Transcarent + 98point6: Using AI + Text to Empower Physicians to Deliver High-Quality Health and Care

It’s undeniable that technology has transformed our day-to-day lives. We compare airfare prices and book our own travel from our couches. We deposit checks on our phones. Our entertainment streaming services recommend the perfect shows to watch and music to listen to. We can even buy a car online.  

We have seen the promises of cutting-edge technology realized in the form of new lifesaving medicines and treatments. From gene editing to 3D printed devices, the possibilities are endless. We see technology impacting every space except the two most important ones . . . healthcare and education. And we all know there remains a lot of work to be done to leverage the power of technology to remove the complexity in healthcare today, and to simplify and improve the patient and provider experience.

There’s a lot of talk about focusing on the “patient interaction”, which, in our view, shows how far we are from actually making progress. Words matter. We look at it very differently . . . what we want to create is a new kind of consumer health experience that gives people control of their care, just like your ride-sharing app lets you choose the vehicle, the time, the route, and yes, the cost. And you even get to rate the driver on every interaction. We want to put the health consumer back in charge. That’s very different than saying we’ll focus on them.

Let’s look at a bit of history to understand the potential of this change. Healthcare was traditionally provided through a one-to-one patient-provider encounter, where the patient travelled to the provider. With the arrival of technology, visits by phone and later video during standard office hours were possible in some places. In most states, however, telehealth was not allowed at all or was not reimbursed and others prohibited telehealth across state lines, not helpful in major metropolitan areas like New York. The industry developed as telecommunications improved and video became more advanced. Telehealth visits hovered around 3 to 5% of total medical visits.

The pandemic changed everything . . . forever. Given the fears and lack of understanding of COVID, most of the population was forced to move to 100% telehealth and many of the restrictive requirements were suspended under the government healthcare emergency. Many commercial payers broadened coverage of telehealth. Perhaps most important, the industry demonstrated that when pushed, it could deliver high quality care remotely, reducing the need for patients to travel, preventing exposure to illness, and improving access to care in rural and intercity markets. Technology was increasing access to care and improving the patient experience, saving people travel time and for some, making high quality care possible for the first time in their lives. However, while the patient experience was enhanced, little changed for the provider.

Next came the introduction of remote monitoring and the deployment of wearable technology that allowed providers to gather additional information on patients between office visits. In most cases, this advanced technology didn’t fundamentally alter the patient-provider relationship but a few innovative health systems and companies, like Livongo in the chronic care management space, were able to effectively leverage the information to truly impact health and care.

More recently, we’ve seen the growth of text-based care, which, with the right systems and tools, allow providers to serve multiple patients simultaneously while further broadening access . . . not everyone is sitting in front of a screen all day and not everyone has video capability but every phone can text. When we asked people delivering packages, stocking shelves, and working in factories ‘what worked best for them’, they all said the same thing: make it simple to use, make it fast, and make it available whenever I want it.

At Transcarent, that meant on your phone, by text, in 60 seconds or less, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And with that, a new gold standard of health, care, and access arrived. However, meeting that standard was tough and expensive, and we still were not improving the physician’s experience, enhancing the quality of the clinical interaction, or adding to their productivity. Too often physicians complained about not operating at the top of their license — writing prescriptions for sinus infections, flu, and UTIs — and not having time for the people who really need their help and their medically trained brains.

That’s when we met 98point6, a company which has been working for years to address this problem in particular: how to use AI and rules-based engines to create a patient experience people love, higher quality care, and more satisfied physicians. AI could automate the basic, time-consuming data gathering and mundane parts of the visits, and serve up the decisions to the physician. By freeing up physicians to spend their time on the tougher cases, the quality of care improves, costs go down, and unnecessary care (like surgeries) is avoided.

And text, which is what’s driving communications today, allows for the promise of AI to not only improve the Member experience but also to support the provider experience. Automated platform logic (also known as AI) can guide physicians to make more consistent medical decisions, which increases adherence to guidelines and reduces unnecessary care, optimizes patient time by streamlining intake, and lessens the cognitive load on the provider. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, everyone wins and quality improves.

We believe the 98point6 virtual care technology will allow us to take the care experience to the next level which is why we’re so excited about the transaction.

We also recognize that we’re in healthcare, so all of the technology means little without the human touch. Healthcare is personal. That’s one reason why, in addition to our Health Guides, who are on-call 24/7 to provide support for our Members to better understand their needs and where the most appropriate place to get care might be, we were so excited to begin a relationship with the 98point6 affiliated Physician Group. The talented and caring physicians, nurses, behavioral therapists, and other clinicians who comprise that group will round out the experience we’re trying to create at Transcarent . . . one that delivers an experience people love, higher quality health and care, and does so at a price that everyone can afford.

Our vision for Transcarent is all about making it easy for people to access high quality, affordable care.  Healthcare is complex. We make it simple. Applying advanced technology, paired with caring people, to create an experience that puts people back in charge of their care is one way to address the challenges of complexity and runaway costs in healthcare today. In fact, it may be the only way. That’s why we’re betting on 98point6 to add the missing ingredient that will make all the difference.