Vendor Notebook: AI for Specialty Pharmacy and Primary Care to Accelerate Care
This week, more vendors are announcing integrations with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools and platforms that help patients and clinicians better connect during visits, find and reduce specialty drug costs, and provide access to care resources at home or on the go.
Pfizer pledged to simplify access to routine healthcare with partners like Instacart and Zocdoc on an easy-to-use, web-based platform aimed directly at consumers. To help lower the cost of specialty medications, Reliance Rx said it has joined the Waltz Connect marketplace, while Elation Health, an electronic health record provider focused on primary care, launched ambient note-taking as a first step in redesigning a better experience for physicians.
“This is just the beginning of our larger vision to transform the EHR from an enabling technology to a valuable assistant for the clinician,” Elation Health CEO Kyna Fong said in a statement Tuesday.
Reliance Rx Collaborates on Specialty Medicines
The companies announced Monday that Buffalo, New York-based Reliance Rx is joining Waltz Connect, an AI-powered marketplace, as a pharmacy option within its network for specialty prescriptions.
According to Reliance, the average time to complete an application is approximately three days and can result in cost savings of more than $5,200 per successful clinical interaction.
According to Timothy Carroll, vice president of business development and analytics at Reliance Rx, the new partnership aims to reduce administrative burdens for plan sponsors and providers and lower net costs.
“Waltz Health offers plan sponsors a solution that enables them to create a smoother experience in the specialty pharmacy sector while removing barriers for plan members to access life-saving medications,” Carrol said in a statement.
Waltz Health, a platform for payers, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers and self-insured employers based in Chicago, said adding the new specialty pharmacy partner will ease the headaches for health insurers.
“With our proven ability to fill prescriptions at scale and predictable pricing, we provide access to a trusted, mission-driven specialty pharmacy that can reduce costs and meet member expectations,” said Mark Thierer, co-founder and CEO of Waltz Health, in the announcement.
Elation EHR Adds AI Note Taking
Elation Health reported that it has added note generation capability to reduce the administrative burden of creating notes for the complex requirements of primary care patient visits.
The built-in AI, called Note Assist, works with provider note templates and looks at existing notes and patient records to create documentation in near real-time during visits.
According to the company, the tool requires only minimal changes to workflow and does not disrupt access to patient data and other EHR tools during use.
“The connection between patient and physician is invaluable and can easily be disrupted,” Phill Tornroth, vice president of engineering at Elation Health, said in the statement.
“It was critical that this first intelligent feature not only prove useful in the EHR, but also demonstrate what is possible when AI is designed for trust by primary care experts with a deep understanding of clinicians’ workflows.”
Pfizer focuses on health outcomes
Pfizer announced Tuesday that a new digital platform called PfizerForAll will allow patients to tap into existing insurance and pharmacy programs and access new direct services from partners including UpScriptHealth, Alto Pharmacy and Instacart.
The new digital health platform will address common illnesses such as migraines and common respiratory infections, and will also be able to book adult vaccinations. The aim is to reduce the time it takes for patients to receive medical care and have prescriptions filled, the company said.
“People are often overwhelmed with information and face barriers to making decisions for themselves or their families in our complex and often overwhelming U.S. healthcare system,” said Aamir Malik, Pfizer’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, in a statement.
“This can be extremely time-consuming and lead to indecisiveness or inaction – and as a result, poor health outcomes.”
Through the web platform, patients can talk to an UpScript doctor or schedule an appointment on Zocdoc, learn more about migraines, and get support with pre-medication.
Andrea Fox is Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email address: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
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