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August 2021 Month in Review
Each month, we round up news stories and publications about work happening across CHCI. Read the latest issue and subscribe to have the Month in Review sent directly to your inbox.
CHCI
Testing alternative pathways to hospitalization
The Acceleration Lab's PATH program has demonstrated that it can reduce patient time in the emergency department (ED), prevent inpatient hospital stays, and keep most patients from returning to the ED within 30 days.
Learn more about this program, how it's expanding thanks to a Clinical Care Innovation Grant from Independence Blue Cross, and why it's more important than ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic in this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Philadelphia Inquirer
How to connect communities to colorectal cancer screening
Experts from across Penn Medicine are working to raise colorectal cancer screening rates and increase follow-up care uptake to drive down death rates and reduce inequities.
Efforts include partnering with local talk radio stations to raise awareness, working with community leaders to distribute at-home testing kits, deploying navigators to help patients overcome barriers, and leveraging new communications channels and insights from behavioral economics.
Learn more about these interventions and what's moving the needle in this article from Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine
Introducing the new director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Rinad S. Beidas, PhD, an internationally recognized leader in implementation science, as Director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit.
Learn more about Dr. Beidas in the official announcement from David Asch and Kevin Volpp.
Penn Medicine Nudge Unit
Lessons for the digital transformation of health care
Penn Medicine needed to scale telemedicine rapidly to ensure access while reducing infection risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation, members of our team describe their process to rapidly develop and deploy Switchboard, a novel EHR-integrated web application equipped to facilitate secure virtual visits between providers and patients.
Healthcare
Exploring the effect of gamification with and without financial incentives
In JAMA Network Open, researchers from the Nudge Unit and the Center for Digital Health discuss how an intervention that leveraged gamification and financial incentives increased physical activity among veterans who were overweight or obese. The combination of gamification and financial incentives led to an increase of 1,200 steps per day and outperformed gamification alone.
JAMA Network Open
