Atlantic Health System will deploy the artificial intelligence-based precision population health platform of vendor FeelBetter to optimize medication management for polypharmacy patients at three accountable care organizations.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Boston- and Tel Aviv-based machine learning technology company offers providers a tool that can alert them to patients at high risk of deterioration and preventable hospitalization due to medication management and proactively suggest interventions to reduce these risks.

Combining its novel pharmacology with AI and clinical insights can deliver a whole-patient approach to polypharmacy management, "one that goes beyond a single illness, diagnosis or point in time, and comprehensively focuses on care journeys, both at the individual and population health levels," Liat Primor, CEO and cofounder of FeelBetter, said in a statement.

The tool is designed to automate manual processes, scaling the personalized support of physicians and clinical pharmacists and arming them with the ability to deliver safer patient care, added Dr. Jim Barr, vice president of clinical intelligence at Atlantic Health System.

"In addition to physicians, clinical pharmacists play an integral role in care teams, particularly when it comes to managing polypharmacy patients," he noted. 

The health system, which operates in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New York City metropolitan area, is composed of more than 550 sites of care, including seven hospitals, and forms the Atlantic Alliance through its partnership with the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization and Optimus Healthcare Partners. 

THE LARGER TREND

Last year at the HIMSS23 global conference, Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer at Clalit Health Services and a board member of HIMSS, the parent company of Healthcare IT News, explained how predictive, proactive care allows for earlier interventions. Improving outcomes depends on the ability to parse data and know which patients are at high risk, he said.

Analytics and risk management helped the Franciscan Alliance healthcare ministry create customizable polypharmacy protocols that helped to manage patients with high-risk prescriptions and better coordinate ambulatory care services. 

With care-management and engagement tools, the Alliance was able to generate $2.2 million in savings across multiple Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, the health system announced in November.

ON THE RECORD

"Tackling the tremendous challenges associated with polypharmacy, where patients take multiple medications for multiple chronic diseases and conditions, is critical to improving health outcomes and quality of life, controlling costs and keeping our senior patients healthy in their homes across our communities for as long as possible," Dr. Thomas Kloos, vice president of Atlantic Health System and president of Atlantic Accountable Care Organization, said in a statement.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.