Last year, at-home physical therapy provider Luna made a goal to double its staff. It turns out it also is adding an artificial intelligence division to improve its patient care.
Luna announced the creation of Luna Labs this week; the company said the AI will help build out tools for automated conversation and administrative functions.
The company’s services for older adults include therapy to help with falls prevention and urinary incontinence, among issues that often plague nursing home and other long-term care residents.
For providers, the AI could help facilitate using Luna’s services by making their operations more efficient and responsive in terms of scheduling, a company spokesman said.
“These [innovations] impact back-office operations but also hugely impact clinician efficiency,” Chief Technology Officer Ryan Gaffney told McKnight’s on Tuesday. “Longer term, even using AI for patient enhanced services such as evaluation support can be applied.”
Luna’s AI model also will be able to transcribe clinician notes, which the company previously claimed saved clinicians “significant amounts of time.”
The company currently is partnered with health systems aimed at older adults and other various organizations, including the AARP. Overall, the company was hoping to grow from 2,500 to 5,000 personnel, McKnight’s Home Care reported at the end of last year.
Several companies are turning to AI as a way to reduce the administrative responsibilities of staff. Such uses are being proposed as a way to aid staff, not replace them.
Although telehealth options, even for physical therapy, are growing as an alternative to in-person visits, either within homes or facilities, there are still unique benefits that can come from in-person interactions, an expert noted in a McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest blog earlier this year.
