While the prospects for AI in clinical care may get most of the attention, stakeholders at other points on the care continuum are wasting no time taking advantage of new technologies for their own purposes, too.
For example, revenue cycle management technology company Waystar has acquired Charlotte, N.C.-based startup Digitize.AI, a company that applies artificial intelligence to the prior authorization process.
Waystar provides revenue cycle management software-as-a-service designed to improve and streamline billing, claims and patient payment processes. The company serves more than 450,000 providers, 750 health systems and 5,000 payers and health plans, the company said.
With the acquisition of Digitize.AI, Waystar is going to expand its technological capabilities. By embedding Digitize.AI's technology, Waystar's platform will take a unique approach to prior authorization using machine learning and AI to reduce administrative work, Waystar executives said.
Currently, prior authorization is largely a manual, time-consuming and error-prone process that is reportedly resulting in a $30 billion annual cost in wrongful denials, inefficiencies and clerical errors. According to the companyhe startup uses AI and machine learning to automate prior authorizations, resulting in faster authorizations at less cost and and with fewer denials.
"Digitize.AI is taking a truly different view with trailblazing technology, automating prior authorizations with better results than legacy solutions," Waystar CEO Matt Hawkins said, noting prior authorization poses a significant challenge for the company's current clients..
"We believe Digitize.AI has an enormous potential to change the industry, and we were looking for a partner who had a shared view of the ability of technology to improve healthcare," Justin Adams, Digitize.AI CEO, said in a statement. "Waystar immediately stood out to us as a company with a forward-looking vision for simplifying the revenue cycle, as well as an established reputation and broad network of clients across the spectrum of healthcare.”
The deal to buy Digitize.AI follows Waystar's acquisition in June or PARO, which uses predictive analytics to fast-track recommendations for potential charity-care cases at nonprofit hospitals.
In November 2018, the company also bought the transaction services technology business—specifically claims monitoring capabilities—owned by Ovation Revenue Cycle Services, part of healthcare provider and insurer UPMC. In September, Waystar bought predictive analytics solution Connance.