The Pulse of AI:

The Future of Technology

in Healthcare
Key Trends and Opportunities for Providers,
Researchers and Other Healthcare Stakeholders
 The Pulse of AI:
The Future of Technology in Healthcare

ChatGPT hit the technology scene in late 2022 and, ever since,
there’s been no shortage of buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) and

ChatGPT and Healthcare:

its ability to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.
Pioneering corporate adopters – including Expedia, Microsoft and
Coca-Cola – are using ChatGPT to increase efficiencies, create new The Forecast
services, enable personalized customer experiences and more. Does ChatGPT have application in healthcare? The early
answer is yes, with some organizations moving forward
With capabilities to help companies work better, smarter and faster,
with implementation cautiously. Premier’s PINC AI™
the emergence of ChatGPT (and AI in general) has some praising
Stanson experts see a natural evolution ahead for health
its power to transform business processes and help solve complex
system leaders. Read More.
problems. For others, the tech has raised eyebrows, even causing
some companies to ban ChatGPT due to a lack of regulatory
guidance around the technology, the potential for security risks
and data breaches, potential for inaccuracies in information output,
and potential for compromises of company ethical standards.

While the opportunities and challenges associated with AI abound, a

recent Bain report survey revealed that 75 percent of health system
Healthcare AI Projection:
executives believe generative AI applications such as ChatGPT will
have a transformative impact on the delivery of healthcare. However,
2028
the report found that only 6 percent of executives have worked Widespread adoption of AI in the next five years using
to establish a generative AI strategy for their organizations. technology that’s currently available could result in a
savings of 5-10% of healthcare spending, or $200-$360
At Premier, we believe it’s crucial for healthcare billion annually. Read More.
leaders to evaluate the opportunities and hurdles AI
presents or risk facing a competitive disadvantage.
The fact is, in healthcare, the pace of change has
left providers no choice but to augment intelligence
with machines to deliver better outcomes.

Providers are operating in an overloaded environment.

Today, a new scientific study or research article is released
every 26 seconds. If a clinician read and retained two of
these articles every single night, at the end of a year, they’d
still be about 1,000 years behind the current evidence!

AI has transformative potential, including the ability to sift and

parse through all that data, glean critical insights, build predictive
models, improve diagnosis and treatment of diseases, optimize
care delivery, streamline tasks and workflows, and more.

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 The Pulse of AI:
The Future of Technology in Healthcare

So why is healthcare lagging in widespread AI adoption?

According to a new review in The New England Journal of

AI 101
Medicine, slow adoption is due to technical and data challenges,
resistance to change and financial implications, among other
reasons. Adding to the list of adoption barriers are lingering Generative AI: An advanced form of AI technology that’s
misconceptions about how AI technology will impact the work of trained by a large volume of data inputs (e.g., text, images,
clinicians and a clear understanding of what AI can and cannot do. audio) to create new and original content.

It’s time to pick up the pace Predictive AI: A type of AI that harnesses statistical

– AI has an important role in algorithms to analyze large amounts of data to make

predictions about future events.
the future of healthcare.
Machine Learning (ML): This technology can
Here are five key AI trends we see shaping the U.S. healthcare
autonomously ‘learn’ or self-program by processing
industry; the top use cases for solving some of the industry’s most
large datasets and recognizing patterns.
pressing challenges; and insights on how providers and their patients,
researchers and other healthcare stakeholders can benefit. Natural Language Processing (NLP): A machine
learning technology that gives computers the ability
Trend One: to intake, interpret, manipulate and comprehend
human language.
Enabling Higher-Quality Patient Care

Trend Two:
Revolutionizing Clinical Research
and Discovery

Trend Three:
Building Healthcare Supply Chain Resiliency

Trend Four:
Advancing Health Equity

Trend Five:
Optimizing the Healthcare Workforce

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1

Enabling Higher-
Quality Patient Care
Of the many use cases for AI in healthcare, the biggest
drivers center around empowering providers to care for

Did You Know?

patients. Machine learning (ML), deployed on structured and
unstructured data sets, can predict which patients are at highest
risk for disease progression far earlier than ever before. One study concludes that CDS utilization saved ≈$1K per
patient encounter and yielded better patient outcomes,
This can be coupled with AI-powered clinical decision
including shorter lengths of stay, a lower probability
support (CDS) tools to aid in developing accurate, appropriate
of 30-day readmissions and a lower probability of
and actionable diagnostic or treatment recommendations –
complications. Read More.
enabling providers to deliver optimal patient care and better
outcomes. CDS can also help reduce clinician burnout, enhance
the clinician experience and increase productivity.

