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Humana Study Reveals Significant Reduction in Hospitalizations and Costs for Cancer Patients with Specialty Pharmacy Care

Humana Study Reveals Significant Reduction in Hospitalizations and Costs for Cancer Patients with Specialty Pharmacy Care

Humana Inc. has released findings from a study indicating that cancer patients enrolled in its Medicare Part D plans who utilized CenterWell Specialty Pharmacy services experienced an 11.7% reduction in hospitalizations. The research, conducted by Humana Pharmacy Analytics and Consulting, also showed a 2.7% decrease in emergency department visits and a 7.7% reduction in overall medical costs for these beneficiaries. The study focused on the impact of pharmacy-led care coordination services, which emphasize medication adherence and continuous patient support. These services were provided by Humana’s CenterWell Specialty Pharmacy Oncology Center of Excellence (COE) over a one-year period. The COE program offers specialized clinical care and mail-order delivery for patients managing complex cancer diagnoses and therapies, including those prescribed intravenous chemotherapy, oral targeted oncolytics, and immunotherapies. The results of this retrospective, observational analysis were consistent across various p...

AI System Accurately Reads Doctors' Written Notes, Unlocking Vast Medical Data for Research

AI System Accurately Reads Doctors' Written Notes, Unlocking Vast Medical Data for Research

Researchers from RespondHealth, Drexel University, Stanford University, the University of Miami, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed an AI system capable of accurately reading and analyzing doctors' handwritten clinical notes at scale. Published in Nature Medicine, this system converts narrative text into computable data, linking every extracted fact back to its original sentence. This innovation addresses a long-standing challenge in medical research, as a significant portion of patient information, including crucial details about patient coping mechanisms, side effects, and medication changes, resides in these previously inaccessible written notes. The system achieved a 99.4% accuracy rate in a combined measure of correctness and completeness when compared against an adjudicated standard set by board-certified physicians. This level of accuracy is particularly noteworthy given that physicians themselves agreed on 94.7% of statements they reviewed...

HonorHealth Expands Partnership with Qventus to Automate EHR Workflows with AI Solution Factory

HonorHealth Expands Partnership with Qventus to Automate EHR Workflows with AI Solution Factory

HonorHealth, a non-profit health system based in Arizona, has expanded its collaboration with Qventus, a leader in automated care operations, by joining its AI Solution Factory. This expanded partnership aims to embed Qventus transformation engineers directly with HonorHealth's frontline clinicians and IT teams. The goal is to co-develop, prioritize, and deploy custom artificial intelligence solutions tailored to HonorHealth's specific operational challenges. This initiative comes at a time when healthcare systems are facing significant macroeconomic pressures, including thin operating margins, persistent staffing shortages, provider burnout, and declining reimbursement rates. The co-developed architecture is designed to create autonomous 'AI teammates' capable of understanding, listening, reading, speaking, writing, and executing tasks within native electronic health record (EHR) workflows, utilizing both structured and unstructured clinical data.

Novo Nordisk Partners with Anthropic to Integrate AI in Drug Discovery and Development

Novo Nordisk Partners with Anthropic to Integrate AI in Drug Discovery and Development

Novo Nordisk Partners with Anthropic to Integrate AI in Drug Discovery and Development

Ayble Health Secures $16 Million in Series A Funding for AI-Powered Virtual GI Clinic

Ayble Health Secures $16 Million in Series A Funding for AI-Powered Virtual GI Clinic

Ayble Health Secures $16 Million in Series A Funding for AI-Powered Virtual GI Clinic

Insight Partners Participates in Inspiren's $70 Million Series C Funding Round for AI-Powered Senior Living Technology

Insight Partners Participates in Inspiren's $70 Million Series C Funding Round for AI-Powered Senior Living Technology

Insight Partners Participates in Inspiren's $70 Million Series C Funding Round for AI-Powered Senior Living Technology

Israeli Study Reveals High Error Rates in AI Dental Diagnosis, Emphasizing Need for Human Oversight

Israeli Study Reveals High Error Rates in AI Dental Diagnosis, Emphasizing Need for Human Oversight

A new international study, led by Dr. Yaniv Mayer from Rambam and Technion, has revealed significant error rates in artificial intelligence (AI) systems used for diagnosing and planning treatment for gum diseases. Published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, the study comparatively examined 11 leading AI systems using 30 clinical scenarios, ranging from acute emergencies to complex cases. The AI systems' responses were blindly evaluated by six periodontists from various countries. While platforms integrating AI with up-to-date medical information, such as OpenEvidence and Perplexity, performed best, even these systems were not error-free. The rate of answers that could have led to a dangerous clinical decision ranged from 3.3% to 46.7%, depending on the system. The study concluded that AI can be a valuable auxiliary tool for dentists but cannot replace clinical judgment, as even advanced systems can generate incorrect or dangerous recommendations.

