Ball Condition College has partnered with Coursera, one particular of the world’s largest on the web finding out platforms, to offer you two flexible on-line master’s diploma courses in the substantial-demand from customers fields of Science, Technological know-how, Engineering, and Arithmetic (STEM).
Starting off in the Slide 2023 semester, Ball Condition and Coursera will with each other offer you Online Learn of Science programs in Computer Science and in Details Science. The programs will be formulated and taught by faculty from Ball State’s School of Sciences and Humanities, and will aspect a performance-centered admissions procedure with no prerequisites or application necessary for admittance.
“As a nationally regarded chief in delivering high-quality, innovative on line levels, as perfectly as a prime establishment for social mobility, this partnership with Coursera is a organic upcoming stage for us to broaden greater instruction entry,” Ball Condition President Geoffrey S. Mearns explained. “We are very pleased to provide these two new, cost-effective master’s levels in high-demand from customers fields as we answer to workforce wants in our own condition of Indiana and beyond.”
Coursera was introduced in 2012 by two Stanford University laptop science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, with a mission to provide common accessibility to planet-course studying. The corporation, which features more than 118 million registered learners as of Dec. 31, 2022, focused Ball Point out as its 1st larger instruction diploma software partner in Indiana due to its existing cost-effective graduate diploma alternatives its working experience with big, scaled systems its capacity to provide doing the job learners asynchronous supply possibilities and its market-aligned systems delivering abilities most desired by employers.
“We’re delighted to announce two new levels with Ball Point out University, an institution that shares our dedication to supplying accessible and transformative mastering alternatives to all,” claimed Marni Baker Stein, main articles officer at Coursera. “By supplying general performance-based admissions and taking away stipulations, we hope to permit learners of all backgrounds to go after a substantial-quality degree—empowering them with the techniques they will need to not only excel in their careers, but to go away a positive effects on the entire world.”
The performance-dependent admissions system serves able learners ready to start off their following academic journey devoid of transcripts, exams, application fees, or other hurdles. Pupils using these programs, no make a difference their track record or prior education, can opt to take 3 3-credit courses. If they gain a “B” or better, then they obtain admission as a Ball Point out graduate pupil in the Master’s in Computer Science or Facts Science programs.
Also, in an hard work to deliver affordable entry to STEM levels in these large-demand fields, pupils having these systems will be charged only in-state tuition and costs.
Ball State’s on the net Master of Science in Computer Science method is constructed especially for learners with non-specialized backgrounds. It emphasizes fingers-on learning experience in higher-demand areas these types of as device understanding, information analytics, cybersecurity, and computer software engineering. College students can also deepen their expertise in extra specialized areas with electives which includes artificial intelligence (AI), website improvement, and info visualization. The curriculum will incorporate sector content to greatly enhance profession outcomes, making ready graduates for roles in application progress, community and systems engineering, and extra.
The Online Grasp of Science in Info Science software, in the meantime, is also built for learners with non-technological backgrounds. College students in this method will not only attain robust foundations in math, computer system science, and stats, but will also achieve arms-on knowledge in huge knowledge that they can apply right away in their professions. The curriculum, which will include field written content from SAS Institute, Inc., and others, will concentrate on high-need capabilities in knowledge science, equipment learning, predictive modeling, and additional. Graduates will be organized for occupations in fields this kind of as organization assessment, facts evaluation, and business intelligence.
“Ball State’s School of Sciences and Humanities (CSH) is all about planning college students to evaluate cases, consider critically, resolve problems, and communicate their concepts plainly,” explained Dr. Maureen McCarthy, CSH dean. “The means to present these two master’s levels to a broader viewers and effects these learners’ trajectory to come to be modern and productive 21st Century worldwide citizens is exciting.”
For extra facts about these on-line diploma courses, take a look at the Personal computer Science and Information Science website web pages. To master far more about the 100 supplemental on-line degrees, certificates, and educator licenses out there at Ball State, call Ball Condition On the web at 1-800-872-0369 or at on the web@bsu.edu.
Ge Bai is a professor of accounting at Johns Hopkins Carey Business enterprise Faculty and of wellbeing plan and administration at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Community Wellbeing. Cynthia Fisher is the founder and chair of PatientRightsAdvocate.org.
