Guest contributor |
Every day, healthcare providers announce new ways they are applying artificial intelligence to clinical workflows. From technology-assisted radiology treatments to drug discovery, AI is powering innovation everywhere in the healthcare industry. However, there are other, perhaps more mundane, areas where AI is having a positive impact too. Back-office workers often notice AI increasingly improving financial metrics and administrative workflows.
Almost all participants (96 per cent) in the EY Health Pulse Survey, conducted by Atomik Research, thought that investing in healthcare technology is worth the cost. Nine out of ten surveyed healthcare providers said their departments have more time to take care of patient needs because they are able to delegate administrative tasks to a digital system.
Collaborating with companies driving innovation in healthcare AI applications is essential for the future of the industry. Within the Microsoft ecosystem, several partners are focused on this area, including Artisight, Outbound AI and Zivian Health.
Artisight
The Smart Hospital Platform by Artisight significantly improves operational efficiency in hospitals by integrating AI-driven technologies such as sensors, computer vision, voice recognition and vital sign monitoring into existing hospital systems. The platform’s deep-learning capabilities, powered by Microsoft AI, and open integration standards streamline hospital processes to reduce the burden on clinicians and enable them to focus on providing high-quality patient care.
The Artisight platform includes features that can be used to deliver better care in patient rooms, operating rooms and clinics. For example, the Remote Observer feature enables staff to monitor multiple patients simultaneously via a single screen. It uses an AI algorithm to monitor the risk of patients falling and delivers automated alerts when movement is detected so that observers can respond to their needs quickly. Meanwhile, the ClinicQ and ClinicQ+ Tracking features alert teams in different departments as patients move throughout a clinic and apply data-driven insights to track the availability of equipment and supplies.
For example, Northwestern Medicine, a non-profit healthcare system, implemented Artisight technology and completely eliminated patient falls and zero nursing turnover in all units where it was deployed. The hospital attributes its success to Artisight’s approach of developing algorithms that are specifically trained to its unique care setting. The hospital has achieved measurable safety and efficiency gains and increased clinician satisfaction.
Outbound AI
Microsoft partner Outbound AI is on a mission to improve how people work in healthcare. The company currently serves revenue cycle outsourcers, medical billing companies, physician groups of all sizes, and health systems for hospital, physician, behavioural and physical therapy claims. Its AI agents and services are purpose-built to streamline the labour- and time-intensive tasks that lead to lost revenue, margin compression and, more importantly, worker dissatisfaction and burnout.
Initially, the company focuses on the back end of the healthcare revenue cycle, streamlining phone-based administrative work. Its solutions use AI to relieve medical billing teams of the payer phone calls, portal queries and faxes that typically consume up to two-thirds of their day. With Outbound AI, billing teams have the option of shifting some work to AI agents, which can autonomously process tasks.
For example, the Outbound AI Claims Work Solution, enables users to ‘hire’ AI virtual agents to perform billing work, enabling staff to prioritise tasks more effectively, focus strategically on key claims and be better prepared to manage larger workloads. AI virtual agents are available for 24 hours a day, all year round. They scale on demand to meet fluctuating volumes and operate at four to five times the pace of their human counterparts. Plus, they do not require special training. Outbound AI implements the solution quickly and easily, with support for most major players. Furthermore, Outbound AI’s out-of-the box approach helps the mid-market and enterprises adopt AI easily without disruption to legacy systems.
Zivian Health
Practice providers and healthcare organisations can support their back office administrative requirements with solutions from Zivian Health, including workforce expansion, upskilling and micro badging to streamline efforts that detract from patient care. Fundamentally, Zivian’s technology and tools maintain up-to-date regulatory knowledge that enable healthcare organisations to oversee compliance and quality assurance in an efficient way. However, Zivian offers solutions for a diverse range of operational workflows including licensing services, professional practice evaluation and credentialing for the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Zivian technology saves enterprises thousands of dollars on exorbitant legal, administrative, staffing and operational costs, and reduces turnaround times on these tasks from weeks to days. The partnership between Zivian and Microsoft has helped to implement generative AI-powered solutions that allow Zivian’s platform to learn and grow with each user to best meet the demand of a challenged workforce.
While drug discovery and gene folding grab the AI headlines, meaningful solutions for the real world of healthcare can be elusive. However, these three companies are leading the way, helping provider organisations improve care delivery, stakeholder satisfaction and, most importantly, their bottom line.
Sally Ann Frank is worldwide lead for health and life sciences at Microsoft for Startups
This article was originally published in the Summer 2024 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.