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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO

  • 4 May 2023 8:29 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The feasibility of AI and machine learning (ML) tools in healthcare settings is up for debate. ChatGPT made headlines after a recent experiment proved it could pass all three parts of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE). At the same time, experts continue to raise concerns about the tool’s limitations in real-life healthcare situations, as well as its proclivity for inaccuracies and bias.

    While clinicians and other medical experts continue to debate ML’s effectiveness for treating patients, they’re neglecting a much more dependable and equally impactful use case: administrative work. ML has tremendous potential to streamline tedious administrative tasks and free up valuable time for clinicians, which ultimately leads to better patient outcomes. However, the effectiveness of AI in reducing administrative workloads hinges on providers’ ability to properly incorporate these tools into their work routines. 

    More> 

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  • 3 May 2023 12:53 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    OSF HealthCare’s Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center has generated $180 million in economic impact since opening its doors a decade ago, the health system announced last week. [Health News Illinois]

    A study, worked on by OSF and Bradley University, also found the facility has created more than 1,000 jobs throughout central Illinois.

    Additionally, the health system highlighted achievements from the center, such as a smart mirror that reads patient vital signs and 3D printing and virtual reality for presurgical planning.

    All of that helps better deliver care to patients, Dr. John Vozenilek, vice president and chief medical officer for innovation at OSF HealthCare, told Health News Illinois ahead of the report’s release.

    “There's a great advantage, especially to OSF, if we can apply these techniques for good purpose for health and wellness, to flip the access curve — no longer relying on the patient to knock on our door to gain access to healthcare — but us reaching out more in anticipation of needs,” he said.

    Chris Setti, Peoria Economic Development Commission CEO, said the center has not yet approached its full potential. A goal, he said, is for Peoria and healthcare innovation to become as synonymous as Rochester, Minn. and the Mayo Clinic.

    “That's what OSF is building, in large part because of what Jump has done,” he said.

    Vozenilek said they continue to partner with providers and institutes of higher learning like the University of Illinois on grants to further develop new technologies, with collaborations occurring either at the center or by filling “trucks with equipment” to work with smaller communities and rural hospitals and train workers there.

    “We show them the technologies and we show them how we support and provide infrastructure for people with great ideas across disciplines,” Vozenilek said of the collaborations. “And when we try to recruit individuals to come to Peoria, and they can see all of this happening and all of the value and all the opportunity — boy I'll tell you what, the conversation gets quite sweet.”

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  • 3 May 2023 12:19 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The mission of the Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation is to continue the legacy of Michael Reese Hospital by supporting research, education, and community service through relationships that foster quality health care. Our vision is for the provision of excellent care for all patients, regardless of demographic conditions.

    The Michael Reese Foundation realizes this mission through:

    ● Providing grants for translational research projects, addressing clinical issues, converting

    research to practical applications.

    ● Scholarships for diverse students to complete their health care education and fill the need within

    their communities.

    ● Connecting underserved patients with comprehensive care and other community support

    projects.

    The Foundation is seeking a new Executive Director due to the retirement of their current executive director. 

    More details here> 

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  • 2 May 2023 6:24 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    To better understand the social determinants of preterm birth, research efforts have shifted from women’s individual level characteristics toward their exposure to contextual markers. The Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) is a novel measure of spatial social polarization that quantifies the extremes of both privilege and deprivation. Our population-based study adds to the limited published literature on the relation of ICE to preterm birth rates among African-American and non-Latinx white women. We found that the high degree of both racial and income polarization within communities was associated with preterm birth rates even among those who received adequate prenatal care.

    Download article here>

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  • 1 May 2023 9:05 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Every day, Adrienne Grimmett and her colleagues at Evara Health in the Tampa Bay area see stories of inequity in their patients’ teeth, gums, and palates.

    Marked in painful abscesses, dangerous infections, and missing molars are tales of unequal access to care.

    All of these ailments — which keep patients out of work because of pain or social stigma, and children out of school because they can’t concentrate with rotting roots — are preventable.

    Annual dental checks are essential to overall health. But of the 67 counties in Florida, experts say, only one has enough dentists to treat all patients. Nine counties in Florida have fewer than three practicing dentists apiece. Lafayette County, in north Florida, doesn’t have a single one.

    “It’s a social injustice,” said Grimmett, director of dental services at the not-for-profit, which serves Medicaid and uninsured patients in the Tampa Bay region.

    More>

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  • 28 Apr 2023 7:11 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    A new subvariant of the coronavirus has been gaining steam in recent weeks, and it has spread to several countries, including the United States.  The XBB.1.16 subvariant, a member of the omicron variant’s lineage that has been nicknamed Arcturus, has become increasingly common in the U.S. recently, making up almost 10 percent of all cases last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only  the XBB.1.5 subvariant, which made up almost three-quarters of cases last week, is more common. [ The Hill]

    More> 

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  • 27 Apr 2023 7:56 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

     Good luck to the students at the National Hispanic Medical Association! 

    Great turn out~ Welcome to Chicago! 

  • 26 Apr 2023 4:49 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be a key presence in 2023, even as the public health emergency designation — which has propped up funding and key programs in the sector — winds down in May, sparking a major transition in the industry. [Healthcare Dive]

    Providers, already facing pandemic-fueled labor shortages, may struggle to rein in expenses, and financial cricumstances for hospitals and clinicians may fall into negative margins this year. To make matters worse, clashes are expected between payers and providers during rate negotiations as both groups eye a potential widespread economic recession.

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  • 25 Apr 2023 8:38 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

     In an effort to maintain access to coronavirus vaccines for uninsured Americans, HHS has introduced a public-private partnership with pharmaceutical companies.

    The partnership, known as the “HHS Bridge Access Program For COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments Program” (“Program”), took a two-pronged approach to maintain access to coronavirus vaccines for the uninsured population.

    HHS will invest $1.1 billion to establish a partnership with pharmacies so that they will offer coronavirus vaccines and treatments to uninsured individuals for free. Additionally, the program will reinforce the vaccine safety net.

    More> 

  • 24 Apr 2023 8:14 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Premiums for Affordable Care Act benchmark plans rose across the country over the past year, with some of the lowest-cost silver plan premiums increasing in Illinois, according to a recent report from the Urban Institute. [Health News Illinois]

    From 2022 to 2023, monthly premiums on average increased for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois — one of the cheapest silver plans in Springfield and Chicago — by 2.5 percent in Springfield and 0.2 percent in Chicago.

    Overall, the lowest silver premiums in Chicago increased by an average of 21.2 percent, in part due to a 22 percent increase for a plan by Ambetter, which researchers said was likely due to the insurer offering a "very low" 2022 rate.

    Despite increases in some plans in urban and rural markets nationally, analysts attributed differences between the two to heightened competition in large cities, which drives lower rates.

    “Rural healthcare is always going to be expensive,” said John Holahan, a fellow at the Urban Institute. “In an ideal world, big teaching hospitals would be incentivized (to expand) ... If there are more providers, insurers can maybe negotiate better premiums.”

    Inflation and the uncertain future of enhanced premium tax credits also contributed to higher premiums. While subsidies were extended last fall, insurers needed to prepare in case tax credits did not continue, Holahan said.

    “Rule of thumb is that the more subsidized something is, the more healthy people will be more likely to buy insurance or go into a marketplace,” he said. “If they have to pay more, some healthy people will just forgo, figuring they're healthy enough.”

     Illinois was not the only state facing steeper premiums. While average premiums went down annually from 2019 to 2022, this year was a shift. Benchmark plan premiums went up nationally by an average of 3.4 percent in 2023.

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