Washington University School of Medicine and BJC Health System, both located in St. Louis, have launched the joint Center for Health AI to harness the power of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and fundamentally change the way health care is provided. The center will focus on making care more personalized and effective for patients and more efficient and manageable for physicians, nurses and all those striving to ensure patients receive the very best care.
The center is the first major initiative to evolve from the new, long-term affiliation between WashU Medicine and BJC that was finalized earlier this year and helps establish both organizations as leaders in developing and leveraging AI technologies to transform health care. With a joint leadership structure and a focus on shared goals, the center embodies the close collaboration envisioned by the WashU-BJC partnership.
“WashU Medicine and BJC are committed to pushing the boundaries of health care innovation to ensure that our caregivers, our patients and the communities we serve benefit from AI technologies,” said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor. “The center brings together leaders and experts from across the organizations to generate new AI-based solutions and leverage emerging AI technologies in ways that will profoundly change how we work together and care for patients. It will become a magnet for recruiting health care professionals who want to shape the future of medicine.”
A major focus of the center will be using AI to streamline workflows and administrative tasks, making health care more efficient.
“Clinicians at BJC and WashU Medicine have piloted a new AI tool to help with documentation during patient visits so they can focus more fully on their patients,” said Nick Barto, president of BJC Health System. “Saving time in this way helps reduce health care workers’ burnout, and more focused attention from clinicians helps improve the experience for patients. We hope to broaden the use of this tool – and others like it – to help alleviate administrative burdens and enhance patient care. The result is a win-win.”
At a time when the demand for health care has never been greater, AI also can streamline the scheduling of patient appointments and predict the demand for equipment and other resources. Such technologies can help health care operations run more smoothly and prevent staff and supply chain shortages that can limit the ability to provide timely care.
The new center will be led by WashU Medicine’s Philip R.O. Payne, PhD, who will serve as the inaugural chief health AI officer, and Deborah O’Dell, chief data & analytics officer at BJC Health System.
“AI is not a substitute for clinicians, but when used appropriately, it can enhance their capabilities, guide decision making and improve the quality, safety and outcomes of the care we provide to our patients,” said Payne, also the Janet and Bernard Becker Professor and the director of the Institute for Informatics, Data Science & Biostatistics at WashU Medicine. “With advances in AI, we’ve finally reached the point where the massive amounts of data captured about patients can be used to improve the efficiency and accessibility of care, the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, and ultimately the health of the people in the communities we serve.”
To date, much of the attention on AI’s potential to improve patient care has focused on tools that improve diagnostic accuracy, enhance precision medicine and predict individual patients’ disease risks so physicians can better manage their care. WashU Medicine and BJC already have contributed to advances in this area, and such work will be supported by and expanded upon by the center. For example, our clinicians already have developed and implemented AI tools that can flag patients at high risk of sepsis or chemotherapy complications; analyze mammograms or other types of medical images to reliably detect microscopic tumors; help identify which treatments may be most effective for individual patients with complex or rare diseases; and predict excessive blood loss during surgery so blood products can be deployed efficiently to the operating room, which helps to reduce waste.
Because training the next generation of health care leaders is an important part of WashU Medicine’s and BJC’s missions, the center also will provide a unique opportunity for medical residents and students to develop the skills and experience they will need to thrive as AI becomes an ever-more-important aspect of patient care.
“Medical students and residents will benefit from immersive, practical training in AI-driven care delivery,” Payne said. “The unique environment we are creating will enable the next generation of physicians to harness AI to deliver exceptional patient care.”
The center also is designed to help clinicians and business leaders from WashU Medicine and BJC develop innovative AI tools by fostering cross-organizational collaboration, providing technical expertise and guidance, and assisting with evaluating AI technologies for safety and accuracy. Successful initiatives will be scaled up and implemented across the integrated health system so innovative ideas and tools can be translated into meaningful improvements in care and operations.
“Our goal with AI is to use data to improve the patient experience in ways that truly matter,” O’Dell said. “There are things we can do behind the scenes to get patients the care they need more quickly and smoothly, while reducing provider burnout. We have very capable leaders in administrative and clinical functions across the system who are already thinking about how they can use AI technology to improve efficiency. The center is here to support them in that journey.”
