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Leveraging AI and Language Models to Streamline Orthopedic Practice Workflow

Table of Contents

Introducing Converse Health and Their Innovative Platform

Converse Health is a new healthcare technology company that is aiming to transform communication, education, and coordination for orthopedic clinics. They utilize cutting-edge AI technology like large language models and generative AI to create solutions that automate routine workforce tasks and improve the patient experience.

The name Converse Health was chosen to represent the company's focus on facilitating conversations and taking a new approach to healthcare technology. As CEO Louis Allerson explains, "A good name is always thick with meaning...and the two things that we liked about Converse is one it goes to the heart of our product, which is communication, a conversation, but the second is that we're a new way of doing things, we're a different approach."

The Meaning Behind the Converse Health Name

The name Converse Health was selected to reflect two key aspects of the company. First, it represents facilitating conversations and communication between patients and providers. Second, it signifies taking a new, innovative approach to healthcare technology and workflows.

Converse Health's Background and Mission

Converse Health was founded in March 2022 by CEO Louis Allerson, who has a background in healthcare innovation. He started the company to address inefficiencies in the patient journey, utilizing modern AI tools to automate tasks and improve communication. The mission is to enhance the patient experience and clinic efficiency, particularly for orthopedic surgery practices. This includes automating administrative tasks, providing education, and facilitating scheduling and follow-up.

Key Challenges Facing Orthopedic Clinics

According to Converse Health's research, orthopedic clinics face several key challenges that impact efficiency and conversion rates.

First, there are high costs associated with administrative staff like call centers, front desk, and surgery coordinators. This represents significant non-clinical labor expenses.

Second, conversion rates from initial consultation to surgery remain low, often only 5-10%. Reasons for this include lacking patient education and ineffective navigation.

Additional challenges include surgery cancellations, delays in medical clearance, and poor post-op experiences with minimal guidance for patients.

How Converse Health Aims to Solve These Challenges

Full-Stack Patient Communication Options

Converse Health aims to provide a full suite of communication options to meet different patient needs and preferences. This includes voice, SMS texting, and website chatbots. The goal is to automate scheduling, gather comprehensive information, and provide education throughout the patient journey, with maximum flexibility.

Customizable Patient Education Tools

Using generative AI, Converse Health can create customized patient education content based on a clinic's specific preferences. This improves throughput compared to doctors repeatedly explaining the same conditions. Education can be tailored to the patient's specific diagnosis and needs, providing more personalized guidance.

Surgery Coordinator Task Automation

Converse Health aims to automate surgery coordinator tasks like tracking patient clearance requirements and sending pre-op reminders. This is akin to setting up automated drip campaigns. The platform tracks all requirements and sends the necessary reminders and instructions, reducing the coordinator's manual workload.

Converse Health's Integration Capabilities and Pricing

Converse Health can integrate with any EHR using FHIR standards. They currently have pilots with AthenaHealth and are working on additional integrations.

For smaller EHRs, options like scraping or admin access are available. Full integration typically takes 1-2 months alongside customizing prompts and education content.

Pricing is still being finalized but is value-based, ranging from $2,000-$4,000 per month depending on the number of surgeons and specific solution needs.

The Future Roadmap and Market Outlook for Converse Health

Converse Health sees significant potential in targeting mid-sized orthopedic clinics, rather than large health systems. The faster customization and seamless workflows are major benefits for practices with 10-30 surgeons.

They aim to continue enhancing the platform based on customer feedback for maximum flexibility. With orthopedics still being predominantly outpatient, there is room for generative AI solutions to deliver major impact on efficiency and experience.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

In conclusion, Converse Health represents an innovative approach to leveraging AI technology to improve communication, education, and streamline administrative tasks for orthopedic clinics.

Key takeaways include:

  • Their use of generative AI and large language models to create customizable solutions

  • Focus on automating tasks and enhancing patient experience/education

  • Integration capabilities with major EHRs like AthenaHealth

  • Significant potential to assist mid-sized orthopedic clinics

FAQ

Q: What healthcare specialty does Converse Health focus on?
A: Converse Health focuses specifically on orthopedic surgical practices and helping them optimize their workflows and patient communications.

Q: What technology does the Converse Health platform leverage?
A: The Converse Health platform utilizes large language models, generative AI, and other leading-edge technologies to power its workflow automation and patient communication tools.

Q: How customizable is the Converse Health platform?
A: The Converse Health platform is highly customizable, with the ability to tailor patient education materials, workflow prompts, and other components to each clinic's specific needs and preferences.

Q: What EHR systems can Converse Health integrate with?
A: Converse Health can currently integrate with Athenahealth and other major EHR systems, with the ability to expand integrations further over time.

Q: What is the typical pricing model for Converse Health?
A: Pricing for Converse Health typically ranges from $2,000-$4,000 per month depending on the features utilized, number of surgeons, and value provided.

Q: What is the future outlook for Converse Health?
A: With AI and language models still lacking adoption in orthopedics, Converse Health aims to become a dominant player in workflow automation for mid-sized orthopedic surgical practices.

Q: How quickly can Converse Health customize their platform?
A: A key advantage of Converse Health is the ability to rapidly customize prompts, workflows, and other components within an hour based on each clinic's unique needs.

Q: Can Converse Health integrate with patient portals?
A: Yes, the Converse Health platform can integrate with existing patient portals to enable communication via voice, text, or web-based chatbots as needed.

Q: Does the Converse Health platform offer post-surgery patient support?
A: Yes, Converse Health provides customized post-surgery care coordination to guide patients through recovery based on the specific clinic's protocols.

Q: Can practices dictate the patient appointment scheduling logic?
A: Yes, practices can configure the precise scheduling protocols within Converse Health based on factors like injury details, pain levels, surgery indications, and more.