I-Corps: Novel File Exchange Software Platform to Increase Patient Volume and Hospital System Efficiency

Award ID: 2204754

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of referral processing software to increase hospital system workflow efficiency without compromising patient volume. New patient appointments are important healthcare performance metrics because they are a significant revenue source and critical for strategic growth for all healthcare systems. The referral market is estimated at 2.3 billion dollars annually. In the United States, 1 out of 3 patients are referred to see a specialist every year. However, as many as 50% of these patient referrals are never completed resulting in an estimated annual loss of $370 billion in revenue. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a software platform to process patient referrals to provide a more transparent closed-loop solution towards exchanging medical documents between two different hospital systems. The proposed technology employs machine learning algorithms to provide data analytics and insight into operational efficiency for hospital leadership. In addition, this information may be used to provide practice and behavioral recommendations to meet performance metrics defined by the institution. In doing so, the proposed technology addresses the major contributor to new patient scheduling delays and increases revenue for healthcare systems. It also may decrease delays in patient care and avoid repeating unneeded procedures and tests because of incomplete medical records. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Jaime A. Camelio