Ochsner Health System Adopts New AI-Powered Early Warning System

Feb. 28, 2018
Ochsner Health System, Louisiana’s largest academic healthcare system, has launched new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help treat patients more proactively as part of a new early warning system.

Ochsner Health System, Louisiana’s largest academic healthcare system, has launched new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help treat patients more proactively as part of a new early warning system.

According to the health system, it’s one of the first systems in the country to integrate AI into patient care workflows, and the new capabilities deliver rich patient insights to Ochsner care teams in real time, using machine learning for clinical data to detect patients’ potential adverse health events more quickly and accurately. Ochsner, based in Jefferson, La., operates 30 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and more than 80 health centers and urgent care centers.

Ochsner Health System leaders worked with Microsoft and electronic health record (EHR) vendor Epic to leverage both cloud technology and AI to implement the platform, which now augments existing early warning alerts with the goal to eliminate adverse events in advance of a potential event. With Epic’s machine learning platform and Microsoft Azure cloud computing technology, Ochsner is focused on preventing patient deterioration. Deploying a predictive model via Epic powered by Microsoft Azure has enabled Ochsner’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) to intervene on patients proactively, rather than reactively, in real-time, health system officials said.

During the 90-day pilot, the team successfully reduced adverse events outside of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) by 44 percent.

“By utilizing Epic’s machine learning platform and Microsoft Azure, we can detect health patterns, learn from these insights and develop a more aggressive treatment plan as a preventative measure. It is about delivering a higher quality of care to change and save more lives,” Laura Wilt, system vice president and chief information officer, Ochsner Health System, said.

Seth Hain, director of analytics and machine learning at Epic, says that by leveraging machine learning and Azure, the platform delivers insights to clinicians directly into workflows. “We’re proud to see Ochsner lead the way with the first implementation and look forward to others in the Epic community taking advantage of this functionality now available to all customers,” Hain said.

Moving forward, Ochsner will begin implementing Epic’s machine learning platform powered by Azure to improve other clinical specialties and reduce care challenges like pressure ulcers and hospital acquired infections. The health system sees these AI-powered capabilities core to how it will treat people in the future, representing its commitment to staying on the cutting edge of innovative, technology-empowered care for patients.

“Cloud and AI technologies are helping health organizations around the world deliver better outcomes for patients,” Joseph Sirosh, corporate vice president, Cloud AI Platform at Microsoft, said in a statement. “Microsoft Azure and AI technologies, working together with Epic, help deliver more proactive, precise care.”

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