Company brings generative AI to home healthcare, hospital-at-home services

North Carolina, United States-based Vivid Health is making waves in the home healthcare industry by introducing a generative AI solution designed to alleviate the burdens of paperwork and increase care providers' capacity. Their innovative technology aims to streamline the time-consuming process of completing essential assessment forms, reducing staff burnout and enabling healthcare organizations to serve more patients efficiently.

Launched last year, Vivid Health's platform is already being implemented in multiple healthcare organizations, including the North Carolina-based WakeMed Key Community Care.

How does it work?

At the core of Vivid Health's platform is a generative AI solution that simplifies the process of completing the Medicare Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) forms, which are crucial for planning care, determining reimbursement, and measuring patient outcomes. Traditionally, clinical staff spend significant time filling out these forms — on average, only two per day. Vivid's AI changes the game by allowing patients and their caregivers to complete 94% of the form before a healthcare professional even steps into their home.

The AI interacts with patients and caregivers, asking questions about care preferences, demographics, and medical history. It then integrates this information with the patient's medical records, forming a comprehensive data set. This data feeds into a large language model (LLM) that helps finalize the OASIS form and create a detailed care plan, as required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for hospital discharges into home health care.

Vivid's platform also features a Provider Led AI system, which ensures that while AI aids in creating care plans, the ultimate control remains with the healthcare providers, who can edit the plans as needed. This approach has been shown to double the daily patient intake, cut nurse paperwork by 75%, and reduce intake time to 30 minutes or less.

Why does it matter?

The significance of Vivid Health's solution cannot be overstated. Home healthcare agencies often face severe limitations in accepting new patients due to resource constraints and the overwhelming amount of paperwork required. According to CEO Patrick Mobley, up to 76% of hospital referrals are rejected by home health agencies because they lack the capacity to manage the administrative load. This leads to overcrowded hospitals, higher healthcare costs, and frustrated patients who cannot transition home when they are ready.

By reducing the time and effort needed to complete essential forms, Vivid Health's AI platform helps healthcare providers manage more patients and addresses critical bottlenecks in the healthcare system.

As Mobley stated, "When hospitals aren't able to discharge these patients to safe care in lower-cost settings fast enough, we end up with overcrowded hospitals, higher costs for payers, burned-out nurses due to late-night paperwork, and dissatisfied patients who can't get home when they're ready."

The context

The healthcare industry is increasingly turning to AI to solve long-standing challenges, particularly in areas like home healthcare where resources are often stretched thin. Ambient AI solutions, while popular in traditional healthcare settings, have struggled to adapt to the noisy, interruption-prone environment of home care. Vivid Health's platform is a notable exception, offering a tailored solution that meets the unique demands of home healthcare providers.

Furthermore, as the industry anticipates the introduction of the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) by CMS, Vivid Health is already planning to integrate this into its technology, further expanding its impact on patient care. The company's commitment to reducing administrative burdens and improving patient outcomes positions it as a leader in the evolving landscape of healthcare technology.

Ultimately, Vivid Health's generative AI platform is not just a tool for reducing paperwork; it aims to enable home healthcare providers to deliver better care to more patients, helping to achieve what Mobley refers to as the "quintuple aim" of healthcare — improving patient experience, health outcomes, cost-efficiency, staff experience, and health equity.