Machine learning helps UI Health Care reduce surgical site infection by 74%, save $1.2 million

Imagine knowing, in real time, whether a patient will suffer a surgical infection as a surgeon closes up a wound. That's the kind of clinical situation that machine learning is enabling at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. To date, the health system's innovation with AI analytics has led to a 74 percent reduction in surgical site infection over a three-year period, which at scale is a $1.2 million cost savings – not including savings from value-based purchasing because of the reduced surgical site infection rate. Iowa's work with comes as more and more hospitals and tech vendors are undertaking innovative initiatives with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Johns Hopkins for instance, is using deep learning to improve how it handles pancreatic cancer and Amazon Web Services is harnessing machine learning to enable customers to better treat depression.