Just as the EHR space exploded in the aughts, we are now seeing a frenzy of artificial intelligence activity. AI is poised to address longstanding industry challenges, but it also presents tough decisions for healthcare executives managing risks, resources and budgets.

To help make sense of this rapidly shifting market, Becker’s Hospital Review sat down with Ben Scharfe, Executive Vice President for AI Initiatives at Altera Digital Health, to learn about the company’s AI plans and the potential ahead in this next phase of the health IT evolution.

Becker’s: Given the range of mounting pressures in the clinical sphere, what are Altera’s priorities when it comes to AI that enables providers?

Ben Scharfe: Today’s providers have so many responsibilities outside the exam room that chip away at time spent with the patient. But time is a finite resource, so these imperatives often come at the expense of focus on the patient. Our goal at Altera, then, is to reduce the time spent on this “work about work,” from prior authorization to quality reporting and everything in between.

We can’t engineer more time (yet!), so what does that look like from a practical development perspective? A solution like intelligent chart summarization can give providers a quick picture of the patient’s health, removing the need to comb through disorganized data, leaving more time for the patient visit itself. With ambient listening, providers can spend less time typing or clicking and more time making eye contact, listening to patients’ concerns and making sure they understand their care plans.

We know that more engaged patients have better outcomes, and those better outcomes are ultimately the goal of providers. By giving time back, we can create space for more human moments in healthcare, to that end.

Becker’s: That’s a great segue to the patient side. What role does AI have to play in improving patient experiences?

Scharfe: Let’s start with an analogy. Think about your car. Would you rather do routine maintenance or wait until a part breaks entirely and replace it at a massive cost?

Patients often seek care only once the situation has become too dire to ignore. Under this reactive “sick care” model, treatments are often more involved and invasive, and the costs tend to rise.

The promise of AI for patients is in the shift to a more proactive approach. With the power of predictive analytics from CareInMotion, for example, healthcare organizations can identify at-risk patients and intervene before a crisis occurs. We can also streamline tasks like appointment scheduling and insurance verification so administrative barriers don’t add unnecessary friction.

After patient visits, we’re looking at applying AI to ambient listening transcripts, relevant data from charts and evidence-based patient education content. By combining these elements, we can create personalized, provider-approved patient support that aligns with the individual’s care plan.

Healthcare is not a one-way street, and patients are not passive recipients of care. Once they step outside the hospital or practice doors, outcomes are largely in their hands. They are in the driver’s seat. AI can be the car’s computer system, not only alerting when something might be amiss, but also acting as the GPS, guiding people to make better decisions they feel good about.

Becker’s: What are your thoughts on where the greatest opportunity lies for hospitals and practices at an organizational level?

Scharfe: Like individual providers, healthcare organizations also need tools to make the most of the time available. After all, healthcare runs 24/7.

That’s why our teams are focused on making client operations more resilient. With AI-powered infrastructure monitoring, our systems can proactively detect and resolve potential server issues to avoid downtime. It’s not just about meeting a business need. For every delayed surgery, cancelled appointment and missing piece of data, there are people on the front end who bear the consequences.

Looking at the revenue cycle, we can apply AI to medical coding and denial adjustment posting. AI can work around the clock to get more claims out the door faster and cash back in without delay. The business office staff members who used to perform mundane tasks can instead tap into the full scope of their skillsets and focus on more complex, higher-value work.

The way we’re thinking about transforming care organizations with AI reflects the approach we’re taking within Altera. As AI enables us to write better code and analyze contracts more efficiently, our team members can focus more on being true partners to the organizations we serve.

Becker’s: Overall, what sets Altera’s AI development apart from other health IT organizations?

To capitalize on the AI boom, some healthcare developers are prioritizing speed over value, bringing new solutions to market quickly and hoping something sticks. That’s a recipe for disappointed clients, workflow whiplash and misallocated resources.

Since our inception, Altera has been guided by a people-first, pragmatic approach to innovation. The trek toward the summit of healthcare is not a race to the top. It’s taking incremental steps that meaningfully improve the experiences of all those on the journey and give way to lasting change.

With that in mind, we are not developing with AI for AI’s sake, but to put people, wherever they reside within the larger healthcare ecosystem, in the best position possible. At the end of the day, healthcare is a business—but it’s a business of helping people.

Learn more about how Altera is leveraging AI to bring the human side of healthcare even closer here.

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