Universal health coverage--big thinking versus big data

Framing the Shades of Sustainability in Health Care: Pitfalls and Perspectives from Western EU Countries

Sustainability is momentous for the appropriate functioning of health care systems. In fact, health and sustainability are two strictly related values, which could not be separately sought. While studies discussing the contextualization of this issue with respect to the distinguishing attributes of health care systems are rapidly blooming, there is still little agreement about what is ultimately meant by sustainability in the health care arena. On the one hand, attention is primarily focused on the proper use of available financial resources; on the other hand, people engagement and empowerment are gradually arising as a crucial step to enhance the viability of the health care system. This paper tries to identify, from a conceptual point of view inspired by the European integrative movement, the different shades of sustainability in health care and proposes a recipe to strengthen the long-term viability of health care organizations. The balanced mix of financial, economic, political, and social sustainability is compelling to increase the ability of health care organizations to create meaningful value for the population served. However, the focus on a single dimension of sustainability is thought to engender several side effects, which compromise the capability of health care organizations to guarantee health gains at the individual and collective levels. From this standpoint, further conceptual and practical developments are envisioned, paving the way for a full-fledged understanding of sustainability in the health care environment.

Cognitive computing and eScience in health and life science research: artificial intelligence and obesity intervention programs

Objective

To present research models based on artificial intelligence and discuss the concept of cognitive computing and eScience as disruptive factors in health and life science research methodologies.

Methods

The paper identifies big data as a catalyst to innovation and the development of artificial intelligence, presents a framework for computer-supported human problem solving and describes a transformation of research support models. This framework includes traditional computer support; federated cognition using machine learning and cognitive agents to augment human intelligence; and a semi-autonomous/autonomous cognitive model, based on deep machine learning, which supports eScience.

Results

The paper provides a forward view of the impact of artificial intelligence on our human-computer support and research methods in health and life science research.

Conclusions

By augmenting or amplifying human task performance with artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and eScience research models are discussed as novel and innovative systems for developing more effective adaptive obesity intervention programs.

The challenge of nurse innovation in the Australian context of universal health care

As nursing pushes further into the realm of primary health care in Australia, an understanding of the challenges to achieving reasonable federal funding of nursing services needs to be understood. This understanding is underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the concept of universal health care, how the concept relates to the Australian health care context, and the resultant challenges to innovation in health care service delivery in Australia. Universal health care is a global mission and was the most recent theme for the International Council of Nurses Congress in Australia. Universal health care as a concept represents a fundamental shift from the development and funding of discrete interventions or programmes, to that of developing systems of health care. The three critical elements required are a clear definition of what is considered health care and funded for who, how the system is financed, and evaluation. Australia has a system of universal health care and all three elements are addressed. Organised medicine, a key objector to the introduction of the current approach to universal health care in Australia, soon adapted to it, and now fiercely resists change. Medico centricity poses challenges to sustainability as innovation is inhibited. This challenge is illustrated through consideration of the implementation of the financial policy that gave Nurse Practitioners access as providers and prescribers within Medicare funded services.

Big Data and Comparative Effectiveness Research in Radiation Oncology: Synergy and Accelerated Discovery

Several advances in large data set collection and processing have the potential to provide a wave of new insights and improvements in the use of radiation therapy for cancer treatment. The era of electronic health records, genomics, and improving information technology resources creates the opportunity to leverage these developments to create a learning healthcare system that can rapidly deliver informative clinical evidence. By merging concepts from comparative effectiveness research with the tools and analytic approaches of “big data,” it is hoped that this union will accelerate discovery, improve evidence for decision making, and increase the availability of highly relevant, personalized information. This combination offers the potential to provide data and analysis that can be leveraged for ultra-personalized medicine and high-quality, cutting-edge radiation therapy.