Becker's Hospital Review

61 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Freezer malfunction at Children's Hospital Los Angeles destroys stem cells for 56 patients By Gabrielle Masson F ifty-six patients' blood stem cells were destroyed after a freezer malfunction at the Children's Hospital Los An- geles, CNN reported. The freezer's temperature sensors and safeguards both failed, causing the loss of stem cells in long-term storage, according to a Sept. 25 statement from the hospital. Since the malfunction, the hospital has replaced the freezer, up- graded the alert system and reviewed all power sources. The hospital apologized for the incident, which has not put any child's health at risk. Stem cells, often used to replenish living cells, can still be harvested from patients if needed, James Stein, MD, CMO of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told ABC affiliate KABC. The hospital also apologized for their initial notification of the malfunction, delivered via letter addressed to the young patients. The hospital said it reviewed the notification pro- cess and has set up a phone line for parent questions. n AI can diagnose diseases on par with physicians, study finds By Mackenzie Bean A rtificial intelligence models can diagnose diseases just as well as human clinicians, suggest the findings of a study published in The Lancet Digital Health. For the study, researchers analyzed 14 studies published between 2012 and 2019. The studies compared the diag- nostic performance of AI models to healthcare professionals based on a review of medical images. On average, AI algorithms offered correct diagnoses 86.4 percent of the time, compared to 87 percent for clinicians. Artificial intelligence models also accurately identified pa- tients who did not have the disease 92.5 percent of the time. This rate was 90.5 percent for clinicians. Despite this finding, researchers noted many studies com- paring diagnostic ability contain methodological deficien- cies and poor reporting. "These issues are pertinent for ensuring studies of deep learning diagnostics … are of sufficient quality to evaluate the performance of these algorithms in a way that can bene- fit patients and health systems in clinical practice," the study authors concluded. n Summa Health regains approval for ER residency program By Gabrielle Masson A kron, Ohio-based Summa Health regained ap- proval to train emergency medicine more than two years after the residency program lost its accreditation. The approval from the Accreditation Council on Gradu- ate Medical Education permits Summa to recruit eight new emergency medicine residents. Summa's accreditation was revoked in February 2017 when the ACGME cited issues resulting from an abrupt emergency room physician change on Jan 1, 2017, ac- cording to the Akron Beacon Journal. The program's closure in July 2017 meant 21 emergency medicine res- idents trainees had to find new programs. Summa re- applied for accreditation in June 2018, but was denied. Summa officials said their goal is to have ER residents by July 2020. n Only 24% of hospitals screen for social determinants of health By Mackenzie Bean A bout a quarter of U.S. hospitals screen patients for the five main social needs linked to health outcomes, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. For the study, researchers analyzed survey responses from a nationally representative group of 2,333 physi- cian practices and 757 hospitals using the 2017-18 Na- tional Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems. They sought to assess how many organizations self-re- ported screening patients for the following social needs: • Food insecurity • Housing instability • Utility needs • Transportation needs • Experience with interpersonal violence Researchers found 24.4 percent of hospitals reported screening for all five social needs, compared to 15.6 percent of physician practices. Practices that served a larger population of disadvantaged patients were more likely to screen for health needs. n

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