Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1251567
37 INNOVATION Mayo Clinic launches self- driving shuttles to transport COVID-19 tests, medical supplies By Jackie Drees M ayo Clinic in Florida partnered with the Jacksonville Transportation Au- thority to deploy autonomous shuttles that transport medical supplies and COVID-19 tests collected at the hospital's drive-thru testing location. Four things to know: 1. Mayo Clinic in Florida, part of Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, began using four autonomous shuttles on March 30 to trans- port COVID-19 tests from the drive-thru testing site to a processing laboratory on the hospital's campus. 2. COVID-19 test samples are stored in secure containers prior to Mayo Clinic staff loading the contents onto the shuttle, according to the news release. 3. Mayo Clinic and the JTA partnered with autonomous vehicle tech companies Beep and Navya to create, test and deploy the routes for the self-driving shuttles at the hospital. 4. e routes are isolated from pedestri- ans, traffic and staff, and Mayo Clinic, Beep and JTA monitor the service from a mobile command center. "During a time of rapid change and uncertainty, the ability to think innovatively alongside the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Navya and Beep during the pandemic has strength- ened all of our teams through community col- laboration," Mayo Clinic in Florida CEO Kent ielen, MD, said in the news release. "Using artificial intelligence enables us to protect staff from exposure to this contagious virus by using cutting edge autonomous vehicle technology, and frees up staff time that can be dedicated to direct treatment and care for patients." n Cleveland Clinic shares predictive model to help hospitals plan for COVID-19 By Laura Dyrda C leveland Clinic created a model to help hospitals forecast patient volume as well as supply availability and needs in partnership with SAS, and is now sharing the predictive model with other health systems via GitHub. Four things to know: 1. The analytic models are designed for healthcare organizations to create best- case, worst-case and most-likely scenarios, and can be adjusted in real time as the data changes. As a result, hospitals can make decisions about their COVID-19 response preparations based on initial numbers and then as the situation chang- es based on social distancing efforts, they can update their models. 2. Cleveland Clinic used the model to make decisions about ICU beds, PPE and ventilators. The health system decided to prepare for the worst-case sce- nario projections and built a 1,000-bed surge hospital at its education cam- pus that could support COVID-19 patients who didn't need the ICU. 3. The health system also used the predictive model to make decisions about activating new labor pools. 4. The model is heavily informed by the SEIR model, describing the suscep- tible, exposed, infected and recovered over time. Cleveland Clinic and SAS developed the model based on a University of Pennsylvania open source model, and it updates continuously based on data from epidemiologists and data scientists. The model considers regional health and demographic varia- tions as well as state-level assumptions about the situation. n Partners HealthCare transforms digital workplace platform into COVID-19 communication hub By Jackie Drees B oston-based Partners HealthCare scaled its digital workplace platform to serve as a centralized communication hub for COVID-19 information for its 78,000 employees, according to an April 21 news release. Partners HealthCare developed the platform, dubbed Partners Pulse, with digital workplace software company Igloo Software. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Partners Pulse provided corporate news and updates, social shar- ing and employee recognition. The health system is using Partners Pulse to send information and updates on the latest COVID-19 testing protocols, stay-at-home policies and other resources. The information hub is available to Partners HealthCare's network of hospitals, specialty hospitals, community health centers, and long-term and home care services. "This pandemic is the most important area of focus and in this crisis, we need an easily updated and reliable source of information that is accessible by front-line workers and our teams working remotely," Partners HealthCare Communications Vice President Rich Copp said in the news release. n