All care delivered through UpDoc's artificial intelligence-based remote patient providers would be prescribed by physicians or clinical pharmacists overseeing the platform, the company said in an announcement Friday.
WHY IT MATTERS
UpDoc's remote patient intervention technology uses conversational AI, powered by multiple major language models, including GPT-4 through Microsoft's Azure Open AI Service, Google Cloud's MedLM and Vertex AI models.
The physician-supervised AI, validated by Stanford Medicine, autonomously manages chronic diseases, according to Palo Alto, California-based UpDoc. The company says patient-centric conversational AI can increase physician encounters, improve access to high-quality, affordable care and improve patient outcomes.
During an eight-week trial of the company's RPI platform, 81% of patients who had their diabetes managed by the AI achieved glycemic control of their diabetes, compared to 25% of patients who received traditional care, according to the announcing the new partnership.
The AI-managed patients in the study had 60% greater medication adherence and five times more prescription changes, but required fewer doctor visits to control their diabetes, according to UpDoc.
“Medication management is one of the most important issues in chronic care, especially in communities that have limited access to health care providers,” Desi Kotis, chief pharmacy officer at UCSF Health, said in a statement.
UpDoc partners with UCSF Health and the American Heart Association as a member of AHA's Innovator's Network.
“We are eager to see what opportunities AI can provide to help patients understand their medications and better manage their health.”
Further research with Microsoft, Google Cloud and Santa Clara County Independent Physician Association will also be conducted at Stanford Medicine.
Dr. Sharif Vakili, CEO of UpDoc, practicing physician at Stanford Medicine and entrepreneurial advisor at Polaris Partners, and Ashwin Nayak, the company's Chief Technical Officer, clinical informaticist at Standford, AI researcher and software developer invented the technology.
Polaris Partners, Eli Lilly & Company, Mayo Clinic and Oxeon participated in the company's recent funding round.
THE BIG TREND
“Everyone knows about evidence-based medicine, but have you thought about intelligence-based medicine?” asked Dr. Harvey Castro, a practicing ER physician, Chief Clinical Operating Officer at ViTel Health and assistant professor at the University of Texas-Austin at the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum last month.
“AI allows us to improve and see things,” says the AI and healthcare author and host of GPT Podcast.
Stanford Healthcare has also used machine learning models to coordinate inpatient care and reduce clinical decline. An AI-integrated system can objectively assess the risks of hospital patients and update predictions in electronic medical records every 15 minutes.
Dr. Shreya Shah, a practicing academic internist, certified practitioner in clinical informatics and expert in AI healthcare integration into the healthcare system, presented how the model works at the HIMSS AI forum.
She explained the site-specific validation used to ensure the ML model's effectiveness in predicting clinical deterioration, such as unplanned ICU transfers, within a six- to eighteen-hour window.
“Qualitative evaluation results indicated that the model was useful in aligning mental models and driving necessary workflows for patients highlighted by the model with consensus among multidisciplinary team members,” she shared. Healthcare IT news before the forum.
The continuously updated risk signal helps doctors and care teams align.
“This workflow has led to a significant increase in multidisciplinary standardized patient assessments and a resulting 20% reduction in clinical deterioration events,” she said.
ON THE RECORD
“Microsoft's advances in AI, world-class research and our expertise in powering healthcare solutions with our Azure cloud will give UpDoc the platform they need to help physicians manage patient care with a technology-enabled solution that ultimately promotes better health outcomes at a lower cost. costs,” said Peter Durlach, corporate vice president and chief strategy officer of Microsoft Health & Life Sciences, in a statement.
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News. Email: afox@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.