York, Pa.-based WellSpan Health is rolling out a generative AI "agent" that will help patients receive, prepare for and recover from screenings.
"Anna" the artificial intelligence voice assistant, developed by startup Hippocratic AI, will call patients in need of colorectal screenings and, if the patients agree, mail them at-home stool tests. The conversational AI will also call patients prior to colonoscopies to give them preparation advice and afterward to check in.
Kasey Paulus, BSN, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing executive at WellSpan Health, told Becker's the platform helps relieve workforce shortages while improving health equity by reaching out to patients in need of care and in multiple languages. Anna can talk to patients in both English and Spanish, with plans to add Haitian Creole and Nepali, other languages common in WellSpan's market.
"She's very warm and personable," Ms. Paulus said. "Given the generative AI component of this, she does have the ability to respond in a more personalized manner depending on what the patient says and shares."
The AI agent is different from a chatbot because it has "full speech recognition where you can double back on your words, repeat things, use half-sentence fragments and the AI agent still understands you," a WellSpan spokesperson told Becker's.
In the pilot phase, patients were asked if they would recommend Anna on a scale of 1-10. The average was 8.
Algorithms built into the tool can escalate the call to a human if necessary. However, in the first 100-plus patients who have used the platform, only two had to be connected to a person.
Anna calls patients eligible for a colorectal cancer screening who don't have a WellSpan MyChart account. The AI guides them through a questionnaire and asks if they're interested in having the noninvasive screening kit mailed to their homes.
For patients scheduled for colonoscopies, Anna calls them 10 and three days before the procedure to make sure they're prepared and one day after to check in on their recovery. They can be connected to a live clinician or for later follow-up by a human provider.
"It's another way of reaching patients where they're at that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do," Ms. Paulus said.
Calls come from a WellSpan Health number. Initial calls are being monitored by human clinicians to ensure safety.
Ms. Paulus said prior to being piloted with patients, the tool went through "significant" safety and quality validation.
In the early stages, WellSpan has had an easier time connecting with patients on colonoscopy prep because they're told ahead of time to expect the call; for the screening patients, it's a cold call.
Other generative AI agents are in development for chronic care management, post-discharge follow-ups for conditions like congestive heart failure and kidney disease, and preoperative patient education.
Hippocratic AI launched in 2023 and was co-founded by a former health system executive. The startup has since raised $137 million with investors including WellSpan and fellow health systems King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System, Cincinnati Children's and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based HonorHealth.
One of Hippocratic AI's major investors is venture capital firm General Catalyst, which began partnering with WellSpan in 2022 on digital transformation.
The eight-hospital system enlisted nurses, who in the past might have done this type of outreach, to develop the platform.
"The goal is augmenting the care of nurses," Ms. Paulus said. "So we take some of that work off of their plates that helps them work at the top of their licenses, spend their time on the most critical tasks that require their training and experience and expertise."