Clinical Decision Support
Radiology has long been the leader in adopting AI-powered tools. Nearly 80% of FDA-approved AI devices are for medical imaging purposes, and researchers say the tools have contributed to earlier disease detection and improved patient outcomes.
Dr. David Kirk, an intensive care unit physician and the chief medical officer at Regard, is a proponent of using AI as a diagnostic assistant to ensure diagnoses aren’t missed, especially in emergency situations. “The EHR is like a huge novel for some patients,” Kirk says. “The AI can quickly condense all that data and help me figure out which page is the most important for a patient’s care.”
Prescription Renewal Automation
In addition to enabling prescription renewals to process more quickly, AI-powered tools are improving price transparency by helping clinicians identify lower-cost options for their patients. “You’re starting to see pricing integrated at the healthcare provider level in the EHRs,” says Joseph Kleiman, president of Buzz Health: “When there’s a check for prior authorization, the pricing options are already there.”
Utah has also launched a pilot program with autonomous health platform Doctronic, allowing an “AI doctor” to approve renewals on medications that have already been prescribed by a licensed provider. (It’s worth noting that the Utah Medical Licensing Board has questioned the program’s safety.)
EXPLORE: Health systems can improve clinical workflows with Microsoft Dragon Copilot today.
Revenue Cycle Automation and AI Coding
Billing inefficiencies cost hospitals 3% to 5% of net revenue each year. AI can help prevent those losses by reducing coding and billing errors, analyzing insurance denials and drafting appeals, improving clean claims rates and providing revenue forecasts.
Cameron says an ongoing worker shortage in revenue cycle management makes automation a “no-brainer. I don’t know how else you effectively run a hospital without automation in this space because there are just not enough people.”
Patient Communication Automation
Automation has been transforming patient communication for years. Automated text reminders about upcoming appointments can reduce no-show rates, and remote patient monitoring devices share patient data directly to the EHR.
A study at the UC San Diego School of Medicine found that using generative AI to help draft nonemergency messages, which physicians would then edit and sign, decreased cognitive load.
And AI chatbots, such as Penny at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, can assist with follow-up care. Penny texts chemotherapy patients about their daily medication schedule and asks how they’re feeling. If there is a concern, the AI is designed to alert the provider.
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