CareMessage, a patient activation platform for underserved individuals, launched AI Assistant, a tool aimed at interpreting and analyzing patient responses into structured data and more ably finding responses that address patient needs, including food insecurity or transportation barriers. 

Besides removing critical barriers to patient communication, CareMessage's AI may also save customers money by reducing patient no–show rates.

CareMessage's AI Assistant's target audience is safety-net organizations that address health equity concerns. 

In a statement, CareMessage said that it conducted rigorous testing on multiple large language models (LLMs) and selected Google Gemini because of its accuracy and ease of use.

Google Gemini is Google's AI ecosystem of models, tools and apps that can work with language, images, audio, video and code.

Additionally, CareMessage codeveloped and tested AI Assistant with select customers, focusing on the specific needs of those organizations, addressing biases, implementing robust validation and ensuring safety.

CareMessage's AI tools are now part of its patient engagement initiative, which includes 20 million patients and 40-plus safety-net organizations, the company said.

"We saw patients trying to have conversations with their providers critical to addressing health inequities and facing barriers with stricter response logic that could not interpret their intent," Cecilia Corral, CareMessage cofounder and chief strategy officer, said in a statement.

"Through this approach, CareMessage is driving a paradigm shift in patient engagement and healthcare delivery, particularly for underserved populations. We're bringing technology to safety net organizations that are designed to work alongside their team and with safeguards in place to protect patient safety. The healthcare organization remains in control of the parsing logic that drives critical decisions, while improving the interactive conversations with patients at scale."

THE LARGER TREND

In September, CareMessage launched Automated Gaps-in-Care, an expansion to its Health Equity Engine. The offering integrates directly with EHRs to remove the process of manual outreach to close gaps in care for safety-net organizations while increasing staff efficiency and improving clinical outcomes for patients.

In April, CareMessage established the 2024 CareMessage Impact Fund aimed at improving health equity. The initial contributors to the fund were Johnson & Johnson with a lead contribution of $1.25 million alongside Dovetail Impact Foundation and Sanofi.

In 2015, CareMessage received $6 million in grants from several organizations, including Google and The Pershing Foundation. Google awarded the group $2.3 million as part of Google's Impact Awards.