Prostate, colorectal, and lung cancer remain among the most common diseases in men while breast cancer, maternal mortality, and Alzheimer’s disease are quite common in women. Researchers and scientists continue to develop and test new treatments for these fatal conditions. Here’s a look at some major developments in these areas.

Radiation therapy is a common and highly effective treatment option for prostate cancer. However, it can unintentionally injure surrounding healthy tissues resulting in a range of bowel, urinary, and sexual function disorders.
SpaceOAR Hydrogel is an innovative new treatment for men undergoing radiation treatment for prostate cancer that acts as a spacer, providing space between the rectum and prostate. This reduces the chances that the rectum is exposed to harmful radiation, explains Steven E. Finkelstein, MD, director, Advanced Urology Institute/Bay Regional Cancer Center, Panama City, Florida.

Before starting radiation treatment, the physician injects the hydrogel between the prostate and rectum. The material quickly solidifies into a soft gel that expands in the space, creating a barrier, Finkelstein explains. The hydrogel remains in this space until radiation therapy is completed and then the body eliminates it. 
SpaceOAR is the first and only prostate cancer spacing device to receive FDA clearance. It received approval in April 2015. Clinical data has highlighted the long-term bowel and sexual quality of life benefits in men receiving SpaceOAR. Results from 

three and five-year post treatment studies 

support the use of SpaceOAR during radiotherapy for prostate cancer.

Michigan Institute of Urology in Detroit, Michigan, offers a radiopharmaceutical treatment called Xofigo, which can help extend life by more than 30% in men whose prostate cancer no longer responds to medical or surgical treatment, and has spread to the bone with symptoms but not to other parts of the body. “Xofigo gives off a strong energy that is deadly to cancer cells in the bones, but does limited damage to nearby healthy cells,” says Kenneth Kernen, MD, partner, urologist, and director of research. Patients receive one injection every four weeks, six injections total.
As a radiopharmaceutical, when it is injected into the vein it is radioactive. It goes to areas in the bone where prostate cancer has spread and attacks those cells, Kernen says.

In the past few years, Eyal Meiri, MD, interim chief of medical oncology, medical oncologist, Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Atlanta, reports more use of immunotherapy in individuals with colorectal cancer. Immunotherapy refers to treatment of cancer using the body's immune system to identify and attack cancer cells. One type of immunotherapy involves using innovative medications called checkpoint inhibitors.

Cancer cells have developed a mechanism to fool the immune system from recognizing them as foreign. Checkpoint inhibitors release immune T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells, Meiri says.

In 2017, the FDA approved two checkpoint inhibitors, pembrolizumab and nivolumab for eligible patients. More than 80% of patients benefited from the therapy in one trial of patients with MSI-H colorectal cancer, says Meiri.

“These treatments hold promise due to their low toxicity and long-lasting benefits,” Meiri says. The lack of nausea, hair loss, fatigue, and many other side effects of chemotherapy make this treatment option attractive.

TransAnal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS)

This newer approach to remove rectal tumors and polyps, is a safe, effective, and valid option for select patients with early stage rectal cancers and pre-cancerous growths of the rectum, according to a r

. TAMIS, developed in 2009 by Sam Atallah, MD, director, colorectal surgery, Oviedo Medical Center in Oviedo, Florida., and two other surgeons, allows surgeons to perform surgery through a natural orifice without any scars and with minimal or no pain afterward.

TAMIS uses laparoscopic equipment, high-definition cameras, and a specialized insufflation system. The recent study published in the 

monitored 200 cases over a six-year period and found that the procedure helped patients maintain organ preservation.

Jorge E. Gomez, MD, director of thoracic oncology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, and member of the American Lung Association’s Lung Cancer Expert Medical Advisory Panel, has found success in using immunotherapy.

In patients with inoperable stage 3 lung cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes in the center of the chest, using immunotherapy after chemotherapy and radiation, has delayed recurrence of cancer in many patients by over 10 months, says Gomez.

Immunotherapy has been able to improve what is called the “progression-free survival rate.” This is the length of time between treatments where the cancer doesn’t grow, he says. 

 showed that the progression free survival for patients receiving immunotherapy was 16.8 months compared to 5.6 months with a placebo.