The cost that a hospital charges a money-paying individual for a technique is typically lower than the negotiated cost that a industrial insurance policy system would spend, a new examine in Overall health Affairs has disclosed.This discovering, which is centered on pricing information that hospitals have been compelled to deliver under the nationwide Hospital Value Transparency Rule, contradicts the common wisdom that insurers use their bargaining power to push costs down.
The review (co-authored by Ge Bai) looked at popular medical center services that people can shop around for, such as examinations, lab do the job, imaging and program surgeries that can be scheduled in advance. In practically fifty percent of these kinds of situations, hospitals, in particular massive types with sector energy, established their money prices lessen than their median negotiated selling prices for insurers. The findings corroborate a previous research that identified about one particular-sixth of hospitals established their cash charges lower than any of their negotiated price ranges.
Hospitals are inclined to established competitive hard cash price ranges since funds-spending sufferers are ordinarily more value-delicate. And hospitals can steer clear of the administrative prices related with processing coverage statements.
In many hospitals involved in the earlier analyze, the median negotiated cost for a colonoscopy typically exceeded $5,000, additional than three situations as considerably as the national median income rate of $1,635. These price ranges can be notably punishing for individuals enrolled in large-deductible programs. Prior to achieving the deductible, they must pay greenback for greenback out of pocket.
Perfectly-insured individuals, who have small out-of-pocket prices, could possibly not treatment about their insurers’ minimal capability to negotiate lessen clinic rates. In the end, even though, all beneficiaries and plan sponsors (often employers) protect the superior negotiated charges by way of elevated premiums.
Several employers are uninformed about the variation in clinic costs. And wellness insurance plan corporations, which can receive much more by covering greater-priced treatment, normally prioritize their possess economical interests above their fiduciary obligation towards clientele and beneficiaries — that is, to guard the income paid for healthcare treatment from staff wages and price savings and employer earnings.
Theoretically, coverage produces benefit by pooling chance. But when clients and businesses pay back additional for typical shoppable expert services, their get from chance-pooling could possibly not be enough to offset the economic decline from better prices.
Quite a few overall health-treatment providers are now hard the role of well being coverage. Some ambulatory surgical procedure facilities, for occasion, serve only funds-paying individuals, and numerous doctors supply direct primary treatment, bypassing wellbeing insurance policies middlemen altogether. The increase of generic drug platforms these types of as GoodRx and Mark Cuban’s Price tag As well as Drug Co. has enabled insured individuals to fill their prescriptions at reduced expenses without coverage. These ground breaking versions are bringing even far more selling price competition and benefiting sufferers.
Any affected person ought to have the suitable to shell out cash price ranges that are lower than negotiated costs. Companies should really contractually demand that insurers reimburse patients’ cash payments, and, when relevant, permit them rely toward deductibles.
By dictating which advantages are available and at what selling prices, business insurers limit patients’ chances to preserve revenue as a result of comparison procuring. A more effective approach would be to outline employers’ contributions, this sort of as all those to overall health cost savings accounts, and give staff handle in excess of how they invest their money.
Health and fitness-treatment prices rise mainly because most People in america have insurance policy. If anyone had grocery insurance policy, food items selling prices would skyrocket, as well. Overall health insurance coverage coverage of almost everything has led to large charges and suboptimal well being outcomes. Eliminate the middlemen for regime providers, and charges will slide.
Through innovation related to people, not only technology, LSU and LSU Health Shreveport
alumni are transforming the leading business in the leading agricultural industry
in Louisiana.
RoyOMartin’s tagline, “We grow trees and people,” relies on the efforts of LSU and
LSU Health Shreveport alumni Dr. Brian Elkins and Donna Bailey, who drive people-centric
innovation at the company. Not in terms of technology, but in employee health and
professional development. So far this year, turnover at the company’s Oakdale plant
has been less than five percent.
– Photo by Elsa Hahne/LSU.
Innovation isn’t always about the latest technology. Sometimes it’s about transforming
an organization by making its people happier, healthier and more successful. At RoyOMartin,
Louisiana’s largest landowner and maker of wood products, LSU alumna Donna Bailey
and LSU/LSU Health Shreveport alumnus Dr. Brian Elkins have helped build an educational
system as well as a healthcare system—within the company—to support RoyOMartin employees
and their families.
