Community Health Systems- CHS in the US has migrated to a new clinical data platform that will enable the hospital operator to roll out generative artificial intelligence technologies along with Google Cloud, the for-profit went on to announce this on January 31.
The new cloud platform, which makes use of the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources data standard, will go on to speed the adoption of generative AI tools that CHS providers as well as workers can make use of so as to analyze and interpret data such as near-real-time dashboards for monitoring surgical as well as emergency room operations.
The for-profit operator also looks forward to rolling out generative AI technology when it comes to clinical documentation, automating administrative tasks such as creating denial appeals letters as well as generating lists of local social determinants pertaining to health resources for discharged patients.
Interest when it comes to generative AI products that can create new content, such as images or text, is expected to reach a fever pitch in 2023 as tech giants such as Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, as well as Google tout their own products as the ones that will reduce the workloads of overwhelmed providers.
It is well to be noted that many tools happened to be geared toward clinical documentation, or automatically drafting notes, when it comes to conversations between doctors and patients. Providers have remarked that they spend multiple hours per day when it comes to electronic health record-related administrative tasks, which at times stretch into after-work hours.
However, the products can be utilized for a broad range of healthcare tasks. Late in 2023, Google went on to reveal a new group of generative AI foundation models that the tech giant said happened to be fine-tuned for work such as documentation, pre-clinical research in terms of drug development, and also helping health plan members find providers by way of a chatbot.
Apparently, a study published in NPJ Digital Medicine in January 2024 found large language models can go on to pull social determinants of health data, such as housing or employment status, from clinician notes so as to determine who might require additional support.
CHS, which functions 71 hospitals throughout 15 states, said it in the past had data stored in numerous locations and formats, which made it pretty steep and time-consuming to access. The Google Cloud platform helps the operator get its information in the FHIR standard, or rules for exchanging electronic health data- EHD, and more seamlessly view patient as well as operational data, said CHS.
Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations, of the CHS, Miguel Benet, stated that the objective of this migration goes beyond modernizing their data infrastructure.
Many healthcare organizations are looking forward to implementing generative AI tools within the next year, specifically those geared toward operational efficiency, as per a survey published in December 2023 by Klas Research.
Although over half of the respondents said they would like to adopt the products soon, executives still happen to report some concerns when it comes to generative AI, such as challenges surrounding accuracy as well as dependence and also cost and privacy concerns.
