Improvements in public health case administration, faster prior authorizations for specialty medications and rideshare delivery of lab kits for wellness are just a few interesting goals making vendor news in April. 

Salesforce for public health and other government agencies could integrate natural language processing to ease administrative burdens and generate richer case files. 

And DrFirst's integration with a medication management platform could speed up infusion and other medication approvals in more than 270 electronic health record systems. 

But it's not just the big names generating ways to solve the challenge of silos in healthcare: One startup on the West Coast has found a way to get health tests into patients' hands – wherever they are – in under an hour.

Salesforce integrations could improve social services 

Combining customer relationship management, artificial intelligence and data integrations will enable public sector agencies, including public health, to generate richer case reports and automate administrative tasks, such as documenting interactions, Salesforce announced 

With the integration of a generative AI copilot, the Einstein 1 Field Service Edition platform for the public sector, social workers can compile and generate case notes into tailored summaries after field interviews, saving them time on manual administrative tasks, Salesforce announced this month.

With the Einstein service edition platform, email exchanges between a caseworker and a client would be automatically extracted and saved in Salesforce, the company said in a statement. 

Running on Salesforce’s Data Cloud, agencies can consolidate data from various sources into a standardized data model, create detailed profiles and personalize their services. With the new platform, government users would also be able to leverage Appointment Assistant, Slack and Visual Remote Assistant.

"Public sector organizations want to simplify their technology stack, better engage with constituents and reduce employees’ administrative burdens while improving employee productivity," Nasi Jazayeri, executive vice president and general manager of public sector for Salesforce, said in a statement.

DrFirst to speed up medication approvals 

Rockville, Maryland-based DrFirst announced that it purchased all assets of the Myndshft Technologies, a software-as-a-service that focuses on automated prior authorization services for both medical and pharmaceutical benefits.

Myndshft provides eligibility and benefits verification for 95% of insured patients across the United States and verifies prior authorization requirements for thousands of health plans and payers, according to the announcement. 

DrFirst, a network of 270 EHRs, 500,000 healthcare providers and nearly 100 million patients, said that by acquiring the technology, its healthcare providers could expedite access to vital specialty medications and reduce prior auth and other burdensome admin tasks.

Myndshft uses AI, machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline benefits, pricing and PA processes across various payers and therapeutic classes, the company said. 

"The category of insurance benefit – pharmacy vs. medical – should not dictate a lower level of transparency or efficiency for prior authorizations," G. Cameron Deemer, the CEO of DrFirst, said in a statement.

"It’s unacceptable that the patients who most urgently need these life-saving therapies typically wait the longest to receive them. This acquisition will allow us to expedite patients’ access to these crucial treatments."

"The combined expertise of DrFirst’s scale and success in medication management with the AI-driven Myndshft platform sets the stage for delivering enhanced patient experiences and reducing healthcare costs, both of which are industry imperatives right now," Seth Feder, founder of OnTarget Advisors and expert healthcare adviser at Third Eye Advisory, added.

Lab kits delivered by Uber for preventive care

The Portland, Oregon-based Reperio Health startup, which offers test kits by delivery, signed an agreement with Uber to deliver a kit to a person’s home within an hour of ordering it, GeekWire reported this month.

The kits, which may cost $75 when subsidized by an employer wellness plan, measure blood pressure and heart rate, determine body mass index and blood tests that can generate instant cholesterol, triglycerides and other results, according to the story.

About 90% of those who receive the test kits complete the tests, Travis Rush, Reperio CEO and cofounder said in the story.

The company's application walks users through tests and uploads results by Bluetooth.

The GeekWire report said that the startup is additionally working with hospital networks and Medicaid providers to reach patients who face challenges accessing traditional healthcare facilities and life insurance providers. 

In the future, Reperio may offer AI-powered nurse practitioner follow-ups to remove as many barriers to healthcare access as possible, Rush said.

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