On Monday, GE HealthCare announced new partnerships with The Queens Health System in Hawaii and Duke Health in North Carolina to develop AI-powered operations software.
The health systems will contribute frontline expertise for a “forthcoming cloud-first Software as a Service Solution that will be part of GE HealthCare’s CareIntellect family of applications,” according to a company statement.
The new product offering will “give hospital leaders the actionable insights and suggestions they need to adjust in real-time to deliver high-quality, efficient care.”
Also on Monday, Humana announced a partnership with the Washington-based health system Providence to launch “a pioneering initiative to streamline and secure data exchange between payers and providers,” a statement wrote.
The data exchange aims to provide clinicians with data-based insights to maintain patient privacy and reduce administrative burden.
Why It Matters
Many industry analysts and observers note the challenges faced by health care providers in the adoption of new clinical technology, including electronic medical records, AI tools, and other software that promises to bring efficiency to the medical profession but falls short in providing what frontline professionals need.
The growth of medical informatics professionals in health systems, many of whom have experience as health care practitioners, has aimed to address these challenges, as technology’s adoption shows little signs of stopping. Partnerships like the ones announced Monday can help ensure better viability of the products as well.
What To Know
The first phase of the Humana-Providence partnership, automated member attribution for Humana Medicare Advantage members, will go live in October. Upcoming phases will expand data exchange capabilities as they seek to build “a scalable model that can transform care across the healthcare industry.”
Humana and Providence also note that this “aligns with federal interoperability priorities, including the White House’s recent commitment to create a patient-centric healthcare ecosystem,” adding that “Humana and Providence were among the 60 organizations — including five payers and 11 health systems — that pledged to adopt the CMS Digital Health Ecosystem and eliminate outdated, paper-based processes in favor of secure, digital data exchange.”
GE HealthCare’s new product will draw on information from around 500 hospitals and 55,000 beds globally that use its Command Center. The Queens Health System reports a 41 percent decrease in emergency department length of stay and an estimated $20 million in savings through reduced length of stay in the first year of adopting Command Center.
What People Are Saying
Ashley Shearer, Vice President, Care Coordination, Patient Flow, Geriatrics, and Inpatient Rehab at The Queen’s Medical Center, said: “We believe in the power of technology to empower clinicians and improve patient care. As a current user of GE HealthCare’s Command Center software…we have been able to improve access to care and increase the number of transfer patients by more than 22 percent.”
Kristie Barazsu, President & Chief Operating Officer, Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital and Vice President of Patient Flow and Transfer Center, Duke University Health System, said: “We want to help health systems globally deliver better outcomes for patients. That’s why we’re contributing our expertise to shape the ways in which AI is used in healthcare…Bringing the latest technology into our organization has allowed us to give our leadership the information we need to quickly adjust, tackle emerging issues and optimize the care we provide.”
George Renaudin, Humana’s President of Insurance, said: “True interoperability should serve clinicians, patients and payers. Together with Providence, we’re enabling providers to deliver more effective care and helping our members spend less time on paperwork and more time on their health.”
Michael Westover, Vice President of Population Health Informatics at Providence, said: “The healthcare industry is overwhelmed by fragmented, inconsistent data formats that make care coordination costly and slow. Because we want to be successful in Value-Based Care contracts, Humana and Providence are building a shared foundation of administrative, financial and clinical data using national standards and modern technology.”
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