Wes Edwards, chief financial officer of primary and urgent care chain Med First, pulls no punches when it comes to money and health care. \u201cWe\u2019re a for-profit entity that believes that the more margin that we\u2019re able to make, the more patients we\u2019re able to serve,\u201d he told STAT.<\/p>\n
Historically, doctors have coded their own visits at Med First, which serves more than 220,000 patients in North and South Carolina, predominantly in smaller cities and towns. In June, the network began to code some visits with artificial intelligence in parallel to the doctors\u2019 normal coding. They found that the AI brought in an average of 6% more revenue on the same visits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though not entirely responsible for Med First\u2019s expansion, the extra revenue has helped Med First as it works to expand from 27 locations to around 40. When revenue grows, \u201cwe are able to grow, we\u2019re able to expand services, we\u2019re able to stay open longer, we\u2019re able to fund more services in some of these rural communities,\u201d said Edwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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