What You Should Know:
- Ubie, a global healthcare AI platform that enhances the intersection of patients, providers, and life sciences, today announced data from Ubie Symptom Checker: A Clinical Vignette Simulation Study, which was published on medRxiv.
- The study evaluated the performance of Ubie’s platform using an innovative large language model-assisted (LLM) simulation method. Results show that Ubie achieved a Top-5 hit (inclusion of the correct diagnosis) accuracy of 63.4% and a Top-10 hit accuracy of 71.6%, indicating effectiveness in providing relevant health information based on symptoms. Ubie outperformed comparator symptom checkers and compared favorably to the median physician hit accuracy (72.9%) using the same set of vignettes.
AI-Powered Healthcare Tools Enhancing Patient Care and Provider Efficiency
Founded in 2017, Ubie empowers patients and healthcare professionals by offering AI-driven tools for better healthcare outcomes. Its Symptom Checker, a free online platform powered by disease-prediction AI, assists over 10 million users monthly in identifying potential illnesses and when to seek medical attention. Meanwhile, more than 1,500 healthcare organizations use Ubie’s clinical tools to enhance workflow efficiency and improve diagnostic accuracy, leading to better patient outcomes. Additionally, Ubie’s marketing solutions serve 70% of the world’s top life sciences companies, supporting their digital campaigns with precise, AI-powered targeting.
Ubie’s Symptom Checker is continuously trained on medical data, reviewed by specialists, and updated based on real-world feedback. The AI-guided questionnaire gathers symptom information and provides users with a personalized list of likely conditions, guidance on when to consult a doctor, and information on treatment options and access to care. This tool aims to bridge gaps in health literacy, helping patients understand their symptoms and make informed decisions, reducing delays in seeking appropriate medical care.
AI-driven symptom checkers like Ubie can play a crucial role in early disease detection, particularly as patients increasingly research symptoms online. Many, however, lack the health literacy to interpret complex information, leading to confusion and delays. By offering an accessible and validated tool, Ubie helps patients make better decisions, seek appropriate care sooner, and ultimately improve their long-term prognosis. Early diagnosis, especially for serious diseases, can expand treatment options, slow disease progression, and enhance quality of life.
In addition to benefiting patients, Ubie enhances clinical workflows by presenting results in a format that can be easily shared with healthcare providers. This allows for more efficient consultations, enabling providers to focus on diagnosis and care in a time-constrained environment. Empowered with more accurate symptom data, patients can actively participate in their care, avoiding issues like forgetting symptoms, hesitating to discuss concerns, or deferring entirely to their healthcare providers.
A recent study demonstrated Ubie’s effectiveness in offering relevant disease suggestions in its top-ranked results, particularly for nervous system and respiratory conditions. However, variability in accuracy across ICD groupings highlights areas for refinement. The study used 400 clinical vignettes, mapping nearly 8,000 data points with the help of Large Language Models (LLMs) and medical entity linking. After rigorous testing, 328 vignettes aligned with Ubie’s scope of diseases, validating its potential while also emphasizing the need for ongoing real-world testing and refinement.
Ubie’s AI, trained on over 50,000 peer-reviewed publications, continuously evolves through real-time human feedback from a panel of 50 specialists and more than 1,500 healthcare organizations. Recently, Ubie has also collaborated with patient groups to fine-tune its AI, particularly in the diagnosis of rare diseases. The Symptom Checker now covers over 1,100 medical conditions and 3,500 symptom questions, further strengthening its clinical utility.
Clinical vignettes, widely used for training healthcare professionals, offer a controlled environment to assess tools like Ubie. Their comprehensive and varied nature makes them a reliable benchmark for evaluating Ubie’s performance as a patient-facing tool.
“Results of the study confirm that Ubie’s Symptom Checker is highly effective at providing users with relevant disease education and information related to their symptoms, which can guide patients to the care and resources they need,” said Kenji Taylor, MD, MSc, lead study author and Clinical Consultant, Supervising Physician at Ubie.
