Getty Images

AI Collaboration to Create Personalized Healthcare  

Health at Scale and Walmart's AI collaboration will enable the retailer's employees to find providers and interventions that are a fit for their personal health needs. 

Health at Scale and Walmart are joining forces to produce personalized provider recommendations for Walmart associates and their families using artificial intelligence. 

Health at Scale is a healthcare machine intelligence company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to match individuals to the most appropriate medical options in real-time. The Health at Scale- recommended options can include selecting the ideal treatment, promoting early intervention methods, or finding the best providers for the individual patient.  

The technology will be incorporated into Walmart’s health plan administrator’s search engine to help members find providers that match their personal health needs and care history. 

Through this collaboration, Walmart and Health at Scale can use machine intelligence to create a more personalized healthcare experience, focusing on the needs of each individual to identify providers who have successfully treated patients with similar characteristics. 

“Finding the right provider is one of the most important health decisions a patient makes. It is also one of the hardest. What we really need to optimize is the patient-provider match,” Health at Scale CEO, Zeeshan Syed, said in a press release.  

“We're delighted to work with Walmart as the leader in employer health and benefits innovation and provide Walmart associates and their families in certain locations with smart, hyper-personalized provider matches that reflect a deep understanding and respect for their individual health needs.” 

According to the press release, Health at Scales’ Precision Navigation goes beyond non-personalized process-based star ratings, reputation rankings, and volume-based metrics. Instead, the technology uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to model variations in provider outcomes across differing health factors.  

The service covers 25 different specialties as well as 34 procedures and imaging.  

“Customizing services and treatments to individual needs is the next frontier in healthcare and is a major part of Walmart's commitment to helping associates and their family members find great doctors who consistently deliver the best value and quality care in their community,” said Lisa Woods, vice president, Walmart US Benefits, in the press release.  

“We are excited to launch this collaboration with Health at Scale and are eager to see the impact that another innovative benefit like this will have on associates' healthcare experience and outcomes.” 

Collaborations among retailers and healthcare organizations are becoming more common. Late last year, Best Buy acquired the remote care services provider Current Health.  

Current Health's platform integrates patient-reported data with information from biosensors to produce real-time insights into a patient's condition. The technology allows healthcare organizations to monitor patients remotely and coordinate in-home care. 

Next Steps

Dig Deeper on Artificial intelligence in healthcare