Blue Shield of California to Double Virtual Blue Program Enrollment in 2027

Blue Shield of California to Double Virtual Blue Program Enrollment in 2027

Blue Shield of California has announced plans to significantly expand its Virtual Blue program, aiming to double its enrollment in 2027. Starting in January 2027, this virtual-first health benefit will be included in fully insured preferred provider organization (PPO) plans for employers with 101 to 3,000 employees, as well as for certain individual and family plans. This expansion is projected to add an additional 200,000 mid-size employer PPO members and 60,000 individual and family plan members, bringing the total enrollment to over 410,000 participants. The Virtual Blue program, launched in 2023 in collaboration with Accolade and TeleMed2U, currently serves more than 150,000 members. It provides access to a range of virtual health services at no additional cost, alongside care from providers within Blue Shield’s PPO network. The decision to expand is driven by positive member feedback and data indicating a 7% to 10% lower overall cost of care and a more than 10% reduction in emergency room visits among...

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and OpenEvidence Partner to Integrate Precision Oncology Data into EHRs

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and OpenEvidence Partner to Integrate Precision Oncology Data into EHRs

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and OpenEvidence have announced a partnership to advance precision oncology by integrating MSK's OncoKB™ knowledge base into OpenEvidence. This collaboration aims to provide clinicians nationwide with expert interpretation of cancer genomics directly within electronic health records (EHRs). OncoKB™, which is partially recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), offers evidence-based assertions on genetic alterations in cancer that can guide treatment decisions. The integration will allow OncoKB's curated content, including oncogenic effects, levels of evidence, and associated therapies, to be surfaced within OpenEvidence and Epic EHRs, alongside patient context. This initiative seeks to translate complex genomic reports into clear, evidence-based treatment paths, making MSK's expertise accessible to a broader network of cancer care providers across the U.S. More than half of U.S. hematologist-oncologists currently use OpenEvidence for complex onco...

New Study Demonstrates AI's Accuracy in Interpreting Unstructured Clinical Notes for Medical Research

New Study Demonstrates AI's Accuracy in Interpreting Unstructured Clinical Notes for Medical Research

A new study published in Nature Medicine, co-led by researchers at RespondHealth and Drexel University, demonstrates that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can accurately read and interpret unstructured clinical notes at scale. Historically, a significant portion of patient information, often found in doctors' written notes, has been inaccessible for medical research due to its unstructured nature. The study developed a system that converts this narrative text into computable and analyzable data, while maintaining traceability back to the original sentences. The AI system achieved 99.4% accuracy in a combined measure of correctness and completeness, outperforming the agreement rate between human physicians (94.7%). This breakthrough allows for the extraction of crucial details, such as depression scores, pain intensity, and even blood sugar readings, that are often only recorded in prose and not in coded medical fields.

OU Health Campus Explores AI's Potential to Revolutionize Healthcare in Oklahoma

OU Health Campus Explores AI's Potential to Revolutionize Healthcare in Oklahoma

The OU Health Campus recently hosted its first AI Symposium, bringing together leaders from the university and clinical enterprise to discuss the integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare, research, and education. The symposium focused on both the opportunities and risks associated with AI, particularly in the context of improving health outcomes in Oklahoma. Carlos Bustamante, Ph.D., vice dean of research at the OU College of Medicine, highlighted Oklahoma's unique position to leverage AI due to its significant health challenges, including high rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions. AI is already being utilized for tasks such as triaging medical images and assisting clinicians with documentation, and it shows promise in predicting patient risk and hospital readmission rates. Ian Dunn, M.D., executive dean of the OU College of Medicine, emphasized the need to embrace AI while acknowledging its risks, noting that patients are increasingly using AI tools to research their own ...

GE HealthCare Launches AI-Driven Operations System for Hospitals

GE HealthCare Launches AI-Driven Operations System for Hospitals

GE HealthCare has introduced a new artificial intelligence-enabled SaaS application called CareIntellect for Operations, designed to help healthcare organizations optimize resources and expand access to care. The system aims to address common challenges faced by health systems, such as rising patient care demands, staffing shortages, and increasing costs. CareIntellect for Operations can forecast capacity constraints up to 72 hours in advance by analyzing patient- and operational-level data, including bed availability and staffing. The application utilizes two proprietary GE HealthCare models: Pressure Forecast and Estimated Day of Discharge, and is informed by over two decades of healthcare operations expertise, including insights from GE’s Command Center software. Honolulu-based Queen’s Health Systems and Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health will be the first two clinical sites to implement this new tool.