Ochsner Health Scale Scale AI Tool cuts previous authorization time to 4-5 minutes
Two years ago, New Orleans-based Ochsner Health began using AI to address one of the most frustrating bottlenecks in healthcare, with medications authorization in advance. Now, the health system has concluded that this approach is effective – so much so that it has been expanded throughout the organization.
By the end of 2023, Ochsner works with clinical AI startups Health to improve how patients are used. Since then, the health system says its previously authorized drug approval time has dropped to 4-5 minutes, 75% faster than industry norms.
Health systems deploy potential AI-driven platforms in their specialty pharmacies to simplify prior authorization, appeals and qualification reviews. The startup's AI engine analyzes past previous authorization requests to predict the required documentation for new files and automatically surface-related clinical information from the patient's records. This makes the pharmacist’s review process easier because all the data is in one place, eliminating the need for manual charting, Ochsner Cio Cio Amy Trainor explained.
She noted that the pharmacy was a “primary level of automation” space, saying Oxner’s specialty pharmacies were flooded with previous mandate-related tasks.
Trainor notes that the manual nature of such work — browsing charts and compiling information — is not only a time-consuming pharmacist, but also a way to get rid of more meaningful encounters with patients. Give clinicians more time to focus on patients is the core tenet of Ochsner’s AI strategy, just like many health systems, she said.
Tranior added that last year alone, more than 20,000 patients received faster medication due to potential platforms.
This technology meets high clinician engagement – she notes that clinicians are not always embracing new digital tools in the field of hospital technology deployment.
“Pharmacists want to scale it because it makes their lives better. Not only can it help patients, but it makes their daily routines – hunting and pecking – better,” Trainor said.
Some of these successes, she noted, are due to how specialized the underlying technology is to target pharmacies rather than trying to become an AI provider of a certain size.
In her opinion, potentially deep domain knowledge can innovate faster and better problem solving. She also stressed that the startup has adopted a collaborative approach with its partners—rather than simply putting its technology into the client’s knees, it is potentially embedded in Ochsner’s operations, and that IT teams can work together to develop solutions and adjust when needed.
This type of approach is crucial, Trainor said, as Ochsner embarks on a journey to expand potential technologies across specialty, infusion and retail pharmacies in health systems.
“I do believe that the focus on pharmacies does give us a great opportunity to continue to develop and expand into other spaces, such as other types of treatments or infusions, all other pieces are other parts and parts of the complexity of the pharmacy. This is one of the most complex areas in a hospital, at least for your medications, you may approve your medications and may be affected the most in our emergency room,” she said.
For her, the project demonstrates how AI can quietly but powerfully reshape the experience of clinicians and patients.
Photo: Noipho, Getty Images