CDS tools, such as those provided by PINC AI™, deliver real-time

alerts (e.g., avoid brain imaging in uncomplicated syncope*) and
relevant analytics to help guide and influence physician
decisions, improve patient outcomes, reduce
waste and safely lower healthcare costs.

PINC AI™ technology relies on ML to embed alerts in electronic

medical records (EMRs) and integrates them into routine workflows so
providers receive alerts for the right patient at the point of care. Driven
by evidence-based, clinician-designed logic, alerts are only triggered if
the patient meets a specific profile and only provide recommendations
that are relevant to the clinician who has final decision-making authority.

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 Trend One:
Enabling Higher-Quality Patient Care

Another area where we see AI playing an integral role in care

delivery is improving hierarchical condition category (HCC) coding

Looking Ahead: Evolving

and clinician documentation. HCC coding, created by the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), estimates a patient’s
future healthcare costs using the Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF) to Reimbursement
adjust payments for Medicare Advantage (MA) plan patients. and Regulations
When done right, HCC coding provides a comprehensive In March 2023, CMS finalized the 2024 Medicare

view of the patient. But HCC codes must be accurately Advantage (MA) capitation rates and payment

documented to help ensure health systems provide quality policies, which will affect how Medicare plans are

patient care and receive appropriate reimbursement. reimbursed and how they report and manage risk
adjustment operations. Keep ahead of the changes with
Advanced AI analytics tools, such as those offered through PINC new HCC coding opportunities – the PINC AI™ team is
AI™, assist in analyzing patient data, identifying potential risk factors here to help. Learn More.
and suggesting appropriate codes, thus helping streamline the
coding workflow. This increased efficiency translates to higher-
quality care and reduced costs (as is now being realized by Premier
member St. Luke’s University Health Network), giving providers
more time for patient interaction and strategic decision making.

Another example – Community Health Network (CHN) – turned

to PINC AI™ for HCC guidance, enabling them to provide more
accurate coding. As a result, CHN was able to obtain a positive
financial impact of nearly $13 million with actionable HCC alerts.

* Each year, there are over 1 million emergency room visits in the U.S. for syncope and presyncope
events. There can be frequent unnecessary use of specific types of brain imaging that gets ordered
absent of clinical factors that would require those images. PINC AI™ technology leverages AI
capabilities to detect whether or not those criteria backed by the American College of Radiology and
American College of Cardiology are met before unnecessary radiation exposure or wasteful imaging
use is completed.

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2

Revolutionizing Clinical
Research and Discovery
The future of AI in clinical research and discovery holds
immense promise. We see AI contributing to the transformation
of clinical trials – supporting innovation in recruitment
and operations to ensure all populations have access to
breakthrough medical technology faster than ever before.

Participation in clinical trials in the U.S. is generally low, which impacts

the rate at which new treatments can be introduced into clinical
settings. Around 80 percent of clinical trials are terminated early for
failing to meet recruitment targets or are significantly delayed. This
has a critical impact on the cost to bring a new solution to market and
could impact the cost of the product for providers and patients.

Real-world data (RWD) coupled with ML and natural

language processing (NLP) can help providers enhance
clinical trial design, feasibility and execution; compress
study timelines; and improve life cycle management.

Traditionally, clinical trial sites were selected solely based on experience

and relationships with Principal Investigators at the site level. Often,
the patients that meet the study criteria are not at those sites. RWD
and AI solutions are changing that by estimating eligible patient
population volumes with a new level of granularity and efficiency
previously unattainable when screening sites to match trial protocols.

