SC Health System Implements AI Tool to Enhance Virtual Health

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC Health) has partnered with Florida-based health IT company Andor Health to improve telehealth sustainability.

MUSC Health is one of two federally recognized National Telehealth Centers of Excellence (COE), a designation given by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). COEs are public, academic medical centers with successful telehealth programs and high annual volumes of telehealth visits. They also establish programs to provide virtual care services in medically underserved regions, particularly those with high rates of poverty and chronic disease prevalence. COEs further serve as centers for telehealth research and resources.

As part of its efforts to bolster telehealth services, which span 300 sites across its network, MUSC Health is deploying Andor Health's ThinkAndor AI Virtual Assistant. By using ThinkAndor, MUSC Health aims to enable clinical efficiency, enhance virtual health operations, and improve virtual experiences for patient populations long term. Through the platform, MUSC clinicians will be able to collect information that can support decision-making and billing as well as initiate virtual conversations with patients and other providers.

"ThinkAndor is giving us the opportunity and flexibility to leverage virtual health in innovative ways across our health system, creating efficiencies in virtual care delivery models. By implementing ThinkAndor, our clinicians can provide quality virtual care to our patients," stated Emily Warr, administrator of the Center for Telehealth at MUSC Health, in the press release.

The new partnership with MUSC Health comes soon after Microsoft announced a collaboration with Andor Health in March to extend virtual care services.

According to the press release, ThinkAndor is secure and HIPAA-compliant, allowing care teams to collaborate and share data with community providers and post-acute care teams. It also states that through Microsoft Teams and Azure Health Data Services, ThinkAndor will be able to connect to multiple device endpoints, including Windows-based, iOS/iPad, Android/tablet, and existing devices within an organization.

"Andor Health is leveraging the power of the Azure Health Data Services to bring together medical data from across all device platforms. As health systems transform the future of telehealth, Andor is helping health systems configure tailored care and enhance patient experiences," explained Heather Cartwright, vice president, Health & Life Sciences Cloud and Data, Microsoft, in the press release.

This partnership is just one effort Microsoft has engaged in to extend virtual capabilities for healthcare systems after the launch of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare in 2020. The Microsoft Cloud product suite is designed to boost patient engagement, encourage health team collaboration, and improve clinical and operational insights.

Microsoft also added new virtual care features to its Teams platform last month, some of which include on-demand scheduling, appointment monitoring, and patient triage information collection. During the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, spikes in telehealth use resulted in increased use of teleconferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Microsoft reports that between March 2020 and November 2021, the monthly use of Teams by healthcare systems increased by 560 percent.