Hospitals, Health Tech

Ada Health’s platform, now available on Epic, is helping drive value-based care

The company announced this week that its AI-powered symptom assessment and care navigation platform is now available in the Epic App Orchard. Jeff Cutler, Ada's chief commercial officer, and Scott Fannin, the company's vice president of enterprise product management, discussed the announcement in a sit-down interview at the Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Orlando.

Ada Health makes an AI-based symptom checker.

When a person is first experiencing symptoms of any kind, whether a sore throat or something more severe, it can be difficult to know what to do. Some things require immediate care; other minor concerns might not warrant same-day treatment or a visit to the doctor at all.

It’s in that space of indecision where Ada Health’s medical symptom checker — available through an app and offered in partnership with health systems — may be used. Now with Berlin-based Ada’s announcement this week that its medical AI solutions is available in the Epic App Orchard, providers will be able to have that and its care navigation capabilities integrated into their EHR, so doctors and patients can decide what care is needed.

Earlier this week, Jeff Cutler, Ada’s chief commercial officer, sat down to talk about the announcement at the Global Health Conference & Exhibition in Orlando.

Over the last three years, the company been working with insurance companies, health systems and other digital health players around the world to create a digital front door that patients can come through, self-assess their symptoms and get help finding the right care, Cutler said.

At the end of a patient’s Ada assessment, patients get a comprehensive report that suggests conditions they may have, determines the probabilities of those various conditions and lists appropriate care options.

So a patient needing to see someone within the next three to five days would be directed to a telehealth session, to set a doctor’s appointment or even to visit a walk-in clinic, for instance, as opposed to seeking immediate care in an-person setting.

What we found is over a third and as much as 40% of all assessments direct patients away from same-day care,” Cutler said. “So we’re really helping to drive value-based care from the perspective of moving patients from more costly unnecessary modes of care to more efficient modes of care. And a big part of that is being able to integrate with the electronic health records and, in particular, then share that data with the attending physician.”

The concept of a digital front door is not new. In fact, Minneapolis-based Zipnosis has trademarked the term as it aims to be shepherding patients from the moment they feel something is physically wrong and want to seek care whether through telemedicine or in-person care. Zipnosis’ symptom checker and triage capabilities are connected to the SureScripts platform, which enables electronic prescribing of medication. The company also says that its technology is compatible with major EHR vendors like Cerner and Epic.

For it’s part, Ada’s Assess and Care Connect platform is now available through Epic. So health systems and care providers can offer symptom assessments within their Epic MyChart patient portal. Completed symptom assessments can be accessed by the patient’s care provider within Epic as well to assist with care decisions and improve efficiency, according to the company. 

The move comes on the heels of the $30 million raise Ada announced last month as it looks to grow its presence in the U.S. That was an extension of its Series B round, which brought in $120 million in total with the added funding. Ada expects that its platform’s inclusion in the Epic App Orchard will broaden its reach in the U.S. and help it continue to grow here and abroad.

The company makes money by partnering directly with health systems and insurers.

“It’s a SaaS — software as a service — licensing model and we work with them to tie our pricing to the ultimate value that they’re receiving,” Cutler said. “So, for instance, if we’re able to properly direct patients away from emergency care, there’s some financial benefits that they’ll have from them. And what we’re looking to do is work with them to tap into that, so that they’re paying from the additional value that they receive.”

He emphasized that Ada employs 50-plus doctors who have continued to grow its  knowledge base, and that its assessments are clinically validated. The system is also developed with interoperability guidelines in mind to make secure information sharing easier. This way providers have all the details on a patient at their fingertips, according to Cutler and Scott Fannin, vice president of enterprise product management at Ada, who joined Cutler for the interview at HIMSS22. 

“It’s really about taking advantage of all this data,” Fannin said.

Besides helping with triaging care, having the clinical information from the Ada platform readily available ensures doctors already know what’s going on with patients when they arrive. Everything will be prepped and ready for the physician, Fannin said.

“So when the patient comes in, they don’t have to revisit all this information,” he said. “They can pick up right where they need to for the care of the patient.”

Photo credit: Ada Health

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