Fraser Health, Canada, has shared plans to introduce three AI and machine learning solutions to help predict demand and manage scheduling across its Eagle Ridge and Burnaby Hospitals. The collaboration with Deloitte is one of nine Canadian health projects to receive $21 million in funding “to pioneer the deployment of AI solutions”.
A new tool will be launched in the coming months across both hospitals to help forecast demand in emergency care, following a reportedly successful pilot in July. The tool is expected to support physicians in predicting patient volumes and trends when preparing their schedules, as well as helping managers run different scheduling scenarios so that they can “digitally test out what the patient flow could look like”.
Burnaby Hospital will also see the introduction of an “AI-driven surge prediction model” designed to help predict demand for care over a seven-day period, with the tool also capable of proactively adjusting staffing levels “in the event of a surge”. During validation testing, the model was found to predict surges with “91 percent accuracy for the next day and 81 percent accuracy up to seven days in advance”.
Speaking of the excitement at Fraser Health around the introduction of these new models, Jennifer MacGregor, vice president of digital patient and provider experience, called this type of partnership “essential” to driving innovation across the health system and solving “some of our most challenging problems”.
In other news from the Fraser Health Authority, Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Canada, has gone live with a new Meditech Expanse electronic health record, highlighting that the new EHR “allows health care staff and medical staff to access patient information anytime, anywhere, no longer having to chase paper records”, and means that providers “can now share information with patients and members of the care team in real time”.
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