Microsoft Corp. and Mercy have initiated a long-term partnership harnessing generative AI and other digital technologies to grant healthcare professionals physicians, advance practice providers, and nurses more dedicated time for patient care, enhancing the overall patient experience. This collaboration represents the next frontier in healthcare, leveraging advanced digital tools to revolutionize healthcare delivery.

Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President of Research and Incubations at Microsoft, emphasized the significance of this development: "With the latest advances in generative AI, this moment marks a true phase change where emerging capabilities can help health care organizations address some of their most pressing challenges, create needed efficiency and transform care. Mercy has a reputation for ongoing innovation and — through our years working together — has been a leader in the industry in creating an intelligent data platform on which to launch this kind of transformation. This is just the beginning, and it's inspiring to see Mercy's leadership adopting these tools to empower physicians, providers, nurses and all clinicians to improve patient care."

Mercy's immediate plans involve leveraging Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to enhance care in several innovative ways:

1. Empowering Patients: Generative AI-assisted communication will equip patients with the information they need to comprehend their lab results and engage in more informed discussions with their healthcare providers, simplifying complex medical information into conversational language.

2. Streamlining Patient Calls: Mercy will employ generative AI during patient calls for actions such as scheduling appointments. The AI solution will not only handle the initial call but also provide recommendations for additional follow-up actions within the same interaction, reducing the need for subsequent calls.

3. Efficient Information Retrieval: A chatbot designed for Mercy's co-workers will swiftly retrieve essential information about Mercy's policies, procedures, and HR-related queries like benefits and leave requirements. This will expedite the process of finding information, allowing nurses and co-workers to allocate more time to patient care.

Joe Kelly, Mercy's Executive Vice President of Transformation and Business Development Officer, highlighted the benefits of their partnership with Microsoft: "Because of all the investments we have made together with Microsoft in the past few years, including the use of Microsoft's secure cloud, we are better positioned to perform real-time clinical decision-making that ultimately improves patient care... This is predictive, proactive, and personalized care at its best."

Mercy's reliance on the Microsoft Cloud as their preferred innovation platform enables them to enhance efficiency, optimize data connectivity and governance, elevate patient and co-worker experiences, reach underserved communities, and establish a robust foundation for continuous innovation. The centralization and organization of data within an AI-powered intelligent data platform on Azure empower Mercy to meet evolving clinician and patient expectations promptly. For instance, it enables the reduction of unnecessary patient days in the hospital by providing care teams with smart dashboards and insights into factors affecting patient discharge. Microsoft's modern work solutions also enhance co-worker productivity and communication, affording more time for improving patient care and experiences.

Steve Mackin, Mercy's President and CEO, articulated the transformative nature of this partnership: "Mercy and Microsoft are creating a new path for health systems in which we are working shoulder to shoulder to combine our 200-year heritage in health care and Microsoft's extensive expertise in cloud and AI to enhance care for the patients we serve and improve the working experience for our physicians, advanced providers, nurses and all co-workers. By using technology in new and secure ways, we innovate better health care for all."

The collaboration recently convened Mercy's engineering teams and senior leaders with Microsoft counterparts, engineers, and industry experts for a hackathon to jointly conceptualize and initiate innovation around generative AI use cases. Furthermore, Microsoft and Mercy are collaborating to showcase Mercy's solutions at the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) in Chicago in 2024. This showcase will spotlight transformative clinical experiences and offer a glimpse into the future of healthcare enabled by Microsoft technology.

 

Source: prnewswire.com

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