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 Trend Two:
Revolutionizing Clinical Research and Discovery

By leveraging data and AI technologies, the PINC AI™ Applied

Sciences team is “flipping the funnel” to recruit based on where

Award-Winning AI in Action
patients are versus where the relationships exist. Clinical trial
developers are then able to assess the suitability of sites on a
larger scale based on appropriate patient populations, investigator The PINC AI™ Applied Sciences team and their partners
availability, experience in therapeutic area and historical performance utilized NLP to identify patients with incidental pulmonary
metrics. Based on this assessment, sites that have the best chance nodules (IPNs) to flag for intervention before potential
to outperform enrollment expectations can be selected. lung cancer progression, with roughly 152,000 patients
caught in three weeks. The team won the 2022 BWB
AI also enables clinical trial staff to rapidly, accurately and at-scale
Awards in Digital Medicine for this groundbreaking work.
screen for potential patients instead of manual identification of
Read More.
patients who meet complex inclusion/exclusion (I/E) criteria. CDS
technology can alert a provider at the optimal point of patient
interaction to ensure the chance to enroll the patient isn’t missed.
With AI-enabled RWD, clinical research timelines can be compressed,
and solutions have the potential to be delivered at reduced costs.

Furthermore, AI is helping life sciences organizations and clinicians to

advance early disease identification and intervention. Data, combined
with NLP, which can read and interpret more than 2 million records per
hour, is being used to uncover subtle details, such as disease staging
(i.e., stage 2 colon cancer), often found in the unstructured narrative or
clinician notes in patient charts. These details help to identify the risk
factors, clinical signs and symptoms most predictive of subsequent
disease development and get to a definitive diagnosis faster.

The power and speed of NLP are also being used to increase
diversity and equity in clinical trials by creating opportunities
for studies in the communities where these patients live
and then identifying barriers to enrollment and informing
strategies to reach underrepresented populations.

By combing through unstructured data and narrative notes, the

technology can uncover disparities (e.g., transportation issues, food
insecurities, housing conditions) that negatively impact the ability to find
the right patients for the right trials and help them successfully take part.

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3

Building Healthcare
Supply Chain Resiliency
Historically, the healthcare sector lacked the ability to predict when a The power of an innovative AI-driven solution like the PINC AI™
product might slip into backorder or shortage. Longitudinal visibility Supply Disruption Manager lies in its scalability. By aggregating
across the supply chain, where providers can see demand signals, data across facilities, a comprehensive and accurate picture of
point-of-use information and supplier resiliency metrics, is vital to national demand and supply dynamics emerges. This real-time
accurately manage forecasting and predict supply shortages that can information exchange allows for a more synchronized response to
compromise quality patient care. Think of the COVID-19 pandemic potential shortages and a more resilient healthcare supply chain.
where shortages of personal protective equipment left clinicians,
In addition to informing health system leaders, robust data from
nurses and other healthcare workers ill-equipped to care for patients.
the PINC AI™ Supply Disruption Manager informs Premier’s
Predictive models driven by enterprise resource planning product watch list, which is shared with critical government
(ERP) and organization-specific data, combined with ML, can stakeholders to provide insights on backorders and potential
help provide this much-needed longitudinal visibility. As an shortages, and advocate for prioritization of critical products.
example, the PINC AI™ Supply Disruption Manager utilizes AI
Premier also continues to work closely with federal and state
algorithms and provider data to generate predictions of future
agencies and industry organizations on strategies to gather
demand and identify potential shortages for specific medical
data, forecast demand, identify needed regulatory changes,
products far in advance – with over 90 percent accuracy.
increase available supplies and allocate based on need.
Armed with these insights, suppliers can anticipate increased
demand for planning production, managing inventory and preventing
shortages – in and out of a pandemic. Providers receive real-time
notifications when purchased products are at risk of shortages. The
Award-Winning AI in Action
integrated predictive system also recommends clinically approved
equivalent products – saving staff precious time and minimizing supply The PINC AI™ Supply Disruption Manager has been

chain disruptions for steady supply and patient care continuity. named a 2023 NC TECH Awards Finalist in the Use of
Technology – Manufacturing + Supply Chain category and
Premier member, Renown Health, is using the PINC AI™ also named a 2023 Heartbeat of Healthcare Supply
Supply Disruption Manager to obtain advance notice of Chain Award winner.
future shortages as well as time savings that enable the health
system’s supply chain team to be proactive and work smarter.

