A new targeted therapy for treating aggressive brain tumors has been used for the first time in Iowa by UnityPoint Health — John Stoddard Cancer Center. GammaTile Therapy is designed to delay tumor regrowth and preserve healthy tissue by targeting the radiation in the areas where tumor recurrence is most likely. “GammaTile therapy involves implanting postage stamp-sized tiles embedded with radiation sources into the brain during the final minutes of
UnityPoint Health
February 3, 2022
TAI announces 2022 board chair, new members
The Technology Association of Iowa announced Jan. 26 that Laura Smith, chief information officer at UnityPoint Health Systems, will serve as chair of the board of directors in 2022. TAI’s three new board members are Michelle Bates, chief innovation officer at Revology Inc., Jason Katcher, vice president and chief information officer at ITA Group Inc., and Mike Rice, president of Aureon Consulting. Learn more about the new board at technologyiowa.org
July 29, 2021
Unity Point Health-Des Moines partners with Qventus to improve patient experience
Unity Point Health-Des Moines is partnering with Qventus, a clincal operations system using machine learning, artificial intelligence and behavioral science, to optimize and streamline patient flow and discharge processes. The Qventus Inpatient Solution processes data in real time, the first health care operations system to do so. AI will predict the time and location of discharge and identify barriers while machine learning will help staff coordinate and prioritize orders for
October 1, 2020
Three big takeaways from the 2020 Iowa Technology Summit
How do businesses take advantage of a time of disruption? At this year’s virtual Iowa Technology Summit — itself disrupted by a year encapsulated in a pandemic — attendees logged on for two mornings Sept. 28-29 to hear speakers walk through lessons learned since March and reimagine what industries will look like in the months ahead. All sessions of the Iowa Technology Summit will be hosted for free online by
September 17, 2020
UnityPoint Health fourth Iowa entity to be affected in Blackbaud ransomware attack
More than 27,000 people have been contacted after UnityPoint Health was affected by a ransomware attack against third-party vendor Blackbaud, a cloud-based provider of fundraising and finance services for education and nonprofit entities, reports KCCI. The attack, which took place between Feb. 7-May 20, impacted patients and donors within the St. Luke’s Foundation in Sioux City, Trinity Health Foundation in the Quad Cities and Des Moines Foundation in Des Moines.
November 6, 2019
Iowa Lean Consortium announces annual Iowa Partners in Efficiency award
The UnityPoint Health Sepsis Work Team received the Iowa Lean Consortium (ILC) Iowa Partners in Efficiency award for reducing variation in sepsis patients’ clinical care. Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to an infection. The UPH Sepsis Work Team standardized work to reduce variation in processes, increasing the level of care for patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. The UnityPoint Health system has
May 31, 2018
UnityPoint Health seeks to build a culture of innovation
How can a regional health care organization with operations in three states and some 32,000 employees become more innovative? Iowa-based UnityPoint Health — the 13th-largest nonprofit health system in the country — decided it would build a mechanism to empower its employees to think like entrepreneurs, by developing a center to rapidly evaluate ideas submitted by its employees and test new product concepts. Kent Lehr, vice president of strategy and