“My goal was always to make our company as profitable as it can be,” Bailey said.
“Our leaders, when I joined RoyOMartin, were experts at manufacturing and forestry.
Meanwhile, I was an educator. I was an expert on people. As such, I knew people were
the biggest secret of all in making our company more successful, and LSU showed me
how to get it done.”
Bailey first joined RoyOMartin in 2005 after working as a teacher in Allen Parish
for 12 years. After continuing her education at LSU and getting her master’s degree
in leadership and human resource development in 2017, she was promoted to vice president
of human resources at RoyOMartin. There, she created WoodWorks, a high school outreach,
training and internship program from which the company continuously recruits, and
Women in Manufacturing, an initiative to broaden access to opportunities in a still
male-dominated industry. Her latest addition is Girls Can Too, a mentor program for
middle and high school students to learn about manufacturing.
Donna Bailey on Leadership
My responsibility as a leader is to help those around me, and when every leader at
every level is a teacher, we are world-class.
Donna Bailey on Innovation
Question everything, every day. Challenge the status quo.
Donna Bailey on the RoyOMartin Educational System
“I knew people were the biggest secret of all in making our company more successful,
and LSU showed me how to get it done.”
–
Donna Bailey earned her master’s degree in leadership and human resource development
at LSU in 2017 and was immediately promoted to vice president of human resources at
RoyOMartin.
“You never hear ‘I want to grow up to be a manufacturer,’” Bailey said. “But manufacturing
can be exciting and challenging, and is just not sold that way. With all the automation
we have now, women can be manufacturers same as men, and manufacturing offers great
careers and opportunities. I believe we have a responsibility as a company to help
educate students about the careers available to them in our industry.”
“Early in my life, I thought there were only two choices—teacher or nurse—so I chose
to become an educator,” Bailey continued. “Even though I loved being a teacher, had
I known about manufacturing and what people actually do here, I may have chosen a
different path.”
Bailey and her team have continued to build professional development programs for
RoyOMartin employees, such as Pay for Knowledge and Skills, where workers can learn
and grow at their own pace as they continue their education, allowing employees to
decide the size of their paycheck. RoyOMartin University and other programs, meanwhile,
offer leadership training. Further, the children of employees can receive scholarships
to attend any public university, including LSU, or technical or community college
in Louisiana. RoyOMartin has about 120 students on scholarship right now.
“Education is embedded in everything we do; almost everything comes back to education,”
Bailey said. “The founder or our company, Roy O. Martin Sr., was a teacher before
he purchased his first sawmill in 1923. The family’s love of education is what attracted
me to the company in 2004, and I have tried to continue that legacy by helping our
company become a learning organization.”
“Sometimes we do so well growing people that they leave us for bigger and better jobs,”
Bailey added. “We still consider that a success. It’s a win for our community and
for those individuals and their families.”
About a decade ago, RoyOMartin’s healthcare costs kept climbing while employees had
difficulty accessing healthcare—sometimes missing a day of work just to sit in a waiting
room. Roy O. Martin III, the third-generation chairman, chief executive officer and
chief financial officer for RoyOMartin, decided to do something unusual about it.
Martin, a prominent LSU alumnus and donor, received both his bachelor’s degree in
mechanical engineering and his Master of Business Administration from LSU. At the
time of the healthcare crunch, he happened to be part of the same running club as
another successful LSU alumnus, Dr. Brian Elkins, who received his bachelor’s degree
in biochemistry at LSU Baton Rouge and then went on to complete medical school at
LSU Health Shreveport. They talked, ran and talked some more, and in 2013, Dr. Elkins
signed on as the medical director of Legacy Health & Wellness, a comprehensive primary
care clinic for RoyOMartin employees and their families. It’s located in Alexandria,
between the original RoyOMartin plywood facility in Chopin and the more recent oriented
strand board, or OSB, plant in Oakdale.
Dr. Brian Elkins on Leadership
When you respect each person as a teammate, as opposed to seeing them as people under
your authority, everyone wins.
Dr. Brian Elkins on Innovation
Everyone knows their own job best. Likely, they have the best solutions to any problems
that are going on. That’s why people need to be heard and empowered to make changes
and improve operations where they work.
Dr. Brian Elkins on the RoyOMartin Healthcare System
I’m honestly surprised not more large companies are doing it.
–
LSU and LSU Health Shreveport alumnus Dr. Brian Elkins is the medical director of
Legacy Health & Wellness, which is wholly owned by RoyOMartin, Louisiana’s leading
manufacturer of wood products, and provides comprehensive primary care for its employees.
“I don’t know how many times I told Roy ‘no’ before deciding to take this on—I somehow
just didn’t understand what he was trying to do—but I’ve come to fully embrace this
model,” Dr. Elkins said. “I’m honestly surprised not more large companies are doing
it. Of course, it couldn’t be done in all states. In some places, corporate practice
of medicine isn’t allowed. But here in Louisiana, it saves RoyOMartin a lot of money
while we, as part of a five-person care team, are able to treat our patients like
they’re family. Our goal is not to make money, but we save the company a good amount.”
Roy O. Martin III says “reckless confidence” led him and RoyOMartin, Louisiana’s leading
wood products manufacturer, to partner with LSU and LSU Health Shreveport alumnus
Dr. Brian Elkins to build a primary care clinic for employees as well as LSU alumna
Donna Bailey to put education at the core of company culture.
– Photo courtesy of RoyOMartin.
How much? According to Martin, he spends about half to a third, compared to his competitors,
on healthcare for employees. And when the cost of drugs went up, RoyOMartin added
a pharmacy.
“Roy is an innovative leader and, together, we’ve been able to make better use of
every dollar the company spends on healthcare,” Dr. Elkins said. “And as a doctor,
I really appreciate the opportunity to do everything I can for my patients.”
Dr. Elkins keeps a gratis appointment as associate professor of clinical family medicine
at LSU Health Shreveport, for which he used to direct the residency program at Rapides
Regional Medical Center in Alexandria, knowing from experience that people who train
in Louisiana tend to stay in Louisiana, thus helping to improve local healthcare access.
“Sometimes it seems the gap between healthcare providers and businesses and between
educational partners and businesses is a mile wide,” Bailey said. “At RoyOMartin,
we’re trying to solve close the gap. Through WoodWorks, we’ve educated thousands of
students and have hired many into our company—at one point, 30 percent of our production
workers at our Oakdale facility came straight from our WoodWorks program. With our
newly implemented Girls Can Too, our desire is to attract more young women to the
industry. We can only do that by building relationships with our educational partners
and, together, changing the perspective on manufacturing as a career.”
“Now, our workers are thriving and their families are thriving,” Bailey continued.
“Having the clinic means our people can be seen right away when there’s a problem—it’s
easy and affordable—so it doesn’t end up in a surgery or disability.”
“Yeah—I went there!”
– Photo by Elsa Hahne/LSU.
Bailey says she wouldn’t be where she is today if it wasn’t for her master’s degree
from LSU.
“My education gave me what I needed to put these programs in place,” Bailey said.
“It gave me the confidence and the knowledge to explain why and convince others to
do what I knew was right. Our company has exploded with leadership development because
of my education at LSU, and leadership isn’t only about production numbers—it’s about
being a coach and a teacher. We’re passionate about safety and sustainability, and
professional development is just as important. That’s what LSU did for me; LSU showed
me how to develop world-class leaders. I’m sitting in a vice president’s seat, but
I’m really a teacher at heart.”
Most years, turnover at the Oakdale plant has been 5-10 percent, and participation
in RoyOMartin’s Pay for Knowledge and Skills career development program at the Chopin
plant has tripled, increasing from 32 percent to 94 percent.
“It’s human nature to want to learn, grow and succeed,” Bailey said. “The change at
our plywood plant alone resulted in millions of dollars in profit in one year—$11
million. There’s a science to growing people, and LSU gave me that. Growing people
is partly about removing obstacles to make them less scared to fail, and the entire
time I was in the master’s program, everything I was given, I was taking back and
using immediately at the company.”
