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The practicing physician and entrepreneur said that the carwash model does not work well for healthcare. But he’s optimistic about the future of patient-generated data, biometrics and connected devices improving doctor-patient collaboration.

Iowa- and Illinois-based Genesis Health Systems has joined forces with visibility and analytics provider, STANLEY Healthcare, and nurse call platform provider, Critical Alert, to streamline clinical workflows using STANLEY'S RTLS platform and Critical Alert's Nurse Call tool, the companies announced last week.   Using the native integration from Critical Alert and the staff workflow function of STANLEY's RTLS platform, the staff at Genesis can locate clinicians and respond to bedside patient alerts and requests. Maureen Nylin, nursing clinical informatics specialist at Genesis Health System told Healthcare IT News that Genesis expects the implementation will improve HCAHPS scores and staff and patient satisfaction.   "The implementation was a collaborative approach," Nylin said. "Alarm management is a hot button issue from everyone across the board; it's getting tongue-in-cheek. It's not about managing alarms, but making sure what you're doing is meaningful."   "For our clinicians, when they're getting messages, they know exactly what the patient needs," she added. "Trying to overcome alarm fatigue is about getting the right message to the right person, at the right time."   Implementation began in June of 2015 at Genesis' DeWitt Community Hospital. According to Nylin, one of the greatest improvements is that patient calls are canceled as the nurse walks into a room, which frees up time for the clinician.   Furthermore, the data is being collected for a knowledge base to "see the low-hanging fruit," Nylin said. "We'd like to use the analytics to see where we can improve efficiencies."   The Critical Alert tool captures data from clinical workflow, allowing staff to analyze the data points into the nurse call system, according to Josh Troop, marketing director for Critical Alert.   "We're working with companies like STANLEY, to create something much more valuable than two equal parts," Troop said. "In this case, we were able to leverage the STANLEY investment that Genesis already made to ramp up our tools already. Our systems work together seamlessly in the background."   For STANLEY, it's about making sure "clinicians have more time to spend with the patient to improve the care arena," Nadav Barkaee, product manager for integrations, STANLEY Healthcare said. "One of the major benefits of being able to offer an enterprise-grade RTLS solution is to make sure the investment can be used across multiple solutions for staff efficiencies and workflow."   Genesis plans to implement the systems at four more of its hospitals in the near future.

An experimental program called Independence at Home saved an average of $13,600 per patient during its first year. 

Marc Harrison, MD, will replace current CEO Charles Sorenson, who intends to stay on and work with Intermountain’s Healthcare Leadership Institute. 

Networks are aiding medical practices and community health centers to prepare for population health and value-based reimbursement, executive director Debra Simmons says.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will donate $80 million to help close the gender gap and advance pay equality. "We cannot close the gender gap if we do not close the data gap," Melinda Gates, who co-chairs the foundation with her husband Bill Gates, said in a statement. "If advocacy for women and girls is about giving voice to the voiceless – gathering and analyzing data is about making the invisible visible." To that end, Gates said the funding will be used to collect data in areas such as time use, unpaid work, and economic empowerment. Gates revealed the three-year initiative last week at the 4th Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. “There are two reasons why it is absolutely fundamental that women go into technology: One is that they are some of the highest-paying jobs in the United States, so that should be open to women," Gates told New York Magazine after the announcement. "Secondly, that’s where all the new innovations are coming from.” Gates also said that the technology industry needs to arm more women with the capital necessary to create apps innovations.  Twitter: @Bernie_HITN Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn

Angie Puffer, operations manager in the Mayo Clinic’s Office of Access Management, spoke at the Healthcare IT News Pop Health Forum 2016 and shared some of the lessons Mayo has learned in attracting those to the patient portal.

The physician will help implement an Epic EHR at the Connecticut health system and work as a hospitalist at one of UConn Health’s facilities.

The new application programming interface enables information exchange in a similar way to Apple HealthKit, the company says. 

Providers must establish a respectful relationship with patients if they want to have a positive impact on behavior. Technology can help but it’s not a substitute for reaching people where they live and work.