Norman Edelman, MD, senior scientific advisor to the American Lung Association and professor of preventive medicine, internal medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, has seen success reported in the scientific literature in using PD-1 inhibitors to reactivate the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. These drugs work in the most common form of lung cancer and have been shown to increase survival rates within one year.

One standard treatment for early stage breast cancer treatment after removing the breast tumor (lumpectomy) is whole breast radiation. Radiation to the whole breast usually occurs five days a week for four to six weeks.
Asal Rahimi, MD, MS, assistant professor and director of clinical research, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, and her medical group are among the pioneers of a new partial breast irradiation technique called stereotactic partial breast irradiation. It entails treating a focused portion of the breast where the tumor was removed. During lumpectomy surgery, the breast surgeon places small markers in the breast to indicate where treatment should be delivered.

The group developed and conducted a clinical trial to deliver partial breast irradiation non-invasively for five days. “By increasing the radiation dose and pinpointing it, we are able to reduce the number of radiation sessions to the area where the tumor was removed,” says Rahimi.

Early results of the study demonstrated outstanding tumor control and excellent cosmetic results while giving women more flexibility in their daily routines during treatment for early stage breast cancer, she says.

Henry K. Tsai, MD, radiation oncologist, ProCure Proton Therapy Center, Somerset, New Jersey, treats patients with proton therapy-an advanced form of radiation treatment that also reduces radiation exposure to normal, healthy organs. “This is especially important if a woman is diagnosed with left-sided breast cancer, as the cancer is very close to critical organs such as the heart and lungs,” he says. A recent study showed that patients with left-sided breast cancer may be more likely than patients with right-sided breast cancer to develop cardiovascular diseases after receiving radiation treatment.

Proton therapy and X-ray radiation therapy both treat breast cancer by killing cancer cells when they attempt to divide and multiply. However, unlike X-ray radiation which releases radiation as it passes through the body beyond the tumor and exposes more tissue to unwanted radiation-potentially causing more damage to healthy tissue and organs than proton therapy-proton therapy delivers most of the radiation exactly at the tumor site and then stops, Tsai says. With proton therapy, there is essentially no radiation exposure beyond the tumor site, resulting in significantly less excess radiation being delivered to the heart and the lungs compared to X-ray radiation therapy.

One contributing factor to maternal mortality stems from the fact that clinicians integrate a myriad of information points as they continuously revise their assessments during childbirth. “Medical judgment is prone to lapses and biases, especially when coupled with fatigue or distractions,” says Steven L. Clark, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Maternal Fetal Medicine, and program director for the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

An innovative perinatal software solution (PeriGen), which is used at Baylor College of Medicine, is now available that incorporates artificial intelligence features to enhance early recognition of worsening conditions and standardization of care during childbirth. “This solution provides a single, time-aligned color-coded view of critical data over many hours showing how the mother and baby are tolerating labor with respect to expected norms,” says Clark. “A curve module assesses labor progression, accounting for several factors such as the frequency of contractions and epidural use.”

At a glance, PeriGen gives clinicians a consistent unbiased analysis of key developments that are usually scattered throughout the medical record.  “When early warning signs have been identified, specific treatment can be tailored,” Clark says.

According to research by MedStar, a health system, when using PeriGen’s decision support software solutions over a 10-year period, there was a 54% reduction in the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, assisted ventilation, or intubation; a 52% decline in unanticipated neonatal intensive care unit transfers; and stabilized Cesarean rates. During this period, MedStar’s obstetrics-related medical malpractice payouts dropped from nearly a third of the system's total to approximately 8%.

Ronald E. Iverson, Jr., MD, MPH, vice chair, Obstetrics, Department of OB-GYN, Boston Medical Center in Boston, says the center has incorporated obstetric bundled care into its obstetric service’s approach to four of the most common causes of maternal death: hemorrhage, hypertension, venous thromboembolism, and opiate use disorder. “Through our collaborative process, we have become completely prepared to prevent, diagnose, and treat patients for the common causes of maternal death and severe illness,” he says.

“By working as a team with all of the services involved in maternal care, we have uncovered gaps in our service that we have addressed and improved together,” Iverson says. “Only when we are all thinking together can we understand the problems and find solutions that work consistently in our environment. Patient care is complex, and situations change quickly, so we all need to understand and complement each other’s work. Confirming that our processes are being followed through with numerous measurements ensures that we learn from our care, which allows us to continually improve.”