Raquel Leviss has checked into a facility for psychological wellbeing treatment in wake of her affair with Tom Sandoval becoming exposed. (Picture: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images)
Raquel Leviss — the Vanderpump Principles personality, whose affair with co-star Tom Sandoval has been splashed all over the internet for the very last thirty day period — has checked into a psychological overall health remedy facility.
“Raquel and her loved ones made the decision just before the connection was found that she would enter a voluntary facility for mental health and fitness counseling,” a rep for the Bravo identity said in a statement acquired by many news retailers. “She was scheduled to go in pre-reunion,” which taped on March 23, “but made a decision she preferred to complete her filming determination. Bravo and generation ended up knowledgeable and in guidance of her journey toward superior mental wellness.”
The rep extra that Leviss is not in rehab for substance abuse problems but in a plan concentrated on “psychological well being and trauma therapy.”
Leviss’s spokesperson has not but responded to Yahoo Entertainment’s ask for for remark.
In early March, it was exposed that Leviss and Sandoval carried on a months-extensive affair though he was in a 9-calendar year partnership with Ariana Madix. Madix uncovered the romance after seeing a sexually explicit video clip of Leviss on Sandoval’s cellphone and scrolling via their chat history. Madix broke up with the TomTom bar operator and musician.
Equally Leviss and Sandoval apologized for their roles in the cheating scandal. For her portion, Leviss apologized “for my steps and my decisions foremost to Ariana, and to my mates and the followers so invested in our associations. There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I should possess my steps and I deeply regret hurting Ariana.”
Leviss went on to expose that she experienced been in counseling understanding about her “patterns of codependency and dependancy to getting and emotion liked.” She mentioned she was hopeful therapy would assistance to stop her “unhealthy behavioral cycle” and vowed to make it a precedence to “shield” her mental wellbeing and “understand” from these blunders.
Before this 7 days, Sandoval gave his very first interview amid the scandal dubbed “Scandoval” on the Howie Mandel Does Things podcast. In it, he in depth his initially kiss with the SUR server — last calendar year in the backyard of the home he shared with Madix.
“We just kissed,” he explained. “It was magnetic. We were being talking, moving nearer, and as we were being chatting, as time went on, we would just get started speaking closer and closer, and then all of a unexpected, we’re kissing.”
Of the spark, he explained, I felt some thing that I hadn’t felt in so extended, like, emotionally.” He went on to phone Leviss “awesome,” kind,” “intelligent,” witty,” fun,” “lovely” and “f***ing amazing.”
He also stated that before issues took a intimate transform, Leviss was “a resource of energy” for him as he navigated his allegedly unsatisfied and unhealthy marriage with Madix.
Today marks the beginning of Black Maternal Health and fitness Week, an observance that delivers recognition to the point out of Black maternal wellbeing in the United States, gives voice to the encounters of Black households, and highlights the significant need to have to improve maternal well being outcomes nationwide.
Being pregnant-similar fatalities are bigger in the United States than in any other superior-income place, with more than 1,200 deaths from complications related to being pregnant or delivery in 2021, the most the latest calendar year for which data are offered. Additionally, just about every year tens of hundreds of Americans practical experience everyday living-threatening pregnancy-associated complications, also recognized as severe maternal morbidity. The racial and ethnic disparities in these maternal well being results are stark. Non-Hispanic Black persons are about three occasions as likely as White folks to die from a pregnancy-connected result in, no matter of money or instruction degree. For some triggers of maternal demise, these disparities are even a lot more pronounced. Findings from an NICHD-funded review counsel that Black ladies are 5 occasions much more probably than White females to die of postpartum cardiomyopathy (condition of the heart muscle mass) or the blood stress issues preeclampsia and eclampsia.
In reaction to these superior fees of pregnancy-linked issues and deaths, the Nationwide Institutes of Wellbeing in 2019 introduced the Applying a Maternal wellbeing and Pregnancy Outcomes Eyesight for All people (Strengthen) initiative. This NIH-large initiative aims to minimize preventable maternal mortality, lower serious maternal morbidity, and market health fairness. NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Countrywide Institute of Kid Well being and Human Development (NICHD), Office environment of Exploration on Women’s Well being (ORWH), and National Institute of Nursing Study (NINR) co-guide the Make improvements to initiative. As the most recent member of the Make improvements to leadership team, NINR supports analysis that is rooted in nursing’s holistic, contextualized technique and focuses on remedies to enable get rid of maternal health and fitness inequities.
