Improving patient care is the core mission of Quai.MD, an artificial intelligence-powered, personalized clinical pathway platform partnered with the Medical University of South Carolina.
The Israel-based company’s platform saves doctors time by enabling them to make faster and better-informed decisions. The AI platform is currently being assessed at MUSC Health and is expected to make a significant impact on patient outcomes, physician productivity and billing efficiency.
The collaboration between the company and university is a transatlantic partnership that highlights the increasing influence of South Carolina on the global life sciences stage.
Benefitting Patients and Streamlining Hospital Care
Quai.MD’s technology highlights and tracks possible clinical and diagnostic pathways for patient care. This guides evidence-based care, explained Quai.MD Chief Executive Officer Shlomi Uziel. That ultimately leads to improved treatment recommendations that not only benefit patients but can streamline hospital care.
“We take the real-world evidence and translate that into actionable data,” Uziel said.
Uziel shared the capabilities of the AI platform and its potential impact on the U.S. healthcare system during a discussion at SCbio’s annual conference in Charleston, S.C. Uziel noted that across the United States, the course of emergency care can differ between hospitals and treating physicians.
Working in conjunction with physicians from MUSC Health, Quai.MD’s platform aims to define treatment protocols for patient care. The first area of focus is chest pain-related emergencies treated in emergency rooms.
Uziel explained that chest pain is a symptom associated with multiple scenarios and risk-associated outcomes. That made it an ideal space to assess the technology. The company’s platform provides physicians with real-time recommendations in the provider’s workflow in order to implement the most effective and safest clinical pathways.
Uziel likened the Quai.MD system to GPS. He said the company’s AI technology uses both evidence-based medical knowledge, as well as real-world patient data in order to provide physicians with the most precise recommendations to treat a patient. The tool allows physicians to quickly reach a treatment decision and also reduces care variability, Uziel said.
Not only will the tool ultimately improve patient care, Uziel said it will improve cost controls for hospitals through improved billing capabilities.
“This brings everything together into a constructive solution,” Uziel said.
The first part of Uziel’s career was spent in the semiconductor business but he felt called to do something more – become a health care disruptor. Uziel shifted into digital health in order to save lives, rather than “move the margins of a company,” he said. Becoming a disruptor though is easier said than done. Not only is there a need for a product that can meet that challenge, there is also a critical need for partnerships.
Partnering with MUSC
When bringing a disruptive technology to market, Uziel said it is critical to have customers “from day minus one.” Through a happenstance introduction, Uziel said he was introduced to MUSC’s chief innovation officer, Jesse Goodwin. In Goodwin and MUSC, Uziel said Quai.MD found “a clinical champion.”
The Charleston-based university is known for its innovative approach to health care and has embraced the Quai.MD platform, Uziel said. University researchers are thoroughly testing the limits of the platform, which will ultimately improve its capabilities. Uziel said the attention the platform has received from MUSC has been significant, probably higher than they would have received from a legacy medical university.
“We were so lucky to find MUSC.”
MUSC and Quai.MD will continue their partnership and expect to evaluate the platform in other medical indications. Uziel hinted that Quia.MD is looking to expand its partnership with other medical systems. He noted the Mayo Clinic has expressed interest in the company’s technology.
These South Carolina life science insights are authored by life sciences writer @Alex Keown, and provided by Inspire Agency and SCbio.