A potential solution to the 4th leading cause of death in the United States

Can this AI technique be the solution to the silent epidemic?

In the realm of health care, certain challenges remain hidden from the spotlight: however, when that challenge is the fourth cause of death in the country, which leads to 35% of hospital admissions and which costs $528B a year, finding an immediate solution should be a top priority.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are now an epidemic.

Polypharmacy, commonly defined as the regular use of at least five medications, is common in older adults and younger at-risk populations. It increases the risk of adverse drug reactions, drug-induced hospitalization, and death. Adverse drug reactions include a range of unwanted and harmful effects that arise from the use of medications. These reactions can occur due to many factors, including individual genetics, drug interactions, and underlying health conditions.

As the number of drugs taken increases, the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) increases exponentially. A patient taking 5 or more drugs has a 58% chance of experiencing an adverse drug event; when a patient takes more than 8 drugs, that number can reach 82%.

The scale of adverse drug reactions

Dr. Dorit Dil Nahlieli is the co-founder of MDI Health, a medication management solution that tackles this epidemic with AI. “We leverage AI to personalize and scale high-quality medical therapy. Our advanced technology enables healthcare organizations (such as payers and health systems) to improve the quality of medical therapy and the scale, quantify the clinical and financial impact, and reduce the total costs of care”.

“Previous attempts to tackle this problem lacked essential customization and scalability due to technical and human limitations,” he says. “Comprehensive medication reviews, usually done by pharmacists, evaluate the effectiveness of a patient’s medications, as well as the risks related to the drug. Comprehensive medication reviews can reduce ADR risks and negative outcomes related to the drug, but this complex, manual and time-consuming process limits its use and wide access. Computerized solutions include clinical decision support software that addresses a narrow view of the problem. Common clinical decision support software includes interactive systems of drug-drugs that do not distinguish between influencing factors such as patient health conditions, medical history and demographics, resulting in overlooked drug risks and many false positive alerts that are mostly dismissed by clinicians . . .

“To accurately identify drug-related risks, and provide safer and more effective medication treatment, we have to look at patients holistically,” he explains. “Our demographics, medications, medical history, lifestyle, and even lab results influence our risks for ADRs. There is no one-size-fits-all medication, and no two patients who take exactly the same medications can be exposed to different drug-related risks and experience different results.”

Dr. Nahlieli, who has decades of drug-related research experience, is one of the leading experts in drug safety. He realized that there is little access to comprehensive medication management programs that optimize medication use. After countless hours of manual medication analysis, he was unable to find a solution that actually reduced analysis time while maintaining a high clinical standard.

With the knowledge that millions of patients suffer from drug-related treatments connected to polypharmacy, he made it a mission to scale his work through technology. Recognizing the impact that AI-based technologies could have on the personalization and automation of comprehensive medication reviews, he partnered with technology and AI experts Avishai Ben-Tovim and Yuval Kalev to design a technology that democratizes the access to optimized medication treatment and drug prevention. morbidity and mortality.

“We were able to generate the first multilayered, dedicated and consistent risk analysis system for polypharmacy patients that could handle these complex cases and create accurate clinical recommendations for treatment optimization and risk mitigation,” he says. “Our medication management platform automatically conducts a comprehensive drug-related risk analysis for the entire population, helping clinical teams reach the entire population at risk. Our algorithms analyze thousands of pharmacological and medical parameters to each patient, including member demographics, medication and medical history, medical conditions and laboratory results, allowing us to identify accurate and immediate health risks. Then generate evidence-based clinical recommendations for reducing risks”.

Some health organizations are now starting to adopt the MDI medication management platform, but “it is not in general use very much.” Prominent organizations such as health payers tend to approach new technologies with caution and hesitation . We have dedicated the last two years to establishing the validation of the results. Through partnerships with prominent healthcare organizations. In addition, we have developed the ability to provide clinical and financial projections for our solution even before entering into a formal agreement, without prior obligation.” Dr. Nahlieli adds that his automated analysis of drug-related risks and capabilities of autonomous clinical recognition have now proven to be effective in saving pharmacists countless hours of manual work, allowing them to reach more members than ever before, while maintaining a high clinical standard.

Despite the increased efforts in the field of ADR prevention in the last decade, it could be difficult to scale the impact without the appropriate technology. “We see an increase in drug-induced hospitalizations and death rates, and we know that a large proportion of these cases are preventable. Medications can cure or make you sicker, and that depends on how you use them. “The key is to weigh the benefit of the patient’s medications versus their risks; unfortunately, this is not always an easy or simple task. Studies show that every medication we add to the patient’s medication list increases the risk of an adverse drug event by 7-10%, so we have to be vigilant. A complete review of patient medications is crucial to identify drug-related risks before they become a dangerous problem. We recommend that patients with chronic conditions undergo a complete medication review at least once a year.”

“Less is sometimes much more, especially when dealing with polypharmacy patients,” he adds. “Deprescribing, more common these days, means adjusting the medication down to the minimum effective dose or stopping when a patient’s health status changes so that the medication burden or potential harm outweighs the benefits of taking the medication. We encourage a wider application of this important process.”

“We encourage people to closely observe the transformation that is happening in this industry and to address this urgent problem, which affects millions every year. This silent epidemic can be significantly mitigated using innovative technologies; we hope that all patients will soon have access to the treatment of safer and more effective personalized medication,” he concludes.