Healthcare and academic medicine since its origin have experienced continual revolutionary changes—or, at the least, fundamental shifts—within the discipline. Throughout the 20th century, these changes were marked by advancements in the standardization of healthcare delivery and the newly defined role of academic medicine. Similarly, healthcare at large has undergone radical shifts with the advent of broad technological sweeps. The discussion around these technological advances is now focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on all forms of healthcare. Germane Solutions is excited about the future utilization of AI and the practical implementation of healthcare technologies that positively advance academic medicine.
Artificial Intelligence, described as machine functions that imitate “human cognition”, has several benefits from the prominent inclusion of technologies within healthcare— most commonly in the recent elevation of telemedicine and Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Additionally, in the realm of finance, AI has the potential to allow hospitals to save billions of dollars across the country. A recent publication from Cambridge, Harvard and economic research groups expressed these savings to be around $200-$360 billion on an annual basis (Schwartz). While a presumed, general benefit can be surmised by technology and healthcare, the specific benefit is becoming more realized and utilized by hospitals across the nation to varying degrees.
Along with financial implications for hospitals, algorithms and similar functions can be utilized to reanalyze resident and fellow time within a GME program. Platforms used for resident scheduling, such as the EMR New Innovations, are now being harnessed to analyze, collect, and present Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) to CMS. FTEs are the number of residents a hospital trains and can receive reimbursement for (if hospital cap is available). In short, the ability to quickly view and analyze the FTE detail (of hundreds of residents at once) of a hospital is a modern phenomenon brought about by technological advances and allows teaching hospitals to optimize the federal reimbursement they receive—simply from operational and administrative adjustments—such as claiming residents at higher reimbursement echelons by optimizing the curriculum and training locations of a GME program.
The beneficial use of EMRs also extends outside of the financial standing of a program. Particular advances have made the belief that machine learning or artificial intelligence can be used to standardize GME clinical experiences: Dr. Vineet in the Journal of the Association of Medical Colleges writes, “algorithms that are better able to identify patients cared for by residents are a critical step toward the ability to use big data to inform training,” but acknowledges that further, honed investment and expertise will need to be developed before optimizing the implementation of such uses of artificial intelligence. As EMRs become attuned with data analytics, Germane Solutions believes strategies revolving around the intimate maintenance of these platforms will be paramount. The healthcare industry is not surprised by the importance of these advances and their inherited benefit; however, institutions across the country have not yet fully optimized and leveraged technology to maximize its inherited benefits.
Germane Solutions acknowledges the technological advancements in healthcare and believes continuous integration of these practices will allow for our mission of providing excellence and our vision to revolutionize the delivery of academic medicine to be accomplished.