Sharon A. Brangman, MD, is director of Upstate Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York. In July 2018, Brangman’s center, along with other sites across the country, began enrolling eligible patients into a clinical trial to evaluate the use of Roche’s drug gantenerumab as a potential treatment for people with early to mild Alzheimer’s disease.

Gantenerumab is an antibody that helps break down amyloid in the brain, Brangman says. Amyloid is an abnormal protein that builds up in the brain of some people with Alzheimer’s disease, causing brain damage.

Early studies show that the drug is effective, she says. “One of the purposes of this clinical trial is to determine if removing amyloid from the brain slows down or improves the loss of brain function that is seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease.”

This clinical trial will also help to determine the safety and effectiveness of gantenerumab as it works to reduce the amount of amyloid in the brain.

Alzheimer’s disease has recently been referred to as “type 3 diabetes” in research. This is because in brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, a deficiency in insulin, insulin growth factors, and insulin receptors-independent of whether or not an individual has type 1 or 2 diabetes, has been shown.

Evidence also shows that a high fat, low carbohydrate diet can help prevent and improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease as can aerobic and cognitive exercises, says David Traster, DC, functional neurologist, South Florida Integrative Health in Miami. Furthermore. Neurofeedback therapy has also been shown to improve function in Alzheimer’s disease patients, he says. Natural anti-inflammatory supplements such as fish oil, curcumin, and resveratrol may help prevent and improve Alzheimer’s disease, research shows.

Traster’s medical center specializes in evaluating functional brain health using state-of-the-art technology. Clinicians customize a treatment plan for each patient, which may consist of nutritional advice, a physical exercise plan, a cognitive exercise program, neurofeedback therapy, and natural anti-inflammatory products.

Karen Appold is a medical writer in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

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Researchers and scientists continue to develop and test new treatments for these fatal conditions. Here’s a look at some major developments in these areas.

Six Fatal Conditions: Treatment Developments Health Execs Should Know

Some health insurers are giving members cash rewards when they choose less-expensive healthcare providers or have procedures or tests performed at lower-priced facilities.

Health Care Service Corporation, a health insurer in Chicago, is one of them. Its member rewards program is available through its “Provider Finder” tool and customer advocate resources, making it simple to compare costs for procedures and see which facility selections will lead to rewards, says Tom Meier, vice president of Market Solutions.

In return for choosing a more cost-effective, quality facility, members receive a check ranging from $25 to $500 depending on where they receive care. The greater the savings, the greater the reward, says Meier. 

Priority Health a health insurer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is another example. It has a “cost estimator” tool to inform members what their specific out-of-pocket costs will be based on their plan benefits, and how they can potentially save money.

Savings generated for members depend on their plan, how much they have paid toward their deductible, and if they have a coinsurance amount, says Nathan Foco, senior director of Market & Sales Intelligence. If the member has a high-deductible plan and hasn’t met the deductible, the savings applies to the member only. If the member has met the deductible, then Priority Health and the member split the savings.

Members receive a Visa gift card with $50, $100, or $200 depending on the procedure and facility selected. Procedures such as total cataract surgery, shoulder and knee arthroscopy, and ear tubes fall within the $200 rewardable category; magnetic resonance imaging, heart echo imaging, and Doppler heart exams are in the $100 category; and computed tomography and bone density scans are in the $50 category.

Insurers could reap big rewards for helping patients make more cost-conscious decisions, says Stuart Hanson, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Payment Solutions, Change Healthcare, a healthcare technology company. “An insurer may recognize reduced recovery time, improved overall results, fewer return visits to the emergency room, and so forth from a certain provider that could result in improved outcomes for the patient as well as reduced expenses for both the patient and insurer.”

Some insurers are also using incentives to meet volume commitments to specific healthcare providers, especially for certain higher-volume procedures, Hanson says. They typically put these arrangements in place with high-quality providers for services like frequent diagnostic procedures such as laboratory testing or diagnostic imaging.

In the three years since launching its cost estimator tool, Priority Health has saved $7 million in healthcare costs and has distributed $1.2 million in cash rewards. “We believe that the more informed, and therefore engaged our members are, the better their outcomes will be,” says Foco. “If we didn’t offer cash incentives, we wouldn’t get the level of engagement that we have.”

