Designing for Health: Interview with Brian Urban [Podcast]
One of the most promising developments in healthcare over the last 10 years has been the proliferation of wearable technologies and mobile medical devices. These new tools are allowing patients the opportunity to provide critical data to their care teams even when miles away from a hospital. The influx of data into clinical workflows can […]
Is the gold card the golden ticket to fixing prior authorization?
The health insurance landscape has seen prior authorization (PA) grow from a minor hurdle into a sprawling administrative maze. Once a way to ensure medical necessity, PA now contributes to delays, paperwork, and frustration that has affected both physician and patient experiences. Enter the “gold card” concept–a potential game-changer aimed at streamlining PA by exempting […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Scott MacDonald, MD [Podcast]
The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) hold a massive amount of potential within healthcare workflows. Some of the most enticing benefits include ambient listening, note taking, and clinical decision support. While these are exciting goals to strive for, success relies on implementation, buy-in from clinical and administrative staff, and continual […]
Breaking the rules to save lives: Why healthcare needs a policy to override policies
Policies provide structure and guardrails in high-stakes industries, ensuring operations run smoothly and efficiently. But sometimes, rigid adherence to policies leads to absurd or harmful outcomes. Consider the check-in line at the airport; we all know that the rule is that everyone must start at the end of the line and wait their turn. Yet, […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Graham Walker, MD [Podcast]
Within healthcare workflows, miniscule problems or hurdles can have a compounding impact on complexity. An extra click on one page within an electronic health record (EHR) can turn into dozens of extra clicks over the course of a day. This ‘sludge’ can slow down or eliminate efficiencies, burn out physicians, and ultimately result in worse […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Bryan Vartabedian, MD [Podcast]
The modern patient experience is more complex than ever, and while health systems focus on measurable metrics like satisfaction scores, the true patient experience involves much more. Creating memorable and personalized touchpoints with patients, especially within cost constraints, is a growing challenge for healthcare leaders. The reduction of physician agency, driven by the industrialization of […]
To sit or not to sit: How a chair can affect patient satisfaction
As many readers know, I’ve recently co-written a book about applying the principles of human-centered design to healthcare writ large. Hence, it cannot be surprising that my interest was piqued when an article appeared last month in the British Medical Journal titled “Effect of chair placement on physicians’ behavior and patients’ satisfaction: randomized deception trial.” […]
From anxiety to action: Human-centered solutions to increase follow-up after false positives
Early detection of breast cancer through mammography saves lives, yet the screening journey can be fraught with emotional and psychological hurdles. One of the most notable challenges comes from false-positive results, where an abnormal finding on a mammogram leads to additional imaging or biopsies, only to reveal that no cancer is present. While this outcome […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Joel Klein, MD [Podcast]
While the capabilities of the electronic health record (EHR) continue to expand, the clinician who uses the technology can sometimes be forgotten. Exciting innovations can only be successful when developers are mindful of the human at the center of the solution. New technologies that are designed to be easy to use can also be enjoyable […]
Transforming rural healthcare: the power of collaboration and innovation
Rural healthcare in the United States is at a critical juncture. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans rely on rural hospitals and clinics for healthcare, but these organizations face persistent challenges threatening their sustainability. From financial constraints to workforce shortages and cybersecurity vulnerabilities, rural health systems often operate under significant pressure with limited resources to address […]