AI to assist family doctors at Leumit Health Services following successful pilot

Findings from the past year show that partial use of AI in the health fund reduced hospitalization rates by 24% and increased medical interventions.

  (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
(photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

Leumit Health Services is expanding the use of artificial intelligence, now making this tool available to its family doctors, serving over 725,000 insured individuals across the country.

Since 2022, Leumit has been collaborating with FeelBetter, integrating the AI-based Precision Population Health platform into all the fund's pharmacies.

Data collected over more than 12 months for over 170,000 patients revealed that using AI successfully reduced preventable hospitalization rates among high-risk, multi-medicated patients by 24% and increased the rate of medical interventions, including proactive changes in medication regimens, by about 350%. Additionally, the platform allowed Leumit to optimize resource allocation among its staff, increasing clinical pharmacists' efficiency up to fivefold.

"Especially among the elderly, where patients take five or more medications simultaneously for various chronic conditions, this leads to side effects, unnecessary hospitalizations, and sometimes premature death. At Leumit, we are committed to addressing the growing health challenge of polypharmacy to improve medical outcomes and the quality of life for our patients," Professor Shlomo Vinker, Chief Medical Officer of Leumit Health Services, told Walla Health.

Technology Accurately Identifies High-Risk Patients for Hospitalization

"The use of FeelBetter's technology makes it easier for us to identify high-risk patients and initiate interventions to prevent hospitalizations and maintain their health within their homes and communities," added Professor Vinker. "The technology also allowed us to overcome staffing limitations, especially among clinical pharmacists who play a central role in helping patients manage their medications, enabling us to focus our resources where they are most needed."

Dr. Avivit Golan Cohen, Head of the Medical Quality Department at Leumit and an active family doctor, added, "With this platform, we can manage complex patients more effectively and efficiently, and now we have the ability to expand care both at the individual patient level and in managing the patient population."

The FeelBetter platform, based on Pharmaco-Clinical Intelligence, combines artificial intelligence with evidence-based pharmacological and clinical capabilities, accurately identifying patients at high risk of hospitalization in the near term due to polypharmacy. It recommends changes in medication regimens and other medical interventions and extensively monitors the treatment process at both the individual and population levels.