Google Cloud and Seattle Children’s Partner to Develop AI-Powered ‘Pathway Assistant’

What You Should Know: 

– Seattle Children’s Hospital has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to create Pathway Assistant, an AI-powered tool designed to improve healthcare providers’ access to critical medical information.

– In a collaboration with Google Cloud, CSW pathways will be made more readily accessible to healthcare providers through the development of ‘Pathway Assistant’. This AI agent is designed to streamline access to essential, evidence-based information within the CSWs

Improving Healthcare Providers” Access to Complex Information

The U.S. healthcare system is facing significant challenges, including a shortage of providers and increasingly complex patient needs. To address these challenges and ensure the delivery of consistently high-quality care, healthcare providers need quick access to the latest medical research and evidence-based best practices. 

Seattle Children’s has been proactive in addressing this need. The hospital leveraged the expertise of numerous healthcare providers and scholars to develop a comprehensive Clinical Effectiveness program. The program features Clinical Standard Pathways (CSWs) for over 70 diagnoses. CSW pathways have been used since 2010 and have a proven track record of improving patient outcomes. Currently, nearly 40 similar programs are affiliated with free-standing children’s hospitals across the country. 

AI-Powered Pathway Agent Features

CSW pathways will be made more readily accessible to healthcare providers through the development of ‘Pathway Assistant’. This AI agent is designed to streamline access to essential, evidence-based information within the CSWs.  Pathway Assistant is built using Google’s Gemini models on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform. It can quickly synthesize information from CSWs, including text, images, and the latest medical literature. This capability allows healthcare providers to retrieve the information needed for informed, accurate, and potentially life-saving decisions in a matter of seconds, compared to the up to 15 minutes it could take to find the information manually. 

The tool was developed in collaboration with over 50 healthcare providers at Seattle Children’s. Initial pilots of Pathway Assistant have demonstrated strong potential to improve patient outcomes by reducing the workload of healthcare providers and freeing up their time and mental energy to focus on patient care.

Pathway Assistant Benefits/Outcomes

Pathway Assistant is expected to enhance adherence to standard care processes, ensuring that all patients receive the same high level of care. The effectiveness of the tool will be evaluated using a range of qualitative and quantitative measures designed to assess both patient and physician outcomes. 

“We are committed to offering our doctors and other healthcare providers the most cutting-edge tools to enhance their decision-making,” said Clara Lin, MD, vice president and chief medical information officer, Seattle Children’s. “This AI agent represents a significant step forward in achieving that goal, enabling our team to leverage the full potential of CSWs and deliver the highest quality care to the patients we serve.”