Restructuring Healthcare Delivery: Using AI to Transform Patient Care
Zoe Lockhart • January 3, 2023
One of the biggest challenges in healthcare today is the burgeoning patient population. Faced with a growing number of patients – in conjunction with staff and equipment shortages – hospitals and physicians are increasingly overburdened and sometimes overwhelmed. A solution to this issue, in part, involves improving patient triage.When patients seek out care, they often struggle to identify the type and level of care that they need, leading to unnecessary visits and increased wait times.
Mediktor, an AI-based technology company, aims to address this issue by offering patients an easy and accessible way to navigate their care. The platform, which leverages AI tools, acts as a virtual medical assistant, effectively triaging patients using technologies such as apps or websites. At Columbia Memorial Health (CMH), for instance, patients can use Mediktor’s symptom-checker tool to find care. The process is straightforward. Patients simply log on to the Mediktor app or website and enter their symptoms. Next, they answer series of triaging questions, which AI algorithms then use to produce differential diagnoses and direct patients to the appropriate care.
According to clinical verification studies, these algorithms have high diagnostic accuracy and succeed in triaging patients effectively. In one study conducted in Barcelona, Spain, for instance, researchers found that Mediktor had a 91.3% diagnostic accuracy rate and reduced ER wait times by up to 45 minutes. For patients seeking acute or episodic care, Mediktor is the perfect care navigation tool. By diverting patients away from unnecessary ER or in-person visits, this technology helps to unburden the healthcare system, improve the patient experience, and increase the accessibility of care. While it cannot replace physicians, it offers an effective and tangible way to improve healthcare delivery.
As Mediktor partners with hospital systems like CMH, we can begin to see the impact that it has on patients and their quality of care. In the coming years this AI tool will become ever more important, helping to address the expanding patient population and increasingly overburdened healthcare system. With it, we can work to improve not only patient care, but our healthcare system as well.
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