HUMAI, funded by European funds, aims to address the overuse of emergency services

The Almada-Seixal Local Health Unit (ULSAS), the Faculty of Science and Technology of NOVA University Lisbon | NOVA FCT and the Value for Health CoLAB are developing a research project that aims to create a digital platform to address the overuse of emergency services by frequent users.

The project's name is HUMAI – High User Management with AI. One of the platform's goals is to "timely identify patients who most frequently visit emergency rooms and are at greatest risk of becoming frequent users, so that timely intervention can be taken. Through personalized solutions, the aim is to promote more efficient and patient-centered healthcare management."

This project builds on the work already begun by the Very Frequent User Resolution Group (GRHU), a partnership established in 2016 between Garcia de Orta Hospital and the Almada-Seixal Health Center Group. This work has led to "51% fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations for frequent users and a 44% reduction in costs associated with monitoring these users, according to a 2021 assessment."

Solution aims to scale to a national level

HUMAI now wants to scale the solution nationwide, “through predictive algorithms and data science, creating a replicable model in other units” of the National Health Service ( SNS ).

"The platform will be supported by multidisciplinary teams and will integrate clinical data, with the aim of making the NHS more efficient, sustainable, and focused on people's real needs," say the project's promoters.

"The GRHU has had a very positive impact over the years, and this new project will see its effectiveness increase. We are convinced that HUMAI, by acting preventively, will further improve the care provided to our patients and optimize the response of the General Emergency Department at Garcia de Orta Hospital, promoting health gains," said Pedro Correia Azevedo, Chairman of the ULSAS Board of Directors.

"This project, coordinated by Value for Health CoLAB, demonstrates that Artificial Intelligence can and should be at the service of public organizations, with innovative solutions based on data from our population and that promote the efficient use of NHS resources," added Ana Londral, Executive and Scientific Director of Value for Health CoLAB and Assistant Professor at NOVA FCT.

HUMAI is funded by the European Union program – NextGenerationEU, which also has funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).