From the April 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Here’s how a machine-learning analytics program might work. Patient symptoms and vitals are tracked and analyzed, and assessed for their likelihood of accurately predicting risk, much in the same way that the human brain absorbs and processes certain realties. The end result is an algorithm that can predict with astonishing accuracy if a chronically ill patient is on the verge of an acute health event. Note that once this algorithm is identified and used, it minimizes the need for continuous tracking of a patient’s health status. Accurate risk predications can be made with less frequent assessments, which is especially beneficial with patients who are resistant to long-term participation. Even more importantly, it helps caregivers to intervene more quickly, should a risk be identified.

Another key characteristic of a precision remote monitoring program: clinicians have insight into individual patient risk on a population scale. Remote health monitoring programs continuously feed updated data on the individual, including vitals and symptoms and medication compliance. Advanced analytics are used to analyze a patient’s individual clinical history and correlate it with more generalized population health data. Over time, event predictability is more precise at the individual patient level thanks to machine-learning technology. Clinicians can identify thresholds that are unique to each patient and can assign a customized patient risk score. Over time, clinicians have an increasingly rapid and precise window into a patient’s current level of risk.


Tens of millions of individuals face chronic disease and managing their health has become a national crisis. We can no longer afford a reactive approach and must leverage precision medicine and machine-learning technologies to facilitate earlier and more personalized intervention. Improving the health of individuals with chronic disease not only improves the quality of their lives, it also tremendously reduces care delivery costs.

Steve Curd is CEO of Wanda, which is dedicated to helping health care providers improve outpatient care while reducing the cost of managing chronic diseases.

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