The magnitude and persistence of maternal health disparities—many of which have been exacerbated all through the COVID-19 pandemic—underscore the need for investigation to determine customized, proof-centered answers that are responsive to women’s life and residing circumstances to boost health outcomes across the nation. In addition to racial and ethnic disparities, there are disparities by age, training, and geographic area. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. ladies of childbearing age stay in locations with minimal accessibility to maternity treatment. One research identified that women residing in rural parts are at 9{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} greater possibility of dealing with severe maternal morbidity and mortality, in comparison to city citizens.
In fiscal yrs 2020 and 2021, NIH awarded a lot more than $20 million to help 58 Strengthen projects to increase our being familiar with of the main leads to of pregnancy-similar deaths and problems and to establish mitigation approaches. These projects are diverse in scope, with aim parts ranging from biological threat things linked to maternal morbidity and mortality to the affect of structural racism and discrimination on maternal overall health outcomes through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bodily demands of being pregnant are rigorous, and pregnancy-linked difficulties can expose risk for continual illnesses in afterwards daily life. For instance, blood tension ailments for the duration of pregnancy are linked to a larger danger for acquiring cardiovascular diseases. To comprehend women’s health and fitness throughout the existence class, it is important to look at organic things, these as genetics and hormones, in mix with behaviors and contextual variables, these as social and environmental circumstances. This multidimensional look at, illustrated in ORWH’s Maternal Morbidity and Mortality reality sheet (PDF 635 KB), is significant to enhancing maternal health results in the United States.
Bringing in assorted voices can help to swiftly spur innovation and dilemma fixing. Last yr, we launched two ongoing obstacle competitions as section of the Increase initiative. The Fast Acceleration of Diagnostics Technological innovation (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Well being Obstacle is advancing improvement of effortless-to-use technologies for people or their area wellbeing clinics to evaluate whether additional medical treatment is necessary just after shipping. The Connecting the Neighborhood for Maternal Health and fitness Challenge encourages U.S.-centered nonprofit organizations to acquire the infrastructure and capabilities required to carry out maternal wellbeing exploration. In addition, we are building our relationship with the local community to generate adoption of evidence-primarily based tactics to boost maternal wellness as a result of our support of the Increase Neighborhood Implementation Software and a concentration on implementation and dissemination analysis.
This summer months, we look forward to issuing grants to build Maternal Health Investigation Centers of Excellence. Awardees will operate collaboratively with just about every other and with community companions to design and perform investigate projects to tackle the organic, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and structural variables that affect maternal morbidity and mortality in populations that working experience health disparities. With these awards and foreseeable future funding announcements by means of Improve, NIH will go on to aid exploration to enable realize maternal health and fitness, strengthen pregnancy results, and assist remove inequities.
To keep up to date on new developments in maternal health and fitness investigation, pay a visit to the Increase web site and the NIH Maternal Morbidity & Mortality (MMM) Website Portal. An initiative of ORWH, the MMM Website Portal provides reliable, science-centered resources related to maternal health and fitness throughout the lifespan for scientists, researchers, people, and advocates.
The resiliency of our frontline healthcare workers continues to be front and center as we see the healthcare industry evolve. From delivering in-person and remote care for patients to working long hours amid a persistent labor shortage—care teams have shown up time and again to support patients through an increasingly complex medical landscape.
Frontline workers are irreplaceable, and as clinicians face record levels of burnout and high patient expectations, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams are building solutions to help balance quality patient care with quality self-care—all within one ecosystem. This week at the HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition (HIMSS23), we’re thrilled to be showcasing tailored frontline solutions designed to transform patient care with virtual visits, empower care team collaboration, streamline the clinician experience, and strengthen security and compliance.
Microsoft Teams for frontline healthcare workers
Improve health team collaboration and enhance your patient engagement.
