The long-awaited TN HIMSS Summit24 conference buzzed with lively discussions on the intersection of healthcare and technology. Topics ranged from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) policy changes for 2024 to healthcare cybersecurity to the influence of private equity.
Each discussion delved deeply into its respective topic, yet a common theme echoed throughout the conference: the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare systems. Every session highlighted AI and its potential to revolutionize healthcare.
Noteworthy remarks came from Derek Dedeker, Vice President at Frist Cressey Ventures, who said, “AI is a new way to say opportunity,” and Darryl Rowe, Principal Collaboration & AI Leader at Microsoft, who emphasized AI’s ability to enhance efficiency in healthcare administration, envision quicker diagnoses and improve outcomes.
The resounding message from all presentations was a clear call to action: AI is not on the horizon; it is here, and healthcare leaders must harness and embrace it now.
Rōnin Consulting’s AI breakthrough
During the conference, Rōnin had the opportunity to showcase our ongoing AI initiatives. Chris Bybee, the Chief Delivery Officer, shared Rōnin’s AI journey with an audience of over 300 healthcare industry leaders. His presentation began with a recap of Rōnin’s win at the 2023 TN HIMSS Generative AI Hackathon.
The hackathon challenged teams to solve real-world healthcare industry problems by leveraging generative AI. Rōnin was awarded the top spot in this competition with a custom-made, HIPAA-compliant, open-source, cloud-based generative AI application.
It improves the efficiency of prior authorization (PA) specialists by using patient treatment and diagnoses data to generate prior authorization letters. The hackathon victory became the catalyst for Rōnin’s further exploration of AI applications in healthcare.
From hackathon win to next-gen application
We knew the PA application could be extremely beneficial in the right hands. Considering that physicians and their staff spend an average of 14 hours per week working on prior authorization letters, and 88% of physicians describe the burden associated with PA as high, optimizing this process could be a game changer.
Armed with our AI solution to the PA problem, we partnered with a Behavioral Health company eager to collaborate on identifying areas and workflows where AI could enhance operations. Patient pre-certification was selected as the initial one, and we built an application that leverages generative AI to give their pre-certification specialists a 6x productivity boost.
We gained valuable insights from this partnership and affirmed that our company, rooted in leveraging technology to solve problems, is driving efficiency into healthcare organizations with AI.
In addition, we continued to refine and expand upon our AI application framework. We added:
- AI model management and deployment,
- auditing of model interactions, and
- a common API gateway for other integrated applications.
These features enable developers to build and deliver AI-based software in less time and at lower cost to the business.
What started as an AI hackathon entry became a new client AI service offering, marking a significant evolution in our clients’ opportunity to harness the power of artificial intelligence for their organizations.
Introducing SamurAI™: Custom AI services offering for business
The development of our AI services offering, SamurAITM , took time. Over the past year, our journey has been marked by continuous growth in AI expertise and practical applications of the technology.
Our dedication has been unwavering, from one of our founders pursuing advanced education in AI to securing victory in the AI hackathon to crafting a tailored AI solution for a Behavioral Health company.
This commitment allows us to advance our involvement in AI and offer comprehensive AI services to current and future clients.
This new offering, SamurAITM, represents the people, skillsets, and tools necessary to create custom AI-driven applications for business.
Rōnin’s extensive experience with developing custom software for healthcare companies like HCA gives our team the specialized knowledge to take-on healthcare projects and to build software that works in conjunction with enterprise EHR, CRM and HRIS products.
As part of SamurAI™, our AI-application development toolkit is designed to accelerate the construction of AI-assisted custom applications, and includes features such as:
- Multi-model compatibility: allows multi-model workflows.
- Model deployment and configuration services: simplifying the setup and customization of hosted models.
- Monitoring and utilization: provides real-time tracking of AI usage and infrastructure utilization.
- API management: enables other off-the-shelf and custom applications to interact with generative models.
- Audit database: provides comprehensive auditing and compliance support.
- Cloud and on-premises compatibility: supports diverse deployment environments including any major cloud provider.
- A private chat application: provides an additional layer of discrete and data-protected AI chat capability for employees.
SamurAITM is about helping businesses deliver AI solutions more efficiently, giving them a competitive edge while they retain control of their data and intellectual property.
Rōnin’s vision for AI in healthcare
At the TN HIMSS Summit24 conference, Microsoft’s Director of Data and AI Solutions, Ian Morrison, said, “We have to rethink with AI. We have to rethink how we communicate and work with structured and unstructured data more efficiently.”
Rōnin Consulting embraces this perspective, helping clients rethink their operations with AI to optimize processes, improve scalability, and achieve better outcomes.
While the mood at the TN HIMSS Summit 24 conference was filled with excitement and anticipation for the future of healthcare technology, for Rōnin Consulting, it marked a significant milestone: the transition from a hackathon victory to the introduction of SamurAITM , our comprehensive AI services offering.
Our journey demonstrates Rōnin’s commitment to driving innovation and empowering healthcare organizations with AI solutions that deliver real-world impact.
