Artificial Intelligence

AI will be key to the high-intensity modeling needed for personalized care – and New Zealand is offering a unique test bed for the development of new approaches.

Hospitals can use artificial intelligence-driven technologies to automate manual and expensive processes. For instance, communicating with payers has become one of the most arduous responsibilities for revenue cycle departments. This is one of the messages health IT vendor Recondo Technology wants to get across to attendees at the upcoming HIMSS19 conference. "Anyone outside this department would be shocked at the sheer volume of transactions to process," said Eldon Richards, chief technology officer at Recondo Technology. "And payers typically will only go over three at a time on the phone. When you have on average 16,000 queries to wade through a month, that's not going to cut it." The other option – to look up authorization status on the payer's website – is less time-consuming but still requires a lot of staff hours, he added. Automation is the key Automation is a proven alternative that substantially reduces time and human effort to the entire authorization process – from querying the payer's website to find out if prior authorization is required, to automating the retrieval of the payer's answers, said Richards. Recondo Technology will be discussing a variety of trends with HIMSS19 attendees, though two stand out: AI and price transparency. "AI has been under an intense spotlight. Healthcare leaders really need to be able to discern where the ROI opportunities are biggest right now." Eldon Richards, Recondo Technology "AI has been under an intense media and industry spotlight," Richards said. "Healthcare leaders really need to be able to discern where the ROI opportunities are biggest right now. We believe based on our customers' successes that automating revenue cycle management processes are among the most significant ROI opportunities at present with AI – specifically, via robotic process automation, and even more so when this automation is further enabled with machine learning and natural language processing." Interest in price transparency has redoubled since CMS mandated that hospitals must post their chargemaster lists online, he said of the other trend. "That mandate goes into effect this month, so I expect price transparency will be top of mind with many HIMSS19 attendees," he explained. "I would caution that simply complying with this mandate will not be enough to bring true price transparency to patients, as many will be confused to discover that what they will actually pay for services is markedly different than what's on the chargemaster list. So HIMSS19 attendees should be on the lookout for solutions that do give that authentic transparency into cost." Breaking through the AI hype And Richards has more advice for HIMSS19 attendees. "A lot of CIOs and CTOs will be heading to HIMSS19 with the intent to find out where AI is really working, because there's just been so much hype surrounding the topic the last few years," he said. "Now it's time for the rubber to hit the road, so to speak. My advice for separating the 'fake it till you make it' vendors from those who have an authentic AI solution to offer is to look for three basic proof points: cost, time and the use of neural networks." If an AI system can process a lot of transactions in a short amount of time but at a high cost, that's an indicator that human effort was used instead of AI-driven automation, he advised. "If it can process a lot of transactions at a cheap cost but over a longer period of time, that's also a sign that humans were doing most of the work," he said. "These first two proof points are more geared toward evaluating AI technology such as robotic process automation. When evaluating claims that a solution is machine learning-capable, make sure to verify the solution is powered by neural networks versus standard rules-based engines." With price transparency, HIMSS19 attendees should consider the CMS mandate a marketing opportunity to retain more patients, Richards said. "The mandate will drive more potential patients to the hospital's website," he commented. "An online price calculator that's easy to use, gives an accurate estimate of the patient's cost and even provides payment assistance options will give them a reason to schedule services with your hospital."   .jumbotron{ background-image: url("http://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/default/files/u2556/HIMSSSignJumbotron.jpg"); background-size: cover; color: white; } .jumbotron h2{ color: white; } HIMSS19 Preview An inside look at the innovation, education, technology, networking and key events at the HIMSS19 global conference in Orlando. Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com

Connected care, upskilled workers, tax reform, a Southwest Airlines approach, private equity and the Affordable Care Act all will impact healthcare organizations in 2019, a new PwC report says.

As machine learning rapidly expands into healthcare, the ways it "learns" may be at odds with clinical outcomes unless carefully controlled for, a new study shows.

