Deep learning technology is often associated with cutting-edge tools such as voice assistants and self-driving cars, but until recently it has not had real-world application in the healthcare industry. Because of its relative newness and the amount of computing power it requires, deep learning has not yet become widely accepted across industries.

Fathom is working to change that - and in the process, they are transforming the world of healthcare and medical coding. As VP of Commercial Operations Amit Jayakar explains, Fathom is changing the way that medical coders approach their jobs. It is a shift that promises to make their jobs easier, make coding more accurate and less costly, and improve the industry overall.

"Deep learning has not been successfully leveraged anywhere in the healthcare revenue cycle except by Fathom, and the reason we're able to do that is that we have a fantastic team of engineers and a massive database to train our models," Jayakar says. "Our models are trained on roughly 400 million coded medical encounters, allowing the technology to be highly performant across all the most important parameters."

Because of their impressive technology, Fathom has by far the highest automation rates in the country - on average, their rates are 2-3x higher than any other platform in the industry. For healthcare providers, this means faster, less expensive, and more accurate results. And for medical coders, Fathom dramatically accelerates their speed while enabling them to focus more intently on high-value work. It is the only technology platform available that covers every large outpatient specialty, including primary care, radiology, and emergency medicine.

While Fathom's deep learning technology reduces costs and increases speed, it is never at the expense of quality. As Jayakar explains, using the Fathom platform improves quality and accuracy because of the high standards set by the team. They can build models using millions of data points, making the technology very scalable - a critical distinction when there are rule changes or updates in the healthcare field.

"If UnitedHealthcare or CMS no longer wants to use a specific code, you have to retrain your entire workforce to learn these new guidelines," Jayakar says. "Every local insurance payor and healthcare site has specific guidelines, which is a lot of customization to be managed." 

With Fathom, the customizations are built into the program, systemized, and automated. Instead of retraining hundreds or thousands of employees, your coding platform is immediately updated to reflect the new guidelines.

"It is applied across the board for every encounter, and the end result is that the machine makes significantly fewer mistakes than what a human operator would make," Jayakar says. "The accuracy score improves, with a guaranteed minimum of 96% accuracy."

Despite Fathom's demonstrated success in delivering a superior medical coding platform, there remains some skepticism around the reliability of deep learning technology. This comes as no surprise to the Fathom team. After all, the technology is still relatively new and not well-known within the industry. That is a barrier that the team works each day to overcome - to clearly show healthcare providers that their technology will save them significant time and expenses while making their workload easier and more accurate.

"There is healthy skepticism around automation because in the past companies have over-promised and under-delivered, and because people in the healthcare space assume that anything technology-related will be a long, drawn-out process that requires a lot of buy-in," Jayakar says.

To help educate the community as well as ease lingering doubt, Fathom provides a free proof-of-concept to any healthcare provider interested in learning more about their technology. It is an unprecedented process that showcases not only their technology but clear evidence that their solution works. 

"When we roll out, we only charge once we're actually live. Think of the proof of concept as the world's most robust audition, where we code a month's worth of encounters across all sites and payors," Jayakar says. "And we are actually live coding, so for all of our clients, their ROI is positive from day one."

With groundbreaking technology and a team committed to delivering superior client experiences, Fathom has separated themselves as the tech solution for healthcare providers and medical coders.

To learn more about Fathom's deep learning technology, visit fathomhealth.com.