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4

Advancing
Health Equity
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that health equity is The PINC AI™ Healthcare Database (PHD) is perfectly suited
achieved when “everyone can attain their full potential for health and to CMS’ screening and reporting requirements as well as
well-being.” WHO further defines equity as the “absence of unfair and other efforts aimed at promoting health equity because
avoidable or remediable differences in health among social groups.” it includes deep patient encounter information:

To support efforts to advance health equity well into the future, • More than 20 years’ worth of data from 1,300 sites in the U.S.,
disparities in care must be identified with robust health equity- 45 percent of U.S. hospital discharges, 812 million hospital
related data that is standardized across health systems. To that end, outpatient and clinic encounters, and 131 million office visits.
public health and clinical researchers are continuously seeking more
• Data tokenization that allows linkage with very specialized data
information about social drivers of health (SDOH), including their
sources to capture robust longitudinal patient journey information.
impact on health outcomes, costs and healthcare resource utilization.

• Data that spans the continuum of care, medical device

In 2024, CMS will start requiring providers to screen and
SKU-level utilization coupled with operating room (OR)
report on SDOH. Information that must be collected includes
outcomes and reflects different types of coverage from
data on food insecurity, housing status, transportation needs,
cash and commercial payer to Medicare and Medicaid.
financial challenges and interpersonal safety concerns.

• Patient demographic characteristics including

race, ethnicity, age and gender.

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 Trend Four:
Advancing Health Equity

With this information, researchers and providers are better able

to analyze unjust disparities and support communities and

Did You Know?

healthcare providers to develop solutions, including connections
to community resources, treatment options and access to care.
Healthcare inequities in the U.S. have a staggering
Combining patient and community voices with the standardized,
economic impact: ≈$320 billion according to one
comprehensive data contained within the PHD can lead to
analysis. That number could eclipse $1 trillion in
deeper insights into unjust disparities and inform solutions
annual spending by 2040 if healthcare inequality
to address drivers of health and advance health equity.
remains unaddressed. Through its research and analytics
solutions, PINC AI™ Applied Sciences is on the forefront
This robust data can provide insights around the patient journey,
of addressing the issue. Read More.
illuminating critical touchpoints in care, and – when coupled
with AI technologies that can quickly and accurately analyze
the data – promote innovation and patient-centered care that
incorporates patient preferences, needs, values and goals.

With new research highlighting how ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 occasionally

cite fake research articles, accurate and reliable data in healthcare
is more important than ever. That’s why healthcare AI trained
directly on RWD from actual hospital admissions, like the PHD,
adds unique value for providers, researchers and patients.

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5

Optimizing the
Healthcare Workforce
Staffing shortages in healthcare continue to create challenges in
2023, and if today’s trends continue, one study projects more than
6.5 million U.S. healthcare professionals will permanently leave their
positions by 2026, while only 1.9 million will step in to replace them –
Looking Ahead:
leaving a national industry shortage of more than 4 million workers. New CMS Rules on PA
CMS proposed new rules for healthcare payers
Overall, health systems should look to prioritize technology solutions
that aim to streamline the PA process, which include
that leverage AI to automate workflows – in both clinical and non-clinical
requirements for certain payers to move to electronic
areas – which will help to extend scarce labor resources, reduce work
prior authorization (ePA) by 2026, among others.
fatigue and burnout, and enable operational and cost efficiencies.
PINC AI™ has AI-powered tools to stay ahead of
Prior authorization (PA) is one area on the clinical side where payers, regulatory changes and advance patient care.
providers and patients all agree there is need for improvement. Learn More.
With today’s PA process, providers must submit specific
paperwork to payers to obtain approval of a healthcare service
or medication before care is administered – a time-consuming,
manual task that may cause care delays and put patients at risk.

In fact, a survey conducted by the American Medical Association

(AMA) revealed that 33 percent of participating physicians report
that PA has led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their
care. The same survey also revealed that physicians and their staff
spend an average of almost two business days (14 hours) each
week completing PAs – and that 88 percent of physicians describe
the burden associated with PA as “high” or “extremely high.”

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 Trend Five:
Optimizing the Healthcare Workforce

Cloud-based solutions that leverage AI-powered tools

such as PINC AI™ can help streamline the burdensome

Trending Now:
PA process by enabling quick, efficient PA decisions
so treatment plans can move forward right away.
AI-Enabled RPA
On the non-clinical side, increased labor costs (46 percent) and
Across industries, executives have
labor availability (39 percent) are among the top overall operational/
weighed in on the power of RPA.
financial concerns for U.S. healthcare providers – with 1 in 4 calling
these factors the largest risks for healthcare supply chains over 63 percent say it’s a major component
the next year, according to Premier’s 2023 Resiliency survey. in digital transformation.

AI-enabled robotic process automation (RPA) – offered 60 percent agree RPA enables people to
through Premier – is a technology that can streamline focus on more strategic work and 57 percent
supply chain contract activations to yield greater say it reduces manual errors.
efficiency, boosted productivity and cost savings.
92 percent agree RPA has “met or exceeded
RPA is designed to emulate human actions interacting with digital expectations” for better compliance.
systems and software. When coupled with advanced AI systems
like ML and NLP, RPA can expand its ability to handle cognitive 57 percent say RPA increases
processes like understanding documents with semi-structured or employee engagement.
unstructured data. The solution acts as a digital employee that goes
through the tedious steps of repeatedly activating new contracts.

Another key area advancing technologically is healthcare

finance, specifically accounts payable (AP) automation,
where time-intensive, paper-based and error-prone
processes have bogged the healthcare supply chain and
led to high employee turnover for far too long.

As one of the best tools to help drive savings and labor efficiency,
AP automation technology, such as Premier’s Remitra® Managed
Accounts Payable suite of solutions, can help reduce burdensome
workload and increase staff capacity, improve operational and
financial performance, and create better employee experiences.

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 The Pulse of AI:
The Future of Technology in Healthcare

Advocating for Responsible The Journey has Just Begun:

AI in Healthcare Thriving in an Emerging Era of AI
Premier is committed to supporting thoughtful creation and utilization With such great potential, it’s clear that the use of AI in healthcare holds
of AI tools to ensure the technology has a bright future and continues to the promise of a future filled with advancements in diagnostics and
transform the healthcare landscape in profound ways. treatments, drug discovery and clinical research, health equity, and
supply chain resiliency as well as a host of operational and administrative
To that end, in July 2023, Premier’s Advocacy team submitted
efficiencies never before possible.
comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
(OSTP) in response to an RFI to inform the Administration as it develops As we embark on this exciting journey, it’s imperative that we navigate
its national AI strategy. In comments, Premier outlined recommendations the ethical considerations and challenges carefully, ensuring that the
to advance equity, build trust and transparency, and promote economic benefits of AI are maximized while risks are minimized.
growth – while remaining mindful of the potential threats that AI could
pose to individual safety and national security if misused.

In September 2023, Premier also submitted feedback on a white

paper by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Ranking
Stepping Up for
Member Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), which outlines potential benefits and Responsible AI
pitfalls of AI technology implementation. Premier identified several Premier developed an AI Roadmap for Congress
opportunities for Congressional and/or administrative involvement in demonstrating our commitment to the responsible
AI governance. development and implementation of AI tools across the
healthcare industry. Read More.
Clear statutory, regulatory and subregulatory guidelines can help to
better prepare providers and payers to deploy AI technology to its
full potential, while still protecting individual rights and safety. As we
continue to discover more about the positive impact AI can have on
healthcare in the months and years to come, Premier will continue
to advocate for policies and regulations that enhance AI’s use in
empowering providers, payers and patients, and improving clinical and Want more?
operational efficiencies. Subscribe to Premier’s Power Rankings newsletter and
get a roundup of our expertise and analysis delivered
straight to your inbox each month.
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More About the PINC AI™ Platform and Premier’s AI-Enabled Solutions
PINC AI™ is the technology and services platform of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC). With more than 20 years’ worth of cost, quality and operational data gleaned from 45 percent of U.S. hospital discharges, 2.7
billion hospital outpatient and clinic encounters and 177 million physician office visits, the PINC AI™ platform provides actionable intelligence to help improve outcomes, support improved financial performance and
enable success in new, alternative payment models. PINC AI™ incorporates the 100 Top Hospitals® Program that inspires hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value
to their patients and communities. PINC AI™ offerings rely on advanced analytics to identify improvement opportunities; support award-winning Strategic Collaboratives for value-based care, maternal and infant
health, workforce innovation and health equity; and consulting services for clinical and operational design, and workflow solutions to hardwire sustainable change. The PINC AI™ platform is also the data engine
powering Premier’s newest brands – Remitra® and Contigo Health®. With a leading network of provider organizations, the PINC AI™ platform accelerates ingenuity and serves as a large-scale innovation catalyst in
healthcare. PINC AI™ offerings and capabilities can be followed on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

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