TriHealth has partnered with Olive to open a "command center" aimed at increasing automation throughout the Cincinnati-based healthcare system.  

According to a press release posted to TriHealth's website, Olive will start in the system's revenue cycle department by optimizing processes like claims status checks.  

However, said Emily Seitz Pawlak, vice president of TriHealth's revenue cycle, "Olive is not just about improving the revenue cycle space. 

"With our partnership, we have visions to expand the use of AI and automation into as many areas of healthcare as possible, including the clinical side, all with the goal of delivering an even better healthcare product to our patients," said Pawlak in a statement.  

WHY IT MATTERS

Olive touts its platform as the only AI workforce tool designed specifically for healthcare.  

TriHealth's onsite AI command center, which Olive calls an AlphaSite, is intended to lay a foundation of intelligence- and outcome-generating interoperability, the companies say.  

"The promise of Olive is we will be able to deploy artificial intelligence to create greater efficiencies and improved effectiveness allowing us to automate routine processes," said TriHealth CEO and President Mark C. Clement in a statement.  

On its website, Olive highlights its potential to address supply chain, pharmacy, enterprise and shared services needs, as well as revenue cycle automation.  

"Robots love robotic processes. Humans … not so much," says the site. "Let Olive do what she does best, so your human workforce can focus on what matters most – like reinventing the future of healthcare."  

According to the organizations, 22 Olive AlphaSites have been spun up nationwide. Business Journals reported that Olive said last year it planned to build 66 by the end of 2021.  

"Healthcare is drowning in data because the industry has been collecting information for decades, but the data lives in siloes," said Olive CEO Sean Lane.  

"Olive connects healthcare’s disparate systems to create a network of intelligence," he continued.  

THE LARGER TREND  

The COVID-19 crisis gave Olive's AI-as-a-service offerings a new use case, with a recent study (conducted on the company's behalf) suggesting that healthcare executives are increasingly prioritizing automation technologies in their hospitals.  

AI, for example, has played a role in the vaccine rollout, particularly in the early stages.  

"The biggest areas of focus for organizations that we’re working with have all related to managing the organization, scheduling, preregistration and communications activity around the testing and vaccines themselves, with additional automation activity to streamline patient communications and drive better vaccine efficacy by ensuring patients are aware, prepared and present to receive second doses," said Lori Jones, chief revenue officer and president for the provider market at Olive, in an interview with Healthcare IT News in February.  

And a recent report from Philips also found that AI has great future potential, with many healthcare leaders signaling their commitment to investing in the sector over the next three years.  

ON THE RECORD  

"With the help of forward-thinking customers like TriHealth, we are building the Internet of Healthcare," said Lane.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.