Amid rising inflation, talent shortages, supply chain challenges and shrinking capital, healthcare decision makers need to put their dollars to work more than ever. And these headwinds are driving some health system leaders to forge new paths with emergency medical service providers in a world of artificial intelligence.
“AI and predictive modeling power everything we do, and these tools are helping our hospital partners significantly increase patient throughput,” said Larry Richardson, a former paramedic and chief operating officer at AmeriPro Health, an Atlanta-based 911 EMS and medical transportation provider. AmeriPro operates in nine states and has seen more than 100% year-over-year growth since its launch in 2018.
“We're a data company that happens to operate ambulances,” he continued. “We know where to go and we prepare resources long before we need to arrive, so we have a much better chance of optimizing the level of pre-hospital advanced care.”
problem
The problems AmeriProHealth's hospital partners faced were a combination of familiar headaches that nearly every healthcare CEO in the country has had to deal with over the past few years: overcrowding, bottlenecks that slowed patient processing, excess dead time due to underutilized units, and a lack of readily available, actionable, real-time data needed to overcome these challenges, Richardson explained.
“It was a perfect storm of a cascading series of events that disrupted our day-to-day operations and threatened to undermine our long-term growth prospects,” he said. “These were immediate issues within the facility, but they also had ripple effects on the broader community.”
“Due to a lack of beds, it was not uncommon to see ambulances waiting in line outside for hours,” he continued. “These ambulances are now temporarily out of service and unable to respond to other emergencies that may be occurring in the surrounding area. This is just one example of why optimizing patient flow is so important.”
He added that every second counts in healthcare.
“Even if you have a world-class team of experts, cutting-edge technology and facilities that are unmatched in the market, you will never be able to solve the patient flow issues without an effective logistics network to ensure patients get the right treatment at the right place at the right time,” he said. “Thankfully, the health system recognized these challenges early and showed the resolve needed to address them swiftly.”
suggestion
AmeriProHealth Exclusive AI platforms create and develop predictive models that identify recurring bottlenecks and give decision-makers a clear picture of where they need to go and close the gaps.
“Knowing daily patient flow, equipment demand, peak utilization times and staffing needs in advance can reduce the burden on doctors and nurses while improving patient outcomes and overall satisfaction,” Richardson said. “Our AI systems allow us to take a hospital's real-time and historical data and develop initial algorithms that provide instructions within minutes.”
“It all centered around eliminating bottlenecks and creating a cohesive, unified strategy,” he notes. “Hospital leadership had one vision of what patient capacity should be. Middle managers and directors had a different view. So we needed to align all perspectives on a practical game plan that tied everything together based on the data being collected.”
Over time, the generated forecasts will be further optimized with an ever-growing pool of incoming real-time data, allowing patient flow managers to adjust accordingly and adapt much more quickly to suddenly changing conditions, he added.
Rising to the challenge
The technology AmeriPro Health deployed on behalf of the health system represented a new chapter in an AI program AmeriPro Health was already using within its internal network.
“As “As an EMS transport service provider, patient care is at the heart of everything we do,” Richardson said. “But we're also a data company. Through our AI platform, we have a much better chance of optimizing the level of pre-hospital advanced care by knowing where it's needed and having resources ready long before they're needed.”
“Building on this foundation of success, the next logical step was to collaborate with one of our larger partner hospitals. Once we explained to them how they could use this same technology for their own benefit, they quickly approved a pilot program,” he continued.
“Our AI tools are a layer. We take the raw data, run it through the Microsoft platform, and infuse it with AI to create predictive models. These models give us daily volumes, peak times, recommended staffing, potential bottlenecks – all the guidance we need before they actually happen.”
Once the data was received, EMS staff made suggestions on how the hospital could optimize patient flow. For example, EMS staff could use online order profiles through computer-generated dispatch to communicate accurate data between AmeriPro and the hospital’s EHR system, reducing the hospital’s transportation costs.
“The data also revealed how hospitals could modify their discharge processes to create new efficiencies,” Richardson said. “With hospital approval, AmeriProHealth came into the facility and staffed the discharge lounge where we monitored patients and facilitated all transfers from the lounge, allowing hospital staff to focus their time and attention on filling beds for other patients.”
“As our AI program evolves, our goal is to go into the hospital and overlay this information into the EHR and drill down to specific logistical needs and acute actions,” he said. “If someone is experiencing chest pain, we can use the data to predict how long they need to stay in the hospital, when they'll ultimately be discharged and where they need to go.”
result
Within a few months As a result of implementing its AI program, AmeriPro reduced the hospital's average length of stay by one full day.
“Following these results, decision-makers immediately decided to replicate this program at other hospitals in the system, which is expected to result in an additional 4,700 admissions per year across the network,” Richardson reported. “We are currently developing a strategy for our other campuses, which we expect to roll out in the coming months.”
“Ambulance turn-out times have also improved significantly, and in a time of staffing crisis, our technology has really helped us to make the most of our resources,” he continued. “Before our program was implemented, the majority of discharges at our partner hospitals were happening between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Now, 11 to 12 months later, ambulance discharges are being completed by 10:30 am.”
The math is pretty simple: Emergency rooms have more capacity earlier in the day, allowing them to admit more patients, he added. This also directly increases the area's coverage by making care more accessible than if more ambulances were to crowd the hospital's walls, he said.
Advice for others
“Data is the currency of truth,” advises Richardson, “so it's imperative that healthcare industry leaders align with logistics partners that are up to speed on technology trends, understand their hospital's mission, and know how to effectively leverage AI to fully optimize resources and assets.”
“One of the key lessons learned from this experience is how important it is to have ambulance providers at the table when deciding how to transport patients,” he continued. “The potential cost and time savings are too great to ignore. We are not a vendor, we are a strategic logistics partner.”
In this case, AmeriPro Health was able to add value to its hospital partner by helping the hospital embrace the technology and helping hospital operations view the problem in terms of a shared responsibility across multiple stakeholders, all working toward a common goal.
“There is always uncertainty in our industry. “By leveraging AI and other technological tools to better predict what will happen next, health systems will be better positioned to adapt and thrive despite the crises and sudden changes that will inevitably arise,” he concluded.
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Email: bsiwicki@himss.org
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