Author: iain

For many years, we have developed niche AI to help our hospital clients. Two years ago, we released our first platform (CAC) powered by a metered (fee-for-use) external AI service. Specifically, we use Microsoft’s Cognitive Services platform and its Natural Language Processing (NLP) API to translate freeform clinical text into medical concept codes. This AI cannot be used for patient care, but it is very useful for other purposes including assistance in the medical coding process. At the time, this went against conventional approaches, as many industry peers were building proprietary NLP solutions to try to solve these problems. With …

Small community hospitals face different challenges than their larger counterparts, often lacking the financial resources to hire the technical expertise needed to make full use of their data. Nevertheless, they still have the same reporting and analytical needs as any other healthcare organization. While provincial and federal agencies do provide limited support based on standardized submission files sent to CIHI, Ontario Health, and other organizations, the same concern is often expressed: “The reports sent back to the hospital are not timely enough to act upon, and we don’t have the means to create the reports necessary to meet our hospital’s …