Artificial Intelligence Use In Healthcare Blog Posts

Also known as machine learning or machine intelligence, artificial intelligence (AI) is a category of computer science that mimics the thought processes of the human brain. While difficult to concisely define and explain, it is multidisciplinary in both theory and practice, and has the potential to considerably improve quality of lives through its many applications. In medicine, AI is most likely to be utilized in diagnostics, risk prediction, treatments, drug research and clinical care. Not surprisingly, the rate of AI’s acceleration in application in medicine has been impressive, particularly among cognitive computing and big data analytics. 

Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is an essential, and growing, segment of the healthcare field, offering a standardized format for determining the costs of procedures and treatments. The procedures for billing and coding are necessary, and they’re used to translate patient records into standardized codes that are used for billing third-party payers and patients. Unfortunately, the ongoing challenge is coding accuracy. In the fiscal year of 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that errors resulted in over $36 billion in improper payments. Some companies are beginning to develop and test artificial intelligence applications to help improve the efficiency and accuracy of billing and coding processes.