HEALTHCARE | TECHNOLOGY
Published on June 13, 2019
AIDA - Reducing patient LOS by connecting providers
Introduction
HCS Inc was looking for a way to modernize the technologies available to Acute Care (Hospitals) and Long-term Post-Acute Care (LTPAC) providers. They aimed to improve efficiency and align incentives in the healthcare market so that patients who would typically have difficulty finding care could expand the number of available options.
Together with HCS, we developed AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Discharge Agent), a web-based platform focused on transitioning care from acute hospitals to LTPAC providers. The development of AIDA began in mid-2017, with the pilot phase starting in mid-2018. Today, AIDA is contracted for use by the University of Washington Medical System and a dozen other hospital systems in Washington and Texas.
In the short timespan, our team at Itirra created a sophisticated and functional piece of technology. The platform was built from the ground up and started delivering value in just under one year.
Solution
AIDA’s success as a secure and scalable solution for handling PHI (Personal Health Information) lies in its HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant cloud-first infrastructure. To achieve rigorous HIPAA standards, we needed to secure the data accessible by end-users and ensure that our developers are not exposed to PHI (Protected Health Information). Our team’s experience developing solutions in the healthcare industry helped us take on this complex challenge with confidence and insight.
Provider Data Acquisition Tools
One of the first hurdles that AIDA had to overcome was collecting all of the necessary data to create a scalable network for providers in Washington State, and throughout the U.S. This required parsing multiple public databases and correlating data into connected and unique datasets.
Provider Registration Tools
Another challenge we were able to overcome with AIDA was the development of the tools used to register users to the network using reliable, secure, and scalable means. This process involved multiple integrations with other communications services and APIs that linked securely with AIDA’s growing database. Itirra developed professional and user-friendly customer and provider experience.
Patient Profile Builder
The basis for AIDA’s unique and scalable functionality is based on the architecture of the Patient Profile. It was necessary to develop a complex system of relation data about a patient collected from multiple sources and have that data converge with specific parameters to identify the best providers for patient’s needs and preferences.
Provider Contacting Tools
The most powerful function of AIDA is distributing a referral throughout a vast network efficiently over multiple channels and in customizable ways. Our team at Itirra integrated numerous external services and networks to establish what is now one of the best systems for quickly collecting responses to referrals.
The Provider Matching Algorithm, a key feature of AIDA, is the ability to see how well a provider can match a patient’s needs with a single glance. Our team was able to achieve this by developing an algorithm that takes data from multiple inputs and delivers a consistent and predictable match percentage for each provider compared to the patient’s needs and preferences. We’ve been able to patent this proprietary approach for the patient discharge.
BI & Analytics.
Any SaaS business that primarily sells to other businesses lives or dies based on its analytics capabilities. AIDA needed to have an analytics platform that was optimized for customers and yet also very secure. We have been able to meet those requirements and the needs of our customers with AIDA’s infrastructure.Our team achieved this by developing an algorithm that takes data from multiple inputs and delivers a consistent and predictable match percentage for each provider compared to the patient’s needs and preferences. We’ve been able to patent this proprietary approach for the patient discharge.
Results
The AIDA platform had an incredible impact on patient experiences by reducing the length of stay at hospitals and finding the best care and housing options available. AIDA also had a considerable impact on case management teams at hospitals, which became accustomed to spending hours trying to collect and correlate data that AIDA can deliver to them in seconds. Using AIDA, patients who had been stuck in hospitals for months and even years were finally able to find a place to receive the care they require.