⚕️AI to help you die?

Welcome to a fresh edition of HealthTech Zen, your roundup of latest advancements in the world of healthcare technology.

Here’s a sneak peek into what we’re covering today.

• AI to help you die?

• Developing HIPAA Compliant Healthcare API

• Deep Dive: Clinical Documentation Improvement

ANALYSIS
Can AI Help You Die?

• In 2020, 48% of Medicare patients who died were enrolled in hospice at the time of death, according to a recent report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

• More than half of White patients used hospice whereas only about a third of Black and Hispanic patients did.

What is happening: Doctors in New Jersey are experimenting with software to prompt discussions with patients about palliative or hospice care while ensuring equitable treatment. 

Hackensack Meridian Health is testing in a pilot program Serious Illness Care Connect, a statistical model trained on a year’s worth of anonymized patient data. The tool calculates the likelihood that a patient will die within six months.

If the chance of death in that window is 70% or higher, SICC recommends an evaluation for end-of-life hospice care. If the chance is between 30% and 69%, the software suggests a conversation about palliative care, a holistic approach to living with chronic illness.

Fighting the bias in end of life care: Developers aim to use data from a diverse patient population to avoid skewing results toward a certain race, age, gender or other characteristic.

Digesting data to deliver a gentle nudge could be a good spot for AI in healthcare. But only humans can ensure equitable outcomes.

TOP STORY
Developing HIPAA Compliant Healthcare API

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) act as digital connectors, seamlessly linking diverse systems and applications.

Healthcare APIs pave the way for secure data exchange, streamlined workflows, and innovative services. By serving as the backbone for interoperability, they fuel the development of cutting-edge solutions that elevate patient care, making a significant impact on the efficiency and accessibility of healthcare services.

HIPAA compliant healthcare APIs protect the security and privacy of ePHI during data exchange. This article delves deeper into the steps to follow when building a HIPAA compliant API.

1. Determine requirements

2. Maintain API documentation

3. Design a pilot HIPAA compliant API

4. Security and testing

5. Third party API integration

Read the full feature about ensuring HIPPA compliance when developing and integrating healthcare API here.

DEEP DIVE
What Is Clinical Documentation Improvement?

Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) revolutionizes healthcare records, ensuring accuracy and completeness. CDI programs have evolved from inpatient to outpatient settings. Their mission: enhancing the accuracy of clinical documentation and coding.

In the inpatient realm, CDI programs bolster coding precision, leading to better reimbursement and reduced compliance risks. They also prevent improper reporting that could result in costly penalties.

Beyond finances, CDI positively impacts patient care by fostering communication and curbing avoidable readmissions. In outpatient settings, CDI safeguards revenue cycles by preventing claim denials and ensuring accurate documentation.

Read the 5 steps of implementing an effective clinical documentation improvement program here.

SNIPPETS
What else is making news

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is testing an AI copilot program called Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX), developed by Microsoft. This initiative is part of VUMC's exploration of AI's potential to streamline workflows, enhance medical record-keeping, and alleviate physician burnout.

• Samsung has expanded its Privileged Health Software Development Kit (SDK) program, aiming to offer a wider range of tools for preventive health through collaborations. The Galaxy Watch, integrating advanced sensor technology, allows real-time vital sign monitoring, enhancing remote patient care and supporting personalized services like Biofourmis for patient-centered care and Kencor Health for chronic kidney disease monitoring.

• 98point6 Technologies, a leader in licensed on-demand virtual care software, has acquired assets of Bright.md for an undisclosed price, following the sale of its technology to Evernorth. This acquisition aims to accelerate the efforts to offer a robust, multi-functional virtual care software platform.