As always, Microsoft continues to deliver on innovation to drive forward new ways to work. We’re investing in next-generation AI that will unlock a new wave of productivity growth with tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Check out a preview of the latest Microsoft 365 and Teams innovations that we’ll be showcasing at HIMSS23.
Transform patient care with virtual visits
Virtual healthcare has transformed into a necessity since the onset of COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, there was a 154 percent increase in telehealth visits during the last week of March 2020 compared with the same period the prior year.1 In 2022, 68 percent of physicians reported continuing to use video visits in their healthcare practice.2 Whether your teams need a configurable out-of-the-box product or a custom-built application, Microsoft has a range of virtual visit solutions to fit every organization’s unique needs.
Elevate remote care with Virtual Appointments in Teams
Virtual Appointments in Teams provides an out-of-the-box solution for clinicians to make patient-care team interactions easy and personalized and is now generally available. Virtual Appointments handle the end-to-end appointment experience so clinicians can focus on your patients, not appointment management.
Delight and engage patients
With Virtual Appointments in Teams, facilitate a seamless care experience that allows your patients to receive text reminders and join custom-branded virtual appointments through their mobile devices—without downloading Teams.
Streamline appointment management
Schedulers and facilitators can set up and manage scheduled and on-demand virtual appointments in one location with advanced capabilities like appointment queues.
Understand key metrics and trends of virtual appointment experiences and effectiveness like the number of appointments, appointment duration, no-shows, and wait times. View detailed activity for virtual appointments scheduled and conducted through multiple scheduling entry points and drill down into individual appointment data.
Schedule and launch virtual visits with Microsoft Teams electronic health record connector
For healthcare organizations using Epic3 or Oracle Cerner,4 the Microsoft Teams electronic health record (EHR) connector enables care teams to schedule and launch Teams virtual visits directly from their EHR system. The connector gives patients flexibility with the option to join virtual visits through their browser, Teams app, patient provider portal, or SMS, and offers support for group visits. For care teams, this solution increases peace of mind with enhanced security and compliance features and visibility into consumption data reports and call quality information.
Connect with patients from anywhere with Teladoc Health Solo™ with Microsoft Teams
Ease care delivery with the Teladoc Health Solo™ enterprise virtual care platform that integrates with Microsoft Teams. Clinicians can operate across care teams to speed up administrative tasks and provide personalized virtual care by bringing in specialists to address patient needs.
Fraser Health was already on a digital transformation journey as staff and patients alike adapted to changing work and life circumstances, accelerated by the pandemic. The organization’s Collaboration & eHealth Services team was tasked with providing the latest tools and services to best support office, frontline, and patient services with particular emphasis on the new demands and opportunities introduced by a shift from in-person to virtual care. “Teams helps to connect providers and patients for their virtual appointments, helping make the best services available to everyone in our patient population and providing equitable access to those services regardless of geographical boundaries and personal circumstance,” said Rav Gill, Collaboration Services Project Manager at Fraser Health.
Streamline operations to improve the clinician experience
With the high demand for quality care, it’s time to eliminate redundant solutions and protect healthcare workers so they can focus on patient care. Thirty-seven percent of frontline healthcare workers say they do not have the right tech to do their job effectively.5 Meanwhile, Forrester found USD9.1 million in savings over three years from enhanced frontline supervisor productivity with Microsoft Teams.6
See the possibilities of AI across your healthcare organization
We have announced the preview of Microsoft Power Virtual Agents bots in Power Apps, which adds native integration of AI-empowered Power Virtual Agents into Power Apps. With this feature, easily add a Power Virtual Agent bot to your healthcare organization’s applications so users can get intelligent answers based on information from public sites within the context of your application.
Improve hospital processes and optimize efficiency for care teams
We’re excited to announce a new checklist completion requirement feature for Microsoft Tasks. With this feature, checklist items will be required to be done before the task can be marked as complete in the system. This feature will be generally available in May 2023.
To help relieve the burden on care teams, we introduced a partnership with UKG, a leader in human capital and workforce management. We’ve co-engineered the Microsoft Teams Shifts connector for UKG Dimensions to give healthcare workers the ability to view and accept open shifts, request time off, clock in and out, and more.
