Michael J. Dowling, President & CEO of Northwell Health, shares insights on healthcare's unique challenges and responsibilities, emphasizing its complexity and critical human element. Drawing on his extensive experience across different sectors of healthcare, Dowling highlights nuances often overlooked by critics, including the sector's obligation to serve everyone irrespective of payment, the constraints in setting prices, the impact of insurance denials on payments, and the influence of insurance companies on clinical decisions. He also discusses the non-negligible role of social issues on health outcomes, the essential balance between business goals and community mission, and the evolving nature of health systems beyond hospitals. Dowling’s commentary underscores the importance of understanding these complexities for anyone looking to constructively contribute to healthcare improvement.

Michael Dowling: 9 healthcare nuances that defy simple criticisms Becker's Hospital Review

The AI Maturity Roadmap article, sponsored by NEJM AI and developed in collaboration between the Health Management Academy, Microsoft, and Nuance, details a comprehensive framework designed to guide health systems in effectively deploying and maturing their AI capabilities. Authored by experts across the field, the roadmap outlines six key focus areas: Culture, Governance, Business Implementation, Value, Maintenance and Operations, and Information Architecture, under which several granular themes are categorized. It introduces a five-level maturity model, ranging from “awareness” to “transformational”, to assist health systems in benchmarking their progress. Initial findings reveal a general skew towards the lower levels of maturity among participating health systems, highlighting the widespread variety in approaches to AI integration. The roadmap emphasizes the necessity of inclusive consideration of human, technology, and process factors and aims to be both a strategic guide and a framework for ongoing discussion and refinement among industry leaders.

The AI Maturity Roadmap: A Framework for Effective and Sustainable AI in Health Care New England Journal of Medicine

AT&T is investigating a data leak that exposed personal information of 73 million current and former customers on the dark web. The leak, which includes Social Security numbers but not financial information or call details, is believed to be from 2019 or earlier, affecting around 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders. Although it's unclear whether the data came directly from AT&T or a vendor, there's no evidence yet of unauthorized system access. The company is contacting affected customers to change their passcodes and is offering credit monitoring services. This incident comes after AT&T was previously alerted about a potential leak two weeks prior, asserting at the time that their systems had not been compromised and the data might be from an earlier shared dataset.

AT&T says personal data from 73 million current and former account holders leaked onto dark web | CNN Business CNN

Despite efforts by UnitedHealth Group to rectify system issues within Change Healthcare, both providers and health insurance companies are bracing for prolonged disruptions extending beyond the anticipated resolution timeframe. The overarching sentiment suggests a lengthy adjustment period even after the announced fixes are implemented, highlighting the complexity and widespread impact of the system challenges faced by Change Healthcare.

Disruptions to endure even as Change Healthcare fixes systems Modern Healthcare