This week, more providers announced integrations of artificial intelligence tools and platforms that help better connect patients and doctors during their medical visits, find and reduce the cost of specialty medications, and access care resources at home or on the go.
Pfizer is committed to simplifying access to routine healthcare, partnering with Instacart and Zocdoc on a user-friendly, direct-to-consumer web platform. To reduce the cost of specialty drugs, Reliance Rx said it has entered the Waltz Connect marketplace, while Elation Health, a primary care-focused electronic health records provider, has launched an ambient notes feature as a first step in redesigning the experience for doctors.
“This is just the beginning of our larger vision of transforming the EHR from a supporting technology to a valuable assistant for clinicians,” Kyna Fong, CEO of Elation Health, said in a statement Tuesday.
Reliance Rx partners on specialty drugs
The companies announced Monday that Buffalo, New York-based Reliance Rx will join Waltz Connect, an AI-powered marketplace, as an in-network pharmacy option for specialty prescriptions.
Reliance says the average time to complete the procedure is about three days and can save more than $5,200 in costs per successful clinical interaction.
The new partnership aims to reduce administrative burdens for program sponsors and providers and reduce net costs, according to Timothy Carroll, vice president of business development and analytics at Reliance Rx.
“Waltz Health provides a solution for plan sponsors to deliver a more seamless specialty pharmacy experience while removing barriers for plan members to access life-saving medications,” Carrol said in a statement.
Chicago-based Waltz Health, a platform for payers, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers and self-insured employers, said adding a new specialty pharmacy partner will ease the pain for health plan members.
“With our proven ability to fill prescriptions at scale and with predictable pricing, we are providing access to a trusted, mission-driven specialty pharmacy that can reduce costs and meet member expectations,” Mark Thierer, co-founder and CEO of Waltz Health, said in the announcement.
Elation EHR Adds AI Note-Taking Feature
Elation Health said it added the ambient note creation feature to reduce the administrative burden of note-taking for complex primary care patient visit requests.
Called Note Assist, this embedded AI works with provider note templates and reviews existing notes and patient records to create documentation in near real-time during visits.
According to the company, the tool requires minimal workflow changes and access to patient data and other EHR tools is uninterrupted while in use.
“The patient-doctor connection is invaluable but easily broken,” Phill Tornroth, vice president of engineering at Elation Health, noted in the statement.
“This first intelligent feature is important because it not only is useful in the EHR, but it also shows what is possible when AI is designed to be trusted by primary care professionals with deep insights into clinician workflows.”
Pfizer Aims for Health Outcomes
Pfizer announced Tuesday that a new digital platform called PfizerForAll will allow patients to use existing insurance and pharmacy plans and offer new direct services from partners including UpScriptHealth, Alto Pharmacy and Instacart.
The company said the new digital health platform will address common ailments like migraines and common respiratory viruses, and schedule vaccinations for adults with the goal of shortening patient care and prescription refill times.
“People are often overwhelmed with information and face barriers when making decisions for themselves or their families in the complex and often overburdened U.S. health care system,” Aamir Malik, Pfizer’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer in the United States, said in a statement.
“This can be very time-consuming and lead to hesitation or inaction – and poor health as a result.”
The web platform allows patients to chat with a doctor at UpScript or schedule an appointment on Zocdoc, learn about migraines, and get help with medication prior authorization.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
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