Hospitals turn toward 'digital twins'

Health systems in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have turned to electronic models, or "digital twins," that allow clinicians to test the treatment on patients before enacting them at the bedside.

Here is how three health systems are using digital twins that Becker's has covered since April 2023:

1. Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health is pulling patient data from the EHR, wearables and patients' genetic information to create models of individual patient organs. Eventually, the health system aims to create a simulation of the entire patient.
   
   
2. Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University uses an artificial intelligence-powered platform called BigBear.ai that allows the hospital to test different operational scenarios and see how the hospital responds to stress.
   
   
3. Pittsburgh-based UPMC created digital models that allow clinicians to adjust medications or treatments.