Use of the cost estimator tool has steadily increased to 10% for group and individual members, including those with marketplace plans, and exceeds the industry average of 2%-which is five times the national average. Foco believes the high engagement is because the tool provides customized cost information. “We continue to enhance the tool to meet members’ demands, and recently added prescription costs,” he says.

Health Care Service Corporation launched its member rewards initiative in January 2017. It has already realized more than $2.6 million in claims expense savings and given more than 3,000 reward checks to members.

“By empowering members to be active consumers of their care, we expect to see lower costs for payers responsible for claims payments because they can more easily compare costs for medical procedures,” Meier says.

It can be difficult to teach and motivate members or employees to shop for services rather than simply going to the facility that their trusted physician recommends, says Suzannah Gill, JD, benefits strategy consultant, EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, an employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm.

“It goes against the general practice to question a physician’s recommendation, so people need to be trained and motivated to do so,” she says. “Cash-back incentives provide the carrot to encourage people to be smarter healthcare consumers.”

Because cash-back incentives are well received by employees and are completely voluntary, they are an extremely effective solution-they drive lower costs and members perceive them as a plan enhancement, she says.

For these initiatives to be effective, patients and employees need to know that their health insurer offers incentives and then be able to determine which provider to select to secure the incentive.

Health Care Service Corporation members can check with their employer’s human resources group to understand what programs and benefits are available. “We work directly with employers to develop engagement plans and use direct marketing to encourage members to shop for care,” Meier says. “We send monthly emails and postcards to members, and communications to members through their employers.”

Hanson says cash back incentives are a smart strategy, but he says insurers must actively monitor data. “Insurers should look to expand the predictive value of their data by leveraging additional care and outcome data that may be available in the industry to improve the predictive value and better design and monitor the long-term financial and health outcomes that are achieved.”

Payers Save Money by Doling Out Patient Incentives 

Thirty-seven percent of healthcare executives are considering a career change within a year and 9% are considering an immediate career change, according to a 2018 career report from healthcare executive search firm B.E. Smith. Even if you’re not ready to make a transition right now, it’s always important to keep your resume polished and your networking skills on point. The industry is changing rapidly, and new opportunities may arise unexpectedly. Here’s advice from experts.

Twenty-eight percent of LinkedIn users have between zero and 300 connections, according to a 2016 report from Statista. Twenty-seven percent have between 500 and 999 connections. And 1% have more than 10,000 connections. Consider your own page. How many of your connections have actually interacted with you one-on-one?

Christina Maley Higley, owner and CEO of Rochester, New York’s MedSense Recruiting, says sending a LinkedIn connection request to a useful new contact, such as a chief operating officer at a nearby hospital, is a smart tactic. But that’s only half the battle. After the person accepts your request, Maley Higley says follow up with a personal note.

Be bold, she says. “Ask him if he’d like to meet for coffee and chat further about his position. Tell him you’d like to learn more about what he does.”

A lot of people are willing to meet for 15 minutes, so it’s worth a try, says Maley Higley. Once you are chatting, set the right tone by saying something like, “Hey John, I’ve really taken an interest in what you do at your organization. I’m thinking about my next career steps and bettering myself. How did you get to this point in your career?”

Cody Burch, executive vice president at B.E. Smith, notes the large transformation occurring in healthcare. Take, for example, CVS Health’s move to acquire Aetna, Geisinger’s shift to serve as provider and payer, and UnitedHealthcare’s OptumCare’s 2017 acquisition of Surgical Care Associates.

He recommends healthcare executives embrace this transformation and consider it when planning their career trajectory. For example, a lateral role at a payer organization could be a good career move if you have years of experience on the provider side.

“Don’t see your next step as a ladder,” he says. “You need to think of opportunities as a lattice. Even if one role feels like a lateral move, you can learn and grow and be better prepared.”

Healthcare executives also need to “demonstrate the ability to change,” says Burch. “With consolidation and all the things that are associated with that, healthcare organizations need executives who can be flexible and adaptable to those changes.”

Given the blending between payer and provider organizations, build your skill sets in both areas. For example, provider executives working in hospital operations could get involved in a large-scale project that includes team members who work closely with payers, says Burch.

