Astrata’s First Patent: Abstracting Information from Patient Medical Records

Last month, the US Patent Office granted Astrata’s first patent, Abstracting Information from Patient Medical Records, US 11,315,668 B2. This patent describes the Natural Language Processing innovations that power Astrata’s Chart Review. This NLP technology surfaces and prioritizes closable gaps across an entire member population, and guides abstractors directly to HEDIS-specific evidence in the medical record. 

In a recent ROI study on Chart Review in use at UPMC Health Plan during the 2021 measurement year, medical abstractors closed gaps 7.6 times faster with Chart Review than standard practice, with potential cost savings of up to $5 million per year for year-round, prospective review.

Systems like Chart Review, and technologies like NLP, will enable NCQA’s digital quality initiatives, and let  health plans scale up to year-round, population-wide HEDIS without increasing staff. We’re proud of our NLP innovations, and proud of Astrata’s clinicians, informaticians, and engineers who achieved this milestone.