New project looks to create European AI-on-demand platform. A new AI4EU project aims to support the development of the “first European on-demand AI platform” with a €20m budget over the next three years. French company Thales is coordinating the roll-out, with a view to expand membership of the project, which is currently bringing together 79 organisations from 21 countries. According to Thales, this will include the creation of a Europe-wide ethics observatory to drive discussions and development of “explainable, verifiable AI”.  Partners will reportedly make AI tools, algorithms and use cases available on the platform, providing help to SMEs, start-ups, entrepreneurs, venture capital firms and others, as the European Commission unveiled the plan to launch the initiative in an AI strategy released in April last year.  “We are very proud that the European Commission has placed its confidence in Thales to coordinate the AI4EU project, which will help Europe to build recognition as a player in the global race to develop the best digital technologies and AI in service of society,” said Thales Chief Technology Officer Marko Erman. ... Scottish NHS board rolls out Orion Health Medicines. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the largest NHS organisation in Scotland, has implemented Orion Health Medicines at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow,  and is now using it across 11 hospital sites, aggregating data from multiple IT systems to provide a list of medicines patients are prescribed across care settings. “Because Orion Health Medicines captures the medications the patient had at admission, and the medications they have at discharge, the system can automatically highlight to the GP what has changed. Previously, stopped medication might be omitted from the discharge letter, meaning it wasn’t clear to the GP whether this medication had been deliberately stopped. “The GP might phone the hospital to seek clarification, which took time for both the GP practice and the hospital staff. With the Orion Health system, the immediate discharge letter clearly states that a medication has been stopped, including the reason for this,” said Alaistar Bishop, Programme Lead at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, one of Scotland’s 14 regional NHS Boards. The system was reportedly piloted at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in November last year and Inverclyde Royal Hospital in January. … Researchers create online calculator to predict risk of breast cancer. According to a study by Cancer Research UK, published in Genetics in Medicine, researchers have developed an online calculator to predict risk of breast cancer by combining information on family history and genetics with weight, alcohol consumption and other factors. They have taken into account 300 genetic indicators for breast cancer. Some GPs are reportedly testing the tool, and researchers say it could in the future help tailor breast cancer screening according to a person’s risk, and help them make decisions regarding preventative therapy. University of Cambridge Professor Antonis Antoniou, lead author of the study, said: “This is the first time that anyone has combined so many elements into one breast cancer prediction tool. It could be a game changer for breast cancer because now we can identify large numbers of women with different levels of risk – not just women who are at high risk. “This should help doctors to tailor the care they provide depending on their patients’ level of risk. For example, some women may need additional appointments with their doctor to discuss screening or prevention options and others may just need advice on their lifestyle and diet. “We hope this means more people can be diagnosed early and survive their disease for longer, but more research and trials are needed before we will fully understand how this could be used.” ... Boots UK buys health tech company Wiggly-Amps. Boots, the largest pharmacy health and beauty chain in the UK, has acquired Norfolk-based health tech company Wiggly-Amps. The company has created a digital solution to enable patients and their GPs to better manage prescription requirements, which Boots UK intends to use to strengthen its digital offerings. “It’s an exciting time for the future of pharmacy and today’s announcement is just one of the ways we are strengthening the development of our digital healthcare ambitions,” said Richard Bradley, Boots UK Pharmacy Director. Wiggly Amps has developed hardware and software solutions for healthcare, and its existing team will now operate as a separate entity to Boots UK under a new name, Engage Health Systems.Their Engage Touch patient check-in touch screens, Engage Consult online consultation platform, Engage Web GP websites, DORIS and Encompass will be delivered through this company, while their panic alarm system will be delivered through Little Green Button, also operating as a separate entity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yesterday, the Walgreens Boots Aliance also announced a new partnership with Microsoft for a cloud-based consumer health initiative.

A Cloud Healthcare Datathon, a FHIR session and one-on-one time on APIs and deep learning will highlight the specialty pavilion at this year's global conference.

HIMSS chief clinical officer Charles Alessi looks at the role of AI in the digital transformation of health and care.

Last week, Deqing county hospital in Guangdong Province launched free consultations featuring artificial-intelligence (AI) cameras to detect ocular fundus diseases, which are major causes of blindness, according to a report by Xinhua News. About 300 residents from Zhaoqing City in Dequing County attended the free consultation sessions. The hospital became the first to use the device, co-developed by China's search engine Baidu and Sun Yat-sen University, to serve the general public. The instrument is capable of diagnosing three types of fundus disorders -- diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. It scans the eyes and generates a report in 10 seconds, all done without the need for an ophthalmologist to be present. Baidu’s AI-powered camera was first unveiled in China in November 2018, according to a MobiHealth News article. Fundus diseases are a major cause of blindness in the developing world, where the short supply of eye doctors and instruments has stymied timely diagnosis and treatment. China, with a population of 1.39 billion, has only thousands of ophthalmologists capable of analysing fundus photos screening. “As a doctor working at the grassroots level, I believe AI can greatly help in all aspects of screening. For instance, there is so much imaging data during medical checkups and it takes up a lot of time and energy for doctors to physically look at this data, which is simply not efficient. In ophthalmology, the use of AI to verify test results from fluorescein angiography and OCT examinations can help doctors expedite their analysis, which saves time and improves their efficiency,” said Dr Honghu Xia, Director of Ophthalmology at Deqing county hospital. Xu Yanwu, a Baidu engineer developing the instrument, said the AI cameras were specifically designed to address the lack of medical instruments and ophthalmologists at grassroots health facilities. "It is easy to use and can be operated by a non-professional. Its 94-percent sensitivity and specificity at analysing photos can match a senior doctor at a tertiary hospital," Xu said. As of 10 January 2019, Baidu already has four of said AI cameras operating in four hospitals in Deqing County to assist ophthalmologists in fundus screening. It is estimated that by end of March, Guangdong Province will have 14 hospitals using the AI camera instrument.

Everything from AI to wearables and voice tech will be on display for hands-on interactions and live demonstrations.

The new Digital Health Innovation Action Plan is part of the agency’s broader effort to improve oversight of technologies.