Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Tariffs could drive up AI, cloud prices, Seattle Children's, Google create new clinical decision tool + more

Transcript

Tariffs could drive up AI, cloud prices, Seattle Children's, Google create new clinical decision tool + more · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

• 0:00
  This is Naomi Diaz with the Becker's Digital
• 0:02
  Health podcast. Here's your daily industry news briefing
• 0:04
  for today, April 7.
• 0:07
  First, president Donald Trump's tariffs could cause AI
• 0:10
  prices to rise, hampering CIOs amid tightening IT
• 0:13
  budgets, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• 0:15
  Mister Trump's sweeping tariffs could increase the cost
• 0:17
  of components for big tax firms' cloud centers,
• 0:20
  which AI companies rely on for computing powder
• 0:22
  for their software according to the story.
• 0:25
  Matthew Mittelstaedt, technology policy research fellow at Washington
• 0:28
  C DC think tank Cato Institute, told the
• 0:31
  newspaper, quote, the AI future is now being
• 0:34
  taxed, end quote. If cloud costs rise, CIOs
• 0:37
  may need to lower directionary spending and delay
• 0:39
  hardware refresh cycles with budgets already tight for
• 0:42
  macroeconomic
• 0:43
  concerns.
• 0:44
  According to Lucia Sorareris,
• 0:46
  CIO and head of technology transformation and investment
• 0:49
  firm, Carlisle.
• 0:51
  Miss Sorareris told the news outlet, quote, many
• 0:53
  of us will need to rebalance our portfolio
• 0:56
  of technology projects and investments without the benefit
• 0:59
  of
• 1:01
  end quote.
• 1:02
  Second,
• 1:03
  a growing number of older Americans are relying
• 1:06
  on patient portals to communicate with their health
• 1:08
  care providers, but only a small share report
• 1:11
  being charged a co pay for doing so,
• 1:13
  An April 4 study from the University of
• 1:15
  Michigan
• 1:16
  found. The study published in JAMA health forum
• 1:19
  was conducted in early twenty twenty four through
• 1:22
  the national poll on healthy aging. It surveyed
• 1:25
  patient pearl messages habits among US adults 50
• 1:28
  and older.
• 1:29
  Of the 3,200
• 1:31
  respondents, more than three quarters reported having access
• 1:34
  to a patient portal, and nearly two thirds
• 1:36
  said they had used it to message a
• 1:38
  clinician within the past year. Here are four
• 1:41
  additional findings from the study.
• 1:43
  One, despite concerns that billing for portal messages
• 1:46
  could deter use, especially among those with lower
• 1:48
  incomes, just 13% of portal users said they
• 1:51
  were charged a co pay.
• 1:53
  Two, privately insured patients were most likely to
• 1:56
  report a fee with about 17%
• 1:59
  saying they were billed. Three, dual eligible or
• 2:02
  Medicaid patients followed closely at nearly sixteen percent.
• 2:05
  And four, those with veterans affairs coverage reported
• 2:08
  the highest portal usage, but were among the
• 2:11
  least likely to face a co pay.
• 2:14
  Researchers noted the study's limitations, including reliance in
• 2:16
  self reported data and the inability to distinguish
• 2:19
  between billable and non billable messages.
• 2:22
  Still, they said the results weren't further exploit
• 2:24
  exploitation,
• 2:26
  particularly into how coverage differences may affect communication
• 2:29
  between low income patients and their care teams.
• 2:33
  Third,
• 2:33
  Seattle Children's partnered with Google Cloud to develop
• 2:36
  an AI powered tool called Pathway Assistant.
• 2:39
  The tool built using Google's Gemini models on
• 2:41
  its Vertex AI platform is designed to help
• 2:44
  health care providers quickly access and apply critical
• 2:46
  medical information.
• 2:48
  Traditionally, retrieving such data could take up to
• 2:50
  fifteen minutes. With pathway assistance, clinicians can pull
• 2:53
  information from clinical standard work pathways in seconds
• 2:57
  according to Google.
• 2:58
  The tool builds on Seattle children's clinical effectiveness
• 3:01
  program, which includes CSW pathways for more than
• 3:04
  70 diagnosis.
• 3:06
  The hospital has used these standardized protocols since
• 3:08
  2010.
• 3:09
  More than 50 clinicians collaborated to refine the
• 3:12
  AI tool on early pilot suggested may reduce
• 3:14
  administrative burden and improve both provider efficiency and
• 3:18
  patient outcomes.
• 3:19
  If you would like the latest health IT
• 3:21
  and digital health industry news delivered to your
• 3:23
  inbox every morning, subscribe to the Becker CIO
• 3:25
  and Health IT Review e newsletter through our
• 3:27
  website at www.beckershospitalreview.com.