Provider executives should also realize that they bring a wealth of perspective to payers. “You bring the clinical side to the conversation, he says. “What you need to be able to do is demonstrate the capacity to talk about the clinical side and how [providers] may perceive change or adversity.”

Still, Burch notes that pitching yourself isn’t easy. A good way to start is by “working above your day job,” and asking to be assigned to cross-organizational teams that are solving the organization’s toughest problems.

Kasey Fahey-Kaiser, director of the payer-healthcare IT practice at Solon, Ohio-based Direct Recruiters, says new “opportunities can come in disguise or at inopportune times.” Don’t be so heads down that you miss out on what’s going on around you, she says.

While you don’t have any control over an unforeseen retirement or move at your organization, the best way to position yourself for success is to excel in your current role and exceed expectations, says Fahey-Kaiser.

“[D]own the road, those former colleagues, clients, and managers will be the meaningful references and relationships leveraged to help [you] achieve [your] dreams,” she says. To ensure you’re ready for an unexpected opportunity, she suggests continually tracking your quantifiable accomplishments and keeping an updated resume.

How healthcare executives can ensure they are always in the best position to take advantage of the next career opportunity.

Four Ways Health Execs Can Advance Their Careers 

The United States continues to outspend other high-income nations in healthcare without superior outcomes, despite efforts to transition to value-based care and new reimbursement models. The U.S. spent 17.8% of its gross domestic product on healthcare in 2016 compared to an average of 11.5% in similar nations, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund. Outsourcing, streamlining operations, and changing reimbursement models have made some progress, but real improvement must come from innovative new strategies. Here are some of the biggest areas of promise to watch.

EHRs, which were initiated with the promise of improving care and reducing costs, have not fulfilled that mission as hoped, says Barak Richman, JD, PhD, a member of the Health Sector Management faculty at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Richman co-authored a study in JAMA, in which he details the time and cost associated with various billing and administrative functions, and in which he finds that EHRs have resulted in little improvement.

On the clinical side, Richman says EHRs should make health data available to patients and physicians to help in diagnosing and identifying the most effective medical regimens.  But to do that, these systems need to be rebuilt around the patient, he says. “You have to have an architecture that wherever the patient goes, whoever they see, those records should be readily available,” he says. “And I don’t think we have a health record architecture in this country that can do that.” Simplification is needed to move forward, he says, pointing to the electronic healthcare cards that contain centralized data that are used by patients in countries like France.

Centralizing and streamlining data would offer patients more control over their health choices and spending, he says. Increased efficiencies through a system that is more user-friendly and allows patients to access and aggregate their own data could save a lot of trouble-and dollars. “The more we digitize records and take them out of these silos, the more we can do that,” he says.

While efforts to improve interoperability are underway, Richman says there is a long way to go. “I think the next step is that the industry is trying to figure out how to work around EHR systems. Which is a sad irony. You build up this huge infrastructure to do what you want to do, and now we see the best way to do the things you want to do is to work around it.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is garnering attention in terms of streamlining administrative costs and patient care, says Pamela Hepp, JD, MPH, a healthcare consultant with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. “There are various sources of administrative waste within the healthcare system, including inefficiencies in the delivery of care from duplicative services, medication errors, and other types of clinical errors that lead to additional services and/or increased morbidity.”

In addition, physicians report that they are overloaded with data, Hepp says, leading to inefficiencies in care delivery. “Artificial intelligence can winnow down the amount of data necessary to that which is essential for physicians to make decisions,” she says. One example is streamlining the many treatment options physicians face for every patient.

“Artificial intelligence can analyze information regarding all patients for which such treatment options have been utilized to predict how patients may react to a given drug or treatment plan, thereby developing a more effective patient-specific treatment plan and improving patient compliance and outcomes,” Hepp says. “Artificial intelligence may also help to streamline the clinical trial process by gathering and analyzing data across study sites in a more cohesive and comparative way.”

To be successful, the information provided to physicians must be manageable in terms volume as well as understandable and useful, Hepp says. It’s not enough to know how many patients have heart failure, for example. But, knowing which medications and treatment modalities improve outcomes with less hospitalizations is useful. That’s where AI comes in, it can analyze volumes of data to infer evidence-based strategies and functions that help patients and reduce costs, Hepp says.

