What You Should Know:
– Mercy has developed a new AI-driven texting platform called The Chen Chemotherapy Model, which is helping to keep chemotherapy patients out of the hospital by raising red flags before symptoms become severe. The model was created by Jiajing Chen, a data scientist who passed away from cancer earlier this year.
– The Chen Chemotherapy Model predicts the likelihood of outpatient chemotherapy patients experiencing symptoms that may result in hospitalization within 30 days of their chemotherapy treatment.
Chen Chemotherapy Model Integration with Smart Texting Platform
The Chen Chemotherapy Model is integrated into a smart texting platform that sends patients daily texts for seven days, except weekends and holidays. The text includes a list of symptoms including diarrhea, pain, fever, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, or no symptoms. When a patient selects a symptom, they are prompted to rate it and, based on their answers, the information may be escalated to their provider.
The Chen Chemotherapy Model has been shown to be effective at keeping patients out of the hospital. In a pilot study, the model was able to reduce hospitalizations by 20%. The new smart texting program using The Chen Chemotherapy Model is the first of many use cases made possible by the Mercy and Microsoft collaboration.
Jiajing Chen’s Legacy
Jiajing Chen passed away, but her project lives on as a legacy. Chen won Innovator of the Year at the 2020 ACCC National Oncology Conference for her work on the model, which has been improved with Epic workflow integration and texting technology. Chen Led an analytic work group at Mercy and contributed to FDA approvals for medical devices. Prior to joining Mercy, Chen was a faculty member at the Saint Louis University Department of Health and Clinical Outcomes Research. Her research interests included health and economic outcomes research associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and organ transplants.
“Jiajing always had a passion for medicine and for helping people,” said Andy Greenwood, Chen’s husband. “She was a medical student in China for a few years before coming to the U.S., then found herself in public health using her analytical and computer skills to help patients.”
“When she was in the hospital, she used all her strength to make sure her knowledge was passed along to her Mercy colleagues,” Greenwood said. “The project, named for Jiajing, will be a legacy I can share with our children, ages 1 and 4, to help them know their mother.”
