OpenAI Foundation’s $100M healthcare push starts with hepatitis C

By: Giles Bruceyesterday

The OpenAI Foundation is committing $100 million to launch Breakthroughs to Follow-Through, a Common Health Coalition initiative that will use AI tools to close gaps in care delivery, the two organizations announced Aug. 13.
The initiative’s first goal is to at least double hepatitis C cure rates within eight jurisdictions over the next two years, starting with Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana and Massachusetts. Additional states will be named within six months. B2F is designed to later expand the same AI infrastructure to HIV prevention and curable cancers.
“Our $100 million investment is a commitment to scaling that impact by pairing frontier AI capabilities with the expertise of trusted local partners,” said Anna Makanju, head of civil society and philanthropy at the OpenAI Foundation, in a news release.
The Common Health Coalition, founded in 2023 by AHIP, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Community Health Plans, now represents more than 400 members nationwide.
A single course of oral medication cures more than 95% of hepatitis C patients in eight to 12 weeks, yet about two of every three Americans living with the virus remain untreated, and 40 people die from it daily, according to the release. B2F will fund AI tools that help care teams identify patients who have fallen out of care, synthesize records and prioritize outreach.
“Hepatitis C is our first target, but we also have a broader goal with this initiative,” said Dave Chokshi, MD, chair of the Common Health Coalition, in a release.
TO CONTINUE: ​https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/ai/openai-foundations-100m-healthcare-push-starts-with-hepatitis-c/