Earlier this month, U.S. News & World Report held its second annual “Hospital of Tomorrow” conference in Washington DC. In a special report available on their website (link below), you can access conference presentations and other materials.

An executive roundtable discussion, “Navigating a New Era in Health Care,” provides valuable insights. Other topics addressed at the conference include the following:

>> Value-Based Healthcare Delivery
>> Provider and Patient Engagement
>> Data, Information and Transformation
>> The Changing Face of the Healthcare Ecosystem
>> Population Health Management

Across the country, hospitals are experimenting with new ways to deliver healthcare, including sending doctors on house calls and putting nurses in community facilities such as the YMCA. Other experiments include screening patients for mental and behavioral health problems, which often interfere with treatments.

Integrated health systems have an advantage in the new environment because, for example, they can more effectively analyze electronic health records and other data to identify patients that would benefit from home-based visits. Often, patients with heart failure, pneumonia and other conditions can be treated in their own homes more effectively and efficiently. Technology developments, such as telemedicine and telemonitoring, are giving clinicians real-time access to patients as well as the ability to easily check vital signs between visits.

For more information on topics covered at the U.S. News & World Report’s “Hospital of Tomorrow” conference, visit: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow