Saturday, March 14, 2026

Provider Notebook: Pioneering AI for staff turnover, mental health robots, and more

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Artificial intelligence tools support primary care physicians diagnose skin cancer, home care providers retain employees, and hospital physicians get early warnings about potential mental health episodes for patients in the stories we read this week.

Solventum announced that it is now using artificial intelligence to reverse revenue cycle processes and proactively respond to denials. Through a up-to-date partnership with Ava, an enterprise artificial intelligence platform, WellSky has enabled a immense home care provider to enhance employee engagement and reduce turnover using tools integrated with electronic health records.

San Diego State University researchers used grant funds to equip and test artificial intelligence-based mental health robots, while the apply of the accelerated medical device in general practice highlighted the importance of post-market research.

Prevent denials in workflows

On Monday, Solventum and Sift announced a machine learning integration that intervenes in pre-billing coding and verification at the beginning of the healthcare revenue cycle.

The companies say the up-to-date revenue integrity system is designed to support health systems reduce potential denials and ensure timely and exact reimbursement to payers.

According to Garri Garrison, president of healthcare information systems at Solventum (formerly 3M Healthcare), healthcare organizations have identified claims rejections as their biggest revenue cycle management challenge, but moving to a proactive strategy can support them prevent rejections in the clinical workflow .

“As health care systems continue to grapple with increased write-offs due to rising denial burdens, the current reactionary approach of relying on claims data to reverse-engineer denials is not working,” she said in a statement.

In March, community medical centers in Fresno said they were turning to artificial intelligence to reduce claims denials.

“With this tool, we were able to stop claims on the front end, giving us one last chance to fix any outstanding items that could cause a denial,” said Eric Eckhart, director of the patient financial services provider.

Improving Mental Health Robots

Thanks to a $5 million grant from the Brown Foundation, SDSU researchers are taking their robots, Pepper and Bernard, to the next level of emotional sensitivity.

Earlier this month, Dr. Aaron Elkins, director of the center, told NBC San Diego that researchers are working on artificial intelligence that could act as an early warning system for mental health events. Such personalized therapy robots could alert a doctor to a potential mental health episode.

“The machine might see changes in your pupil, it might hear a change in the pitch of your voice, or something might happen to detect that you might be in a certain condition that requires some type of intervention,” Elkins said in plot.

The center has partnered with local hospitals and is testing the technology to diagnose diseases and disorders in clinical trials.

Previous studies have shown that patients like robots to provide care.

Artificial intelligence for detecting skin cancer

Last week, it was reported that a up-to-date AI-powered device will enable primary care physicians to diagnose skin cancer, eliminate access restrictions in dermatology and avoid long wait times for dermatologist referrals.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Miami-based DermaSensor, the first artificial intelligence-enabled medical device for skin cancer detection in primary care. According to the Commission, the approval, verified under the De Novo pathway, was considered a milestone plot IN .

The device had a sensitivity of 96%. skin cancer detection in one study, Reuters reported in January after FDA approval.

Although an additional study showed that the device could aid in decision-making regarding treatment of lesions, potentially reducing unnecessary referrals, a third clinical utility study showed a significant decrease in specificity in referrals.

Reports indicate that the effectiveness of the device in patient populations – particularly those that have been historically underrepresented in clinical trials – is unclear and warrants continued post-marketing testing to ensure consistent performance and monitor diagnostic accuracy.

Solving the problem of staff turnover

To ease the pressure on home care providers, Griswold, one of the nation’s largest home care franchises with more than 170 locations in 32 states and employing more than 9,000 caregivers, reduced the caregiver turnover rate at eight of its offices by using artificial intelligence to employee engagement.

According to Ava co-founder and CEO Victor Hunt, home care staff turnover is 77%.

“Ava is working to remove the burden of administrative work and reconnect caregivers and home care administrators with why they chose a career in health care in the first place,” he said in a speech announcement with WellSky, a home health EHR solutions provider, last month.

But turnover is not only about remuneration. According to the EHR vendor, departing caregivers say they were able to stay with better engagement and communication.

Ava’s algorithms support predict caregiver turnover and proactively drive employee retention, reliability and recruitment through gamification, WellSky says. By integrating its AI-powered employee engagement tool with its EHR, Griswold reported that caregiver turnover dropped by 13% over seven months.

“The staffing crisis facing our clients and the industry as a whole is a serious problem both for those seeking home care and for agencies trying to meet those needs,” Wes Little, WellSky’s chief analytics officer, said in a statement.

Ava’s communication also helped Griswold’s caregivers arrive and leave on time and meet minimum weekly hour requirements.

“We’ve seen tremendous benefits from WellSky TeamEngage powered by Ava, both in terms of retaining talent and differentiating our agency,” Caitlin Griffith, chief people and culture officer at Griswold, said in a statement.

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