Color Health, a leader in healthcare delivery programs, has announced a partnership with OpenAI, a research and development company focused on artificial intelligence (AI). This collaboration aims to leverage the power of AI to personalize cancer screening plans for patients, potentially improving access to early detection and treatment.
The partnership officially began in 2023 with a shared goal: utilize AI to improve access to quality cancer care. Color Health developed a unique “copilot” app powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o language model. This innovative tool analyzes patient data, including family history and individual risk factors, alongside evidence-based healthcare guidelines. By integrating patient information with clinical best practices, the copilot identifies potential gaps in diagnostic testing and creates personalized screening plans.
“Color’s vision is to make cancer expertise accessible at the point and time when it can have the greatest impact on a patient’s healthcare decisions,” stated Othman Laraki, CEO of Color Health. “As a healthcare company, technology that improves access and equity has to go hand-in-hand with technology that supports patient safety and privacy.”
One of the key strengths of the AI model is its ability to extract valuable information from vast amounts of often-unstructured medical data. By analyzing clinical guidelines and data from trusted sources, the copilot can build tailored screening plans for each patient. Importantly, these AI-generated recommendations are always reviewed by a clinician, ensuring human oversight and continuous refinement of the model.
Color Health has served over 7 million patients since its founding in 2015. Initially focused on gene testing and precision medicine, the company has evolved into a comprehensive healthcare provider tackling key infrastructure challenges in the U.S. This includes programs dedicated to vaccination, preventive care, and infectious disease management.
Recognizing the complexities of cancer screening, Color Health partnered with the American Cancer Society in 2023. This collaboration aimed to help employers and healthcare payers address the second leading cause of death in the United States. Color argues that standardized screening guidelines often fail to capture individual risk factors, potentially delaying crucial diagnoses for over a third of their patients.
“I’ve witnessed the complexities of developing personalized cancer screening plans for my high-risk patients,” explained Dr. Keegan Duchicela, a primary care physician at Color Health. “The guidelines are constantly evolving, and individual risk factors aren’t always immediately clear.”
To evaluate the effectiveness of the AI copilot, Color Health is partnering with the University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. This collaboration will involve a retrospective study following the initial implementation of the tool. Depending on the results, there is a possibility of integrating the copilot into UCSF’s clinical workflow for all new cancer cases.
Currently, Color Health is in the initial phase of rolling out the copilot to its clinicians, focusing on a limited number of cases. Early results are promising. Providers using the tool have identified four times more missing diagnostic tests compared to those without the copilot assistance. Additionally, the app streamlines the analysis of patient records, allowing clinicians to identify potential gaps in screening within an average of five minutes.
Looking ahead, Color Health plans to utilize the AI-powered copilot to offer personalized screening plans with physician oversight to over 200,000 patients in the second half of 2024. This innovative partnership between Color Health and OpenAI has the potential to revolutionize cancer screening by providing patients with more personalized and comprehensive care plans.
(Hero image credit: Color Health)
