Augmented intelligence is helping physicians tackle administrative burden and supporting them in some clinical care – but one North Texas physician-owned group is also putting it to work in value-based care.
Based in North Texas, Catalyst Health Group – the parent company of Catalyst Physician Group, a physician-owned, physician-led primary care group and Catalyst Health Network, a clinically integrated network that Catalyst Physician Group participates in – collaborated with a technology startup to help develop, test, and refine a primary care-focused artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
The platform assists Catalyst physicians in myriad ways, including automatic chart preparation, medical coding support, follow-up and inbox management with patient context intact, and helping Catalyst physicians in value-based care programs manage their performance metrics.
“It’s early, but it’s doing exactly what we’re wanting to do in phase one, which is give doctors time back,” said Christopher Crow, MD, CEO and co-founder of Catalyst Health Group, and former chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Socioeconomics.
“After a week or two, it saves 25% to 50% of a physician’s time because of how it can summarize the chart and give information about the patient,” he added. “Doctors say it’s ... helping you review your patients before the visit, during the visit, between visits. It’s helping them in the exam room stay completely locked in on the patient, so the patient’s getting that benefit.”
Catalyst’s physicians are utilizing that extra time in one of two main ways, according to Dr. Crow. They’re either reclaiming personal time or time with family, or they’re adding several more appointments each day, helping to improve their patients’ access to care.
In addition to integrating with the electronic health record (EHR) software Catalyst uses, the augmented intelligence is designed to help physicians manage their participation in value-based care programs.
Between participation in the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) program and Medicare Advantage risk-based plans, about 25,000 of the practice’s patients are enrolled in value-based care programs.
Performance metrics for both ACO REACH and Medicare Advantage are baked into the system, helping physicians align the care they provide with the metrics the payer uses for a particular patient.
“[Benchmarks are] better presented to the physician right off the bat,” Dr. Crow said.
He cautions physicians interested in integrating an AI platform to make sure they’re investing in current, commonly used EHRs to interface with it. The AI platform Catalyst Physician Group helped develop is compatible with its EHR of choice and several other popular options.
Noting many physician groups may use EHRs from five, 10, or 20 years ago, Dr. Crow added, “Status quo is the most expensive place to be. You have got to have technology that works for you.”
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Phil West
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Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.