such planning helps in the equitable distribution of healthcare across regions and optimising health care costs. Healthcare sector is better prepared to scale-up/down their operations
Based on the analysis citizens can be informed about their probability of needing hospitalisation on contracting C19. Citizens with a higher health risk on C19 infection should be personally trained on prevention and tips to manage the disease on occurrence
The diagram below explains the process
Mechanism to increase hospital capacity without cost escalation
Due to the nature of C19, health personnel are prone to infection and their safety is a big issue. There is also a shortage of hospitable beds available. Even non-C19 patients aren’t getting the required treatment because health personnel seek it as a risk. This resulted in, healthcare costs going up and availability reducing.
To mitigate such issues, hospital layouts may need to be altered (as shown in the diagram below). The altered layout improves hospital capacity and availability of health care personnel. It also reduces the need for the arduous C19 protection procedures. Such procedures reduce the patient treatment capacity and puts a toll on hospital management.
Over a period, the number of recovered C19 persons are going to increase significantly. We need to start tapping into their services to reduce the burden on the system. The hospitals need to be divided into 3 zones. The hospital zoning illustration shown below explains how this could be done. In the diagram, patients are shown in green and health care personnel are in light red.
**Assumption: Infected and recovered C19 patients are immune to the disease. This is not clearly established
Better enforcement of social factors
The other reason for high number of infections in countries like India is a glaring disregard in following C19 rules in public places and the laxity in enforcement. Enforcement covers 2 parts, tracking incidents of violation and penalising the behaviour. Government should use modern mechanisms like crowd sourcing to track incidents and ride on the growing public fear to ensure penalty enforcement succeeds. The C19 pandemic has exposed governance limitations in not just following C19 rules, but also in other areas of public safety like road travel, sanitation, dietary habits, etc.
Maximise economic growth
The earlier lockdown has strained the economy. Adequate measures need to be taken to get the economy back on track. Some of the areas that need to be addressed are:
One needs to evaluate the development needs of the country in different categories like growth impetus factors (e.g. building roads, electricity capacity increase), social factors (e.g. waste water treatment plants, health care capacity), and environmental factors (e.g. solar energy generation, EV charging stations). Governments need to accelerate funding in such projects so that that large numbers of unemployed people are hired and trained. Besides giving an immediate boost to the ailing economy such projects have a future payback. The governments should not get bogged down by the huge fiscal deficit such measures can create. Such a mechanism to get money out in the economy is far than better measures like QE (Quantitative Easing) or free money transfer into people’s bank accounts
Certain items like smartphone, internet, masks, etc. have become critical (for work, education, critical government announcements). It’s essential to subsidise or reduce taxes so that these items are affordable and accessible to everyone without a financial impact
The government shouldn’t put too many C19 related controls on service offerings (e.g. shops, schools, restaurants, cabs). Putting many controls increases the cost of the service which neither the seller not buyer is willing or able to pay. Where controls are put, the Govt should bear the costs or reduce taxes or figure out a mechanism so that the cost can be absorbed.
An event like the C19 pandemic is a great opportunity to rationalise development imbalances in the country. Government funding should be channelized more to under-developed regions. This drives growth in regions that need it most. It also prevents excess migration that has resulted in uncontrolled and bad urbanisation that has made C19 management hard (guidelines like social distance are impossible to follow)
Post-C19 lockdown, the business environment (need for sanitizers, masks, home furniture) has changed. To make people employable in new flourishing businesses there could be a need to re-skill people. Such an initiative can be taken up by the public/private sector
The number of C19 infected asymptomatic patients is going to keep increasing. Building an economy around them (existing, recovered C19 patients) may not be a far-fetched idea. E.g. jobs for C19 infected daily wage earners, C19 infected taxi drivers to transport C19 patients, etc.
In the last 100 years, mankind has conquered the destructive aspects of many a disease and natural mishap (hurricanes, floods, etc.). Human lives lost in such events has dramatically dropped over the years and our preparedness has never been this good. Nature seems to have caught up with mankind’s big strides in science and technology. C19 has been hard to reign in with no breakthrough yet. The C19 pandemic is here to stay for the near future. The more we accept this reality and change ourselves to live with it amidst us, the faster we can return to a new normal. A quote from Edward Jenner (inventor of Small Pox) seems apt in the situation – “The deviation of man from the state in which he was originally placed by nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of diseases”.
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