Healthcare + AI: How AI is Lightening the Load in Hospitals, Abridge's AI Revolutionizes ER Documentation, IBM Working with Mass General

At Healthcare + AI, we explore the latest trends and insights in healthcare and AI. Everything you need. Nothing you don’t.

Today’s features:

• How AI is Lightening the Load in Hospitals

• Abridge's AI Revolutionizes ER Documentation

• IBM and Mass General Brigham Tackling Extreme Heat with AI

• AI is Transforming the Financial Side of Healthcare, Too

• Rainfall Health is Tapping AI to Help Solve Rural Healthcare Access

How AI is Lightening the Load in Hospitals 

Overworked, understaffed, and under constant pressure. The working lives of doctors and nurses at U.S. hospitals have never been more stressed. For that reason, it some ways it is heartening to see AI making waves in healthcare, easing the load on professionals and improving patient care.

AI tools are stepping in to support doctors and nurses, allowing them to focus more on patients and less on paperwork. The integration of AI in healthcare is not just about efficiency, but also about enhancing the quality of services provided.

By the Numbers:

- 65% of healthcare providers have adopted some form of AI technology.

- AI-driven tools can reduce diagnostic errors by up to 30%.

- 4 in 5 healthcare executives believe AI is crucial for the industry's future.

What They're Saying: “We have fewer and fewer people in healthcare. We saw a huge attrition of doctors and nurses post-Covid, and our patients and our community’s getting older. The math doesn’t work unless you have something that can augment and turbo-charge our physicians or nurses and others to be even more accurate, even more efficient [and] drive costs down.” - Dr. Nishit Patel, vice president and chief medical informatics officer at Tampa General Hospital

Why It Matters: The burden on healthcare workers is significant and can be improved with AI, leading to better patient care and reduced burnout among staff. Expect more AI-driven solutions to enter hospitals, aiming to streamline processes further.

But challenges remain, such as integrating AI tools with existing systems and ensuring data privacy. Read More

Abridge's AI Revolutionizes ER Documentation

Abridge is shaking up emergency medicine with its latest generative AI tool, launched in collaboration with Emory Healthcare and Johns Hopkins. This tool aims to streamline medical documentation, a task often seen as a time drain for doctors. By reducing administrative burdens, Abridge hopes to allow medical professionals to focus more on patient care rather than paperwork.

By the Numbers:

• 6 years of development went into creating these AI tools.

• Over 30% reduction in documentation time is reported by early testers.

• 2 major healthcare institutions involved in the launch: Emory Healthcare and Johns Hopkins.

Why It Matters: Streamlining documentation can significantly improve efficiency in emergency departments, where every second counts.

What They’re Saying: “Abridge Inside has reduced burnout and increased job satisfaction in the Emergency Department without changing anything else. We have adopted one technology that has really impacted our work and, therefore, our patients—and I can’t think of a single person who uses Abridge who would go back.” - Tricia Smith, M.D., Emory University Hospital

What's Next: Abridge plans to roll out this tool across more hospitals in the coming months. They are also looking to gather data on the tool's effectiveness to make further improvements. Keep an eye on how this tech could reshape emergency care. Read More

IBM and Mass General Brigham Tackling Extreme Heat with AI

Mass General Brigham is teaming up with IBM to combat health issues caused by extreme heat using artificial intelligence. The collaboration aims to develop tools that help healthcare systems and community health centers address these challenges.

The partnership is part of IBM’s Sustainability Accelerator, which is bringing together organizations like Mass General Brigham to collaborate with IBM experts on AI solutions to address key challenges for — and with — the communities they support. This effort highlights the growing role of AI in addressing urgent climate-related health issues and is expected to lead to innovative solutions.

By the Numbers:

- Extreme heat events have tripled since the 1960s.

- Over 1.2 billion residents globally are vulnerable to heat stress by 2100.

- AI can potentially cut down 40% of the operational burden in healthcare.

Why It Matters: AI-driven solutions can provide critical insights and interventions to mitigate the impact of climate on public health. The tool will be built to help predict hyperlocal extreme heat events, identify at-risk patients, and deliver reliable, automated warnings when a heat wave is imminent. The new solution will inform patients of resources available to them, while helping clinicians to take preventative action by screening for, and intervening upon, patient risk factors.

The solution will be initially tested across Mass General Brigham hospitals. The tool will be designed with security features to protect the patient information and health information used to support the solution and to provide access to such information only within each health system using the tool and its patients.

What's Next: The project will kick off with pilot programs in several communities. Future phases could expand internationally, potentially saving millions from heat-related health issues. Read More

Ai is Transforming the Financial Side of Healthcare, Too

AI is reshaping the healthcare landscape not just with technology related to patient care and operations, but also through financial systems. Behind every patient record and hospital ledger, AI is playing a growing role in streamlining operations.

It's not just about patient care anymore. Making the financial side work as well is key to broad adoption.

- Over 30% of U.S. healthcare providers are using AI-driven financial management systems.

- Electronic health records (EHR) adoption increased by 20% in the last two years.

- Data analytics in healthcare projected to be worth $78 billion by 2026.

What They're Saying: “Some five decades since electronic health records were first introduced, and almost twenty years since the federal government subsidized their adoption, many systems today still lack ‘interoperability’ – the ability of information to flow across different IT vendor systems – despite the legal requirement to do so. Federal rules provide little or no oversight or enforcement of adequate standards.” - Dr. Rosemary Batt, Cornell University

Why It Matters: AI's integration into financial systems is as crucial as its role in medical diagnostics, paving the way for more efficient healthcare delivery.

Expect more healthcare providers to adopt AI-enhanced financial systems as they look to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Regulatory bodies might start looking closer at AI's role in financial management to ensure transparency and security. Read More

Rainfall Health is Tapping AI to Help Solve Rural Healthcare Access

Rainfall Health, which was established to help bridge the gap in providing access to quality healthcare in medical deserts, just announced its inaugural committee focused on standardizing healthcare delivery nationwide. The committee brings together top healthcare leaders to drive innovation and set new benchmarks in AI applications related to healthcare delivery in rural areas.

This move is seen as a step forward in ensuring consistent and high-quality healthcare outcomes.

Why It Matters: Standardization in healthcare delivery is crucial for eliminating disparities and enhancing patient care across the board.

Per a statement from Rainfall Health: “The primary goal of the Advisory Committee is to enhance the quality and accessibility of healthcare services for all communities. By holding organizations accountable to clear, measurable standards, the committee aims to foster improved patient care. This initiative involves a unique approach where healthcare facilities will be responsible for patients for 30 days post-surgery. Such accountability can significantly impact Medicare revenue for facilities that meet the mandated standards, affecting up to 15% of their total revenue.”

What's Next: The committee will convene bi-monthly to strategize and develop guidelines. Expect the first set of recommendations by Q2 next year. Future plans include expanding the committee’s scope to include international standards. Read More