Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1504986
28 HEALTHCARE NEWS 28 of UC San Diego Health: Healthcare advancements 100 years from now will have eclipsed the pace of the progress that has taken place over the past 100 years. Considering the changes we are seeing right now, I predict all routine healthcare will be personalized to an individual's unique genetics, proteomics and environment by an AI co-pilot that is constantly monitoring physiologic status through implanted wearables and circulating nanosensors. Many cancers will be detected at an unthinkably early stage by real-time molecular diagnostics and curable through tailored therapies. Advancements in regenerative medicine will extend the average lifespan through cellular regeneration and tissue engineering. However, arriving at this future nirvana and closing healthcare disparities will require a laser focus on the ethics and equity of data science and digital health. Gary Small, MD. Behavioral Health Physician-in-Chief at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.): I think there will always be a need for people who are trained in specialty, but they'll be more educators, and consultants and the computers and the primary doctors will take care of tomorrow, but that kind of gets us into the area of healthcare in general. ese same principles will hold true in medical care in general, where there'll be more remote care. ere'll be more reliance on technology. Now, if you want to fast-forward to 100 years from now, I think it's going to be even more exciting and in some ways, a bit scary. Because of artificial intelligence, right? It may eventually be where you have an avatar therapist right in your living room talking to you and helping you. And you won't have to wait for 15 minutes to get an hour with them at the end of the week. You could just pull that person up a moment in terms of the technology. Airica Steed, EdD, RN. CEO of MetroHealth (Cleveland): One hundred years from now our biggest concern will be the same as it is today, ensuring everyone, regardless of their skin color, ethnicity, economic status, who they love, or where they live has access to the highest quality of care. Advances in technology can help us accomplish this goal by supporting our efforts to expand healthcare access, zero out the death gap and better target treatments to the needs of individual patients. We do need to be vigilant in ensuring new advances are implemented equitably and are used to eradicate healthcare disparities not exacerbate them. Unfortunately, in this last century we did not see nearly enough progress in this area, but I believe the alarm has been sounded and we now have the momentum necessary to better utilize technology to achieve equity for all. My ultimate hope is we will not be talking about health equity in 100 years because it is no longer a problem. Artificial intelligence, including intelligent automation, has a significant role to play in improving healthcare but AI cannot replace people. We need to be intentional in how we implement automation in all its forms so that the outcomes lead to better patient care and better patient access without reducing interpersonal connection or damaging doctor-patient relationships. Look at how virtual care was transformed by COVID-19. We will have to balance the benefits of both moving forward. We need to ensure the human touch continues because of its effectiveness in improving overall patient care, but virtual medicine can augment and enhance treatment. It can also improve access, allowing individuals in rural communities or people who face transportation barriers to take further advantage of all available medical services. Being intentional about how we implement and utilize virtual care moving forward will help us take full advantage of its positive benefits while preserving in-person treatment as a central component of medical care. n Healthcare workers keep calling it quits By Molly Gamble H ealthcare saw a bump this spring in the number of resignations as a share of total employment as many other industries begin to see the quits rate abate, according to The Wall Street Journal. Four million Americans quit or voluntarily left their jobs in May, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is up by 250,000 from April, but lower than the 4.5 million recorded in November 2021, the highest level in governmental records dating back to 2000, according to the WSJ. The number of resignations as a share of total employment averaged 2.5 percent from March to May, which is slightly higher than the pre-pandemic level and down from 3 percent as recently as April 2022. Healthcare and social assistance saw 588,000 quits in May, up from the 519,000 recorded in April. The quits rate, or number of quits as a percent of employment, was 2.8 percent in May compared to 2.4 percent in April and 2.6 percent in May 2022. Healthcare is hardly an outlier — the quits rate increased by less than a percentage point month over month in a number of industries, including construction, mining and logging, and manufacturing. At the same time, nearly a dozen industries saw their quits rate remain flat or decline month over month. At the same time, May brought a flattening to layoffs in healthcare and social assistance. The layoff and discharge rate was 0.6 percent in May and April, down slightly from the 0.7 percent recorded one year prior in May 2022. This is in line with the month-over-month change to the national layoff and discharge rate (holding at 1 percent in May and April). The WSJ notes, however, that initial applications for unemployment benefits — a signal proxy of layoffs — rose last week and are up about 20 percent from the start of 2023. The average number of hours worked a week has also fallen, which often preceded a rise in job cuts in the past. n