Through their collaboration with Singapore-based health start-up UCARE.AI, Parkway Pantai, one of the largest private healthcare groups in the region, will be able to offer fixed prices for certain medical procedures in four hospitals operated by the group in Singapore. These encompass six common medical procedures for the removal of piles, breast lumps, ovarian cysts, gallbladder, thyroid and tonsils.

The AI-Powered Pre-Admission Cost of Hospitalisation Estimation (APACHE) system, which was developed by UCARE.AI, was adopted by four major hospitals operated by Parkway Pantai in 2018, to provide more accurate hospital bill estimates. Using AI and machine learning algorithms, APACHE analyzes various parameters specific to the individual patient to predict the patient’s bill size from pre-admission until their eventual recovery.

After using APACHE for a year, Parkway Pantai launched its Price Guarantee Programme (PGP), which will offer patients greater certainty and transparency in hospitalization fees, so they can make well-informed decisions on medical treatment options.

UCARE.AI claims that APACHE can generate personalized healthcare bills with an 82 per cent accuracy rate on average.

THE LARGER TREND

Healthcare IT News first reported on Parkway Pantai’s AI-powered predictive hospital bill estimation system in December 2018. In its first two weeks of going live, the AI system has already closed the average gap between the estimated and actual bills by 60 percent. 

Integris – the largest non-profit health system in Oklahoma, USA, implemented a billing and analytics platform to better serve patients, which saw significant improvements in customer satisfaction metrics. Patient surveys also indicated measurable rises in patients' perception of the financial experience, including setting up payment plans, making payments, registering for self-service and signing up for text alerts.

ON THE RECORD

“Core to our mission is the ability to help healthcare providers leverage AI to provide better patient experiences at every stage of the hospital journey. The introduction of PGP by Parkway Pantai underscores APACHE’s ability to lead a paradigm shift in how patients understand hospitalization bills, and make decisions on treatment options. Looking ahead, we will continue roll out more AI systems and services to benefit patients globally,” said Mr Neal Liu, Founder and CTO of UCARE.AI in a statement.