Shields Health Solutions (Shields) today announced preliminary results for its AI-enabled Clinical Intelligence capabilities. The company serves as the leading specialty pharmacy operating partner to over one-third of health systems nationwide. The results show how the Clinical Risk Model helps patients receive the right support at the right time. As a result, pharmacists now identify risk earlier and act sooner.
The Clinical Risk Model applies advanced machine learning and predictive analytics. It assists pharmacists and care teams in prioritizing timely interventions. These interventions decrease adverse reactions and emergency department visits, and readmissions.
Shields created the model by merging 15 years of specialty pharmacy experience in health systems with more than 2 billion data points. These data points span operational
and clinical aspects of a patient’s specialty pharmacy care journey. Consequently, the platform runs over 40 disease-specific models. These models generate dynamic risk scores. They also learn continuously from new data and clinician feedback. Together with Shields’ clinicians, the model identifies risk earlier and prioritizes patient engagements. It also highlights the interventions with the highest impact. Ultimately, it improves patient outcomes across the specialty care continuum.
“We built the Shields care model with the patient at the center, and that will never change,” said Brian S. Smith, PharmD, Chief Pharmacy Officer at Shields. “For more than 15 years, we’ve supported patients through some of their most complex health journeys. By combining that experience with predictive insights that identify risk earlier, we empower our pharmacists and liaisons to focus their time where it matters most, with the patient. AI enables us to scale the impact of our proven care model, helping more patients receive the right support at the right time while preserving the human touch that defines specialty care.”
Evaluations across oncology, inflammatory, and transplant patient populations produced strong clinical and operational results:
- 63% improvement in treatment efficacy
- 35% reduction in ER visits and hospitalizations
- 95% pharmacist acceptance rate, indicating high trust in model recommendations
- 35% increase in pharmacist time allocated to high-risk patients
- 93% medication adherence rate
- 76% reduction in missed activities of daily living
- 0 safety concerns across 12-month comparison
Real-World Example of Proactive Pharmacist Intervention
One Shields health system partner offers a clear example of proactive intervention. The Clinical Risk Model flagged a cancer patient on oral therapy whose risk profile had changed. However, the patient had no pharmacist follow-up scheduled for another six months. Acting on the prediction, a pharmacist reached out five months early. The pharmacist found uncontrolled gastrointestinal side effects that significantly hurt the patient’s quality of life.
The pharmacist reviewed the therapy, symptoms, and risk factors, and worked with the provider and care team. They worked on the treatment together. That led to a new prescription and a more personalized care plan. The liaison then assessed the patient’s benefits and suggested the appropriate treatment plan. The liaison also got prior approval and kept the out-of-pocket expense within budget. Finally the liaison coordinated the delivery. Counseling and ongoing follow-up allowed the patient to manage symptoms and avoid an interruption in treatment or an emergency department visit.
This case illustrates how pharmacist expertise combined with AI-enabled Clinical Intelligence identifies patients at risk sooner. “Early intervention improves not only the patient experience, but also the outcomes. Simply put, Clinical Intelligence is the combination of predictive insights and clinician expertise. It provides patients with the right care, at the right time. It also improves adherence and provides a smoother care journey.
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News Source: Businesswire.com
