Alpine Health Systems is pleased to announce the launch of an AI-based software platform that can improve hospital discharge for patients with complex health conditions, and in some cases, multiple social needs. The platform allows case managers to quickly identify at-risk patients to safely transition to an appropriate site of care.

Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare and its innovation catalyst OSF Innovation, along with Indianapolis-based venture builder High Alpha Innovation, served as partners for the development of Alpine’s tool that can benefit hospitals nationwide.

Hospitals are filled with increasingly complex and difficult-to-treat populations, including those entering the hospital with more than one chronic illness and comorbidities. These patients often have multiple challenges, including intensive medical care needs, complex family expectations, criminal history or inadequate home support. Caring for these patients in a hospital setting far beyond their geometric mean length of stay (GMLOS) results in massive costs for providers and a missed opportunity to care for patients who need it most.

Starting with a simple rules-based architecture and Machine Learning (ML) as well as Natural Language Processing (NLP), Alpine helps case managers who are critical to the discharge process to elevate complex cases earlier, reducing excess hospital stays and improving patient outcomes. The platform identifies and prioritizes important patient risk factors in advance of hospital discharge to ensure a holistic look at what will lead to the best setting and support for the patient.

Unlike competitors, Alpine leverages non-clinical and social determinants of health (SDOH) factors that might not be part of a patient’s electronic health record or be easy to locate within the record. Alpine’s software searches historical case notes for additional risk factors, ensuring a highly accurate risk profile in real-time. As Alpine is developed and refined, it will become more capable of recognizing the factors that can put a patient at increased risk of delayed discharge and matching those factors with appropriate recommendations for case managers.

Easing the job of hospital case managers should also help hospitals attract and retain individuals for these critically important positions, thus Alpine provides that additional value for hospitals and health systems. 

Alpine is led by Miami-based co-founder and CEO Humberto Alexander Lee, a seasoned health care technology veteran with experience in high growth, venture-backed health care companies. Lee has worked with diverse organizations such as HCA Hospitals, Cerner, Assurant Health and AXA Assistance. Lee is a serial founder and investor in the health care startup space. Prior to Alpine, he served as CEO of Statra, a health care analytics SaaS platform. He was co-founder and CTO of PxSource, which was acquired by Revolution EHR in 2015, as well as co-founder and CTO of Tesser Health, which was acquired by ELMC Group in 2019.

“Everyone in need deserves to be treated with love and care – that’s the driving force behind Alpine,” notes Lee. “We're thrilled to partner with OSF HealthCare and High Alpha Innovation to help both hospitals and patients with one of the most challenging problems facing health care today.”

“Launching a new venture such as Alpine has the power to change the world,” adds Elliott Parker, CEO of High Alpha Innovation. “This is a solution that the market needs, and the speed and learning power of AI will successfully get it into the hands of hospital systems much faster than other approaches."

Michelle Conger, chief strategy officer of OSF HealthCare and CEO of OSF OnCall Digital Health, says, “OSF Innovation is dedicated to leveraging technology and best practices to elevate care, and the launch of Alpine will both improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of health care. We’re excited to work with Humberto and the team at High Alpha Innovation to bring to life this important innovative solution.”