AI Helps Build Connection With Marginalized Patient Populations
At Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, occupational therapy faculty and students wanted to find ways to better connect with marginalized patient populations, especially those with a mistrust of the medical system. What they ended up creating was an app powered by generative AI. The Culturabot app was trained on data from across cultures and allows clinicians to better understand, connect with and treat their patients from historically overlooked patient populations.
“We had an Indigenous patient who came to the clinic with emphysema. They wanted to continue to do smudging as a part of their culture. Typically, the physician would say, ‘No, you have issues with COPD and emphysema, you shouldn’t be exposed to smoke.’ If that information is put into Culturabot, it will explain the tradition, the frequency of exposure and the type of smoke involved,” said Mount Mary University President Isabelle Cherney. “The patient can become more trusting of the provider because they didn’t have to explain everything.”
She added that Culturabot creates cost-effective, quality care that leads to compliance with medical advice. Patients end up wanting to see their providers again.
“The way our faculty teach now has also changed. They’re using it every day,” she said. “Culturabot has been a great advantage.”
The next step is to integrate Culturabot into an electronic health record (EHR) system such as Epic so that more providers can tap into that information. The cloud will enable the app to scale.
“The cloud is digitally accelerating everything. Apps like Culturabot that allow for equitable access to individual care plans don’t have to be repeated 10 times,” Cherney said. “It’s right in front of them.”
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The Value of Interoperability for Modern Healthcare
“When I think of value, value equals quality over cost,” said Dr. William Chasanov, senior vice president and chief health systems design officer for Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, Del. “A direct factor that raises value while decreasing cost is interoperability.”
Without interoperability, a doctor may order a chest X-ray for a patient, but when that patient sees a different doctor to treat the issue, that doctor may not have access to the image. This could result in the X-ray being repeated, which leads to increased cost and delay of diagnosis.
“Interoperability brings significant value to the patient. It’s no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity,” Chasanov said.
Interoperability can reduce overall healthcare spending in the U.S. and move providers toward predictive analytics, he added. With predictive analytics, rather than everyone getting a colonoscopy at 45, for example, some may get one earlier due to increased risk, while others may be able to wait until later.
“Interoperability helps clinicians to drive evidence-based medicine that is personalized to give the best, high-quality, low-cost care,” Chasanov said.
It also plays a crucial role in the continuum of care outside of the hospital and clinic. Chasanov emphasized that with interoperability, aspects of traditional care can be moved into the home.
“Interoperability puts the pieces in the continuum of care all together. If we’re all a care team, then I know what each person has done and I don’t have to repeat any of that process,” he said.
