April 2023 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Intermountain Health announces launch of new biotech company
Intermountain Health announced the launch of Culmination Bio (“Culmination”), a biotech company developing an exclusive, anonymized, and de-identified intelligence platform that creates value for patients by developing novel clinical insights, discoveries, and care processes.
Culmination’s multi-modal intelligence platform provides its customers with access to omics-level data and a powerful insights engine for medical research, health data, and healthcare services. Real-world data and evidence generation tied to the performance of diagnostics and therapeutics is a core component of the Culmination intelligence database.
Cleveland Clinic and IBM unveil first quantum computer dedicated to healthcare research
Cleveland Clinic and IBM officially unveiled the first deployment of an onsite private sector IBM-managed quantum computer in the United States. The IBM Quantum System One installed at Cleveland Clinic will be the first quantum computer in the world to be uniquely dedicated to healthcare research with an aim to help Cleveland Clinic accelerate biomedical discoveries.
The unveiling comes as a key milestone in Cleveland Clinic’s and IBM’s 10-year Discovery Accelerator partnership, announced in 2021, which is focused on advancing the pace of biomedical research through the use of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that today’s most powerful supercomputers cannot practically solve. The ability to tap into these new computational spaces could help researchers identify new medicines and treatments more quickly.
New report reveals healthcare worker’s greatest safety concerns
Motorola Solutions released the results of its Healthcare Worker Safety Report after surveying 500 respondents, including doctors, nurses, technicians and administrators between December 2022 and January 2023.
Overall, the data shows that healthcare workers feel safe in their respective medical environments, but are grappling with safety issues that have dominated headlines in recent years. Those that have healthcare professionals most concerned include: patients becoming violent (72%), the impacts of burnout/mental health (61%) and active assailants (42%). Healthcare employees also provided insights on their preferred communication methods for when safety issues do arise in facilities or in patients’ homes.
Key findings from the report include:
- The initial and persisting impact of COVID-19 continues to threaten healthcare workers’ mental health and propensity for job burnout (77%).
- As home healthcare services become more commonplace, 41% of respondents indicated they would worry more about their personal safety if they were to deliver care in a patient’s home versus in a traditional hospital/healthcare system setting.
- Like many in society, 40% of healthcare workers are concerned about the threat of an active assailant.
- Respondents (54%) voiced that personal safety is a top priority for them to continue working in the industry.
- Healthcare workers believe the right safety communications and training will help them to feel more prepared for emergencies at work. Respondents expressed interest in panic button technology or another 9-1-1 alerting system (55%), safety procedure training (51%), customized texts and/or phone alerts (48%), easily accessible, digital safety plans (46%) and the availability of a safety app with resources, plans and emergency contacts (44%).