St. Tammany Health System’s continued dedication to innovation is getting noticed.
Specifically, the industry publication HealthLeaders recently spoke with STHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patrick Torcson about how the health system is using artificial intelligence to ensure needed follow-up imaging is conducted for patients, long a bugaboo for healthcare providers.
As the HealthLeaders story noted, follow-up imaging often requires complicated processes involving multiple clinicians. Often, however, follow-up recommendations may not be completed or they may not be in keeping with the provider team’s intent for what they had planned for images.
That’s a problem.
To solve it, St. Tammany Health System decided to use AI to help standardize and automate its follow-up imaging processes.
“In the past, when it comes to functions such as follow-up imaging, we have relied on individual accountability, whether it has been relying on the patient’s role in receiving follow-up imaging or relying on an ordering physician such as a primary care doctor,” Dr. Torcson said. “What we have learned is that follow-up imaging requires a system-level process.”
He added: "It is a complex process to arrange follow-up imaging. It is more complex than human-focused appointment scheduling and should not rely on memory.”
Instead, St. Tammany has started using a third-party platform from Inflo Health designed integrate with the health system’s workflows and thus improve completion of follow-up imaging.
“AI provides an augmentation for the workflow that makes the follow-up imaging process hard-wired, so it occurs consistently and non-ambiguously,” Dr. Torcson said. “It also helps create a standardized process. With AI, we can establish a process that exceeds human cognitive capacity, especially when you factor in different sites of care and different providers.”
Read the full HealthLeaders story at www.HealthLeadersMedia.com.