St. Louis-based Mercy named its artificial intelligence cancer treatment algorithm after Jiajing Chen, a data scientist who helped develop the algorithm and died from cancer in January, St. Louis Business Journal reported Dec. 8.
The algorithm, which has been used by more than 5,000 Mercy patients, predicts when cancer patients could be at risk of hospital admission due to chemotherapy side effects. Through the Chen Chemotherapy Model, patients can text their symptoms to Mercy, and an algorithm will help determine their risk of hospitalization.
The program was first developed through an AI-focused partnership with Microsoft.
"Historically, we have not known which patients are having a problem until they presented to the ER or called the office, which was typically late in the day when we had limited options available," Jay Carlson, DO, Mercy Cancer Care Performance Acceleration medical director, told the Journal. "The Chen Chemotherapy Model and smart texting allows us to proactively manage these patients and identify when they are having problems earlier in the journey."