Artificial intelligence tools are helping primary care physicians diagnose skin cancer, home care providers retain staff, and hospital physicians receive early warnings about the stages underlying patient mental health in the stories we read this week.
Solventum announced that it is now using AI to reverse revenue cycle processes and resolve declines proactively. Through a new partnership with Ava, an enterprise AI platform, WellSky helped a large home care provider improve employee engagement and reduce turnover with integrated tools. incorporated into the electronic health record.
San Diego State University researchers have leveraged funding to equip and test AI-powered mental health robots, while the accelerating use of medical devices in general practice has highlighted the importance of post-market research.
Prevent rejection in workflow
On Monday, Solventum and Sift announced a machine learning integration that intervenes in the pre-billing coding and authentication process at the early stages of the healthcare revenue cycle.
The new revenue integrity system is designed to help health systems reduce the likelihood of denials and ensure timely and accurate reimbursement to payers, the companies said.
According to Garri Garrison, president of health information systems at Solventum, formerly 3M Healthcare, healthcare organizations consider claim denials the biggest challenge in managing the revenue cycle. collection, then switching to a proactive strategy can help them prevent denials in their clinical workflow.
“As health care systems continue to face increasing write-offs due to the growing burden of insurance denials, the current response approach is to rely on into claims data to reverse-analyze coverage denials that are no longer effective.”
Fresno Community Health Center said Healthcare IT news In March, they turned to AI to reduce claim denials.
“With this tool, we can prevent claims from occurring in the first place, giving us a last chance to resolve any outstanding items that could lead to denials,” said Eric Eckhart, the provider’s director of patient financial services.
Mental health robotics advances
With a $5 million grant from the Brown Foundation, researchers at SDSU are taking their Pepper and Bernard robots to the next level of emotional sensitivity.
Dr. Aaron Elkins, director of the center, told NBC San Diego earlier this month that researchers are studying artificial intelligence that could act as an early warning system for a mental health event. . Such personalized therapy robots could alert doctors to the possibility of a mental illness episode.
“A machine might see changes in your pupils, might hear a change in the pitch of your voice, or something might happen that makes it sense that maybe you’re in a certain state that requires a certain kind of intervention,” Elkins said in the paper.
The center has partnered with area hospitals and is testing the technology to diagnose diseases and disorders in clinical trials.
Previous studies have shown that patients prefer robots for care.
AI detects skin cancer
Last week, it was reported that a new AI device is giving primary care doctors the ability to diagnose skin cancer, addressing dermatology access limitations and avoiding wait times took a long time to be referred to dermatology.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared Miami-based DermaSensor, the first AI-powered medical device to detect skin cancer in primary care. The approval, which is being reviewed under the De Novo pathway, is considered a major milestone, according to the story in Dermatology Times.
The device was 96% sensitive in detecting skin cancer in one study, Reuters said in January after receiving FDA approval.
While an additional study found the device could aid in injury management decisions, potentially reducing unnecessary referrals, a third clinical utility study showed a reduction significant specificity for referrals.
According to the story, the device’s effectiveness in patient groups — especially those that have not been properly evaluated in clinical trials — is unclear and warrants ongoing post-marketing research. out to ensure fair performance and monitor diagnostic accuracy.
Solving the problem of employee turnover
To ease the pressure on home health care providers, Griswold, one of the largest home care chains in the country, with more than 170 facilities in 32 states and more than 9,000 caregivers care, reduced caregiver turnover at eight company-owned offices by using AI to engage employees.
According to Ava co-founder and CEO Victor Hunt, the attrition rate of home care workers is 77%.
“Ava strives to remove the burden of administrative work and reconnect caregivers and home care managers to why they chose a healthcare career in the first place,” he said in the announcement. with WellSky, a home healthcare EHR provider, last month.
But revenue is not just a matter of salary. According to the EHR vendor, departing caregivers said they could have stayed with better engagement and communication.
Ava’s algorithms help predict caregiver turnover and proactively guide employee retention, reliability and recruitment through gamification, WellSky said. With the integration of an AI-driven employee engagement tool into the EHR, Griswold reported that their caregiver turnover decreased by 13% in seven months.
Wes Little, chief analytics officer at WellSky, said in the statement: “The staffing crisis facing our clients and the industry at large is a major concern, both for those seeking looking for home care services and agencies are trying to meet that need.”
Ava’s communication also helps Griswold caregivers clock in and out on time and meet minimum weekly hours requirements.
“We have seen tremendous benefits from using WellSky TeamEngage powered by Ava, both in retaining talented employees and in differentiating our company,” Caitlin Griffith, Griswold’s director of people and culture, said in a statement.
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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