‘AI is happening’ Are you ready? 

YARMOUTH, Maine – The HME industry, with its complex web of rules and systems, is “ripe” for improvement using artificial intelligence, says Joey Graham, Prochant’s chief revenue officer. 

Graham, a recent guest on the HME News in 10 podcast, says AI can help to address the inefficiencies and errors that result from this challenging operating environment and that have a serious financial impact on HME companies. 

“(AI) is real,” he said. “It’s going to be useful and it’s happening. In some ways, this is the third industrial evolution happening now.” 

Here’s what Graham had to say about what providers should consider when implementing AI, including where the real benefits are. 

On initial use cases 

“A (lot of vendors) are focused on front office or intake processes. There are already products in the market that providers can start to touch and feel and start to experiment with. (It’s being used for) processing vast amounts of data quickly and accurately, identifying patters and anomalies that humans might miss, and leveraging that to automate routine tasks like data entry, order confirmation or eligibility verification, freeing up staff for more complex issues.” 

On the early impact 

“I think we’ll see a few areas that shine. These streamlined processes lead to faster claim submission and quicker reimbursement. So get the claim out the door faster and get paid faster, and do that in a more accurate way, because we don’t have human error involved in every single order. So more operational efficiency, which should, in turn, lead to cost savings and reduced labor costs.” 

On the importance of high volume 

“I would put on asterisk on that to say not every process is going to be able to be automated or AI driven, at least in the short run. The upfront cost is quite high. If it’s a smaller process with a small throughput, it’s not generally going to make sense to make the investment in AI. But if it’s a huge volume process, you will see, after the investment, reduced labor requirements and cost savings. You’ll also have that better patient experience; patients will experience service faster; it’ll be more accurate; there’ll be fewer billing issues. Finally, it will make the process a lot more scalable for providers – as they grow or as they acquire other companies, they’ll be able to handle increased volume without a corresponding increase in staff.” 

On ‘humans in the loop’ 

“(Something) to look at, in terms of a pitfall with AI, is overreliance on AI and technology. What happens when it, inevitably, goes down for a few hours, days, weeks. If we have over automated and put too much in place, then nobody’s going to know how to run this process without AI. So, we have to make sure we don’t get overly reliant and have proper oversight, so we don’t miss nuances and errors that humans might catch. It’s important to keep humans in the loop and that they know how this process works and they can take it over if necessary.” 

• Listen to the full podcast here.