Becker's Hospital Review

102 CIO / HEALTH IT Cedars-Sinai researchers investigate 'Patient-on-a- Chip' tech to drive precision medicine By Jessica Kim Cohen L os Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center partnered with Boston-based organs-on-chip provider Emulate to establish a precision medicine program, the organizations confirmed Feb. 20. e partnership applies stem cell science from the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute with Emu- late's Human Emulation System, which uses liver, intestine and brain organ-chips to rec- reate a microcosm of human biology under various disease states. Together, the organizations have launched a "Patient-on-a-Chip" program that integrates stem cells — which can be reprogrammed into any organ cell — from an individual patient into organ-chips, which are then per- sonalized to that patient's biology. The participating researchers hypothe- size the personalized Patient-on-a-Chip technology will help clinicians predict which treatments are most effective for an individual patient based on their genetic makeup and disease variant. e researchers suggested clinicians could gain accurate insights into a patient's treat- ment response by placing his or her cells in organ-chips and exposing these cells to a particular drug. ey also suggested the tech- nology could be used to predict how a disease progresses in an individual patient. "By creating a personalized Patient-on-a- Chip, we can really begin to understand how diseases, medicines, chemicals and foods af- fect an individual's health," said Geraldine A. Hamilton, PhD, president and chief scientific officer of Emulate. n Medical U of South Carolina fired 13 employees for 'snooping' in patients' medical records in 2017 By Jessica Kim Cohen I n a recent meeting with the board of trustees, staff members from the Medical University of South Caro- lina in Charleston said 13 employees were terminated in 2017 after admin- istrators determined they had viewed patient records without permission, the Post and Courier reported. The staff said hospital officials re- ported 58 patient privacy breaches to the federal government in 2017, 11 of which were categorized as "snooping," or a case in which an employee violated federal law by viewing patient records they were not authorized to access. For example, an employee may "snoop" in a patient re- cord after a case makes the news or to view information on a former spouse. "Some breaches are simply a case of information being faxed to the wrong clinic location, whereas others can involve misplaced curiosity or malice," MUSC spokeswoman Heath- er Woolwine told the Post and Couri- er in a statement. At the meeting, a board member questioned whether the policy was "draconian," according to the Post and Courier. In response, hospital staff noted HHS has audited 100- plus healthcare institutions for po- tential HIPAA violations. Hospital staff emphasized the need to pre- pare for the possibility of an HHS au- dit, which would consider how MUSC officials address privacy breaches. Hospital staff also stressed that in spite of the potential for "snooping," EHRs are arguably more secure than paper records, since the hospital is able to track which employees view which records. All providers at MUSC, including medical students, undergo annual training on when it's appropriate to view a patient record. n Ochsner integrates AI into patient care; taps Epic, Microsoft for the tech By Julie Spitzer W orking with Microsoft and Epic, New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System is using artificial intelligence technology to help treat pa- tients more proactively. Integrating AI into patient care workflows helps deliver richer patient insights in real time. Ochsner's new platform deploys Epic's machine learning capabil- ities, paired with Microsoft's cloud Azure, to analyze clinical data and identify potentially adverse health events more quickly and accurately. The predictive model helps Ochsner's Rapid Response Team intervene more proactively and in real time. During the 90-day pilot, the team successfully reduced adverse events outside of the intensive care unit by 44 percent. "At Ochsner, patients are at the center of everything we do," said Laura Wilt, Ochs- ner system vice president and CIO. "By utilizing Epic's machine learning platform and Microsoft Azure, we can detect health patterns, learn from these insights and develop a more aggressive treatment plan as a preventative measure. It is about delivering a higher quality of care to change and save more lives." Ochsner also plans to implement Epic's machine learning platform powered by Azure to other clinical specialties. It sees these AI-powered capabilities as crucial to the future of patient care delivery and representative of staying competitive in innovative, technology-empowered patient care. n

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