Revolutionizing Patient Engagement: Healthvana's AI-Powered Approach

Conceptual technology illustration of artificial intelligence (Adobe Stock 296043415 by kras99)

In Infection Control Today^®’s (ICT^®) ongoing coverage of how health care companies are using artificial intelligence (AI), Ramin Bastani, Founder and CEO of Healthvana, in a recent Q&A session, light on the innovative implementation of AI in their patient-centric platform. The discussion delves into the success, challenges, and impact of their HIPAA-compliant AI Navigator/Chatbot, aiming to transform health care interactions.

ICT: Can you provide an overview of how your health care company currently implements AI technology in its operations and services?

Ramin Bastani: Healthvana is not a health care provider, but we enable providers to manage, communicate, and coordinate care with patient populations, leading to better health outcomes and lower costs with our evidence-based patient engagement and care navigation platform. Our platform is used to address infectious diseases such as HIV, sexually transmitted infections, COVID-19, mpox, and influenza.

We are introducing a HIPAA-compliant AI Navigator/Chatbot for our sexual health clinic customers. This tool offers 24/7 access for patients to ask questions, make appointments, and learn about PrEP. It supports multiple languages, provides personalized responses based on the patient's medical history and location, and aims to reduce stigma in health care interactions. Our goal is to strengthen patient connections, improve outcomes, and provide staff relief by automating routine tasks.

ICT: Could you share examples of AI applications or solutions that have been particularly successful in your health care company?

RB: Currently, the AI Navigator/Chatbot is the first AI use case for Healthvana.

ICT: What challenges or obstacles have you encountered in the integration of AI into healthcare, and how have you addressed them?

RB: Shockingly, none! We thought our provider partners would hesitate to embrace this patient-facing AI use case. Still, they love interacting with it and have not run into any factual issues—our partners can’t wait to get the AI Navigator/Chatbot in front of patients across 17 states!

ICT: How do you ensure that AI systems used in healthcare adhere to the highest standards of patient data privacy and security?

RB: We adhere to HIPAA regulations. Additionally, our AI has a "zero-retention" policy, meaning it doesn't store or use patient conversations for training future models, thus ensuring patient data privacy and security standards are met.

ICT: In what ways has AI helped your organization streamline administrative processes and reduce operational costs?

RB: Our AI Navigator/Chatbot is expected to significantly reduce staff time spent on routine patient inquiries, medical record referencing, and appointment scheduling. This will allow our clinics to allocate more time to direct patient care and complex cases, improving overall efficiency and reducing operational costs.

We expect our clinics to save immensely on staff time since the AI Navigator/Chatbot will address routine patient questions, retrieve patient medical records, and schedule appointments. Plus, patients who use AI before appointments will enable them to gain a deeper understanding and education about their healthcare, ultimately leading to a more efficient use of staff time.

ICT: Lastly, what advice or key takeaways would you offer other health care organizations looking to leverage AI effectively in their operations and services?

RB: Focus on solutions that directly benefit and involve patients; billing and administrative work might be low-hanging fruit, but patient-facing solutions will have the highest impact.