A message from CHCI leadership
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Penn Medicine's investment in innovation paid dividends. Telemedicine was already in use. We had experimented with delivering care through automation and tested structures for exception management and escalation. We had internal platforms, like Agent and Way to Health, that would enable us to deploy new programs quickly. And most importantly, we had care teams and staff who were ready and willing to design and implement new approaches to care delivery.
Working with partners from across the health system, we launched upwards of 20 projects in the first 60 days. These shoulder-to-shoulder collaborations with mission-driven colleagues were energizing. We stood up drive-thru testing sites, designed a chatbot to answer patient questions quickly, developed an automated system to watch over COVID-19 patients at home, tracked national sentiment and symptoms on social media, launched a web-based platform to connect frontline employees to mental health care, moved care delivery from hospitals and clinics to the home, implemented testing programs, and so much more.
This past year has dramatically demonstrated both the short-term and long-term returns to disciplined investment in innovation. One year into the pandemic, and we're still going. We hope you'll stay tuned for updates.
David A. Asch, MD, Executive Director, Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation
Roy Rosin, MBA, Chief Innovation Officer, Penn Medicine
Top Stories
Regular COVID-19 testing is a critical component for the safe reopening of schools and businesses. In NEJM Catalyst, researchers from the Nudge Unit present insights from the design and implementation of Covid SAFE, a saliva-based testing program developed by a multi-stakeholder group at Penn Medicine. Covid SAFE remotely enrolls participants, enables automated bidirectional text messaging, incorporates symptom monitoring, and automatically reports test results.
A study led by researchers at the Nudge Unit revealed that stay-at-home orders put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with a significant decline in physical activity among adults with elevated risk for major adverse cardiovascular events. The study's findings also suggest that the pandemic could disproportionately reduce physical activity among minority and urban patients, further increasing disparities in preventative health behaviors.
Collaborate With Us
Save the date for the Nudges in Health Care Symposium on May 20, 2021, with keynote speaker David Halpern from the Behavioural Insights Team. The symposium will be virtual, and registration is free. Individuals interested in participating should complete this form to be notified when registration and other symposium information are made available.
Additional Coverage
- Patient-Reported Opioid Consumption and Pain Intensity After Common Orthopedic and Urologic Surgical Procedures With Use of an Automated Text Messaging System, JAMA Network Open
- Effect of Behaviorally Designed Gamification With a Social Support Partner to Increase Mobility After Hospital Discharge, JAMA Network Open
- Social media language of healthcare super-utilizers, Nature Research News
- During the pandemic, text messaging has become a life-saving health-care service, The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Piloting a Short-Stay Pathway for Symptomatic Covid-19 Patients, NEJM Catalyst
- 'Shot shopping': Limited vaccine access spurs some American to improvise, Washington Post
- What Can be Done to "Nudge" Vaccine Distribution Forward?, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
- HIMSSCast: Using data to work toward telehealth equity, Healthcare IT News
- What to know about at-home tests for colorectal cancers, TODAY
- Campus public health measures help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Penn Today
- Machine Learning Shows Social Media Greatly Affects COVID-19 Beliefs, HealthITAnalytics
- How COVID-19 Has Sped the Digital Transformation of Health Care, Penn Medicine System News