At Rx.Health, providers have learned that sensitivity equals a balance of empathy and accuracy for both patients and care teams. “Our clients worry about nurse and physician burnout, which leads to staff shortages,” says Richard Strobridge, Chief Executive Officer at Rx.Health. For example, a cardiothoracic surgeon was worn down from having to spend valuable time giving repetitive care instructions instead of discussing deeper issues with patients. “A unified communication platform can automate these routine reminders and care prompts so that the care team can focus on the things that drew them to healthcare in the first place: healing with a human touch and empathy,” adds Strobridge.
Empower care team communication and collaboration
Streamlined communication is critical for robust healthcare systems. In a rapidly evolving environment, healthcare workers can’t afford to waste time not being able to reach the people and resources they need. Forrester found a 25 percent reduction in errors due to misinformation with Microsoft Teams.6 With Teams, providers can enhance collaboration across in-person and virtual teams to support critical use cases, such as care team huddles, virtual tumor boards, and grand rounds.
Provide centralized access to key information
We’re excited to announce that the pre-configured home experience for frontline healthcare workers on Teams is generally available, rolling out through April 2023.
To make sure that communication and connection travel with healthcare care teams wherever they go, we also recently launched new experiences that unify the UI across desktops, mobile, and tablets.
Connect care teams with instant communication
Our Walkie Talkie app in Microsoft Teams features are available on devices from our industry-leading partners including Honeywell, Samsung, and Zebra Technologies. To help with onboarding, we are making nudge to explore generally available in April 2023.
Communicate with ease by enabling shared use of mobile devices
Leverage Teams as your calling solution to connect with teammates, patients, and suppliers. Later this year, healthcare care teams will be able to make and receive calls through shared mobile Android phones from wherever their work takes them.
At Fraser Health, Microsoft Teams—as the communications and collaboration hub—was familiar to staff and administrators, and had already been widely adopted in non-clinical settings. With a nod to his colleagues in procurement, Dillon Brar, Collaboration Services Team Manager at Fraser Health, sums it up: “It makes sense to use services that you’re already paying for, right?” The deployment went smoothly, taking around five months from conception to adoption and trials, with immediate advantages that prompted Fraser Health to consider broader deployment across its regional facilities.
Help safeguard your healthcare organization
Underpinning all our healthcare solutions is a strong foundation and dedication to security and compliance. With Microsoft 365 and Teams, hospitals can reduce the risk of security breaches with dedicated, pre-integrated identity, endpoint management, and security solutions—built on advanced Zero Trust architecture. According to a Forrester study, “Teams makes it possible to share medical records and consult with physicians in our other locations in real time, all within a HIPAA-protected environment,” said an attending physician.6
Seamlessly deploy Microsoft 365 apps on shared devices to help protect patient information
Hospitals often supply mobile devices that are shared across care teams and between shifts and appointments requiring a robust set of built-in compliance and identity management tools to protect patient information.
In May 2023, shared device mode support for Microsoft Outlook, Edge, Power Apps, and Viva Engage apps on Android devices will be generally available, joining the portfolio of apps including Teams that can be securely accessed through Microsoft Intune.
On iOS devices, shared device mode support on Microsoft Intune for securely accessing Teams is currently in preview. Healthcare organizations using SOTI and VMWare Workspace ONE as their third-party unified endpoint management solutions for Android can also enroll devices in Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) with shared device mode, in preview.
The hard work the St. Luke’s team has done over the past three years to deploy Microsoft Security solutions and standardize on Microsoft 365 productivity apps paid off when COVID-19 descended in early 2020. David Finkelstein, Chief Information Officer at St. Luke’s University Health Network, and his counterpart in Operations had hours to reimagine a remote workforce. “Technology saved us,” said Finkelstein. “Microsoft Teams saved us. Having 80 percent of the security landscape we’d envisioned years earlier rolled out and ready saved us. There were many stressors during that time, but the technology was not one of them.”
Join us at HIMSS from April 17 to 21, 2023
We understand the critical role of healthcare workers and are determined to support their success in high-stress environments. Experience Microsoft’s latest solutions to streamline virtual visits, unify care team collaboration, improve the clinician experience, and increase security and compliance across your healthcare organization at HIMSS23.
