AI in Healthcare: Inflo Health and the Future of Follow-Up Care
This article discusses how Inflo Health is using AI to improve patient follow-up care, especially after radiology appointments. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
* The Problem: Follow-up appointments after medical imaging often get missed, leading to potential delays in diagnosis and treatment. This is often due to manual tracking errors.
* Inflo health’s Solution: Inflo Health uses AI to automate much of the follow-up process. It prioritizes cases based on urgency and risk, monitors follow-ups in real-time, and escalates tasks via text and platform notifications.
* Human-in-the-Loop: The system isn’t meant to replace radiologists,but to empower them. AI handles 60-70% of straightforward cases, freeing up radiologists and care coordinators to focus on complex situations (like oncology patients or cases with multiple findings).
* Benefits:
* Increased Efficiency: Reduces manual tracking and allows staff to focus on complex cases.
* Improved Visibility: Both patients and radiologists have better insight into the follow-up process.
* Potential for Saving Lives: Faster and more reliable follow-up can lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment.
* Ancient Context: AI has been used in healthcare for decades (e.g., Apache scores, cardiac risk prediction), but adoption has been slow due to a traditional mindset within the industry.
* Adams’ Outlook: The CEO of Inflo Health believes the healthcare system’s resistance to change is hindering progress and ultimately harming patients.
In essence, the article paints a picture of AI as a tool to augment human capabilities in healthcare, specifically addressing a common pain point – ensuring patients receive necessary follow-up care. It highlights the potential for AI to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