The artificial intelligence technology of today has a greater capacity to analyze, solve problems, and make decisions, Hepp says. The concern going forward, she says, will be making sure this technology is affordable and secure.

“Value-based payment systems, population health management, and other clinical uses of artificial intelligence require the development and implementation of a technology infrastructure across all providers involved in the care spectrum. Such technology is expensive and there are regulatory constraints as to how such technology can be deployed by a health system to independent providers within the community,” Hepp says. “Many providers also view data mining as suspect, and while the use of artificial intelligence for the purposes described can occur in a way that is HIPAA compliant, many providers may be hesitant to share data on a wide scale beyond the traditional treatment, payment, and for their own business operations.”

Rachael Zimlich, RN, is a writer in Columbia Station, Ohio.

From EHRs that didn’t fulfill promised savings to a system that still rewards volume over value, our experts examine what’s next in the quest to cut the fat from healthcare spending.

Two Changes Needed to Tackle Healthcare Costs

While you're reading this opening sentence, AI is quietly disrupting the practice of medicine as we know it. 

In fact, AI is about to do what we hoped to see technology do in the last decade for the health industry: Empower organizations and clinicians to improve the health, outcomes, and experience of care for more people in less time and at lower cost. It's happening now in fits and starts, but, eventually, as AI becomes invisibly woven into the fabric of our work and lives, the practice of medicine will become astonishingly more efficient, effective, and, ironically-more human. 

And that's good news for the U.S. health industry that's known for its overachievement in inefficiency and consumer unfriendliness.

It's also good news for clinicians that are legitimately skeptical of highfalutin promises of new technologies. They're skeptical because their experiences with EHRs have left them feeling hindered more than helped by computers. Some studies have shown that up to half of their day is now spent facing a computer screen instead of patients. 

AI, (think of it as a mostly invisible machines with human-like abilities to perceive, read, speak, and learn, and analyze), is wildly different from any technology we’ve experienced before. 

Why? First, because AI is more like us. It can sense, converse, work, and act for us, on our behalf.  In contrast, the EHR is more like a complex tool that requires special training and repetitive use to build the skills required to master the tool.  The more you use it, of course, the more adept at it you become, and the more good things you can do with the tool.  But the learning curve is long and painful. Thankfully, AI is almost the exact opposite. It requires almost no training to use because it can adapt to the way we think and work.

Second, AI delivers a big advantage over EHRs. AI doesn't just work on our behalf.  It works on our behalf without getting in our way like the keyboards and displays that EHRs require.  That’s because AI hardware is usually hidden in the cloud, out of sight.  So, there’s no hardware to get between the patient and clinician

Lastly, unlike humans, AI works tirelessly, instantly, and can analyze thousands of data points at the same time. This means that AI can work on behalf of clinicians behind the scenes, vastly expanding their capacity to act. This frees them to do more important things, like direct patient care, sleeping, or even working at improving their work-life balance. 

To be sure, AI will never get a chance to earn its keep unless health organizations and clinicians choose to adopt it. Fortunately, health organizations will rapidly adopt it because, with operating cost growth overtaking revenue growth, it won’t be long before they won’t be able to afford to operate without it.  And, unlike past technologies that took years to see any results, AI will prove its value almost instantly by finding its way into existing workflows. And don’t worry about clinicians adopting AI. When clinicians experience AI that amplifies their productivity and expands their capacity to act, they'll want more of it, not less.

editorial advisor, is chief health strategy officer, Microsoft US Health & Life Sciences.

Artificial intelligence is about to do what we hoped to see technology do in the last decade for the health industry: Empower organizations and clinicians to improve the health, outcomes, and experience of care for more people in less time and at lower cost.

Three Reasons AI is ‘Wildly Different’ than Other Healthcare Technologies  

As more apps come to market, wearable users look for more sophisticated devices. Here are 10 of them.

Vol 28 No 8

Six Fatal Conditions: Treatment Developments Health Execs Should Know

Payers Save Money by Doling Out Patient Incentives

Four Ways Health Execs Can Advance Their Careers

Two Changes Needed to Tackle Healthcare Costs

Three Reasons AI is ‘Wildly Different’ than Other Healthcare Technologies

Ten Healthcare Wearables Health Execs Should Watch