August 2023- The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Intermountain Health to join consortium to improve patient outcomes for most common conditions found in critically ill patients
Researchers from Intermountain Health are helping to lead a national consortium of healthcare systems and hospitals in a new federally-funded initiative that will use advanced technologies – including AI and machine learning – to improve treatment for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pneumonia, and sepsis – the most common and devastating conditions found in critically ill patients.
Hundreds of thousands of people infected with the COVID virus during the pandemic who were hospitalized and in critical condition ultimately died from these conditions. ARDS, pneumonia, and sepsis, together kills hundreds of thousands of people in the United States each year.
Through a major $51.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, researchers from 22 hospitals from across the country – collaborating through a clinical coordinating center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center – will identify what makes these patients different, which will allow researchers to find targeted treatments for them.
The consortium will start enrolling patients by early 2024 and hopes to enroll 5,000 patients overall in the next five years.
Sarasota Memorial Health breaks ground on $75M research facility
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is breaking new ground with a $75 million Research and Education Institute that will expand clinical research opportunities and provide an innovative, interdisciplinary learning environment for physicians, nurses and researchers.
The 5-story, 80,000 square-foot facility, slated to open next to the health system’s Sarasota (FL) hospital in 2025, is designed to promote collaboration and discovery in medical education and research for Sarasota Memorial’s expanding clinical and graduate medical education programs and research team.
Aspirus Health, St. Luke’s partner to expand healthcare access
Aspirus Health announced that St. Luke’s has signed a letter of intent to affiliate with Aspirus. By affiliating with St. Luke’s, based in Duluth, MN, these organizations will expand access to care for more people across the region in northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
This affiliation will work to improve the health and wellbeing of every patient and community these organizations serve, expanding their impact, investing in infrastructure, and improving the health of people they serve.
This agreement will enable both organizations to build on their collective strengths and specialties to create a broader health network patients can count on, as well as expanded opportunities for each organization’s dedicated staff.
Together the new organization will operate 19 hospitals and 130 outpatient locations, with nearly 14,000 team members, including more than 1,300 affiliated, independent, and employed physicians and advance practice providers. The system will operate headquarters in Wausau, WI and also maintain corporate offices in Duluth, MN.
New HHS initiative aims to strengthen nation’s health workforce
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently launched the HHS Health Workforce Initiative during an event at Lincoln-West School of Science and Health, a public high school in Cleveland, Ohio, which prepares students for college and careers in health care.
The goal of the HHS Health Workforce Initiative is to support, strengthen, and grow the health workforce by leveraging programs across the Department, including through the $2.7 billion workforce investment proposed in the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) workforce training, scholarship, loan repayment and well-being programs.