Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1412801
66 INNOVATION Amazon, Olive team up to bring cloud automation to 950 hospitals By Hannah Mitchell O live has unveiled a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Ser- vices to use AWS' cloud computing to make its healthcare plat- form faster and more affordable for 950 hospitals in 40 states. Four things to know: 1. Hosted by AWS' cloud, Olive's health IT platform connects data between health systems, payers and patient information, according to an Aug. 12 news release. The HIPAA-compliant platform automates administrative tasks for providers at more than 950 hospitals nationwide, including more than 20 of the top 100 U.S. health systems, the news release said. 2. Using AWS analytics, database, storage and computing services, Olive is working to update how healthcare information is shared and optimized. Long wait times, rushed appointments, high care costs and challenging claims processes are direct symptoms of the healthcare in- dustry working on outdated technology, according to the news release. 3. Olive and AWS are working with builders and developers through AWS + Olive Helps. The partnership will work toward providing clini- cians real-time data and task-specific information. 4. "AWS is helping Olive to connect the disparate systems used by healthcare organizations to help provide greater visibility for health- care providers to make faster, more informed decisions," said Patrick Combes, worldwide technical leader of healthcare and life sciences at AWS. "AWS offers the security, scalability and availability to enable Ol- ive to accelerate its pace of innovation and uncover new ways to reduce the strain on healthcare providers so they can focus on delivering bet- ter patient care and experiences." n Intermountain expands 'hospital-at-home' offerings By Jackie Drees I ntermountain Healthcare is building on its "hospital-at-home" pro- gram with new services for patients with COVID-19 and other acute and chronic clinical conditions, the Salt Lake City-based health sys- tem said Aug. 5. Since launching in May 2020, Intermountain's at-home, hospital-level care program now is available to patients from 12 of the health system's hospitals in Utah. The system plans to add another hospital location to the program this summer, according to the news release. Intermountain last year teamed up with Castell, a digital health platform and Intermountain Healthcare company, to power the hospital-at-home program. The program initially offered the digital home care services to patients with conditions such as congestive heart failure, some kidney-re- lated conditions, intestinal conditions and certain cancer diagnoses. As part of the program, home caregivers can make scheduled in-per- son visits according to the patient's care plan. On-demand mobile im- aging and mobile lab services are also available. n Why some hospitals might not be ready for digital health investments By Katie Adams I nvestments in new digital health technologies are a gamble many hospitals might not be ready to take, according to an Aug. 17 report in e Washington Post. In recent years, health systems of all sizes have been dabbling in the role of venture capitalists, funding startups promising to introduce innovative technol- ogies to healthcare delivery. Sometimes these investments produce millions of dollars' worth of results for large health systems. For example, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia spun off a gene therapy company developing a treatment for blindness that its scientists helped develop in 2013. In 2019, the hospital saw a $456 million pay- day from its investment. Another example is UH Ventures, the venture cap- ital arm of Cleveland-based University Hospitals. UH Ventures' profit yield was $64 million in 2020, which took the health system's net operating reve- nue from the red to $31 million. However, digital health investments don't usually play out the same for smaller health systems. For example, Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health spent several years developing a digital diabetes care tool called Wellsmith. Aer investing $12 million, Cone Health said it was shutting down the venture in 2020, even though the tool was producing posi- tive results for patients. e system had planned to sell or license Wellsmith, but nixed the whole proj- ect aer realizing too many other products were competing in the digital health market. Many systems like Cone Health abandon their long- term digital health investments once they encounter financial challenges, undergo corporate reorgani- zation or realize their project isn't as innovative as they had thought. Additionally, health systems of all sizes oen have trouble getting their own clinicians to adopt the tools and apps they sponsor, whether it be out of habit or doubt. James Stanford, the managing director and co-founder of healthcare investment company Fitz- roy Health, told e Washington Post "even the best healthcare investors can't reliably get their health sys- tems to adopt technologies or new innovations." n