New Peer-Reviewed Study Uncovers How AI-Powered Approach Accurately Stratifies Risk for Senior Polypharmacy Patients and Delivers Appropriate Medication Recommendations

Published in The American Journal of Managed Care, findings from researchers at major US hospital demonstrate how FeelBetter’s AI-powered platform can make accurate recommendations for optimizing medication regimens for older patients with polypharmacy

Findings also support benefit of leveraging platform to identify patient cohorts for pharmacy intervention and population health management

BOSTON, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — FeelBetter, the leading provider of polypharmacy patient management technology and pioneer of Pharmaco-Clinical Intelligence, today announced new peer-reviewed research that evaluated a machine-learning-driven approach to addressing medication risks in senior patients living with multiple comorbidities. The study, which was published in The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), demonstrated how FeelBetter’s AI-powered platform accurately provided population-level analysis of medically complex senior patients’ risk of hospitalization and emergency department visits.

Conducted by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the retrospective cohort study comprised 108,817 patients and showed that FeelBetter’s platform delivered correct medication warnings in 89.2% of cases, and that in 97.3% of cases, the warnings presented would be helpful to clinicians making decisions to optimize medication therapy. The researchers’ findings also highlight the potential to leverage the platform for preventing drug-related adverse events and hospitalizations by identifying polypharmacy patient cohorts to target for pharmacy intervention and, more broadly, to support population health management.

“Clinician shortages are an ever-evolving problem, and, therefore, technologies that can help clinical team members pinpoint the most meaningful opportunities for medication management optimization are crucial for enhancing the care of elderly patients,” said Lisa Rotenstein, MD MBA MSc, the principal investigator of the study. “This study highlights the value and broader potential of using technology-based solutions to aid in identifying patients who are at greatest risk of deterioration and prioritizing and informing clinical pharmacists’ efforts to enhance medication management among the highest-risk patients.”

Every year, suboptimal medication management results in an estimated 275,000 deaths and more than $500 billion in avoidable costs in the US alone. As part of its broader efforts to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients, Brigham and Women’s Hospital is testing how AI-based technologies can be used to help providers tackle the growing public health challenges posed by polypharmacy.

In the study of FeelBetter’s risk stratification capabilities and medication management recommendations, the technology successfully stratified patients into risk groupings with distinct demographic and utilization characteristics. For example, the patients identified by FeelBetter as highest risk, who largely have Medicare and commercial insurance, had the highest rate of emergency department visits and unplanned hospitalizations at one, three, and six months following the algorithm’s prediction. For the top 1% of patients identified as at risk by FeelBetter, more than 1/3 were hospitalized within 90 days and the odds of hospitalization were 17.3 times greater over three months than for patients identified as having average risk (with an average of 0.531 events in three months following algorithm prediction for the top 1% high risk patients compared to an average of 0.025 events in the median risk group).

These results not only demonstrate that FeelBetter’s platform can successfully incorporate disparate data from EHRs to accurately stratify and predict utilization for seniors with multiple comorbidities and complex medication regimens, but they also suggest that the platform could be a key resource to help provider organizations focused on delivering value-based care prioritize resources for the most at-risk patients.

Based on these results, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital research team is evaluating how FeelBetter can be used to prospectively impact patient outcomes and cost of care trajectories.

“Today, AI-based technologies are making it possible to go beyond adherence to more proactively focus on effectiveness, safety, and prevention, identifying patients who may benefit from medication-related interventions and personalized medication regimens,” said Dr. Adva Tzuk Onn, FeelBetter’s Chief Medical Officer, and a physician with more than 15 years of experience in geriatric and family medicine. “The broad adoption of such solutions, which offer a more holistic view of an individual’s health status based on relevant clinical and pharmacology factors, has the potential to be a giant step forward in improving health outcomes and patient safety, easing clinician workload, and mitigating burnout for overburdened clinicians.”

About FeelBetter
FeelBetter is the pioneer of Pharmaco-Clinical Intelligence, changing the polypharmacy paradigm on both an individual and population health level with a comprehensive solution designed to tackle the challenges associated with suboptimal medication management. Powered by AI, FeelBetter’s Pharmaco-Clinical Intelligence drives personalized medication management, helping healthcare professionals ensure that their patients’ medication regimens are safe, effective, and appropriate. The technology pinpoints patients at high risk of deterioration and preventable hospitalization due to suboptimal medication management, and proactively suggests immediate and actionable interventions to reduce these risks. Provider organizations use FeelBetter to monitor their patients’ progress and more proactively deliver the right follow-up care, as well as to efficiently allocate resources and minimize preventable, costly use of healthcare services.

Led by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, clinical pharmacists, and technologists, FeelBetter is headquartered in Boston and Tel Aviv. Investors include Firstime Ventures, Shoni Health Ventures, Triventures, ARC, the innovation hub of Sheba Medical Center, Random Forest VC, The Group Ventures, and GoodCompany Ventures. To learn more, visit feelbetter.healthcare.

Contacts:
FeelBetter:
Nicole Pariser
nicole@i-feelbetter.com 

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