Diabetes Meets Machine Learning, Part 1
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.Of all the disorders that have responded well to artificial intelligence and machine learning, diabetes mellitus probably tops the list. The evidence supporting a role for Machine Learning (ML)-enhanced algorithms in managing the disease is persuasive and applies to several components of patient care, including screening, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.Let ' s start with screening: As most clinicians know, there ' s a difference between screening for dis...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 22, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
High-Quality Hospital Care — Minus the Hospital
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.In a time of COVID, the current care models just can ’t remain in place. We need innovative ways to address the high cost of acute care. One solution that is taking a front seat is telemedicine. Telecare has accelerated from 3-4% of visits in January 2020 to 90% in April to a new normal of 20% in 2021. Cultural change has modified patient expectations for the care they can get at a distance, which can be more convenient, less likely to result in C...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 12, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Let Your Freak Flag Fly
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.If Mary Putnam Jacobi were alive today, she would probably embrace artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data analytics. Dr. Jacobi might best be described as the mother of modern scientific medicine — or at the very least one of its founding parents. In 1868, she was the first woman to enroll in the University of Paris School of Medicine. After graduating in 1871, this unconventional thinker arrived in the U.S., where she advo...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 10, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
The Therapeutic Potential of Voice Technology
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.The human voice is capable of extraordinary feats of genius and everyday acts of kindness. It can recite Shakespearean sonnets, teach our children moral values, stir audiences with a dramatic performance, and much more. But few of us ever imagined it capable of assisting in the diagnosis of disease. That ’s about the change, as evidenced by several innovative projects in voice technology.With the right digital tools, it is now possible t...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 4, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Wearable Danger
This article is written by John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform.If you ask health care executives what keeps them up at night, many would sum up their worries in one word: ransomware. By one estimate, 56% of organizations suffered aransomware attack in the last year. While there are countless ways in which a cyberthief can penetrate a facility ’s computer network to block access to essential data, one avenue that gets too little attention is through wearables and related medical devices. A growing num...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 26, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
How is AI Impacting Health Care Today?
By John Halamka and Paul Cerrato*We are often asked this question during interviews, podcasts and speaking engagements. It ’s a complicated question that requires context. A closer look at the research and product offerings in digital health demonstrates that there are several high-quality, well-documented algorithms now available, but there are also several questionable vendors that have rushed to market with little evidence to support their claims. Separating the wheat from the chaff can be a full-time occupation.We recently received a press release from a large U.S. company highlighting a new AI system that may be abl...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 22, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Addressing racism with compassion, data analytics
This article is written byJohn Halamka, M.D.,president, Mayo Clinic Platform, andPaul Cerrato,senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform.We speak often about the need to combine human and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient care. Equally important is the marriage of compassion and data analytics ― a powerful duo that is proving invaluable in the battle to eradicate the systemic racism that still permeates health care.Unfortunately, numerous examples demonstrate that systemic racism continues to affect the patient experience and leads to mistrust of health care institutions amo...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 19, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Responding to Misinformation
By John Halamka and Paul CerratoThe singer/songwriter Paul Simon once penned the lyrics: A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest (The Boxer). If that ’s the case, how do we respond to misinformation that contradicts the data/evidence guiding development of treatment and cures? If the only audience willing to read such articles are already critical thinkers, perhaps we are just preaching to the choir. And if by chance, a person who believes in controversial ideas does read articles based on real world evidence, will they consider them a one-sided discussion by the “medical-industrial es...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 14, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
To Build a Fire
In 2021, much of our work at Mayo Clinic Platform will be creating repeatable processes that achieve their intended result in a timely, repeatable, scalable fashion. To understand what it means to achieve process maturity, let me tell the story of firewood management at Unity Farm Sanctuary, a great illustration of use case definition and attention to detail.At the Sanctuary, we heat the farmhouse in the evening with a wood fire using fallen trees from the property. The logs must be sorted into wood species — ash and black birch can be burned without aging, while maple and oak must be aged. Cedar and pine are ...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 4, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Unity Farm Sanctuary – A Community Benefit Startup
Recently I was speaking to Nick Dougherty, managing director ofMassChallenge HealthTech, the digital health accelerator in Massachusetts. After analyzing hundreds of startups, he concluded there are three types of companies:1. Transactional – Buy my product. If you don ' t like it, I ' ll try someone else.2. Confirmatory – Do you like my product? If you don ' t like it, I ' ll change it for you.3. Diagnostic – What product do you need to solve your most pressing issues?Transactional companies limp along. Confirmatory companies succeed but not wildly. Diagnostic companies can grow exp...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - December 29, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Network medicine offers new insights into susceptibility to diseases such as COVID-19
In the past year, we ' ve become familiar with the factors that can make a person more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. The elderly are more at risk, as are those who smoke and are already dealing with other diseases, such as cancer and Type 2 diabetes.At a deeper level, though, there are dozens of other factors that may come into play and influence a person ' s susceptibility to disease. A recent analysis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 14 states found that among patients ages 50-64 that obesity was the most prevalent underlying medical condition. Similarly, there ' s growing evidence to suggest that vitamin D defic...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - December 17, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
The Facilitation of Change in Health Care
Recently, the Washington Post gave an in-depth analysis from the frontlines of the pandemic in Eau Claire, Wis. The moving piece portrays the compassion and ingenuity needed from frontline providers to meet patient needs during a COVID-19 surge. It is a portrayal of excellence that reminds me why so many pursue work in health care. The article highlights the deployment of a hospital-at-home model to increase hospital capacity for the surge. Rita Huebner ’s experience in Mayo Clinic’s advanced care at home offering provides a great exemplar of how technology facilitates patient-focused change within the h...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - November 30, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
COVID-19 Update Part II: Collaborations & Insights to Come
Over the past seven months, COVID-19 has impacted our lives, and my writing moved from social media to Mayo internal communications, pandemic response research papers, and COVID-focused public awareness campaigns. While the challenges have been considerable, the work since April has validated that the healthcare system needs novel technologies, policy reform and cultural change. It ' s time to return to social media posting.COVID-19 has forced a level of focus and collaboration that is accelerating the Mayo Clinic Platform ' s formation. While we are still navigating the pandemic challenges, but despite the obst...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - November 23, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Reinventing Clinical Decision Support
In our latest book,Reinventing Clinical Decision Support: Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Diagnostic Reasoning, Paul Cerrato and I explore the promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning for improving clinicians ’ ability to make more informed diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 2:“AI is a once-in-a-generation transformative technology. As such, expect its impact to be on the scale of the advent of electricity or the Internet,” says Jean-Claude Saghbini, Wolters Kluwer Health.(1)“Artificial intelligence and machine learning are set to transform healthcare....
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - April 24, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
A COVID update
I realize that my blog post frequency has diminished during COVID. Writing time has been redirected to thenational COVID-19 coalition and its 14 workgroups:AnalyticsModeling& SimulationHealth Systems and Clinical SMESupply ChainTelehealthTestingICU and Mechanical VentilationCOVID-19 Data Standardization (mCoVD = Minimal COVID-19 Viable Dataset)Non-Pharmaceutical InterventionsOptimization of Clinical Therapeutics/ProtocolsData Storage and SourceDis/MisinformationPrivacy AdvisoryContact TracingBelow is a description of this week ' s highlightsa. Critical Shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)Worked w...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - April 18, 2020 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
